Executive Coach | Retired Marine | Author | KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Janet L. Polach, Ph.D.

Equipping Leaders to Think, Act, and Lead Strategically

By shifting focus from tactical execution to strategic leadership, Janet helps organizations cultivate confident, capable leaders who drive performance, empower teams, and sustain business success. Through her custom coaching programs, executive leadership assessments, and leadership workshops, she equips executives with the mindset and skills to lead at a higher level—with impact that lasts.

Executives are expected to make high-stakes decisions, drive organizational growth, and lead with vision. Yet, many new leaders struggle to make the shift from doing the work to leading the organization. They get stuck in execution, spread too thin by competing priorities, and fail to empower their teams to step up. 

Without a strategic mindset, leadership effectiveness and business performance suffers.

Janet Polach specializes in helping leaders break free from the details and lead with confidence, clarity, and long-term vision. As a global expert with over 20 years of executive coaching and leadership development, she has worked with leaders across industries and cultures to strengthen their leadership identity, develop strategic thinking, and navigate the complexities of high-stakes decision-making. She has worked internationally from North America, and Europe, to Asia, helping new leaders and executives define and refine their leadership approach across different cultural and business environments.

With a cross-culture perspective and as a retired U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col., Janet brings a structured, data-driven, and action-oriented approach to leadership transformation. She is also a published author and sought-after speaker, known for her books "The Seven Mistakes New Managers Make" and "The Mindset of the Strategic Leader." Through her writing, coaching, and keynotes, she provides leaders with practical frameworks they can immediately implement to shift their thinking on leadership, elevate their capabilities, and drive long-term success.

Take the next step in your leadership journey—contact Janet today to explore coaching or book her as a speaker.

Read about Janet:

Who is Janet?

As a retired Marine officer, Janet knows a thing or two about what it takes to be a great leader. Realizing that leaders are often too busy running their business to pay attention to employees, and then witnessing the subsequent high staff turnover, she helps organizations become clear about what effective leadership really looks like, and what practices to implement in order to increase purpose and profit.

After receiving her PhD in organizational development and following her work with a global consulting firm in China, she launched her own

consulting practice, helping hundreds companies across the globeincluding major brands and government contractors. Her identity incudes a no-nonsense but lighthearted approach, which creates transformational results for even the most struggling of leaders.

Areas of Practice

Speaker Topics

Janet freely shares her expertise and know-how. She connects to her audience in personal ways through stories, exercises, and application. Her highly interactive topics as a keynote speaker or workshop leader include:

Avoiding the Mistakes
New Leaders Make

Individual contributors are responsible for themselves; however, leaders achieve results through others. Unlock your success in leading others by mastering three key practices. Discover how to incorporate them into your daily workflow to empower your team’s success.

Letting Go of What Got You Here: Manager to Strategic Leader

Strategic leaders are often promoted for their exceptional skills at delivering projects on time and within budget. Excelling at senior levels requires a significant shift. Leaders must evolve from focusing on operational tasks to thinking and planning strategically for the long-term success of the organization. This transformation involves identifying and adopting new habits and behaviors while letting go of outdated ones. In this session, leaders will learn to navigate this transition and become highly effective strategic leaders.

The Under-estimated Secret Sauce
of Leadership

As leaders, we get so busy giving directions and putting out fires that we have little time for gaining insights, considering alternatives, and doing things differently. Asking great questions is an art that can be mastered with a little attention to thinking beyond the emergency at hand.

Women’s Leadership
and Sureness

What does it take to make the next BIG step or decision? Hear the research on women as risk takers and identify the steps you need to take to confidently walk into the unknown.

Give honest direct feedback without sidestepping issues or imploding relationships

Leverage the hidden strengths within each of your employees to bring out the best in each of them

Create a close knit team with common goals, defined roles and united souls

Rekindle even the most tired out employee and revive your greatest talent