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Dr. Maya Ellison

Founder & Head Coach

Maya spent 15 years in people leadership, including as VP of People at a Fortune 500, before founding Northpeak in 2016. She coaches senior leaders and founders, and still believes the best leadership advice fits on an index card.

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Writing

10 articles by Ellison

Decision makingDelegation

Decisions you should delegate, and ones you never should

Delegating the wrong decisions slows your team down. Hoarding the wrong ones burns you out. Here's how to tell them apart.

Hiring & onboardingDecision making

Hiring for potential without getting burned

Hiring for potential can land you a future star or an expensive gamble. The difference is knowing what potential actually looks like.

Career growthSenior leaders

How to have the promotion conversation

Whether you're saying yes, not yet, or no, the promotion conversation is one most leaders fumble. Here's how to do it well.

Executive presenceSenior leaders

Executive presence isn't charisma. It's these four habits.

Presence isn't something you're born with. It's a set of learnable behaviors. Here are the four that matter most.

New managersTransitions

The first 90 days: a playbook for newly promoted leaders

The promotion is the easy part. Here's how to use your first three months to set up everything that follows.

Executive presenceSenior leaders

Gravitas isn't volume: a quieter path to executive presence

Some of the most commanding leaders in the room are also the quietest, and that is not a coincidence.

Executive presenceCommunication

How to be heard in a room full of louder people

Being heard is rarely about talking more, and the quiet people who command rooms know exactly why.

Difficult conversationsCommunication

Saying no to your boss without torching the relationship

A good no protects your boss from a yes you can't deliver, and the trick is to make that obvious.

Difficult conversationsPerformance

The conversation to have before you let someone go

If a termination is a surprise to the person, you skipped the one conversation that could have changed the outcome.

Difficult conversationsPerformance

How to tell someone their work isn't good enough

The kind way to deliver hard feedback is also the clear way, and most managers get the order wrong.

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