Drive impact, with empathy.

Growth brings complexity. As your company scales, decisions get messier, expectations rise, and pressure spreads. I coach leaders at all levels to navigate this complexity with clarity, critical thinking, and empathy, so your business scales efficiently and sustainably.

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Good leadership changes everything.

Better decision making

I help leaders at all levels strengthen perspective taking, lead by values, and make sound calls with limited information. When decision making scales alongside the business, your team moves faster, adapts quicker, and consistently drives toward both performance and cultural goals.

More effective communication

I coach teams to communicate with clarity and intention, from expectations and feedback to motivation. This reduces friction, ensures alignment, and strengthens relationships with stakeholders, partners, and new hires joining during periods of rapid growth.

Less growing pains

Scaling introduces new complexity: new hires, shifting roles, more complex processes, and evolving expectations. I help leaders anticipate challenges, prioritize effectively, and adjust as the business evolves, so you can maintain momentum without burning out your people.

More cohesive organization

I help you design and evolve your org structure, hiring approach, and onboarding practices so new people can ramp fast and contribute meaningfully. We’ll also establish shared language and expectations to build a culture rooted in trust and growth mindset.

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Why partner with me:

Practical impact

Leadership advice is easy to find, the challenge is applying it to nuanced, complex real-world scenarios. I’ve built and led high performance teams in high growth environments recently, so I understand the pressure and challenges you're facing. I coach relevant, research-backed frameworks and help leaders apply them to their own situations so you can see real business impact.

Thinking over tactics

Successful leadership isn’t about memorizing tactics, it’s about making the right call for each situation. That means taking perspectives accurately, making sound decisions, choosing the right approach, and executing well. Together, we’ll take an analytical approach to sharpen critical thinking and judgment, so you and your leaders can lead through complexity with confidence.

Performance-Empathy Balance™

The corporate world needs a little more empathy, which does not have to come at the expense of performance, contrary to popular belief. My proprietary Performance-Empathy Balance™ framework holds leaders accountable while fostering trust, motivation, and sustainable success. I model this balance in my coaching and will teach your leaders to do the same for their teams.

Hi, I'm Connie!

I’m the founder of CG Leadership, creator of the Performance-Empathy Balance™ Model, and the face (and brain) of @conniegaocoaching.

For over a decade, I’ve led teams and delivered results in fast-paced industries, from luxury fashion to DTC startups. Most recently, I scaled active membership by 173% in four years with a higher LTV, while building a 14-person Marketing & Creative team from scratch. Under my leadership, 78% of my team was promoted, and my team retention was 3x the company average.

I pair this real-world success with an MBA from Columbia Business School and an Economics degree from Princeton University, giving you both the theoretical foundation and practical know-how to lead more effectively with confidence.

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Learn my signature framework.

The Performance-Empathy Balance™ Model gives managers the tools to drive growth without losing their teams. In just an hour, you’ll learn a repeatable decision making framework, specifically built for fast-moving, high-growth environments.