You don't need the exact wording. If a CEO you're talking to sounds like any of the below, there's a good chance KLE is worth an introduction.
The CEO is still doing work anyone else could be doing."I know I shouldn't be in the middle of this, but if I'm not, it doesn't get done." Or: "I don't know when I last worked on the actual strategy."
The leadership team has gone quiet. Everyone nods in the exec meeting. Nobody argues. Then the CEO hears about the pushback later, second-hand. If they describe their leadership meetings as peaceful, that's worth paying attention to.
Managers are owning their departments but keep bringing decisions back up."My VPs are good, but they keep coming to me for validation on things they should just be deciding."
They're in the middle of something structurally difficult."We just closed the deal, and now I have two ways of selling and two service models under one roof." Or: "We're going to double in the next two years and I don't know if my team is ready."
They've tried the standard playbook and it didn't land."I had a coach for a year, nice guy, nothing really changed." Or: "We hired a big consultancy and ended up with a beautiful deck we haven't opened since."
The CEO is carrying more than they're showing."I don't have anyone I can actually talk to about this. Not my board, not my team, not my family."
What is Kothari Leadership?
Kothari Leadership is a growth consultancy for CEOs and their leaders. When you know a leader who is capable but stuck and feeling alone, held back by something at the top of the company that no one has quite been able to name, that is exactly who we help.
We work inside the business, alongside the CEO and the executive team, and we stay there until the thing slowing growth actually moves. Companies don't grow, people do, so we start with the people at the top and let the results follow.
The CEOs worth sending our way have usually tried the obvious options first. A coach who has never run a company. A consultant whose big deliverable turned out to be expensive but something no one could implement sustainably. A trusted advisor whose loyalty makes it hard to say the hard thing. What they find in KLE is a partner who has actually sat in the chair, who is working the issue for as long as it takes, and who will say the things their own team has quietly decided are not safe to say.
Why partners refer their CEOs to us
When you make an introduction, your name is on it. Here is what stands behind that.
We work inside the business, not from a distance. KLE's coaches embed with the leadership team. We are in the meetings, in the difficult conversations, and present while the team learns to operate at the next level. It is why our clients say we get more done in 90 days than a traditional consulting engagement gets done in six months.
EQ+Execution™, in the same engagement. Most performance problems that show up in the boardroom are people problems in disguise. An executive team that has quietly stopped telling the CEO what they really think. A manager who owns the department on paper but keeps checking upward for validation. A leadership layer whose confidence has not caught up to the size of the business. We work the people side and the execution side at the same time, because that is the only way either side actually shifts.
Straight talk, on both sides. We do not soft-pedal. If something is not working, we say so. If a CEO is not ready for us, we say that too, to them and to you. The leaders who have worked with us will tell you it was the honesty they could not get anywhere else that made the engagement worth it. That same candor is our promise to you: we treat the relationship you are trusting us with as carefully as you do.
Who we're a great fit for
✓CEOs and founders of growth-stage businesses, broadly $10M-$500M in revenue, who have real growth ambition and know their leadership layer has to level up to hit it.
✓Leaders in the middle of something structurally difficult: a scaling push, an acquisition, an integration, a leadership team change, or a succession plan.
✓CEOs who have quietly realized they've become the bottleneck in their own company and can't see the way out from where they're standing.
✓People who have tried a coach or a consultant before, respected the effort, and found it didn't reach the actual problem.
✓CEOs who want a partner willing to be in the room with the team, not a workshop or a monthly call.
What an engagement with KLE looks like
Shape
Custom to the CEO and the company. Every engagement is scoped after a conversation, not from a menu.
Typical duration
Most engagements are 6-12 months of embedded work. Some are shorter and sharper (90-day integration support). Some become multi-year partnerships.
What's included
We work directly with the CEO. KLE coaches collaborate at the executive layer. Both sides move at the same time: the leader and the team, which is what makes the shift stick.
Investment
Scoped after the conversation. KLE is a premium engagement and the CEOs we work with know it. What every past client has said is a version of "expensive, and worth every penny."
First conversation
A peer-level conversation with Amit. No pitch. Most CEOs leave that first call with a clearer view of what's actually going on in their business, whether or not they work with KLE.
How to make the introduction
Edit the text below, then copy and send. Short is fine. They already trust you.
Email introduction
Introduce them and CC Amit
Tweak the message, then copy. Paste into your email client with Amit CC'd.
WhatsApp / DM
Reply when someone asks for a recommendation
For when someone asks if you know anyone who could help. Edit, copy, send.
Recognition for your introductions
When an introduction turns into a client engagement, a referral fee is available and we will put that in writing. We'll then talk through how you'd like that recognized:
A referral fee — confirmed in writing once the engagement is signed.
A charitable contribution in your name.
A leadership diagnostic session with Amit.
Simply knowing you helped a fellow CEO.
All of it is welcome.
Free for partners
A leadership diagnostic session with Amit
An hour with Amit on whatever's currently on your mind about your own leadership team. It's a peer-level conversation, not a coaching session and not a sales pitch. Available to any active KLE partner, once a year.
Companies that aren't growing and don't plan to. CEOs who want validation more than they want a real read on their business. Anyone looking for a workshop or a monthly call rather than a partner in the actual work. KLE isn't cheap and isn't light-touch; if either of those things is what someone needs right now, Amit will say so on the first call.
Amit reaches out timely to schedule a peer-level conversation. It's not a sales call; the goal is for the CEO to leave with a clearer picture of their own situation, and to work out from there whether a KLE engagement makes sense. Either way, KLE takes it from there, and we keep you in the loop. You don't need to do anything further unless you want to.
It depends on the scope, the depth of the engagement, and the company. Most engagements run over 6-12 months. Amit will discuss the investment on the second or third call, once the shape of the work is clear. It's a premium engagement; the CEOs who've worked with him will tell you it's expensive, and that they'd do it again.
An executive coach usually works with the individual leader. KLE works with the leader, their team, and the business at the same time, which is why the shift tends to hold after the engagement ends. There's also the practitioner question: most coaches have never actually run a company, and Amit has. If someone in your network is being served well by a traditional coach, we're not the answer. If they've tried that route and it didn't reach the actual problem, we probably are.
