For the past year or so, I’ve been calling myself a Professional Thinking Partner. It felt right. It captured what I believe leaders really need: not just advice, but someone to think with. Someone who listens deeply, asks better questions, and helps create clarity in the midst of complexity.
But recently, I’ve wondered if that language is clear enough for people to know what I actually do. Most people aren’t searching for a “thinking partner.” They’re searching for a coach. Executive coaching. Leadership coaching. Business coaching. That’s the familiar language, the doorway people recognize.
So here I am, working through the tension between clarity and uniqueness. Between being true to the practice I’ve developed — and making sure people can actually find me when they’re looking for help.
Why Leaders Get Stuck
I’ve spent most of my career working alongside leaders. Corporate executives, nonprofit directors, entrepreneurs, and community builders. And one truth cuts across all of them: every leader gets stuck.
→ Stuck in loops of overthinking, where the same problem circles endlessly without resolution.
→ Stuck between choices that all feel imperfect or risky.
→ Stuck carrying doubts they can’t admit to their team or board.
→ Stuck in the weeds, unable to see the bigger picture.
And the thing is, these leaders are smart, capable, and hardworking. They’re not stuck because they don’t know enough or because they’re unqualified. They’re stuck because leadership is lonely, the stakes are high, and the pressure to keep moving can be relentless.
Why Coaching Helps
That’s where coaching comes in. Coaching creates something leaders rarely find inside their own organizations: a confidential space to pause, reflect, and think more clearly.
In coaching, you gain:
→ A Safe Space: A place to talk through ideas, challenges, and doubts without judgment.
→ A Fresh Perspective: Someone outside your day-to-day who can help you see things differently.
→ Long-Term Resilience: Support for building the clarity, confidence, and mindsets that allow you to adapt and keep going.
At its best, coaching isn’t about someone telling you what to do. It’s about creating the right conditions for you to make better decisions, take more purposeful action, and grow as a leader.
Why I Use a Thinking Partnership Approach
This is where the word “partnership” matters. My coaching isn’t a one-way street. I don’t show up with answers to hand over. I show up to create the conditions for your best thinking.
Nancy Kline calls this a Thinking Environment: the idea that the quality of everything we do depends on the quality of the thinking we do first. And our thinking improves when we are listened to with genuine attention, encouraged without interruption, and asked incisive questions that help us break free of limiting assumptions.
That’s what a Thinking Partnership is: a coaching relationship built around the belief that you already have within you the seeds of the best solutions. My role is to create the space, the questions, and the conditions that allow those seeds to grow.
Here’s how one longtime colleague put it:
“Bill doesn’t hand you solutions on a platter; he asks the questions that make you realize you’ve been looking at the problem all wrong. He combines the listening skills of a great therapist with the strategic mind of someone who’s built and sold companies. If you want someone to validate your current thinking, look elsewhere. If you want a thought partner who will challenge you to build something more resilient and meaningful — Bill is exactly who you want in your corner.”
That description captures the heart of it. Coaching, in my practice, is about helping you get unstuck by helping you think differently.
Why I Stopped Leading With “Professional Thinking Partner”
So why not just keep calling it that?
Here’s the thing: when I say “Professional Thinking Partner,” people tilt their heads. It sparks curiosity, which I like. But it also creates confusion.
If you’re searching for support, you’re not typing “thinking partner” into Google. You’re searching for an executive coach. A leadership coach. That’s the known category.
So I realized that if I want people to find the help they need, I have to meet them where they are. That means using the familiar words — Executive & Leadership Coaching — as the front door. And once they walk in, I can show them the unique approach I bring inside: the Thinking Partnership.
One client summed this up perfectly:
“Thinking Partnerships is a good differentiator. Coaching is the name of the service; Thinking Partnership is how you do it.”
Exactly.
What It Looks Like in Practice
In practical terms, here’s what it means to work with me:
One Work Session: We start by diving into whatever feels most urgent. A big decision. A stuck place. A challenge you can’t untangle. My role is to help you reframe, explore, and find clarity.
Ongoing Partnership: If you’re ready for a deeper engagement, we begin with a framing session to understand your goals and vision. Then we meet twice a month to work through whatever’s on your mind. Over time, these sessions build clarity, momentum, confidence, and resilience.
Another colleague described it this way:
“Bill has a rare ability to bring alignment to unstructured groups, build consensus, and guide teams toward a shared North Star. He brings a calm demeanor and clear sense of purpose that will elevate any team.”
That’s what a coaching partnership is meant to feel like: clarity in complexity, and support when the path forward feels uncertain.
Why Me
I’ve led organizations across corporate, nonprofit, and startup contexts. I know firsthand what it feels like to hold big responsibilities and carry complex decisions. I also know the relief that comes from having someone in your corner who isn’t entangled in your day-to-day, but who’s fully invested in your success.
As another client put it:
“Bill is a connector. He quickly grasps complex ideas and instinctively knows which people in his network can help move good ideas forward. He has an uncanny ability to sense the key systems at play in any business.”
That’s what I bring: empathy, strategic insight, and the discipline of creating spaces where your best thinking can emerge.
So, Coaching or Thinking Partnership?
At the end of the day, it’s both.
I am an executive and leadership coach — that’s the service. But I practice it as a thinking partner, using the tools of design thinking, futures thinking, and Nancy Kline’s Thinking Environment to help leaders get unstuck and move forward with clarity.
So yes, the language has shifted. But the heart of the work remains the same: helping leaders find the clarity, courage, and resilience they need to do their best work.
And if you’re stuck right now, maybe this is exactly the kind of partnership you’ve been looking for.