Rachel Lockett is a sought-after executive coach and former HR leader at Stripe and Pinterest who now works with CEOs, founders, and tech leaders on emotional intelligence, resilience, and leadership skills. In this episode, Rachel shares powerful frameworks for coaching reports, having difficult conversations, avoiding burnout, and strengthening co-founder relationships. She also demonstrates these techniques through a live coaching session with me.
We discuss:
* When to coach and when to just tell people what to do [09:00]
* The GROW technique for helping people figure out a solution for themselves [18:37]
* Techniques for making difficult conversations less difficult [01:20:28]
* Avoiding burnout and designing a more energizing career [41:55]
* Building and sustaining a healthy co-founder relationship [01:06:50]
* Creating a one-page plan that aligns your entire company [01:31:47]
* Practical ways AI is transforming executive coaching and leadership development [01:36:50]
* Why you should ask, “Would I enthusiastically rehire this person?” to clarify talent decisions [23:55]
Also on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
Brought to you by:
Stripe—Helping companies of all sizes grow revenue
Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security.
Persona—A global leader in digital identity verification
Where to find Rachel Lockett:
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhlockett/
• Website: https://www.lockettcoaching.com
Referenced:
• One-page plan template: https://www.lockettcoaching.com/#resources
• Lockett Coaching Leadership Toolkit: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/s74a9cn1ka1ebz6pglypf/Leadership-Toolkit_-Coaching-Rachel-Lockett.pdf?rlkey=yg2m9df2ziwy0fa6p0dt4gcfu&st=dgzvnf76&dl=0
• Renew Your Co-Founder Vows—and Other Tactics for Strengthening the Most Important Relationship in Your Startup: https://review.firstround.com/five-practices-to-strengthen-your-co-founder-relationship/
• First Round Guide to Co-Founder Check-Ins: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yUosmfMuE-8-sAwPrEPDcGqkJLVLWg5dC2_8lcXm7U4/edit?tab=t.0
• Coinbase: https://www.coinbase.com
• Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey?: https://hbr.org/1999/11/management-time-whos-got-the-monkey
• Chuck Palahniuk’s quote from Fight Club: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1338270-people-don-t-listen-they-just-wait-for-their-turn-to
• Patrick Collison on X: https://x.com/patrickc
• Stripe: https://stripe.com
• Remind: https://www.remind.com
• Zach Abrams on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacharyabrams
• Brex:
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