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You're LEADING Through COMPLEXITY.
DRIVING Growth
Navigating CHANGE.
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But how do you build executive presence, lead with confidence, and grow your business impact — when you're already juggling more than enough?
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Stuck in execution mode – delivering results yourself instead of multiplying impact through your team
Unclear on your next move – you've outgrown your current role but don't know how to position yourself for what's next
Overwhelmed by competing priorities – leading teams, managing stakeholders, driving growth—all while trying to develop yourself
Struggling with executive presence – you're capable, but you're not commanding the room or influencing at the level you want
Building in isolation – whether you're scaling a startup, leading a corporate team, or navigating a career transition, you need a strategic partner who gets it
You need CLARITY. STRATEGY. TACTICS.
And someone who's been there
YOU'RE NOT ALONE IF YOU ARE:
Hi! I'm Merve
I partner with corporate executives, startup founders, and organizations globally to accelerate leadership performance, build high-trust teams, and drive measurable business impact.
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I'm an ICF and EMCC accredited executive coach and business consultant. I spent 11+ years at Google leading global teams across sales, partnerships, and customer success. I hold an INSEAD MBA, and I've worked with leaders from Fortune 500 companies such as Apple, Amazon, McKinsey, BCG, Stripe, L'Oréal, Meta, Mastercard, and dozens of high-growth startups across Europe, APAC, and North America.​
​Today, I provide executive coaching, leadership development programs, strategic consulting, and team growth workshops to help leaders and organizations navigate complexity, scale across markets, and build high-performing teams that thrive.
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I've lived in 6 countries, built teams across 35+ nationalities, and bring a coach-sultant approach grounded in accountability, empowerment, practical business strategy, and deep respect for cross-cultural dynamics.
I'M HERE TO PARTNER WITH YOU ON YOUR LEADERSHIP TRANSFORMATION
TOWARDS MEANINGFUL AND IMPACTFUL CHANGE.
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My Coaching Approach
Rise from the Roots and Lead with Purpose
GROUND
Understand yourself on a deeper level – your strengths, motivations, passions, and opportunities for growth. By grounding yourself on this self-awareness, you will have the foundational roots to embark on a journey of meaningful change.
EMPOWER
Unlock your innate power by removing the constraints of limiting beliefs and automatic negative thoughts (ANTs). Reframe and repurpose these thoughts and beliefs into goal-oriented opportunities with clarity and purpose.
ACTION
Cultivate a growth mindset as you take purposeful steps towards achieving your goals. Embrace accountability and support to drive tangible results, ensuring progress with each deliberate action you take.
Leadrise Coaching
in Numbers
WAYS WE CAN WORK Together
Exclusive
1:1 COACHING
Advance your professional growth with tailored private coaching sessions designed to tackle your unique challenges and goals head-on. 1:1 coaching offers personalized insights, practical guidance, and actionable strategies to help you reach your full potential.
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Digital
LEADERSHIP MASTERY PROGRAM
Master the leadership frameworks used at Google, Amazon, and top business schools through a self-paced digital program. Build executive presence, grow your team, and scale your impact with 6 modules, 4 masterclasses, and 55+ actionable tools you can implement immediately.
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Online and In-Person
CORPORATE ENGAGEMENTS
Inspire, equip, and energize your teams with workshops, trainings, and keynotes tailored to your organization’s unique context. Whether it’s a leadership offsite, team session, or company-wide event, we design experiences that spark insight, shift mindsets, and lead to meaningful action.
Managing Director, JP Morgan
Paris, France
Before working with Merve, I was stuck in an unfulfilling job, in a difficult team situation, and unsure of how to align my career with what truly mattered to me. Merve’s coaching helped me unpack my core values, work and life priorities, and long-term goals, giving me clarity on the kind of work and environment where I could thrive. Thanks to this foundational shift along with the action-oriented interview prep and negotiation tactics Merve provided, I landed multiple job offers from top companies in line with my aspirations, moved to a different country, increased my compensation, got a promotion, as well as moved into a more desirable field within finance.
I wholeheartedly recommend Merve to anyone seeking a coach who delivers real results with genuine care.
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Founder and CEO, HiiGuru
London, UK
I've been working with Merve for over 3 years now, and she has helped my business grow significantly while keeping me sane through every stage. Merve has a unique blend of skills that are perfect for anyone who is looking to unblock invisible barriers and take their business to the next level. She comes with an incredibly strong business background and has an innate ability (I would even call it a sixth sense) to listen and connect the dots. She's been able to identify my mental blockers before I had even realized they were there. Merve has enabled me to realize the business goals that I originally thought were unattainable. I can't recommend Merve enough!
Engineering Director, Google
Mountain View, CA, USA
I reached out to Merve during one of the most chaotic periods of my career. Multiple startup ideas pulling my attention. Back-to-back reorgs at work reshaping my team and scope. A growing sense that I was reacting to everything without being intentional.
Over our coaching engagement, Merve helped me separate what mattered from what was just noise. She helped me evaluate my startup pursuits with brutal honesty. She gave me frameworks to navigate organizational chaos without losing my footing or burning out my team.
What stands out most is her ability to ask the questions I'm avoiding. She doesn't let you hide from your own patterns. And she does it with enough directness that you trust her, and enough empathy that you don't shut down.
She is amazing at the leadership stuff and also understands the tech ecosystem, jargon, the Big Tech and start-up dynamics really well which is a huge plus.
Coachees Come From Reputable Companies
FAQ's
What is executive coaching?
Executive coaching is a structured, confidential professional relationship designed to help leaders perform at their best. A coach works with you to clarify your goals, challenge your thinking, build on your strengths, and move past whatever is holding you back. It is not advice-giving, therapy, or mentoring. Executive coaching is used by senior leaders, founders, and high-potential professionals at moments of transition, increased pressure, or genuine ambition — and is consistently shown to improve performance, decision-making, leadership presence, and career outcomes.
What does an executive coach do?
An executive coach helps you think more clearly, lead more effectively, and make better decisions. In practice, that means working on things like executive presence, stakeholder management, team dynamics, career strategy, leadership transitions, and managing complexity under pressure. A good coach does not tell you what to do — they ask the questions that help you find your own answers, surface blind spots you cannot see from inside your situation, and hold you accountable to the commitments you make to yourself. The agenda is always yours.
Who is executive coaching for?
Executive coaching is for anyone navigating real professional challenge or ambition — not just CEOs. Clients typically include directors, VPs, senior managers, founders, and high-potential leaders who are growing fast, managing more complexity than before, or standing at a career crossroads. You do not need to be struggling to benefit from coaching. Many of the most successful leaders use coaching as an ongoing thinking partnership — precisely because they take their performance and development seriously.
What is the difference between a business coach and an executive coach?
The terms are often used interchangeably, but there is a meaningful distinction. A business coach typically focuses on business strategy, growth, and operational challenges — helping you build and scale your business. An executive coach focuses primarily on you as a leader — your mindset, your behaviors, your presence, and your effectiveness in your role. In practice, the best coaching at senior levels combines both: the business context cannot be separated from the person leading it. At Leadrise, we take a coach-sultant approach — bringing both strategic business thinking and deep coaching expertise to every engagement.
What is leadership development and why does it matter?
Leadership development is the process of building the skills, mindset, and behaviors that allow individuals and teams to lead more effectively. It goes beyond technical training — it addresses how leaders communicate, make decisions, build trust, manage change, and develop others. Research consistently shows that organizations that invest in leadership development see stronger performance, lower turnover, and more resilient teams. In a business environment defined by constant change and complexity, leadership capability is one of the highest-leverage investments an organization can make.
What is LEGO Serious Play and how is it used in leadership?
LEGO Serious Play (LSP) is a facilitated workshop methodology that uses LEGO bricks as a thinking tool to help teams explore strategy, build shared understanding, and solve complex challenges. Participants build three-dimensional models representing their ideas, then share and discuss them — a process that surfaces insights that traditional meetings and presentations rarely reach. In leadership contexts, LSP is used for team alignment, strategy sessions, culture work, new manager onboarding, and leadership offsites. It ensures 100% participation, creates psychological safety, and produces outcomes that stick. Leadrise is a certified LEGO Serious Play facilitation practice.
How do I know if I need an executive coach?
You might benefit from executive coaching if you are navigating a significant transition — a new role, a promotion, a career pivot, or a period of rapid growth. You might also benefit if you feel stretched, unclear on your next move, or aware that something in your leadership is not working as well as it could. Many people come to coaching not because something is wrong, but because they want to perform at the highest level and they want support in doing it. If you are asking the question, it is usually worth having a conversation.
How do I choose the right executive coach?
The most important factor in executive coaching is the quality of the relationship — research consistently shows this is the primary driver of outcomes. Look for a coach who is properly accredited (ICF or EMCC), has real business experience rather than coaching theory alone, and works at the level of complexity you are navigating. Ask about their approach, their experience with clients like you, and whether they offer an intro conversation before you commit. Chemistry matters. A good coach should challenge you, not just support you — and you should feel both safe enough to be honest and pushed enough to grow.
Does executive coaching work?
Yes — the evidence is strong. A widely cited study found that 86% of companies report a positive return on their investment in coaching. Research published in peer-reviewed journals shows significant positive effects on performance, goal attainment, wellbeing, and leadership effectiveness. At an individual level, clients consistently report greater clarity, stronger presence, improved relationships, better decisions under pressure, and more confidence in their direction. Like any professional development, results depend on the commitment of the client and the quality of the coaching relationship — but when both are present, the outcomes tend to be measurable and lasting.
