Neelima ParanjpeyPh.D. · PCC
Neelima Paranjpey, Ph.D., executive coach and I/O psychologist
Executive Coach and I/O Psychologist

Small habits, repeated on purpose, change the whole person.

I am Neelima. For more than fifteen years I have helped organizations identify, select, and develop strong leaders, from growing companies through the Fortune 500, and I coach those leaders one to one. We start with a clear picture of your strengths and what gets in your way, then build the habits that turn insight into lasting change.

Ph.D. Organizational Development PCC ICF Professional Certified Coach 15+ years assessing and developing leaders
Two ways to work with me

Click either one to read more.

Coaching

One to one, in person or virtual

For leaders stepping into broader roles, navigating a transition, or working on presence and influence. I partner with you through inquiry, so the insights are yours rather than mine, and we turn them into something you can practice.

Engagements start at six months How I coach Show less

My philosophy

Coaching is a partnership, not advice. My work is grounded in inquiry: asking the questions that help you uncover your own insights, challenge the assumptions you have stopped noticing, and translate new awareness into meaningful action.

Awareness on its own tends to fade. So we identify one or two things you can practice between sessions, small enough that they survive a difficult week, and we keep at them until they hold.

A typical engagement runs six months, with a session every other week and email between them. Shorter engagements are possible when the focus is a single transition. I will tell you on our first call what I think the work actually requires.

What we work on

  • Moving from functional expert to enterprise leader
  • Executive presence and how you communicate upward
  • Influence, stakeholder relationships, and cross functional alignment
  • Building a team that can carry decisions without you in the room
  • Direct feedback that raises accountability and engagement at the same time
  • Developing and retaining the people on your team
  • Landing well in a new role, whether promoted or hired in

What this looks like in practice

A vice president preparing for enterprise responsibility learned to frame his recommendations as business cases tied to growth, risk, and customer experience rather than functional updates, so senior leaders heard him differently.

A marketing leader worked on influencing upward: anticipating her manager's priorities, framing trade offs in commercial terms, and building stakeholder support before the key conversations rather than during them.

A leader known for being very direct kept the full value of his candor while learning to deliver hard messages in a way that strengthened trust at the same time.

Assessment

For organizations and for individual leaders

A clear, evidence based picture of a leader: real strengths, what shows up under pressure, and what drives them. Used on its own to inform selection and development decisions, or as the starting point for coaching.

Priced per assessment What assessment involves Show less

How I assess

Conclusions come from the integration of several sources: a structured behavioral interview, a review of career history, validated inventories of personality, derailment risk, and motivation, and 360 feedback where it adds something. No single component is used in isolation. The findings reflect the whole picture together with professional judgment.

What that produces is not a personality label. It is a considered view of how someone leads at their best, what tends to surface when they are under pressure, and the conditions in which they will do their strongest work. My assessment work spans managers, directors, and executives up to the C suite.

For organizations

  • Success profiles and selection frameworks, so everyone is measuring the same thing
  • Selection and promotion decisions, measured against the real demands of the role
  • Calibrating candidates, advising on trade offs, and supporting the final call
  • Succession planning and identifying people with room to grow
  • A written report with a clear recommendation and the reasoning behind it
  • Sized to the decision, whether you have a full talent function or this is the first assessment your company has ever run

For an individual leader

The full assessment, a working session on what it means for you, and a written summary you keep.

For organizations, assessments are priced per candidate, so a company hiring one leader pays for one decision rather than a program. I will quote the whole thing before we begin, so you know the cost of the decision up front.

Instruments I am certified in

Hogan (HPI, HDS, MVPI) Watson Glaser 16PF MBTI Raven's StrengthsFinder
Let's talk

A free thirty minute conversation.

You do not need to have it figured out before we talk. Bring the thing that has been sitting on your mind and we will look at it together.

Nothing to prepare. Coaching, assessment, or just a question.

Or email me at contact@neelimaparanjpey.com
Find me on LinkedIn
Based in Oregon, working with leaders wherever they are.

What to expect

  1. We talk through your priorities, the context you are working in, and what matters most right now.
  2. I share how I work and where it might align with what you are trying to do.
About

Neelima Paranjpey

I work with organizations of every size, from a founder led company making its first senior hire to Fortune 500 companies and firms backed by private equity. The questions are the same either way: what does this role really require, who is right for it, and how do those leaders keep growing once they are in the seat.

Pharmaceuticals Healthcare Manufacturing Financial services Consumer products Technology Private equity Public sector
Background and credentials Show less

Background

I have consulted through leading executive search and leadership consulting firms, where much of the work was with Fortune 500 clients, and I built selection and assessment programs for a large public agency. My training is in organizational development and industrial and organizational psychology, which is why I start with evidence rather than instinct.

I now bring those same methods to smaller and mid sized companies. In a large organization a hiring mistake gets absorbed. In a company of sixty people, one wrong leader can set you back years, which is why the smaller the company, the more a rigorous decision is worth.

I grew up in India and live in Oregon now. Travel, music, cooking, and long hikes in the mountains with my family are where I recharge.

Education and credentials

  • Ph.D., Organizational Development
  • M.S., Industrial and Organizational Psychology
  • Professional Certified Coach (PCC), International Coaching Federation
  • Certified Executive Coach, Symbiosis Coaching, ICF accredited
  • People Analytics, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
  • Brain Based Coaching, NeuroLeadership Institute
  • Situational Leadership, Ken Blanchard Company
What makes this different

Habit is the doorway. The whole self walks through it.

Most coaching stops at behavior: do this, say that. Change that lasts has to reach further in, which is why we start smaller than you would expect.

The habit

One specific thing you do differently this week. Small enough that it still happens on a hard day.

The behavior

Repeated often enough, it stops costing effort, and the people around you begin to notice that something has shifted.

The whole self

Energy, values, relationships, how you see yourself. Change that reaches here does not slip when the pressure returns.