Welcome to Craft Your Narrative.

You're probably here because you've decided that you need to work on your personal narrative. I want to help you define and communicate it effectively to the gatekeepers and decision-makers who hold the keys to your career advancement.

I was a Fortune 100 hiring manager and then an executive recruiter at a top search firm before becoming an executive and career coach more than ten years ago. As a coach, I’ve worked with thousands of clients and have seen that even smart, ambitious people in senior leadership roles struggle to tell their story. They’re unable to describe where they've been, where they're going, and how the two are connected. And they also struggle with some of the basics of career advancement, including networking, interviewing, office politics and managing their time for the greatest impact.

If those are your challenges, too, and you want to advance a meaningful career that you enjoy, then you're in the right place.

For now, while I'm getting settled on Substack, everything I post will be open to free subscribers. So take a look around!

And in case you're wondering, I

  • have a BA in Russian and Eastern European Studies from Yale, an MBA from the Wharton School, and an MA in International Studies from the Joseph H. Lauder Institute at Penn

  • lived and worked in the former Soviet Union and Russia during the changeover in the early 1990s

  • worked for over 10 years as a marketer/general manager in the beauty business, personal care and pharma at Estée Lauder, Coty, Avon and Johnson & Johnson/Neutrogena

  • worked as a senior recruiter at a top executive search firm in Boston for about four years

  • was trained as a focus group moderator and professional in-depth interviewer

  • founded my private coaching practice Career Narratives in 2011, where I work with aspiring and senior leaders in consumer products, healthcare, financial services and tech

  • started coaching at Harvard Business School in 2011, where I've worked with literally thousands of alumni and students

  • designed and currently lead the executive coaching program for the corporate strategy group of a Fortune 100 company

  • host the Career Narratives Podcast — give it a listen!

  • have been a trailing spouse twice — I'm married to a surgeon who went to medical school in New York, completed a residency in LA, and followed it up with a fellowship in Boston

  • spend a lot of my free time looking after the sweetest, prettiest shelter dog ever

  • started playing classical piano when I was five, performed with orchestras twice as a kid, and I still see my childhood piano teacher whenever I’m back home

There are relatively few people in career and executive coaching with my range of education, work experience and perspective. I'm looking forward to sharing that perspective with you.

Doug

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Take control of your narrative. Pursue a career with meaning. Advance to senior leadership roles. Practical, behind-the-scenes perspective from a former Fortune 100 hiring manager and executive recruiter.

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Career strategist and executive coach. I help impact-driven MBAs and ambitious professionals advance to senior leadership roles.