Client Testimonials
My partnership with Tom Girard has been one of the most fruitful of my career.
I initially engaged with Tom to explore next steps in my career after my first career transition in 18 years. Our partnership has since evolved into something far beyond the transition itself. Sessions with Tom are productive, enlightening and, most of all, collaborative. Tom is an exceptional listener - he doesn’t miss a thing, and he remembers things I said months ago. But his truly unique assets are his insights. As a result of those insights, my understanding of the relationship between the cognitive and emotional aspects of myself has evolved in a very helpful way.
I highly recommend Tom to anyone who wants to increase the satisfaction associated with their professional + personal lives.
- Paul Kennedy, Co-Founder, Lifestreet, San Francisco, CA
Tom has many talents and gifts but this work may be his calling. I cannot endorse him highly enough. He is clearheaded, magically articulate, strategic, and kind. In our work, we set the overarching goals together. In individual sessions he keeps us tracking toward the BIG goal while attending to the day-to-day obstacles or next steps. The sessions are challenging, clarifying, and fun. I emerge optimistic about all of life’s possibilities. Optimistic, with a plan.
When considering a coaching relationship, it occurs to me how critical it is to trust the coach’s judgment. We are allowing them to impact life-changing decisions. I trust Tom.
Tom is a focused guide, a consultant without bias, and an ally with my best interests at heart. A smart, wonderful human being. I’m grateful to be working with him.
- Katie Hatch, SVP Brand, Clare V., Los Angeles, CA
Working with Tom has been the single best decision I’ve made for my career and personal growth.
Tom’s impact on my life has permeated through my inner growth, career trajectory, and most of all my family and friends. His method is welcoming and impactful. He’s sincere, thoughtful, inspirational, and challenges you in ways that feel new but safe. You really feel like you’re gaining an ally with Tom, that he’s part of your inner circle, wanting the best for you, and offering an innovative independent opinion.
If you’re looking to work on yourself or want to figure out what you want from your career, I absolutely endorse Tom to help guide you on your journey. I am honored to have found in Tom not only a mentor but also a friend.
- Adam Danko, Lead, Social Center of Excellence, Hearts & Science, New York, NY
From day one, I knew that Tom would play an invaluable role during the company's evolution by supporting me with my development as a leader. Tom is compassionate, intelligent, supportive, empathetic, wise, and genuinely cares about people - both their personal and professional success. He has a unique aptitude and ability to bridge the two.
Through this holistic approach, Tom’s work as a leadership coach is unparalleled and has had a profound impact on me as an individual and my organization.
- Ben Spivack, Founder & CEO, Folden Lane, New York, NY
Tom is an outstanding professional and world class coach. I've had the great honor of working with him over the past year. As a coach, he is empathetic, encouraging, creative and yet well-measured; the perfect person to engage with if you're interested in finding your purpose, switching careers or advancing within your own role.
What we accomplished together is nothing short of miraculous: through career crises and termination to self-realization and dream-job manifestation, Tom coached me through it all.
I can't recommend Tom enough. I implore you to begin your own journey with him today – it will be one of the wisest decisions (and smartest investments) you'll ever make.
- Matthew Pastorius, Business Development, Gear Patrol, New York, NY
Tom has been my weather vane as I've blown around searching for a path forward during the pandemic and the subsequent upheaval that has come with it.
With every session together, my prospects grow clearer and more abundant. I've just signed a second book contract (so excited!) and joined two non-profit boards, both of which give me great joy and make me feel like I'm making a difference in the world.
I am deeply grateful to Tom and feel like I'm heading in the right direction thanks to his jovial, warm, wise and reassuring guidance.
- Betsy Quammen Gaines, Author, Historian and Conservationist, Bozeman, MT
Working with Tom has shifted my life in a truly profound and tangible way. He is the definition of a coach - someone who pushes you, even when it's hard, because he genuinely wants you to reach your goals. He is compassionate, open, kind, intuitive, and fun, and having him in my corner allowed me to experience real growth and step into a life I didn't think was possible.
- Lisa Mendelson, Global Marketing Director, AvroKO, New York, NY
Before working with Tom, I didn’t realize how much I needed to dig in and look at some deeply held patterns that were keeping me from accomplishing my goals. I’m just six weeks in and I already have a draft of my first book.
Tom is as compassionate as he is sharp. He asks powerful questions and is driven by a deep desire to help me show up for myself. I was yearning for more of something in my life and with Tom’s help, I’m happy to say that I’m immediately feeling more of it.
- Cisco Guzman, Head of Product, Heirloom.io, San Francisco, CA
I’ve spent a lot of time looking for someone like Tom. We initially began working together to help navigate a major career transition that felt unnavigable. Tom’s partnership in creating a plan through the larger lens of purpose brought me so much clarity and fulfillment. His deep level of empathy and understanding, as well as his deep knowledge-base of different modalities, helped reshape my old ways of thinking and I left each session with clarity, support, and inspiration.
One of Tom’s greatest strengths is his intuitive ability to pinpoint behaviors that are holding me back and require more attention and focus. He champions growth and guides the exploration into sticky areas with deep empathy and intention and has helped me rewrite old narratives into productive, future facing strategies. My meetings with Tom have served as a compass during ambiguous times and he has helped point me towards engagement with my life in a way I didn’t know was possible. I’m so grateful for all of my work with Tom and wholeheartedly recommend him to anyone looking for a deeper, more meaningful connection with their lives.
In short, Tom has completely shifted the paradigm of how I contextualize and engage with my career.
- Taylor Griggs, Estee Lauder Companies, Los Angeles, CA
I started working with Tom in September of 2020, and almost immediately I felt completely comfortable expressing everything that was keeping me up at night about my career.
Tom does that — he puts you at ease. When we wrapped up our work in December, I was amazed at how much better I felt, not just about my job and my career, but about me.
That's largely because Tom was able show me that my self-described weaknesses were maybe strengths, and that, with a slight shift in perspective, I could take back control from my anxieties. I owe Tom a debt of gratitude for how we was able to help me think differently about my career, and I'd recommend him to anyone also suffering from a crisis of confidence, or really anything else, too.
- Jeff Gross, Executive Director, Digital Content, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Los Angeles, CA
Tom and I have been working together for about 8 months and he's already made a profound impact on me, both personally and professionally. He has been, and continues to be, instrumental in helping me navigate the career path that is ahead of me, as well as helping me rethink my current job and the mindset I need to be successful, fulfilled and challenged.
One of the many qualities that I appreciate most about Tom is his ability to identify and unpack growth areas for me that warrant deeper discussion, exploration and resolution that I often do not even realize are holding me back.
His constructive, thoughtful, and compassionate guidance has been invaluable for me. I feel incredibly fortunate to have met him and that we've been able to make so much progress together.
- Zach Tarshis, Sr. Account Executive, Google, Austin, TX
I was new to executive coaching and from the beginning, Tom brought a friendly rapport and professional clarity to the process. It was my first leadership position and I was struggling with both significant work challenges and larger career questions. Our work together helped to center my values and navigate my leadership concerns in the immediate and, I'm sure, in the longer term. Tom provided crucial support and grounding through a stressful and eventful time.
Our sessions were the firm but inspirational halftime speeches I needed to contextualize failures, see my goals through, and set me up for the next game in my career.
- Jess, Chief Operating Officer, Media Industry, New York, NY
Tom is so much more than a leadership coach. He brings compassion, wisdom, and empathy to our meetings and has an intuitive way of getting to the core of the issue at hand.
He helped me through an emotional job transition and continues to guide me through the self doubt and fear that come along with leadership and life. I leave our sessions with more confidence and am better equipped to handle what lies ahead.
One of the most powerful things for me in my meetings with Tom is that I love myself more than when we started. In my everyday life, I spend so much time evaluating my actions and words...always thinking about how I could have done things differently to achieve a better outcome. But after our sessions, I feel like I can rest and be free of the constant evaluation and 'bettering' of myself. I leave our sessions feeling a heart full of love for myself, my actions, my intentions, my spirit, and my zest for life. Complete self acceptance. And I take that with me into my career and personal life to everyone's benefit.
- Jennifer L., Senior Project Manager, Environmental Engineering, Austin, TX
Tom and I started working together September 2020, when I was trying to navigate a major career transition, nearly every part of my life was in flux, and I was feeling completely overwhelmed, and stuck.
After our very first session, I already had a sense of clarity I was missing before, and with each session, I felt more confident in my own strengths and the path forward.
I walked into the sessions thinking I knew what I wanted next, but Tom's coaching and insight helped guide me on the 'how' to achieve it part, holding me accountable and providing guidance, each step of the way. Not only is Tom incredibly smart and intuitive, he's also compassionate, patient, and truly cares. Having Tom in my corner allowed me to feel calm and clear in one of the most uncertain times in my life, and ultimately helped guide me to land a new role that is better aligned to my personal passions and long term goals, something I am forever grateful for. I would highly recommend Tom to anyone going through a pivotal career transition, or anyone feeling stuck!
- Danielle Saltzman, Merchandising Director, Vuori, San Diego, CA
Tom is an invaluable asset to my professional development, and his coaching and insight came at a critical time. He is highly intuitive and he helped me move forward with trust and confidence in my vision. His ability to ask insightful questions and get at the heart of problems encourages growth quickly.
Tom's patience and ease allowed me the space to see things from different perspectives and make some important shifts in my career. In particular, Tom challenged me to take ownership and embrace my own self worth, guiding me to grow beyond what can hold me back.
- Whitney Pritham, Founder, The Anti-Cancer Method, Bozeman, MT
I started working with Tom when I needed a change in my career, but at that moment I didn’t know what that change was. Tom took a holistic approach to help me define my goals and create a plan to achieve them. His approach wasn’t just about my career but focused on my whole life.
Tom was an absolute joy to work with. He is motivational, comforting and focused on progress. He was there every step of the way, helping to encourage me, pushing me to think deeper and influencing me throughout the process.
Career changes can feel messy and uncertain. My career journey was never straight and narrow, it spun around, ebbed and flowed, but Tom was there every step of the way, reminding me of the purpose of our work and helping to create straight direction when the path started to get windy.
Tom is insightful and helped me gain a deeper understanding of myself and goals. This is Tom’s super power, and a huge differentiator from other coaches. Working with Tom forced me to take a deep look inside and really understand what was going to drive happiness in my career and ultimately my life. After each meeting I walked away learning something new about myself, ultimately feeling more confident in the direction I needed to go.
I started my career transition not know what I wanted to do. Do I change jobs, companies, careers, go back to school? But, after working with Tom, I am now in a new role that feels right, and I am confident and excited about my career trajectory. Not only that, I feel like I have learned valuable skills that will be with me throughout the rest of my career.
- Katelyn Shapiro, Product Strategy, Old Navy, San Francisco, CA
Tom and I started working together about three months ago. I was in the midst of a large transition, every part of my life was in flux and knew that I wanted to reassess my career trajectory. Tom intuitively understood where I was in my process and then applied his coaching skills and process to the situation to help me come to a few big ah-ha moments. As I continue to progress, Tom also checks in regularly to refine our working relationship and make sure that I'm getting what I need out of it at that time. This allows me to work through concrete goals and move to the next step, demonstrating tangible progress.
Tom is incredibly empathetic. He works to understand you, what makes you tick and what is important to you-- and then communicate it in a way that you'll understand.
He also knows how to balance the serious work required to get the most out of coaching with a sense of joy and play to make it fun to work together. I would highly recommend Tom-- and have already done so for many former colleagues and friends!
- Laura Kilberg, Chief Digital Officer, Magnum Photos, New York, NY
Working with Tom made an incredible impact on my career and, I believe, the trajectory of my life. I worked with Tom as I was navigating life as a new parent and looking to make a transition to a new job. Unsure of what I wanted to do next, I was struck by how quickly Tom helped me to gain clarity in my next step at work while encouraging me to see the big picture of what I valued in life.
I left each of our coaching sessions with concrete next steps to keep us moving toward our shared goal and, more importantly, I left each session feeling optimistic about my future.
Tom is incredibly empathetic, warm and simply a wonderful person. For anyone looking to make a change in their career, I cannot recommend him enough.
- Olivia Stone, Global Brand Experience Lead, Colgate-Palmolive, New York, NY