Executive & Leadership Coaching
Lead yourself first.
Lead everything else better.
The role usually gets bigger before your way of leading does. I coach founders, executives, and rising leaders through the stretch between where they are and what they're being asked to lead next.
Organizations also partner with me to develop leaders through growth, integration, and change.
Why Clients Coach
Success Shouldn't Feel This Hard
Most people come to coaching when something that used to work has started to cost too much.
- The role is bigger.
- The business is changing.
- The decisions carry more weight.
- The pressure is following them home in ways they can no longer ignore.
They may look successful from the outside and still feel overloaded, reactive, stuck, or tired of carrying it all.
They question decisions they used to make easily. They feel more alone in the role than they expected. And they don’t always recognize how they’re showing up, at work or at home.
Meet The Coach
Julie Stern
I’m Julie Stern, founder of Cardinal Coaching & Consulting.
I coach leaders, founders, and experienced professionals through bigger roles, harder decisions, business change, and career questions that are harder to sort through alone.
Most of my clients are already good at what they do. The challenge is that the role, the business, or the next decision is asking something different of them now.
Before coaching, I spent more than 25 years in operator and leadership roles across healthcare, veterinary services, and real estate. Many of those organizations were founder-led, private equity-backed, acquisition-heavy, or moving through a significant growth stage, so I understand how strategy, people, operations, and change collide in real business settings. I hold an MBA from Yale and a PCC credential through the International Coaching Federation.
My coaching is practical, direct, and grounded in the real situation in front of you. We work with the decisions, conversations, pressure, and patterns you are actually facing, while also looking at how you think under stress, what you tend to carry, and who you want to be in the middle of it all.
When I’m not coaching, I’m usually with my family: five kids, two still at home, and our dog, Wolfie. Basketball gives me energy, music feeds my soul, and travel is what I’m always trying to make more room for.
— Julie
Experience. Credentials. Perspective that matters.
Real-world operator experience. Deep coaching expertise. Human-first leadership.
Yale MBA
Graduate business training
ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC)
International Coaching Federation
25+ Years
Operator experience
Founder, COO, VP & Director
Senior leadership roles
PE-Backed, M&A & High-Growth
Environments served
Services
Ways to Work Together
I work with founders, executives, rising leaders, and organizations navigating growth, complexity, change, and increased responsibility.
The work is rarely just about the role, decision, or business challenge. It is also about pressure, people, timing, tradeoffs, and what the next stage requires.
I do not offer a preset curriculum or off-the-shelf leadership program. The work is coaching-centered, practical, and tailored to the person, the role, the organization, and the real pressure points in front of them.
Ready to Talk It Through?
Schedule a consultation and we’ll talk through what is happening now, what you want to change, and whether 1:1 coaching, organizational support, or a focused intensive is the right fit.
Process
How Working Together Begins
Deciding where to begin can be the hardest part. The process is simple on purpose: a short first call, a clearer read on where you are, and the right next step for the work.
Consultation
We talk through what's bringing you here, what you're working toward, what kind of support would actually help, and whether working together feels like the right fit for both of us.
Assessment or Scoping
Individual coaching usually begins with a leadership assessment and 90-minute debrief. Organizational work begins with scoping around the goals, audience, context, and pressure points.
Coaching Begins
Coaching is built around the real decisions, conversations, and leadership moments in front of you, with reflection, goal tracking, and accountability between sessions.
Outcomes
What Changes Through the Work
The work helps people understand what stress and pressure do to their thinking, decisions, communication, and follow-through, then build the habits needed to lead themselves and others more effectively.
For individual leaders and professionals, that often means…
- Clearer decisions in bigger moments.
- More direct conversations.
- Stronger communication in higher-stakes rooms.
- Better delegation, boundaries, and follow-through.
- More ability to recover, adjust, and keep moving.
- A steadier way to lead through a bigger role, career transition, or difficult season.
Testimonials
In Their Words: The Impact of Coaching
Honest reflections from clients about how this work helped them navigate change, break through obstacles, and move toward what matters most.
Julie keeps up with the complexity of my role while helping me simplify what matters. Our sessions help me frame complex situations, connect the moving pieces, and leave with a clearer plan.
Over the past 1.5 years, I went from leading a new team to leading the entire company as President. The tools I gained through coaching were what kept me steady.
Julie helped me translate my experience into a compelling professional story. I felt more prepared and confident navigating interviews and decisions, and this directly resulted in me landing a new role with broader scope and higher compensation.
Working with Julie has been incredibly empowering. She helped me clarify ambitious yet achievable goals, navigate challenging situations, and see entirely new constructive perspectives.
Julie supported me throughout the process of establishing my business, helping me build the mindset shifts I needed to grow with more confidence.
Next Step
Ready to Talk Through What Is Changing?
When the role, the decision, or the business starts asking more of you, it helps to have a clearer place to think.
Schedule a consultation and we’ll talk through what is happening now, what you want to be different, and whether this work is the right fit.