Deep conversations
The founders wanted to give the best of themselves without losing themselves in the pressure of the business.
Helping a founder-led business understand itself more clearly.
A coaching and relationship intelligence engagement with Kiss House, supporting a husband-and-wife founder team to better understand themselves, each other and the people relying on them.
Kiss House is a founder-led house-building and design company created by Mike and Carli Jacob, guided by care, design integrity and a strong sense of purpose.
A personal note
Kiss House were one of my first ever clients, and they hold a particular place in my heart for that reason and many others. Mike and Carli built a truly visionary business around an extraordinary house-building and design concept. What I admired about them then, and still admire now, is that alongside all their gifts, standards and creative ambition, they had a real appetite to keep developing themselves. They were curious about relationship awareness, self-development and the human patterns that shape how people work together. I remain hugely indebted to the faith they placed in me in my formative years as a leadership coach.
The context
Like many founder-led businesses, Kiss House carried a lot through relationship: trust, instinct, shared history, emotional investment and the founders' own standards. That could be a strength. It could also become demanding. When people care deeply about the work, leadership can become personal very quickly. Decisions, feedback, tension and expectations are not just operational issues. They touch identity, values and what people believe they are trying to build.
The work
We created the space to think clearly, together.
Clear thinking
Kate began with self-awareness, helping the founders understand their own motives, strengths and emotional patterns. The work then moved into the wider relationship system: building shared language, improving two-way communication, reducing conflict flare-ups and using Core Strengths SDI as a practical map for motivation, overdone strengths and pressure responses.
Practical ways forward
Explored authentic leadership, emotional fitness, personal motives and strengths.
The outcome
Stronger foundations. Clearer direction. Better relationships.
- The founders developed clearer language for their own motives, strengths and stress patterns
- They gained a practical way to understand the needs, frustrations and communication styles of others
- The work helped turn care and instinct into more deliberate leadership behaviour
- Kiss House had a stronger foundation for honest communication, reduced conflict and better day-to-day relationships
“In a chance encounter with Kate I instantly connected with her energy and knew that she was someone important to develop a meaningful relationship with so that I could give the best of myself. It can be boiled down to this: If you care about what you do and others rely on you, accept that there are established proven models out there - what matters most is getting the right delivery agent. There will be one for you and it could be Kate.”
The impact
Clarity that changed how the work could move.
This was founder coaching with a relationship intelligence lens. The work helped the leadership team see that better relationships come from understanding what matters to people, how behaviour changes under pressure and how to choose the right response before conflict or misunderstanding takes over.
Delve deeper
Related resources for the pattern underneath this work.
01
Neuroscience
You know exactly what habit you need to change. So why haven't you?
Most leaders, at some point in their development, arrive at a moment of uncomfortable clarity. They can see the pattern.
02
Psychology & Work
You can see exactly what's wrong. You've seen it for months. So why haven't you said anything?
The gap between knowing something is broken and actually naming it out loud is one of the least examined spaces in professional life. It is also, right now, getting wider.
03
Leadership
Hybrid did not create your relationship problems. It just made them impossible to ignore.
Hybrid did not create the relationship problems in a team. It reveals the trust, communication and psychological safety issues that proximity used to quietly manage.