By Andreas Pettersson, Founder, Leaders ADAPT
You got the VP title six weeks ago. The team you inherited is behind on everything, one of your managers is quietly job hunting, and your CEO wants a plan by the end of the quarter. Your old boss is now your peer.
So who do you think out loud with?
That's the gap one on one executive coaching is built to fill. For years I sat in the middle and senior layers of tech companies with nobody who could help me think like a CEO. Later I ran a company of 150+ people and learned what I'd been missing. Below: what the work is, how it compares, how it runs, what it costs, and who should not buy it.
Quick answer: One on one executive coaching is a confidential, paid working relationship between a single senior leader and a coach, built around that leader's goals, role, and stakeholders. Sessions are usually weekly at the start and less frequent later. Engagements commonly run six to twelve months, and results are judged on changes in the leader's decisions, team performance, and how stakeholders experience them.
What is one on one executive coaching?
Individual executive coaching is coaching delivered to one leader at a time, where the agenda, pace, and measures of success are set for that person rather than for a group.
The terms overlap. Personalized executive coaching, individual executive coaching and personal leadership coaching all describe one format: one coach, one client, one agenda. What makes it executive is the client: senior leaders whose decisions move a function or a company.
Three things set the format apart:
- Confidentiality. What you say stays in the room, including the peer you don't trust and the decision you can't yet defend.
- Accountability. A good coach keeps a record of what you committed to and asks about it next week.
- Stakeholders. Your manager, peers, team and sometimes a board are part of the work, and their feedback is part of the input.
Most descriptions of this work share one flaw. They make it sound like a series of nice conversations. You should leave most sessions with a decision made or a conversation booked.
One on one coaching vs group coaching, mentoring and a peer group
Most buyers are weighing it against something cheaper or closer to home. Here are the four formats side by side.
| Format | Who you work with | Agenda set by | Confidentiality | Typical cost to you | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One on one executive coaching | One paid coach | You and the coach | Full, one-to-one | Highest per person | A specific role, team or stakeholder problem that needs weekly attention |
| Group coaching | One coach and several participants | The coach, around a shared theme | Shared with the group | Lower per person | Building common skills across a cohort of leaders |
| Mentoring | A more experienced person, often in your own company or field | Usually informal | Depends on the relationship | Often unpaid | Career advice and access to someone's experience and network |
| Peer group | Other leaders from non-competing companies, usually with a chair | The group, meeting on a set cadence | Shared under a group agreement | Membership fee | Testing decisions against people in similar seats |
None of these is better in general. A mentor tells you what they did. A peer group tells you what ten people would do. A coach works on what you'll do, and checks whether you did it.
For the group formats in more depth, see executive coaching vs a mastermind vs a peer group.
I run a CEO mastermind as well as one on one work, so I see both sides. Peer groups are great for owners. But when your problem is your team, your boss, and your next 90 days, you need the time to be yours.
Who one on one executive coaching is for
My clients below the CEO tend to fall into four groups:
- VPs ready for the C-suite. You run your function well and now you're judged on the whole company. The VP to C-level coaching guide covers that jump.
- Directors stepping up to VP. The habits that got you promoted start working against you once you lead managers. See director to VP leadership coaching.
- Executives inheriting broken teams. You didn't hire these people, and everyone is watching how you handle it.
- Leaders in a new seat. If the trigger is a promotion or an external hire, executive transition coaching is the time-boxed version of this work, focused on the first 90 days.
If you run the company, the work changes: board, investors, the whole leadership team. That's CEO work, and it has its own guide on CEO coaching and its own offer, the 1:1 CEO advisory.
If you've ever caught yourself rehearsing a hard conversation in the car because there was no one safe to rehearse it with, you're in the group this is for.
How a one on one engagement is structured
This is the structure I publish and use. Most serious coaches run something similar.
- A full-day discovery. Your role, team, stakeholders and goals, with leadership assessments and, where it helps, stakeholder feedback.
- Weekly sessions for the first three months. This is where habits change. A commitment made on Tuesday still matters the following Tuesday.
- Quarterly deep dives after that. I time them just before board meetings or quarterly planning, when the stakes are highest.
- Results expected inside 4 to 8 months. A lead or lag measure you picked at the start should have moved by then. If nothing has, we talk about why.
In the first session I ask what one concrete decision you're accountable for but not actually allowed to make. That tells me more than any assessment. Most senior leaders have one. Many have five.
Then I narrow the focus. My rule is to "introduce one number, not five." For three months, you're measured on that one thing. Leaders who try to fix everything at once usually fix nothing.
Why so long? A leader's behavior takes about two months to change, and roughly two more before the people around them believe it. So my minimum is three to four months.
What one on one executive coaching costs
Here's the market picture, not a price list. According to the ranges published on the Leaders ADAPT executive coaching cost page, typical executive coaching fees fall between $200 and $500 an hour for individual coaches, while experienced executive coaches charge $500 to $1,500 an hour and C-suite or CEO specialists $500 to $3,000 and more. At the top end the work is packaged as a monthly retainer, commonly $3,000 to $10,000 and up.
Three things move the number: your seniority, how often you meet, and whether the coach has run what you're running.
If you're not the owner, your company may pay. Here's how to get your company to pay for executive coaching, with scripts.
Who should not hire an executive coach
Let me be direct. Coaching doesn't work for everyone. These are the people I turn away or end early with:
- People who aren't ready to change. If we're a month in and nothing has moved, I'll suggest we stop. I've ended engagements early and refunded clients who had prepaid. "I don't take on people unless they're willing to change."
- Leaders with no real authority at all. Managing up is normal. No decision rights at all, inside a political fight you can't affect, is something coaching won't fix.
- Debaters. "I can't move the needle on someone that's going to sit and debate me for three hours." Challenge is good. Arguing to win isn't.
- Anyone who wants the organization fixed in two months while they stay the same. That's a red flag, not a goal.
- The wrong month. If your team is already absorbing a major change, wait a quarter.
And if you're wobbling on whether you want this at all, you're probably not ready. It's cheaper to know now.
How to choose a one on one coach
Pick someone who has lived your stage, not three stages past it. Choosing the more impressive advisor is a common mistake, because they bring big-company answers to the problem you have now.
Two screens I'd use. Never work with a coach where you feel you have the upper hand. And ask what they'd do in your first month, then listen for specifics. The guide to choosing an executive coach has the full screen.
Why I do this work
In 2017 I became CEO of a Canon-owned company at 37, one of Canon's youngest CEOs, and later scaled Arcules to more than 150 people before exiting in 2024. The growth never would have held up without the coaches and mentors around me.
What I missed most in the years before the CEO seat was someone who'd done the bigger job and would work through my actual problems with me, not hand me a book. That's the gap I try to close now.
From our own data: Across coaching sessions and discovery calls with 199 leaders, the most common problems owner CEOs raised were cash and pricing (57%), hiring and team performance (55%) and sales growth (55%). Delegation came up for 32%. See What CEOs Bring to Coaching, updated monthly.
Frequently asked questions about one on one executive coaching
What is one on one executive coaching?
One on one executive coaching is a confidential working relationship between one senior leader and one coach. The agenda is built around that leader's role, goals, team, and stakeholders. Engagements usually start with a discovery phase, then weekly sessions, then less frequent check-ins. Success is measured by changes in the leader's decisions and results.
How is one on one coaching different from group coaching?
In one on one coaching, the coach works with a single leader on that leader's own situation, in full confidence. In group coaching, one coach works with several participants on a shared theme, so time is split and discussions are shared. Group coaching usually costs less per person. One on one coaching goes deeper into a specific role, team, or stakeholder problem.
How much does one on one executive coaching cost?
Market ranges published on the Leaders ADAPT executive coaching cost page put typical executive coaching fees at $200 to $500 an hour for individual coaches. Experienced executive coaches charge $500 to $1,500 an hour, and C-suite or CEO specialists $500 to $3,000 and more. Much of this work is sold as a monthly retainer, commonly $3,000 to $10,000 and up, or as a fixed multi-month engagement rather than by the hour.
Who should not hire an executive coach?
Executive coaching tends not to work for leaders who are not ready to change their own behavior, for people with no real decision authority, and for those who want an organization fixed within two months without changing themselves. Timing also matters. A leader whose team is already absorbing a major change may get more value by starting a quarter later.
Is one on one executive coaching worth it?
Whether one on one executive coaching is worth it depends on three conditions: a specific goal, enough authority to act on what comes out of the sessions, and a willingness to change. When those are present, results are commonly assessed at four to eight months. When they are missing, the same fees buy conversations rather than outcomes. Many coaches screen for these conditions before starting.
What is the 70/30 rule in coaching?
The 70/30 rule is a common rule of thumb in coaching that the client should do about 70 percent of the talking and the coach about 30 percent. The idea is that the leader thinks through the problem aloud while the coach probes, reflects patterns back, and challenges assumptions. It is a guideline, not a formal standard, and the ratio shifts when a coach teaches a specific skill.
Your next step
One on one executive coaching is for a leader who owns a decision they can't make yet and a number they are expected to move. It is not for someone who wants a sounding board with no homework. If you are in one of the four groups above, you already know which decision and which number I mean.
Everything else, the format, the cadence, the price, is secondary to those two things. Bring them, and the first session does real work.
Work through it with someone who has done the bigger job
My one on one executive coaching follows the structure above, and the discovery day ends with the number I'll hold you to for the first quarter. In my experience it's rarely the one on your current scorecard, and we agree on it together before anything else starts.
If you're the CEO, the 1:1 CEO advisory is the version built for you. If you're a VP, a new C-level leader, or stepping up, book a discovery call and tell me which group you're in. I never ask for a decision on that first call.
Andreas Pettersson built and sold an AI company before ChatGPT existed. One of Canon's youngest CEOs, he now coaches CEOs and the senior leaders who report to them, with a focus on leading in the AI era.
