An Incredible Journey – Announcing: Rebrand to Close Cohen Career Consulting

Interesting pandemic isn’t it?

I recently surveyed a group of middle-aged professionals (sometimes referred to as my neighbors) around a bonfire and asked what they could notice about the impacts of this first year of Covid on their lives.

At first many claimed to be in a holding pattern, “I’m just waiting for everything to be over” was the consensus.

Being an executive coach I did not accept the first, too succinct answer and pushed on asking the same question a second time (coaching tip: if you keep your tone relaxed and open, the second time you repeat the question you get the real answer).

When I good humoredly asked the group to try again, surely I claimed, there was more to notice? They began to engage, reflect and then coalesce around a shared answer:

In the absence of social rhythms, the disruption of work experiences, and the overall reduction in contact with others, space had grown in each person’s life.

That space in each person’s life was ultimately filled with a greater personal awareness of what they really want from this chapter in their lives.

I think about the hundreds of clients we have served, each one of you has left some warm impression or neat career strategy lesson in your wake for myself and the staff you worked with. Each of you are memorable—and I wonder for each of you reading this, what you have discovered that you really want?

I would very much enjoy that listening session.

For myself, the space that opened up in my life came down to exploration. What further shores had I forgotten to set my eyes on, in the laser-focused effort to get each client to their desired destination of new role, new seniority, new prestige or achievement.

Enter Alisa Cohen,
new partner in the practice
and Principal Executive Coach. 

When I first left the world of political campaign strategy as an experienced veteran to found this career coaching practice I did not know who would choose me as coach, who would trust me.

Alisa at the time was a Director over a large organization at Starbucks corporate headquarters and was one of my earliest clients—we built a powerful trust based relationship over 7 years ago, and have stayed in touch as the years passed.

Out of the blue, Alisa booked a drop in session this Fall and populated onto my zoom screen to declare that her entire life’s work as a people leader at major corporate brands could now be summarized as a jet pack inside her soul.

Driven to focus completely on developing people, Alisa wanted to invest 100% of her time as an executive coach, developing senior leaders.

I blinked into the camera not sure how to tell her that we were about to launch an incredible journey together.

2021 has brought incredible stretch goals for both myself and Principal Executive Coach Alisa and brings business growth to our practice.

We are so happy to announce the rebrand to

Close Cohen Career Consulting

Alisa Cohen takes on the role of Partner and Principal Executive Coach.

As founder, I am moving to a managerial role in the practice as I assume my duties as co-founder at my software startup, while Alisa assumes responsibility for our client portfolio and business operations.

Alisa brings a 20+ year history in successfully leading change and people in global companies as a senior people leader. She’s known for her sophisticated ability to develop leaders by identifying their strengths and setting stretch goals while coaching for ever higher performance,

The red-thread running through Alisa’s career is a passion to invest in leadership development at every opportunity. In fact, she became known for it as a senior leader.

At Starbucks Alisa prepared her team to regularly present directly to senior executives, and at Amazon Alisa coached her team through high-visibility business document writing and operational planning. It’s her go-to instinct, to help the people she leads to reach their full potential.Alisa’s experience in talent development extends through hiring, onboarding, and through successful promotion cycles. She is gifted at seeing the exact ways to strengthen your external or internal candidacy for advancement, and above all—she is your trusted partner.

Alisa is the Director you wish you had.

It’s a remarkable thing for her to be so freshly experienced in great quality people development, from within matrixed organizations at scale. She now brings her knowledge and experience directly to each client’s custom project.

It’s been wonderful to watch how clients delight in her insights and her strategic coaching approach. Only the best for our clients, naturally!

About:

A trendsetter in the career coaching space Close Cohen offers clients access to senior level candidate preparation, executive performance coaching, private senior level networking experiences, and political strategy for promotion velocity at senior and C-suite levels.

Close Cohen clients rave about their experiences and with good reason, we care about your victory as much as you care about your products and customers.

Alisa Cohen is accepting limited clients for Q2, you can book a consultation call here.

Your coach,

Laura Close
Founder, Close Cohen Career Consulting