Leading is never easy.
Leading well is even harder.

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About Me

 

I coach leaders and teams who want to tap into their innate strengths and accelerate their performance. I also, ahem, help these professionals see their blind spots and understand how to work with them.

I do this with authenticity, courage and compassion.

 
 

I work with both leaders and organizations in different ways depending on their needs. Most often this looks like:

 
 
 
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Executive Coaching

  • For a new leader who wants to launch well

  • To maximize a leader’s influence with the board or external stakeholders

  • To help develop new behaviors and leave old ones

  • For a leader who needs a sounding board

  • To help pivot the business and get the team on board

  • To lead a highly functioning team

 
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Consulting for teams who

  • Have a new leader

  • Are not maximizing business outcomes

  • Can’t break down silos

  • Have trouble building trust and getting the real issues on the table

  • Are not all rowing in the same direction, lack cohesion

  • Benefit from outside facilitation

 
 
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Client List

 
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Affirm

ARUP

Autodesk

CIRM

Coursera

Daleys Drywall

Dropbox

Everlane

Equinix

First Look Media

Gan Integrity

Heartflow

Ipsy

Intuit

Juvo

Levis

Master Class

Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, NYC

Pinterest

SailThru

SunPower

UCSF

Yaypay

Zogenix

 
 

Endorsements

“Kristine is laser-focused on what it takes to build and lead a cohesive organization capable of maintaining success over time. She’s an insightful advisor who sees your blind spots — and helps you to see them, too. Her coaching was just what I needed to navigate complicated challenges: candid, trustworthy, and provocative — always challenging me to think of things in fresh ways.”

 

Betsy Reed, Editor-in-Chief, The Intercept

 

“Kristine is exceptional. I’m an engineer turned first-time founder CEO and I’ve learned a huge amount about how to be an effective leader from her. She’s exceptionally high EQ, very smart, and incredibly thoughtful. Amplitude wouldn’t be in the same place without the work we did with her.”

 

Spenser Skates, CEO and Co-Founder, Amplitude

 

“To say that Kristine changed my professional life and career trajectory would be an understatement. When I met Kristine, I was at a growing startup where I had no real sense of how to scale a team or do it in an empathetic way. She completely reoriented my leadership style to focus on serving my team, helped me evolve my communication style to both my peers and superiors and ultimately helped me understand myself better. I am forever grateful!”

 

Ashley McCollum, SVP Revenue, Westbrook Media

 

Kristine revolutionized how we work at Gametime. She consistently notices ways we can improve as a leadership team and as a company. Her frameworks resonate with our team and help structure our thinking. Her focus on clarity and team dynamics has enabled a whole new level of alignment and performance at GT. She goes beyond the research and reading to help us apply nuanced ways of improving in dynamic environments like we’ve seen in 2020.”

 

Brad Griffiths, CEO and Founder, Gametime

 

Kristine is a game changer. I was fortunate to have her as a personal coach when I started my own company. She asked thoughtful and intuitive questions that helped me to see new possibilities for myself, accelerating my confidence as a leader. Kristine is an incredibly effective coach because she walks with you, bridging the thinking and feeling work, and inspiring you to own your personal growth.”

 

Joel Rabin, CEO, Inform 2 Inspire

 

Kristine Kern

I am fascinated by humans and, in particular, by the human dynamic of teams. I also love fast-moving entrepreneurial businesses. I’ve created a career that plays to my strengths – quick-witted, smart, ability to speak honestly with kindness, action-oriented, knack for unpacking subtleties in behavior – and I get jazzed helping leaders get better at leading.

My background is in business – media, to be exact. I have experience growing creative teams, launching new brands, shutting down business units and developing new lines of business. I’ve led through times of insane expansion (hello: Wired circa 1999) and stifling contraction (hello: Inc. magazine circa 2008).

I rely on this business perspective when I coach executives. Which differentiates me.

I am also an expert on teams. I have helped thousands of leaders build healthier organizations, one team at a time. My work over the past eight years as a principal consultant with the Table Group has given me a unique vantage point into teams of all kinds – virtual, matrixed, cross-functional – as they align both behaviorally and strategically to perform at their best.

I have MBAs from Columbia University and UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and a bachelor’s degree from California State University at Fullerton.

A native Californian, I currently live and work in Oakland and New York City.

 

Get in Touch