Stephanie Schwartz · ICF ACC · Tilt365 Certified
I spent three years being told I was doing great.
I took it as praise. It was actually the sound of not being considered for anything.
Twenty-five years in Fortune 500 marketing at JPMorgan Chase and Nationwide, finishing as an SVP at Huntington — budgets in the hundreds of millions, every target hit. I was the person they called essential. I was also the person they kept exactly where I was.
My Story
How I got unstuck.
I built my reputation on always having the answer. That is exactly what kept me where I was. I thought the work would speak for itself — and it never did, because work doesn't speak. People do, in rooms you aren't in.
Marshall Goldsmith's What Got You Here Won't Get You There named it for me. I was so busy proving I was right that I skipped the things that actually move careers: trust, influence, and the relationships that put your name in the conversation before you walk in.
When I put my attention there instead, everything changed. That shift is what got me to Senior Vice President — not a new certification, not more hours, not better work. The work was already good.
Afterward I wanted to know whether I was unusual. I trained as a coach at the Center for Executive Coaching and interviewed more than fifty senior leaders about the moment their careers stalled. The same four patterns came up again and again, capping people who were genuinely brilliant at their jobs.
Including me.
Credentials, for the record: ICF Associate Certified Coach. Certified Career Coach, Center for Executive Coaching. Tilt365 Certified Practitioner — a personality assessment for how you show up under pressure. MBA, Loyola University Chicago. BS Marketing, The Ohio State University.
How I Work
Three things you should know before we talk.
You bring a real scenario, not a hypothetical.
A challenge you're carrying right now, a perception you need to shift, the conversation you keep putting off. We start by getting clear on where you want to go and how you want to be known.
We shape how you say it, not just what you say.
Moving from “how” to “why,” from detail to executive impact. Then reading who's in the room and which lever matters to each of them — your manager, your skip-level, the peer whose buy-in you need.
Then you practice it until it's a habit.
You try it, we debrief, you adjust. Repeat until it stops being a technique and becomes how you lead — and until the alliances you build from it hold on their own.
“If you know you need to make a shift but doubt coaching can help, working with Stephanie will change your mind.”
“She helped me reframe networking from feeling ‘fake’ to building genuine, high-value collaboration rooted in helping others.”
— SueEllen, JD & LMHCTwo Ways to Work Together
The difference is how personal it gets.
If You'd Rather Not Do It Alone
Group Coaching
Spend eight weeks with peers who are going through similar changes. You’ll practice new behaviors together and hear how others would handle the same challenges based on their own experiences. This is something you can’t get from private coaching.
$2,950 · six seats
See the group program →If It's Too Specific to Say Out Loud
1:1 Coaching
Over ninety days, we’ll meet privately every other week. We’ll dive into your unique situation, including your background, your boss, and your review cycle. We’ll also explore beliefs and build new habits more deeply than in a group setting.
$3,500 · 90 days
See how private coaching works →Twenty minutes, and I'll tell you what I see.
Bring the situation you can't name. You'll leave with a plan whether or not you hire me.
BOOK A PATTERN STRATEGY CALLFree · 20 minutes · Or take the 90-second quiz first and I'll read your result before we talk.