Jake Smolarek

Executive Coach In London

As featured in „The Times, Business Insider & Yahoo”

27k+ hours spent coaching
18+ years of coaching experience
1600+ happy clients
177+ testimonials

as featured in

Executive Coaching

Become the leader of today and pioneer of the future of business!

Being a leader could be an enriching and fulfilling role yet, at the same time, a challenging and lonely prospect. Overcoming workplace issues, understanding your purpose, and progressing your career must be on top of your priorities list.

However, you are not quite sure how to achieve those goals. An executive career coach is somebody who will provide you with insights, guidance, and practical tools on how you can further your career and become the definition of an inspiring leader in your team’s eyes.

But it’s more than that. Much more.

Think of Me as Your Leadership Development Coach

My brand of executive coaching targets everything from emotional intelligence to inner motivation. I’m also a big proponent of self-awareness. You can’t expect to improve as a business executive if you can’t recognise where your strengths and weaknesses lie.

Executive leadership coaching can help you both on a personal and professional level, accelerating the growth of your leadership skills and taking some pressure associated with high-level positions off your shoulders.

Being an executive is so much more than just being a specialist in your field. You have to make difficult decisions daily, and the stakes are higher since you have a lot of co-workers counting on your ability to push the company in the right direction.

There is a lot on the line, and there is a specific set of skills that can help you improve your effectiveness and success rate as a leader, and that is where executive coaching services come in.

But I’m not the kind of executive and life coach in London who will make life easy for you. In fact, I’ll push you hard at every opportunity. Your development plan will be very challenging, but it will teach you new soft skills and various techniques aimed at helping you achieve your full potential as an executive and leader.

I will be more than happy to help you with your career development, enhancing your motivation, confidence, and overall performance.

Professional Guidance Begins with an Initial Assessment

Ready for a career transition that will take you to the next level? Contact me today to arrange a free, no-obligation initial consultation. From my office in the Islington/Angel area of London, we’ll assess your needs before creating an executive coaching action plan for long-term success.

Success Stories

Real Clients. Real Success. Real Results.
From feeling stuck professionally to landing a role far beyond what he expected. This is Egis’s story:

“Within the first couple of months of coaching, I achieved several incredible outcomes. I found an amazing, well-paid job, far beyond what I had expected, all with Jake’s support. I also entered a happy relationship, moved into the flat I had always dreamed of, started travelling the world, and gained a deeper understanding of myself. The journey has been truly transformative.” 

Egis — Business Change Manager at London’s Leading Law Firm

book your complimentary initial consultation session!

What Is Executive Coaching?

In my view, executive coaching is all about fulfilling your business and leadership potential. My ultimate goal is to improve your self-awareness—which is the spark for a range of other improvements. I’ll use my significant coaching skills and real-world experience to help you drive transformational change, think more critically, and lead with courage.

The right coach can develop existing strengths and turn weaknesses into opportunities for personal growth. It’s a lifelong learning process, but coaching from the right person can give you the lifelong traits and processes you need to succeed.

What Do Executive Coaches Do?

Executive coaches typically work with senior leaders in an effort to fulfil their potential. Through a series of one-to-one sessions, self-reflection exercises, and progress tracking, an executive coach will work with a client to improve a range of performance issues:

  • The development of key leadership skills
  • The improvement of team performance
  • Improving emotional intelligence for better professional relationships
  • Improving productivity with the help of time management coaching
  • Improving communication skills
  • Increasing value for key stakeholders
  • Conflict resolution skills

By continually providing forthright feedback and monitoring progress, I will help you develop all of these areas and more. The process begins with an initial one-to-two-hour assessment, which we can do either in my Central London office on Prebend Street N1 or via a Zoom call.

Am I the Right Executive Coach for You?

I fulfil all the criteria of being a member of the International Coaching Federation. That said, I have my own, unique approach that is proven to deliver results for senior leaders and senior managers.

My coaching skills were developed over many years—forged in adversity during my time in the world of business. I found that setting key delivery and organizational goals helped me to focus on the big picture. But I also realised that self-awareness was a big issue. That’s why one of my underlying beliefs is that the need to uncover blind spots is paramount.

I address issues head-on. I offer support when it’s needed, but I’m never afraid to be direct and challenging when the need arises. From personal experience, I understand the power of the direct approach. We’ll develop a productive and confidential relationship, but it won’t always be easy on you.

Who Can Benefit From Executive Leadership Coaching?

The group of executives that can benefit from leadership and career coaching sessions is quite considerable:

CEOs and Leaders

  • Leadership coaching for CEOs is tailored for those at the top of their organisations. Leading effectively is a crucial part of any successful company culture, and coaching can make you highly efficient in that regard.

High-Potentials

  • Career progression at the executive level is a somewhat tricky process, as the number of positions is strictly limited. A coach is there to guide and bring out the best of people with high potential and help create the next generation of business leaders.

Board Members

  • Executive Coaching at the board level is designed for board members to improve their cooperation and improve the company’s decision-making and performance. I work with top leaders in London and beyond to create challenging and thought-provoking action plans that challenge my clients to become the best versions of themselves.

Team Coaching

Group executive coaching aims to bring individuals together and improve their skills, collective responsibility, and overall awareness. It is a mix of group sessions and one one-on-one meetings that focus specifically on team efficiency.

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Think about your future

Book your complimentary initial consultation session!

Why Do You Need Executive Coaching Services?

Executive Coaching has grown quickly over the last couple of years, especially in the UK. It attracts both individuals and organisations mainly because of the promise of enhanced performance and accelerated professional development. It’s not just about teaching new skills—it’s also about changing mindsets.

It could potentially help with setting both individual and business goals and values and creating strategies to achieve them. Working with an executive coach works in favour of any leader who wants to better his practices and performance.

Even when a company has already sophisticated processes that ensure the best practices are followed, there are for sure members of this system who are struggling to reach peak performance. Busy work schedules, competing priorities, and lack of resources can all hinder executives’ productivity levels.

Coaching is the way to organise the chaos associated with being a leader and having a lot of responsibility, which is why it is needed at the top management level.

Improve Your Strategic Planning Skills

Good leadership involves taking the bull by the horns and creating a long-term strategy. Yes, things may need to change along the way, but the best leaders start with a plan and roll with the punches.

Become a Better Senior Leader

Many of my clients are already senior leaders. They turn to me for the insights, support, and guidance needed to lead more effectively and courageously.

Learn How to Change an Organization

One of my most in-demand confidence coaching services involves dealing with and managing change. Too many leaders avoid change—when it’s often a positive course of action that can benefit both individuals and large organizations.

Develop Your Emotional Intelligence

Our first session together will involve a discussion and a series of questions—working both ways. I’ll assess your personality and emotional intelligence before creating an action plan designed to fine-tune your emotional skills. Over time, our work together will help you assess and manage your colleagues, clients, and subordinates more effectively.

Become More Resilient

Your well-being is just as important to me as your professional development. The most successful leaders are happy at work and at home, so we’ll work on ways to boost your overall resilience to issues such as change, setbacks, and negative feedback.

My Approach to Performance Coaching Executives

When working with executives, I focus on exploring your strengths, unique skills and weaknesses. I then apply that knowledge to come up with a set of values and priorities to boost your business performance and overall quality of life—both at work and in the office.

I will provide you with the groundwork for making significant and successful decisions. Together, we will develop a plan to take strategic action that will bring a significant improvement in the way you lead your team and business. Executive Coaching will be the best investment in the prosperous future that you will ever make.

Let’s start with a thought-provoking initial consultation—either at my business office in Central London or via a Zoom call. The first step to the career your talent deserves begins with a two-hour meeting. Book yours now.

My Clients Say

Before my coaching sessions with Jake, I was in a terrible position. My relationship was in a bad state, my feelings and sense of self-worth were very low, and I was barely able to stay emotionally stable. I hated my job and my whole life. However, since working with Jake, I’ve become much stronger; my self-belief has gone through the roof, and I know how valuable I am. I have found a company I love to work for, and my relationships with others are much more profound and exciting.

Tina Patel – Lawyer

When I began working with Mr Smolarek, the business was under considerable strain. Too many decisions were coming back to me, and several key roles were not working as they should. He helped me look at the organisation with much greater clarity. We made some difficult changes, strengthened the structure and put better people in the right positions. Within a quarter, margins had doubled.
UPDATE: I first worked with Mr Smolarek in 2020 and continued for over five years. He still visits our London headquarters periodically to offer an independent perspective.

Daniel Williams – Director & Co-owner

When I started coaching with Jake, I was in the darkest depths of my relationship, my business, and my entire life. I was a walking shadow, and I couldn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel… However, Jake helped me to turn everything around and put me on the right track. His coaching helped me to change how I can see the world. The impact it has had on my business and personal life is priceless. His business ideas are so easy to implement and at the same time very powerful!

Ben C. – Business owner (Surname withheld for privacy)

Jake’s work as a business coach has had a tremendous impact on both my business and my life. Working with him helped me focus on my vision, goals and the actions that actually mattered. In just a few months, I made more progress than I had in the previous five years. I became much clearer about what I wanted and far more decisive about what needed to happen next.

Neil Coker – Founder and CEO

The only thing I can say is a huge thank you, Jake! I already had the right tools in place to create a good income, but Jake added a few missing pieces to my plan and helped me grow my coaching business much faster. In just a few weeks, he helped me see what I was missing, make better decisions, and improve how I was positioning and developing the business. It wasn’t always easy, but it was worth it.

Denise Green – Peak Performance Coach

Jake helped me change my life when I felt lost. I decided to work with him because I wanted to change my career path. With his genuine personality and sense of humour, I instantly connected with him. He helped me find my new way, and I am now doing what I always wanted to do, but wasn’t brave enough to try. Jake believed in me when I doubted every action and feeling I had. He pushed me to my limits, so I had to break them, and to my surprise, I did.

Tom Bayliss – Writer and editor

Working with Jake changed the way I thought about my business and the decisions I was making. Even after the first few sessions, I could see things more clearly and approach problems differently. He helped me improve my sales and communication, challenged some of the assumptions that were holding me back and pointed out opportunities I had not considered. Over time, I became more productive, made better decisions and had more freedom in how I ran the business.

Phillip Larsen – CEO

I had a good job and was earning well, but I wanted to build something of my own. I found Jake online, booked an initial consultation and told him I had no idea what that business should be. Through our conversations, I became interested in online advertising. Jake encouraged me to take it seriously and helped me turn it into a business.
UPDATE 2026: Seven years later, I still run the agency full-time. I deliberately kept it small and specialised, working with freelancers and focusing mainly on advertising for cleaning businesses across London and other UK cities.

Magda Kowalczuk – Agency Owner

By the time I was introduced to Jake, I had already built a successful fashion business, but I was carrying too much of it myself. The company was growing, the pressure was increasing, and I had very few people around me who truly understood what it meant to run a business.
Jake helped me think more clearly, challenge my assumptions and make better decisions. Over time, the business became larger, more profitable and far less dependent on me.
UPDATE: I first worked with Jake in 2019. In 2026, I sold the business in a lower nine-figure deal and began considering what I wanted to build next.

Barbara Johnson – Fashion Entrepreneur

I started working with Jake in 2020 when I was 22 and trying to turn my fitness work into a proper business. He helped me understand the commercial side, including sales, branding, marketing and positioning. Within about six months, I was earning £10,000-£14,000 a month and had built a six-figure business. Jake gave me structure, challenged my thinking and helped me focus on what actually moved the business forward. His guidance made a real difference in how quickly I progressed.
UPDATE: By the second quarter of 2026, I had grown the business to eight figures in annual revenue.

Rakesh Patel – Fitness Entrepreneur

Jake, thank you. You genuinely changed my life for the better. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I was really moving forward and doing what I had always wanted to do. You helped me believe that I could make it happen, and then actually start doing it. That confidence carried into my business as well. I started making clearer decisions, taking opportunities more seriously and building with much more purpose than before.

Romario Ramirez – Business owner, Speaker & Artist

Jake is a great coach. Our conversations challenged the way I was looking at several problems and reminded me that there is always more to learn. He is very observant, experienced and good at seeing what may be difficult to notice when you are too close to a situation. I am genuinely grateful for the support and perspective he gave us during a difficult period. I can see why business coaching suits him so well.

Steven P. – COO of a large corporation (Surname withheld for privacy)

When I started working with Jake, the business was doing around £6 million in turnover, but too much still depended on me. Jake helped me see that I had become the bottleneck and pushed me to change the way I was running the company. We improved delegation, brought in the right support and put better systems around the business. Once I stepped back from things I should not have been doing, the company grew into eight figures. Jake helped me see what needed to change and held me to it.

Michael Chadwick – Founder

At a certain level, it becomes difficult to get completely honest feedback. Jake gave me that. He challenged some of my assumptions, said things others around me were unlikely to say and helped me look at several decisions more clearly. What I valued most was the directness. There was no need to impress me or agree with me. The conversations helped me sharpen my thinking, delegate better and make cleaner decisions.

Oscar A. – Founder & CEO (Surname withheld for privacy)

Jake coached and mentored me through the early stages of my online business. He gave me confidence, helped me understand what I needed to do and supported me while I built my online fashion company. His guidance made a real difference in those early years, especially when I was still learning how to think about the business and make decisions with more confidence.
UPDATE: I started working with Jake in 2017. Now in 2026, the business is generating more than $40 million in annual turnover.

Jane Ho – Online Entrepreneur

I can highly recommend Jake Smolarek as a business coach. He must be one of the best in the business. He helped me take my business to the next level and become much clearer about the decisions I needed to make. I did not always like what Jake had to say, but he is tough, fair and very direct. Looking back, some of the things I least wanted to hear were exactly what I needed. He helped me see what I was missing and approach the business with much more clarity.

Susan Mason – Business Owner

I worked with Jake for more than 5 years. When we started, I was still employed and building my business from scratch. He helped me make the decisions I needed to make, including leaving my job and going full-time with the business. Over the years, I grew the company from zero to around £2 million in turnover. Jake was there through every stage, helping me with decisions and growth. He was always direct, and I knew I would get his real opinion. Working with him made a huge difference to me and the business. I would highly recommend him to any serious business owner.

Paul Jackson – Business Owner

Jake challenged the way I was looking at the business and pushed me to make a few decisions I had been avoiding for too long. Some were uncomfortable, but they changed the way we led the company and how the business was structured. Within less than twelve months, turnover grew from around £80 million to £140 million. Jake has a very good eye for what is actually getting in the way and is not afraid to say it.

Sean McKenzie – Founder and CEO

Jake is a fantastic business coach who gets to the heart of the problem very quickly. He helped me take some drastic steps (they were needed!), which made a huge difference to both my business and family life. In practical terms, I now work less, earn roughly twice what I used to and have considerably more time with my kids. What I like about Jake is that he can be straightforward when needed. He is not afraid to ask difficult questions when the situation calls for them. An outstanding return on investment. Thank you, Jake. See you again soon.

Peter Barnes – Entrepreneur

Jake is one of those people I call “my people”. He was the business coach I needed when I was trying to get clear on what I wanted to build and how to move forward. His feedback helped me clarify my objectives and build a very profitable online business. He challenged me when I needed it and gave me practical tools I still use in both business and life. I am in a much better place today because of the work we did together. Thank you, Jake.

Robert Yau – Online Entrepreneur

People Also Ask: Career Coaching FAQs

Cooperation with executive coaches is typically based on a series of one-on-one sessions (or group sessions when it comes to executive team coaching). During our meetings, we will work on your personal values, goals, and strategies for both the company development and your individual career growth.

An executive can benefit from working with a career coach experienced in time management, strategy building, productivity and team management and accelerate the growth of the company and personal development as a leader.

Even though I am based in London, I work with executives from outside the capital city as well. I also work with international executives, as my experience is global, so I can offer advice and guidance to leaders from all over the world.

As a life and business coach, I offer both face-to-face executive coaching sessions (in London) and virtual sessions via Zoom (global access).

Executive coaches’ services in the UK are reasonably priced, as the number of coaches is relatively high compared to the rest of the world. I have a lot of experience, as I’ve worked with many top executives in the past. Coaching is an individual service.

The price will vary based on your needs and the number of sessions you wish to have with me. Reach out to me, and I will come up with a competitive offer that will satisfy your needs.

I have spoken at

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Contact Me

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address

Davies Street, Mayfair,
London W1K

phone number

Mobile: +44 7738 514 600

email

[email protected]

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