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LEADERSHIP & PEOPLE

Leadership Coaching

The best firm leaders are intentional about their own growth. Winding River Consulting coaching works with owners, managing partners, and senior leaders who want to lead with greater clarity, influence, and impact.

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LEADERSHIP IS PRACTICE

Leadership Is a Practice

Running a professional services firm demands a kind of leadership that most people are never formally prepared for. The technical skills that made someone successful early in their career rarely cover what leading a growing firm actually requires: setting direction, managing complexity, developing others, navigating conflict, and making high-stakes decisions with incomplete information.

Our leadership coaching solutions are designed for leaders who take their own development as seriously as they take their firm. Engagements are built around your specific situation, your goals, and the gaps between where you are leading now and where you want to be.

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Focus Areas

What coaching addresses.

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Leadership identity & executive presence

Grow into the way you show up, communicate authority, and are experienced by your firm.

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Strategic clarity & decision-making

Sharpen how you set direction and make high-stakes calls with incomplete information.

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Managing & developing direct reports

Build the habits that turn talented people into a capable, accountable team.

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Navigating partner & stakeholder dynamics

Lead effectively across the partner group and the stakeholders your firm depends on.

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Communication & influence

Communicate with the precision and influence that moves people to action.

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Succession readiness & role transitions

Prepare for the next role — and hand off the current one — with confidence.

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Work sustainability & leader effectiveness

Lead at a pace and in a way that stays effective and sustainable over time.

The Engagement

How coaching works.

Engagements typically run six to twelve months, with the flexibility to continue as goals evolve.

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Intake & goals

Every engagement begins with an intake process that establishes clear goals and surfaces the real challenges you're facing as a leader.

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A regular cadence

Monthly or biweekly sessions combine direct coaching with accountability between meetings, so progress carries into the day-to-day work of leading.

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An evidence-based foundation

Where appropriate, 360-degree feedback, leadership assessments, and stakeholder input ground the work in a clear, evidence-based picture.

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WHO WE COACH

Built for leaders at every inflection point.

Winding River Consulting works with firm owners and founders preparing for a leadership transition, managing partners stepping into expanded roles, senior leaders developing into executive-level responsibilities, and high-potential individuals identified as the next generation of firm leadership.

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As a new managing partner, I found MPB to be extremely valuable. To spend a few days immersed in the knowledge and experience of Gary, his colleagues, and the other partners in the room, is unlike any other leadership opportunity I have found in the CPA profession. We covered tough topics that come up every day in this role and others that hopefully never come up but you need to have the tools and resources to manage these issues when they do arise.
Jessica Freiburg
Managing Partner - Sassetti
Your Coaches

Gain insight from experienced leaders.

At Winding River Consulting, our leadership coaches bring extensive track records of building, growing, and managing some of the nation's leading firms.

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Gary Shamis

Senior Advisor

Gary is the founder of Winding River Consulting and one of the accounting profess...

David Toth

David M. Toth

Chief Growth Officer | President

David empowers firms to grow strategically by aligning innovation, insight, and e...

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Dr. Rachel Anevski, PHR, SHRM-CP

Managing Director, Leadership & People

As a consultant to the profession for 20+ years, Rachel helps public accounting l...

Clarity that moves leaders forward.

Invest in the Leader Your Firm Needs.

Talk to Winding River Consulting about leadership coaching.

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