Clarity
Your ideas become focused, succinct, and easier for other people to understand and repeat.
Private Executive Coaching
Your opportunities got bigger. Your visibility increased. The room changed. Now your communication needs to catch up with the quality of your leadership.
Work directly with John Bates to clarify what you mean, strengthen how you show up, and prepare for the moments when trust, alignment, investment, or action is at stake.
Let’s TalkExplore EngagementsYour expertise isn't the problem
Executive communication coaching is personalized guidance that helps accomplished leaders clarify important messages, strengthen executive presence, communicate with greater Emotional Credibility™, and inspire trust and action in high-stakes situations.
It's not simply public-speaking instruction. It applies anywhere your ability to communicate affects trust, alignment, investment, decisions, or meaningful action.
You may be preparing for a board meeting, investor pitch, keynote, TEDx Talk, all-hands, media appearance, difficult conversation, or moment of change. You know what you mean. The question is whether other people hear it, trust it, remember it, and act on it.
John’s coaching goes beyond presentation polish. It helps you uncover the message beneath the message, remove what blocks your full expression, and communicate with greater clarity, emotional credibility, presence, and authentic human connection.
See what executive communication coaching actually includes →
For engineers, scientists, physicians, technical founders, and innovation leaders: Explore executive communication coaching for technical leaders →
Explore how personalized coaching works and the five communication skills coaching helps leaders master.
What changes
Your ideas become focused, succinct, and easier for other people to understand and repeat.
How you show up becomes a match for the quality of your thinking, experience, and leadership.
Your expertise becomes human, emotionally credible, memorable, and easier to trust.
Your words create alignment, investment, decisions, ownership, and inspired action.
The work
The strongest coaching starts with an opportunity, challenge, or message that actually matters.
We use the live moments in your leadership as the laboratory. You leave with work you can apply immediately and principles you can keep using long after the engagement ends.
Learn how to make complex ideas clear without dumbing them down →
Ways to work together
Every engagement is personal, practical, and built around the real communication demands in front of you.
For a high-achieving leader who needs sharper positioning, stronger presence, and meaningful progress in the next 90 days.
For a leader ready to deepen their influence across talks, media, leadership moments, and the messages that represent their work.
For leaders committed to communication mastery and creating the most influential work of their career.
Included: direct 1:1 coaching with John, personalized feedback, and access to the 12-module Speak Like a Leader Boot Camp, grounded in the science of human communication.
Proof in practice
These aren't hypothetical outcomes. They came from leaders applying the work in moments that mattered.
By humanizing his communication, sharing authentic stories, and building emotional credibility, he strengthened trust across the company and secured a promotion to the global C-suite.
After preparing his message, stories, delivery, and presence, prospects told him they booked meetings because of the keynote—not because of the company’s booth.
Read Alan’s case study →He called it the best talk he had ever delivered, had more than 40 people waiting to meet him afterward, and later won Speaker of the Year based on the speech.
Read Sebastian's case study →How it works
We begin with what matters, who needs to hear you, and what needs to happen next.
We uncover the clearest, most human version of the message you're actually here to deliver.
You receive direct feedback on message, story, delivery, presence, and audience connection.
You use the work in real leadership situations and continue refining what creates trust and action.
“It was a tremendous pleasure to work with John Bates on my TED Talk. I learned so much from John, and anytime I face a challenging speaking situation, I certainly know whom to call.”
Dolph Lundgren
The investment
Private 1:1 coaching with John begins at $9,500 for the 3-Month Focus engagement.
The appropriate engagement depends on what is at stake, the outcomes you want to create, the time available, and the level of access and support that will serve you best.
Executive Speaking Success also offers customized virtual learning for large and small groups.
Questions leaders ask
It is for accomplished founders, executives, experts, and organizational leaders whose visibility, influence, or responsibility has outgrown the way they currently communicate.
No. The work applies to board meetings, investor pitches, all-hands conversations, media interviews, podcasts, panels, keynotes, TED-format talks, and everyday leadership moments where trust and action matter.
Yes. Most ongoing coaching can be done effectively by video, with in-person work available when it serves the engagement. The right structure depends on your goals, timing, and location.
Current engagement paths are designed around approximately three, six, or twelve months. We will choose the depth that matches your goals and what is at stake.
Private 1:1 coaching with John begins at $9,500 for the 3-Month Focus engagement. Six- and twelve-month engagements provide greater depth and support. Customized virtual group learning is also available. Read the complete guide to executive communication coaching costs and value.
Look for a coach who understands the level at which you already operate, works with real leadership situations rather than generic exercises, gives direct and specific feedback, preserves your natural voice, and can show relevant results. Chemistry matters, too: you should feel respected and constructively challenged. Review the case studies and client experiences, then use the first conversation to decide whether the approach fits what is at stake.
We talk about the opportunity or challenge in front of you, what you want to change, and whether John’s approach is a strong fit. There is no generic assessment and no hard sell.
Start with the stakes
Let’s make sure how you show up is a match for how good you really are.
Let’s TalkA thoughtful first conversation about what matters, what's changing, and whether we're a good fit.