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Work With Me

Scaling the leader to match the enterprise.

Something in the business has changed. The pace and intuition that built the enterprise are now meeting a new level of complexity, and the return on your personal effort is beginning to flatten. You are not trying to fix a struggling company. You are scaling a successful one.

My work begins with an individual diagnostic focused on you as a leader, providing immediate clarity on the leadership requirements for your next inflection point, typically pinpointing the primary growth lever within the first two sessions.

I work with a limited number of founders, CEOs, and C-suite executives at any given time: leaders at inflection points where the pressure is coming from a board, a capital event, succession, or their own clear-eyed recognition that how they are leading will not be sufficient for what comes next.

daphne bernicker standing in office
01
Executive Advisory
One-on-one work with founders, CEOs, and C-suite executives when the work can no longer wait: navigating a capital event, succession, business scale, or a growth plateau. I begin with the EQPlus® diagnostic to identify the constraint precisely. Engagements are structured with 30/60/90 checkpoints, progress is tracked and tied to outcomes, and most continue for many years.
02
Leadership Teams
For CEOs whose senior team isn't operating at the level the enterprise requires, during rapid growth, post-IPO transition, or culture recalibration. The work anchors the leadership team in the CEO's agenda and builds a bench capable of carrying real authority independently. Using the EQPlus® diagnostic at both the individual and team level, I identify the gaps and misalignments limiting the layer beneath the CEO.
03
Facilitation
For leadership teams ready to examine direction, strategy, and how they operate together, and take the actions necessary to change enterprise trajectory. I bring structured frameworks tested across sixteen years of leadership engagements to facilitate the hard conversations that produce real decisions. The work is designed to create alignment, resolve what has been unresolved, and produce clear commitments that hold after the room empties.

Testimonials

I gained more insight in our 1½ hour debrief than through all of the coaching I had received to date.

Myra Caldwell • EVP, Cadence Bank, N.A.

I had never worked with a coach before and wasn't quite sure what to expect. Daphne has such a kind, safe way about her that I found myself looking forward to our visits.

Paul Hobby • Founder and Managing Director, Genesis Park, on working together

What began as one conversation quickly expanded beyond anything I could have imagined.

Vera De Brito de Gyarfas • General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, NextDecade

Our company has restructured, strategically embracing our role as an industry leader. She helped me step into my own authority, expand into new business lines, and build a healthier relationship with success.

Elaine Gibbs • CEO & Founder, Bell Analytics

Who I work with

Founders and CEOs at scale inflection points. C-suite executives stepping into genuine enterprise authority. Leaders navigating capital events, succession, or rapid growth.

This Work Is Not For

  • Leaders looking for off-the-shelf programs without diagnostic depth
  • Leaders unwilling to examine what is actually limiting them
  • Leaders looking for validation rather than clarity
  • Leaders not yet ready to make a serious investment in their own development

01 · The EQPlus® Diagnostic

Every engagement begins with the EQPlus® Motivation Profile, an objective diagnostic of the motivational logic behind your decisions. It identifies the beliefs and assumptions shaping how you lead, and where those assumptions are costing the enterprise. Most clients have more clarity on what needs to shift within the first two sessions than they've had in years.

02 · Closing the Gaps

We use the diagnostic to pinpoint the specific gaps in how you lead, how leadership is structured, or what your executive team is capable of. Then we work directly to close them. By identifying where decision-making friction lives, we increase velocity faster than most expect. What felt like complexity reveals itself as something specific and addressable.

03 · Building Independent Authority

Once the work at the leader level is addressed, we turn to the senior team, building a bench capable of carrying your agenda independently. We bridge the gap between executive responsibility and actual authority. This is where the return compounds. Engagements are structured with 30/60/90-day checkpoints to ensure shifts translate into execution speed and enterprise value.