How do I start coaching with Gannett.Partners?

Start with a confidential thirty-minute call. Most leaders then begin with the Baseline, a three-week fixed-fee engagement with Chris Gannett. Leaders can also go straight to a six-month coaching agreement, billed monthly.

Do I have to do the Baseline first?

No. The Baseline is recommended but optional. It is credited in full toward coaching that starts within 30 days.

Does Gannett.Partners evaluate leaders it coaches?

Not while it is coaching them. The firm also runs Founder & CEO Diligence for boards and investors, and it does not evaluate a leader it is coaching or has coached in the past year. Session content stays confidential under the ICF Code of Ethics.

Who can hire a coach through Gannett.Partners?

The leader directly, a board or investor for a leader they back, or counsel when a leader's conduct is under review. When coaching follows a diligence engagement, it is contracted by the board or investor after findings are delivered, not by the leader.

Executive Coaching in Dallas | Gannett.Partners

Who it is for

When the job gets bigger than the playbook.

A founder scaling past the stage they built the company for. The skills that got the business here are not the ones that take it further.

A new CEO in the first eighteen months. The plan they were hired to carry meets the business as it really is.

A leader after a deal closes. New owners, new goals, and a board that expects progress every quarter.

A founder or athlete after the exit. The deal is done and the money is real, but the role that organized their life is gone, and the question of what comes next turns out to be the hardest one yet.

A leader whose conduct is under review. Counsel or the board needs the behavior to change, and needs a clear record of the work.

How it works

Every engagement starts with evidence and ends with a review.

01Baseline

Evidence first. Where it helps, an established leadership diagnostic, such as the Leadership Circle Profile, or stakeholder interviews show how the people around you see you.

02Agreement

Success in writing. You set the goals, with input from whoever sponsors the work.

03Work

Regular one-on-one sessions, with practice between them.

04Review

The result, checked against what you agreed at the start.

Four ways to work · One method

Matched to the season, measured the same way.

Leaders move through seasons. Each mode is built for one. See the CEO lifecycle →

ModeForWhat we measureLength

First 100 Days

A new seat or a new team

A new CEO or a new role: the stakeholders, the early calls and the team.

Stakeholder read at day 0 and day 100; milestones at 30, 60 and 90 days.

6 months

Next Level

A bigger job or a new plan

Scaling the team, strengthening conviction or leading at the next stage.

Diagnostic re-check at month six; progress on two or three written goals.

6 months

Next Chapter

After the exit

Exited founders and retiring athletes working out what comes next.

A decision made and acted on, against the options set at the start.

6 months

Course Correction

Any season

A specific issue, often referred by counsel or a board.

The issue itself, re-checked with the referring party at close.

Scoped to the issue

After six months, any engagement can continue as a standing sounding board, with a review each quarter. Every engagement is measured against goals and business outcomes agreed at the start, and reviewed in writing.

Start with the Baseline.

Most leaders start here

The Baseline

Three weeks with Chris. An established leadership diagnostic, such as the Leadership Circle Profile, two working sessions and a one-page plan the leader owns. $7,500, credited in full toward coaching that starts within 30 days. Open to a leader directly, or to a board or investor for a leader they back.

Leader, board or investor

Coaching agreement

Nothing runs month to month. Six months, billed monthly, renewable for another six; a standing sounding board can run twelve. Start here directly, or after the Baseline. Scope and fee agreed on the first call.

Engaged by counsel

Fixed scope, fixed fee

The engagement runs through outside or general counsel.

We also work with counsel when a leader’s conduct is under review. Reporting and confidentiality are agreed in writing at the start. For counsel →

Choosing a coach for the first time? Read our guide to choosing an executive coach, with ten questions to ask any coach, including us.

Coaching is not therapy. When something calls for clinical support, the coach will say so and help find the right person.

Who coaches

An operator first, trained as a coach.

Institute of Coaching, McLean, Affiliate of Harvard Medical School

Certified Executive Coach, Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute

Member, International Coaching Federation

Leadership Circle Certified Practitioner

Chris’ coaching draws on mindfulness, psychology, physiology and practical operating experience. It is shaped by his years as an operator and investor, his training as a former Fellow of the Institute of Coaching at McLean Hospital, a Harvard Medical School affiliate, and his certifications from the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute and in the Leadership Circle Profile. He is a member of the International Coaching Federation.

As head coach, he coaches some leaders himself and matches others with a certified coach, supervising every engagement he does not deliver directly. Every engagement, whoever delivers it, follows the International Coaching Federation Code of Ethics.

Chris’ full background →

Training and certifications

Institute of Coaching, McLean, Affiliate of Harvard Medical SchoolBerkeley Executive Coaching InstituteLeadership Circle ProfileInternational Coaching Federation

The case for coaching

The stakes are rising. Support has not kept up.

More leaders are stepping into the top job for the first time, and many of those transitions disappoint. Most leaders at the top still go without outside support, even though the research shows it works.

84%

of the 168 new S&P 1500 CEOs named in 2025 were first-time CEOs, the most new CEOs since 2010.

Spencer Stuart, 2025 CEO Transitions

27–46%

of executive transitions are viewed as failures or disappointments two years in.

McKinsey analysis

2 in 3

CEOs do not receive outside leadership advice, and nearly all say they want it.

Stanford GSB & The Miles Group, 2013

randomized controlled trials show coaching has a moderate, positive effect on the outcomes it targets.

de Haan & Nilsson, 2023

Measured, not assumed. The same research finds self-reported gains run higher than observed ones. That is why every engagement is re-checked at the end against goals agreed at the start.

What clients say

“As an entrepreneur, I’m getting a lot from our coaching conversations. I feel like I am really being listened to and guided in a way that seems true to myself, which is powerful.”

Alex Brees

CEO, un:hurd

“Working with Chris grew me as a founder, advisory board member, friend, and product leader. Our work together also resulted in our $500K seed raise, some key hires, and the signing of our first strategic partner.”

Airion Watkins-Clark

CPO, Zirtue

“Chris was the first of five coaches I interviewed, and I knew at the end of our initial meeting that he was the right coach for me… Six months later, I am embarking on a new chapter, and could not be more excited about the future.”

Jennifer Knott

Chief Communications Officer, Scout & Cellar

Start a conversation

If you are carrying the seat, start with a conversation.

A thirty-minute call, in confidence.

If it fits, a short written proposal: the Baseline or a six-month coaching agreement.

First session inside two weeks.

We take a limited number of coaching clients at a time.