Episode 315: Growing An Executive Coaching Business After A Long Career At Google - with Caroline Dowling of Zeal Compass

In this episode of the HR business marketing podcast, A Better HR Business, Ben speaks with Caroline Dowling, Executive Coach and founder of Zeal Compass.

Caroline Dowling is helping senior leaders navigate the challenges of organisational change with greater clarity and confidence. After more than 20 years at Google, where she led global teams across Dublin and Silicon Valley, she understands that the toughest leadership challenges are rarely technical - they are human.

Drawing on her experience in high-pressure technology environments, Caroline helps leaders move from reactive decision-making to grounded, intentional leadership. Her coaching creates the space for reflection, enabling clients to strengthen their self-awareness, emotional resilience, and ability to lead others through complexity.

Rather than offering prescriptive advice, Caroline works alongside leaders as a trusted thinking partner, helping them uncover their own solutions. She believes that the most effective leadership begins with understanding people, because no matter how advanced the technology, meaningful progress is always driven by humans.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• How to leverage your internal coaching experience to find your first consulting clients
• Practical steps for transitioning from corporate roles to running a workplace consulting business
• Caroline’s unique lessons in experimenting, personal branding, and using LinkedIn as a consulting marketing tool

Episode highlights:

• Why focusing on human relationships is essential for successful change management, and why neglecting this often leads to failure.
• Caroline’s accidental entry into the tech sector, and early days at Google Ireland.
• Learning about change in both organisational and personal contexts, and why coaching became her long-term path.
• How coaching roles evolved within Google, including using an internal platform to connect leaders with coaching mentees.
• The transition from career coaching to focusing on leadership development, and why supporting other leaders became Caroline’s main focus.
• How the concept of Zeal Compass was born to support leaders finding meaning and navigating transition.
• The long, experimental journey from tech leadership to launching an independent coaching business, including study, introspection, and small-scale trials.
• The structure of leaving a corporate career, including internal role pivots, network conversations, and planning a smooth transition.
• Shaping a commercial coaching proposition, identifying target clients, setting prices, and the importance of feedback and positioning.
• Building a first client base through tech industry credibility, referrals, and associate partnerships.
• Lessons for those facing redundancy or rapid career change - how to learn, unlearn, and rebuild a support network

Marketing and Business Growth:

Caroline described her approach to growing her business as practical and experimental. She invested in learning the fundamentals through a "Start Your Own Business" course, reconnected with LinkedIn as a key platform for building her profile, and announced her move into executive coaching to her professional network.

She also emphasised the value of attending industry events, building genuine relationships, and leaning on her network for support and opportunities. Her experience offers practical insights for senior leaders considering a similar career transition or navigating change in their own organisations.

Resources & Links Mentioned:

• Company's website: www.zealcompass.com
• Caroline's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-dowling

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About The A Better HR Business Podcast

The A Better HR Business shares strategies, tactics, success stories, and more about marketing for HR consultancies and marketing for HR tech companies, and how to get more clients.

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For show notes and to see details of our previous guests, check out the podcast page here:

www.GetMoreHRClients.com/Podcast

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