Helping People Make A Positive Impact On The World

Hey, I’m Russ. I’m a social entrepreneur, coach and advisor. For the last 30 years, I’ve helped make life and work better for people contemplating how to improve both. They are linked. I choose a small group of people to counsel regularly and closely.

Every week I spend time helping a founder, director or someone in career transition find a vetted coach or consultant. Most of the time I direct them to someone else I know by helping them figure out who has the right experiences, identities, and communication style to support them to do important work and/or have a fulfilling life. This website is an unfiltered way to get to know me better. Read on to determine if you should reach out.

Learn more about working together

Client Testimonials

Kat Calvin

Founder, Spread the Vote

As a founder you’re often isolated and alone. A lot of responsibility rests on your shoulders, people are counting on you, and it is a challenge to find someone who understands what you’re going through. Russ always gets it because he is a founder and he counsels founders. He’s the person you can talk to about the weird, scary, complicated life of running a business or organization and he always has advice, or knows who you should talk to, or will just tell you to chill out this is normal everything is fine. Whether it’s your first or one hundredth time running a business, you need someone outside of your organization who knows what you’re going through and Russ is that person.

More testimonials

Case Studies

Roddenberry Fellowship

I advised the Roddenberry Foundation leadership about the launch of their Roddenberry Fellowship program. In particular, I served as an advocate for a coaching component within the program when it was launched in 2018 and have served as a coach for each current cohort and within the alumni community.

Idealist.org

I spent 13+ years as a founder of Idealist.org, the preeminent global directory for the nonprofit sector with millions of subscribers receiving curated information about the jobs, internships and volunteer opportunities of interest to them.

Work Highlights

Featured Writing

You would ask Friends to Help in a Relationship Crisis, So Why Not a Career Crisis

A few years ago, I had the dubious experience of exiting a romantic relationship and a working relationship of over a decade’s duration, each, around the same time.

How the Unconventional Job Seeker Gets the Job

As a career coach you can expect that a pretty typical part of my day will be spent speaking with clients who are bewildered by their search for fulfilling work.

Explore my Writing