Executive Coaching and Leadership Development in Austin, TX

The next level of leadership begins with knowing yourself.

Effective leadership starts with understanding how you think, communicate, and respond under pressure, and how those patterns affect the people around you.

I help individual leaders deepen their self-awareness, navigate challenges, and move beyond habits that limit their effectiveness. I also partner with organizations to develop their leaders, strengthen working relationships, and put learning into practice.

Through individual coaching, group coaching, and customized training, we build an approach around your needs, whether you’re growing in your own leadership or investing in the people who lead your organization.

Let’s talk about what you need.

Book a FREE Consultation

What are you looking for?
Executive and Leadership Coaching

Individual support to deepen self-awareness, navigate challenges, and lead more effectively.

Line art illustration of a group of professionals celebrating together with raised fists, representing team leadership and success
Leadership Development for Organizations

Individual coaching, group coaching, and customized training shaped around your organization’s needs.

Line art illustration of a person slumped over a desk with a laptop, depicting exhaustion and workplace burnout
Coaching for Burnout and What's Next

Space to regain perspective, reconnect with what matters, and explore a more sustainable way forward.

Ready to thrive, not just survive?

I’m Shelley Pernot, an executive and leadership coach in Austin dedicated to helping driven professionals lead with confidence, compassion, and authenticity. My work blends practical leadership development with the deeper inner work that sustains it.

I’ve seen it too often: talented, high-performing leaders who are admired for their results yet quietly running on empty. The long hours, the constant striving, the weight of always being “on.” It takes a toll.

Coaching with me is a space to pause, breathe, and realign with what truly matters. Together, we’ll strengthen the skills and mindset that fuel effective leadership clarity, presence and emotional intelligence, while also tending to the deeper patterns that lead to burnout.

For many of my clients, especially high-achieving women, this work is about learning to lead from wholeness rather than perfection, from purpose rather than pressure.

Trusted by Leaders from Organizations Including

Shell logo — True North Coaching corporate client
Baker Hughes logo — True North Coaching corporate client
Dell logo — True North Coaching corporate client
BP logo — True North Coaching corporate client

  • "Working with Shelley not only positively affected my professional life, but my personal life as well. She helped me determine who I wanted to be as a leader and gave me the resources to continue that journey."

    Kristen Spedale

    CFO, Citizen’s Bank

  • "There have been noticeable improvements in the performance of the managers Shelley coached. She helped them tackle issues where they had been stuck. It has been an extremely worthwhile investment in our leadership team."

    Toni Wegner

    Former Vice Provost, University of Texas Extended Education Ventures

  • I have been working with Shelley for the past 2 years on my leadership development journey. What I thought would be a straight line, I soon learned with Shelley's guidance, was a winding path with several ups and downs along the way. Shelley supported me as I took a deep dive into my professional and personal history and learned how it affects my approach and my perceptions. She helped me to slow down and recognize certain behaviors and understand that I can pivot in the moment or try again next time. Ultimately, my work with Shelley turned out to be so much more than what I expected. Her approach to coaching was exactly what I needed.

    Nicole Naassan

    Vice President, E Source

  • I've learned more about leadership in the past six months working with Shelley than I have in my 10+ year career. She is an incredible coach with many tools in her toolbox. The guidance and mentorship I've received from Shelley has been life-changing. She will challenge your limiting beliefs and inspire new ways of thinking. For that I am truly grateful. The lessons I've learned with Shelley have re-shaped not only my career but my personal outlook as well.

    Margaret Soltis

    Creative Director, Osso

  • My sessions with Shelley have brought me back to living. It's been contagious, spreading throughout my personal and professional life. I now have the building blocks I need to continue setting healthy boundaries, the freedom to show up as my authentic self, and an adaption of a growth mindset that has allowed me to make bold decisions and try new things. I've discovered that there's always another way and how to eradicate barriers that lead to tunnel vision. These sessions with Shelley have been a great gift and have given me the momentum I need to continue the journey to be my best self.

    Teasha Houston

    Account Representative, Marsh

  • "Shelley helped me clarify my core values, recognize where my life was out of balance, and develop practical strategies to bring it back into alignment. Two and a half years later, the goals I once thought were lofty are becoming my reality. I've transformed both my career and my life."

    Regina Jones

    Travis County Tax

The True North Journal

The True North Journal
The Messy Side of Emotional Intelligence
The Messy Side of Emotional Intelligence

It’s easy to talk about emotional intelligence when life is going smoothly. But what happens when life knocks you off your game and the emotions you’d rather not feel come rushing in? Sometimes the most emotionally intelligent thing we can do is stop trying to fix ourselves.

Read more →
When we need reality to be different
When we need reality to be different

What happens when a person, group, or organization we once valued stops giving us what we need? We often fight reality, trying harder to change the situation until frustration turns into resentment, cynicism, or disengagement. Learning to identify our unmet needs, let go of what we can’t control, and recognize the choices we still have can help us move from resistance and disappointment toward greater freedom.

Read more →
Goals vs. Aspirations: Why Great Leaders Need Both
Goals vs. Aspirations: Why Great Leaders Need Both

Goals help us achieve results, but aspirations shape the kind of leader and person we become. In this article, I explore the difference between goals and aspirations, why both matter, and how balancing achievement with presence can help prevent burnout. If you've ever felt like you're constantly chasing the next milestone, this perspective may change the way you think about success, leadership, and personal growth.

Read more →
Maybe you don’t have to justify joy
Maybe you don’t have to justify joy

Many high achievers struggle to enjoy hobbies without turning them into another goal. Here's what a flower arranging class taught me about permission, productivity, and joy.

Read more →