Your company is growing.Can your leadership keep up?
I coach founders and executives through the decisions, team challenges, and personal transitions that come with rapid growth.
My approach comes from 20 years of coaching endurance athletes to perform when the stakes are high.
Let's talkThe next stage of your company demands something different from you.
The decisions get harder. Your team needs more autonomy. The strategies that got you here don't always work at the next level.
Sometimes the biggest constraint on a company's growth is the leader's ability to grow with it.
Leaders usually come to me at one of two moments.
The work just got bigger.
A new role. A promotion. A funding round. A relaunch.
The expectations have changed, and your capabilities need to catch up. You're making decisions with bigger consequences, navigating unfamiliar challenges, and discovering that what worked before isn't enough.
Sometimes your board sees the gap before you do.
The organization isn't coming with you.
Your leadership team isn't aligned. The board sees things differently. Decisions keep coming back to you. Progress has stalled.
Sometimes the problem isn't execution. It's that the goal itself is too narrow, too safe, too distant, or too complicated to explain.
Either way, working harder isn't the answer.
You need a different way to lead.
We start with the Finish Line.
Before we talk about leadership styles or personal development, we define two outcomes: what needs to change in your business, and what needs to change in how you lead.
Each has a clear result and a deadline.
Maybe it's closing a funding round by February. Building a leadership team that can operate without you by June. Or making a strategic decision you've been putting off for months.
Once we know where you're going, we work backward. Then we use the Four Keys to get there.
Forged on the race course.
The Four Keys weren't designed in a conference room. They were built over 20 years of getting endurance athletes to the finish line, and they've helped more than 10,000 of them finish what they started.
Along the way, I watched those athletes carry the same principles into their work. Focus on what you can control. Make good calls when the plan falls apart. Stay committed to a finish line that matters. None of it stays on the course.
That experience, combined with my own years building companies and leading teams, is the foundation of my coaching.
20
Years coaching athletes
30+
Ironman finishes
1,000+
Coached one-on-one
10,000+
Athletes in the community
Execution, Not Prep
Make better decisions when the stakes are high.
Race is great until the wind picks up at mile 80, the temps are insane or you drop your nutrition. The athletes who finish well make the next good call instead of chasing the plan they lost.
The outcome depends on the calls you make along the way: the difficult conversation, the strategic pivot, the decision you can't delegate. We work on making them with clarity, especially when the pressure is on.
The Line
Sustain your performance through the entire effort.
Nobody wins an Ironman in the first hour. But everyone tries to! Contests of endurance are decided late, by the athlete who slows down the least.
The excitement wears off. The demands pile up. We pace the work, protect your energy, and prepare for the transitions before they arrive, so you can deliver when it counts.
The Box
Focus on what you can control, ignore the rest.
You can't control the weather, the course, or the athlete next to you. You can control your effort, your fueling, and how you respond when something goes wrong.
The market, your competitors, whether an investor writes back. We find where your attention and energy actually make a difference, and stop spending them everywhere else.
Your One Thing
Know what matters enough to keep going.
At mile 18 of the marathon, fitness isn't what keeps you moving. The reason you signed up is.
Your One Thing is why this outcome matters. It keeps you committed when the work gets hard, and tells you when it's time to change the plan instead of pushing harder.
The goal isn't to turn business into a race.
It's to bring the same discipline, clarity, and execution to the moments that matter most.
What you can expect from me.
A finish line, not endless introspection.
We'll define the business outcome you're working toward and the leadership changes required to get there. Every session connects back to those goals.
A coach who understands execution.
I've built companies, led teams, served on a board, and coached athletes through demanding races. I know the difference between a good plan and making it work when conditions change.
Challenge when it matters.
I'll help you examine assumptions, confront difficult decisions, and recognize when your current approach is holding you or your company back.
A system you can use without me.
The goal isn't to make you dependent on coaching. It's to develop the judgment, habits, and capacity to lead more effectively on your own.
“You know when you get that feeling that someone genuinely cares and has value to bring to your organization? Patrick seamlessly creates a safe space to unload your wins, roadblocks, and failed attempts in order to best understand where you are currently at and help drive that forward.”
One season.
Two finish lines.
I work with a small number of leaders at a time.
Our first engagement is a six-month coaching season built around two outcomes: one for your business and one for you as its leader.
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Month zero
Set the finish lines.
We define the outcomes, identify what's getting in the way, and establish a clear starting point for both the business and your leadership. You'll know what we're working toward, why it matters, and how we'll recognize progress.
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Months one to six
Do the work.
We meet twice a month to work through the decisions, behaviors, and execution challenges that matter most. Between sessions, we stay connected by message for the calls that can't wait two weeks. This isn't coaching in the abstract. We work with the real situations you're navigating as they happen.
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Closing review, month six
Assess and reset.
We look at what changed, what you achieved, and what you've learned. Then we decide what the next season requires. The point isn't to keep you in coaching. It's to build a leader who can keep performing.
Working with a team, a portfolio, or a whole organization? Those engagements are scoped separately.
Reduced-fee engagements are available for nonprofit and early-stage leaders. Mention it when you reach out.
Founder. Coach. Athlete.
I've been the founder responsible for the outcome, the coach responsible for the preparation, and the board member responsible for the decision. Those experiences shape how I work with leaders today.
Patrick
The founder world.
As Head of Core at Hampton, Sam Parr's network for high-growth founders, I ran operations for its peer groups, built member profiles and curriculum, coached founders, and trained facilitators. Hampton members run companies generating at least $3 million in annual revenue.
An operator.
I've founded three companies since 2007, generating $6.5 million in combined revenue. I've led through two financial crises and a pandemic. I understand what it's like when the plan changes, the stakes rise, and the decision is yours to make.
An athlete and coach.
I've finished more than 30 Ironman races, including 10 World Championship appearances. I've coached more than 1,000 athletes one-on-one and built coaching systems that supported a community of 10,000. Twenty years of that work taught me something fundamental: preparation matters, but execution under pressure determines the outcome.
A public leader.
I served six years on an elected school board, including two as chair. It's one thing to make difficult decisions in private. It's another to make them in public, with competing priorities, limited resources, and people holding you accountable.
You don't have to be an endurance athlete to lead like one.
The best leaders I've worked with understand that meaningful outcomes take preparation, commitment, and the ability to adapt when things don't go to plan. Those are skills you can develop.
You might be a founder navigating your company's next stage of growth. An executive taking on a bigger role. Or a leader who knows the business needs something different from you, but hasn't yet figured out what.
You don't need to have run a marathon or finished an Ironman.
You do need a meaningful finish line, a willingness to examine how you lead, and the commitment to do something differently.
This probably isn't a fit if you're looking only for an accountability partner, want someone else to make your decisions, or don't have an outcome you're genuinely committed to achieving.
What's your finish line?
It starts with a 30-minute conversation about where your business is headed, what's getting in the way, and what might need to change in how you lead.
No pitch. If it isn't a fit, we'll know pretty quickly.
Prefer email? patrick@patrickjohnmccrann.com
Your message is on its way.
Not “sent,” exactly. Written down. By hand. On a small square of parchment, rolled tight, and tucked into the waistband of an elite ultra-distance runner who is, as you read this, already several miles into the backcountry, heading toward my remote and frankly hard-to-reach location.
She’s fast. She’s well-fueled. She does not stop for weather.
Still, it’s a long way out here, so give it up to two business days for her to arrive, hand me the scroll, catch her breath, and for me to read your note — which I do, personally, every single one.
Talk soon!