CEO Coached to Success Across Two Continents

How Executive Coaching Empowered a CEO to Thrive Across Two Continents

John "JT" Tallarida, a seasoned insurance executive with over 35 years of international experience, faced unique leadership challenges managing two businesses across continents. As CEO of Costero Brokers LTD, Chief Carrier Officer of Heffernan Insurance Brokers, and a Board Director for Heffernan Group, he needed support in strategic decision-making, time management, and maintaining a strong team culture across both US and UK operations.

Executive coaching with Kristi Royse of KLR Consulting provided the objective guidance, strategic partnership, and confidential support he needed to thrive in this complex environment

Executive Responsibility Across Continents: The Challenge

JT's expanded leadership responsibilities, including building a startup in the UK while managing existing US operations, presented several key challenges:

• Strategic Decision-Making: Navigating complex strategic decisions, particularly in the new UK venture.
• Time Management & Prioritization: Balancing the demands of two businesses across different time zones, along with personal commitments.
• Objective Feedback & Advice: Seeking unbiased, confidential counsel without internal company politics.
• Team Building & Culture: Building a new leadership team in the UK while maintaining a strong team culture in both locations.

The Solution: Executive Coaching

How does a C-level executive hone their leadership skills and enhance their strategy and decision-making? The best way is through executive coaching.

"The truth is, it’s lonely at the top," says JT.

Recognizing the value of external support, JT engaged Kristi Royse of KLR Consulting for executive coaching. This decision was influenced by a positive past experience with coaching during his sales career.

Benefits of the Coaching Process

The Impact of Coaching

Coaching provides several key benefits:

• Trusted Advisor & Confidential Sounding Board: Kristi provides a safe, confidential space for JT to discuss challenges and receive objective feedback without internal company biases. As JT noted, "With Kristi, you get an objective, outside viewpoint. I can confide in her without worrying about it going anywhere else."
• Enhanced Strategic Decision-Making: As his “strategy partner,” Kristi helps JT analyze concerns, explore solutions, and refine his strategic approach. This was particularly valuable in navigating the complexities of the UK startup. For example, Kristi transformed a complex presentation into a concise and compelling message that resonated with the UK board.
• Improved Communication & Leadership: Coaching helped JT refine his communication style and continues to help him adapt his leadership approach to maintain a strong workplace culture across both US and UK teams. This has been essential for building trust and engagement within his teams.
• Effective Time Management: Kristi provides guidance on prioritizing tasks and managing time effectively across multiple time zones, helping JT maintain a healthy work-life balance.
• Strengthened Team Culture: By supporting him in his leadership development and communication, coaching contributed to maintaining and building a strong team culture in both the US and UK businesses. JT emphasized how important culture is to him, saying, "Look, I refuse to sacrifice culture for revenue."

Impartial and Direct

JT finds that Kristi can provide feedback and advice without any kind of politics. "Any C-level executive is going to find that they've got three groups they can communicate with: Their executive teammates, their partner at home, and their board. You will have various degrees of support from those three, but with Kristi as your coach, you get an objective, outside viewpoint. I can confide in her without worrying about it going anywhere else."

He goes on to point out that she has the business sense and experience to address his concerns, "but doesn't have the 'baggage' of being on my payroll. She is very direct, which I appreciate."

Because she is not embedded in the organization and coaches a range of executives, she brings a fresh, outsider perspective. This allows her to challenge assumptions, surface blind spots, and offer insights in a way that internal stakeholders cannot.

To support their work together, Kristi also curated tailored resources—including articles, podcasts, and books—relevant to JT’s specific challenges, ensuring he had actionable insights between sessions. Every conversation ended with clear strategies, tools, and often “homework” to immediately apply to ongoing issues, making their work both practical and impactful.

Kristi: Long-term, Trusted Advisor

Kristi Royse has become more than a coach for John Tallarida—she is a trusted advisor and indispensable partner in his leadership journey. Through her objective feedback, strategic partnership, and confidential support, JT has managed the complexities of leading two businesses across continents, enhanced his decision-making, improved communication, strengthened team culture, and ultimately, achieved greater leadership effectiveness.

Having worked with Kristi for many years, JT looks forward to continuing this partnership to achieve even greater success. “I would tell other executives that the cost-to-benefit ratio of working with Kristi is absolutely worth it.”