
Grant R.
5.0
(38)
Blindspots, beliefs, storytelling, networking | Northwestern MS | ex-Google

Supercoach
Studied at Northwestern University

Worked at Google
Available Friday at 2:00 AM UTC
Usually responds within 2 hours
After 8 pm MT preferred (to make sure my young kids are fully asleep). Rescheduling or cancellation <24 hours out is still billed.
Questions? Start chatting with this coach before you get started.
Grant's Coaching Offerings

Discover a Career Path
Find clarity in your career direction and make actionable goals.
Starting at $1,0005h+ of coaching

Advance your Career
Advance your career with expert guidance and a plan to achieve your goals.
Starting at $1,0005h+ of coaching

Career Development Start-to-Finish
Expert help on everything from getting the interview to landing the offer.
$4,00020h of coaching
Custom hourly · $200/hr
Get help with Interview Prep, Skill Building, and .
Grant also coaches for Leadership Coaching, Master’s Programs, and College. View all.
Grant is a contributor to Leland+
Access a library of videos, templates, and examples curated by Leland’s top coaches.
Grant’s free events & group classes
Grant’s Career Coaching Qualifications
Coaches professionally
Experience level: Director
100+ people coached for Career Coaching
For 10+ years, I've designed the very systems that govern how people learn, grow, and succeed at companies like Google, X, the moonshot factory, and Pure Storage, so you can feel confident that I know what it takes to thrive in today's competitive working environment. For example: - At Pure Storage, I am responsible for executive succession planning, talent reviews, career development, and performance management for the entire company. - At Google, I worked on the global reboot of performance management, helping to design the company's promotion philosophy, policies, and process. - At X, the moonshot factory, I helped train leaders and managers on innovation mindsets to support novel breakthroughs like self-driving cars. Whatever your goal, my experience has shown me that coaching is one of the most powerful ways to accelerate learning and performance. My Coaching Approach Whether you're starting your career, building new skills, or exploring a change, my coaching approach centers entirely on you. I believe coaching is a trusted partnership built on mutual commitment and trust. I will use evidence-based coaching and adult learning principles to create an approach that fits your unique needs and goals. My coaching has helped clients: - Gain clarity on goals and create a plan to achieve them. - Overcome limiting beliefs and unhelpful thought patterns. - Craft a powerful narrative aligned to values. - Learn foundational leadership and managerial skills. - Embrace failure and use it as a tool for growth. - Find greater balance and integration with personal life. I believe we all have unique gifts and endless potential. Your career is one of the best places to learn and grow, and I'd be honored to assist you on your journey.
Grant can help with:
Interview Prep
Skill Building
Career Planning
Professional Networking
Resume Review
Personal Branding
Networking Strategy
Freelancing
Leadership
Salary Negotiation
Job Search Strategies
General Exploration
Grant also coaches for Leadership Coaching, Master’s Programs, and College. View all.
About Grant
Hi! I'm Grant Russell, a senior HR leader and certified coach with a passion for helping people grow personally and professionally. I'm also a husband and proud dad to two young boys, which are my greatest source of joy and growth. For fun, I enjoy doing pretty much anything outside, especially if there are big trees, mountains, or bodies of water nearby! I'm also a big fan of LEGO and Survivor. I live in beautiful Provo, Utah. I hold a master's degree in Learning and Organizational Change from Northwestern University and a bachelor's degree in Business Management from Brigham Young University. I spent 10 years at Google, helping transform and lead many of the company's talent and leadership development programs. I accelerated learning and performance for thousands of employees at scale and instituted cultural practices to spur novel innovations like self-driving cars. I also coached over 100 colleagues in 1:1 career coaching sessions, helping them navigate transitions, overcome limiting beliefs, define values, clarify vision, and more. It was an exhilarating and rewarding ride. After a decade focused exclusively on growing individuals internally at Google, I’ve shifted my focus to help individuals thrive in their career regardless of where they work. The essence of my coaching is to empower growth, self-awareness, and self-belief in people like you! My background in psychology, adult development, business, and technology comes together in a unique way to help you make progress. Through proven, structured prompts, we’ll partner to reflect on your work and life experiences to identify what's worked (and why) and find ways to build on and harness your unique strengths. When necessary, we'll identify and reframe your limiting beliefs and develop new ways of thinking you can try in the future. You'll craft a powerful personal narrative so you can build a career that truly resonates with your values and goals. I also use the latest AI tools to supplement my human coaching. I deeply believe that with the right mindset and resources, you can overcome anything! My life experiences have taught me how to overcome significant challenges. In fact, my hardest obstacles have become my greatest learning opportunities. For example, shortly after we started dating, my (now) wife was diagnosed with a chronic medical condition. As a result, I now carry the bulk of our daily household chores and parenting responsibilities, on top of my full-time day job and coaching passion project. This has forged an incredible bond with my kids and a deep appreciation for life, health, and well-being. I have chosen optimism and resilience rather than defeat. I bring this same grit and positive thinking to my coaching practice. I’m passionate about creating a space where you can bring your whole self. My commitment to you is that I will do everything I can to help you make progress and find what you're looking for. My services: Career Coaching: Tailored sessions to help you land a new role or promotion, switch industries, or find a new direction. Resume & LinkedIn: Live or asynchronous support crafting strong resumes and profiles that get you noticed and keep you top of mind. Interview Prep: Practice and guidance to give you the skills and confidence to succeed in any interview. Leadership Coaching: Tailored sessions to help you build leadership skills (e.g. executive presence, communication), identify your blind spots, or assimilate to a new senior role.
Why do I coach?
I believe coaching is among one of the most powerful accelerators for performance and growth. As I think back on my own journey, I can name many people whose "coaching" made me who I am, even if they didn't know it or call it that. Being coached has helped me overcome self doubt, navigate tricky crossroads, identify my blindspots, find clarity, develop critical skills, set meaningful goals and stay on track to achieve them. It has helped me become a better person and find more purpose in my life. It was these first hand experiences which encouraged me to receive formal coaching training, and that has only made me more convinced of its impact. Coaching others has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. I count it a great pleasure to be invited into your growth journey and consider it my responsibility to ensure you have the best possible experience.
Work Experience
Senior Manager, Performance & Talent Management
Pure Storage
May 2025 - Present
▪ Established trust and credibility quickly, assuming executive-facing talent responsibilities from the Senior Director of Talent Management within 1 month of onboarding. ▪. Matured stakeholder engagement model by embedding agile product management approach into the performance management programs, resulting in stronger end-to-end collaboration across IT, HR Comms, and HR Business Partners. ▪ Pioneered the development and implementation of a universal manager success rubric, serving as a key thought leader and strategic advisor to guide the integration of key manager behaviors across talent programs and processes.

Performance Management and Development
January 2023 - May 2025
▪ Co-developed and implemented a new end-to-end, global performance management approach in 50+ countries encompassing expectation-setting, check-ins, feedback, performance reviews, people (talent) discussions and promotions to fuel business success and accelerate development and impact for 170K+ employees. ▪ Drove continuous improvement of the promotion and people discussion system and programs through tooling enhancements, process simplification, and enablement efforts informed by research, user feedback, and industry best practices, resulting in 86% manager CSAT (highest rating among similar tools). ▪ Helped managers identify promo-trending talent and make fair and consistent promotion decisions by designing and launching a structured, on-demand talent assessment to evaluate employees’ skills, business impact, teamwork, and capabilities.

Career Coach
August 2022 - May 2025
▪ Achieved 100% coach favorability from 70+ clients across Google, from junior ICs and senior managers.

Team Development Coach & Consultant
May 2019 - May 2025
▪ Developed teams across Alphabet by designing and facilitating 25+ unique workshops that incorporated the latest research, insights, and best practices from management science and social psychology.

Multiple HR leadership roles
April 2015 - November 2022
▪ Promoted 3x in 7 years in recognition of operational excellence, project management, program enhancements, and strategic leadership across a variety of domains including learning and development, immigration, HR technology, compliance, and global mobility.

Leadership and Organizational Development
X, the moonshot factory
December 2020 - December 2021
▪ Championed a company-wide "continuous growth" practice focused on self-reflection, feedback, experimentation, and learning, resulting in 91% (+8%) of managers providing actionable feedback to support development and growth. ▪ Oversaw leadership and high-potential development programming in partnership with The Leadership Consortium (affiliated with Harvard Business School) which increased participant confidence in business acumen and leadership skills by 800%.
Grant was also given offers to work at
Teach For America
Education

Brigham Young University
BS, Business Management
Magna Cum Laude Minor: International Development
Northwestern University
MS, Learning and Organizational Change
Industrial & Organizational Psychology meets MBA. 4.0/4.0 Thesis: “Making work work for them: How virtual workers use job crafting to thrive at work and beyond” Organizational Leadership and Coaching certificate
Grant was also personally admitted to
Pepperdine University
Brigham Young University - Idaho
38 Reviews
Overall Rating
5.0
Knowledge
5.0
Value
5.0
Responsiveness
5.0
Supportiveness
5.0