You were promoted for being great at the job. Nobody showed you how to lead it.
Jessica Bonilla | Leadership Coach & Consultant
23 years at Intel| Public Accountant (Costa Rica) | 40+ leaders coached
Lead Before It Ties Out is a 12-week 1:1 coaching program for newly promoted finance managers. You get a clear starting point, a plan for your two biggest problems, and proof that you are improving.
Watch: Why being great at the job did not prepare me to lead it.
A short video (about 90 seconds, to verify once recorded) about my story, who I help, and how the program works.
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Description text goes here
Email me the word LEAD and I will write back personally within 48 hours. No forms and no calendar link yet, just a short conversation about your situation.
Does any of this sound like your week?
These are the five problems I hear most from newly promoted managers. You may see yourself in one, or in several.
None of this means you are bad at leading. It means nobody taught you this part. That is a different problem, and it has a different fix.
You do not need twenty-five more leadership courses.
Your company probably offers a long list of them. Your boss is busy running the business. Mentors help, but each one covers one skill, and it takes a long time. You can finish twenty-five courses and still freeze when you have to decide fast with incomplete information, or when your VP asks for the bottom line.
What is missing is a roadmap.
A roadmap has three parts:
01 A clear starting point.
Where you are today, measured, not guessed.
02 A plan for your two biggest problems.
Not a long list of topics.
03 Proof that you are improving.
Something you can point to, and something you can show your director.
Nobody is going to hand you that roadmap. You take ownership of your own development, and I will help you build it.
Lead Before It Ties Out.
A 12-week 1:1 coaching program. Three phases. Your top two problems.
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Phase 1 | Diagnostic Friction Audit
You complete an online form. We review the results together, 1:1. Then we identify your top two problems out of five and set your starting baseline.
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Phase 2 | Implementation Operational Blueprint
Weekly 45-minute virtual sessions, plus text or WhatsApp support between sessions. We work on your top two problems with matrices, templates, and scripts, and we define the results we will measure.
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Phase 3 | Lab Leadership Sandbox
You bring real cases from your own work. You get practical feedback before things happen. We Plan, Prepare, and Practice.
Twelve weeks is not enough to change habits across all five problems, so I do not try. We find your top two and work only on those.
Sessions can be held in English or Spanish.
Progress you can see, measured against your own starting point.
The Delegation Trap
Evenings you log off by 6 PM, and hours spent rewriting other people's work.
The Awkward 1:1 Loop
Analysis Paralysis & Fear of Mistakes
1:1s that run from your team member's agenda, and risks you catch early.
Days from "decision needed" to "decision made."
The VP Visibility Gap
How long your updates run, and how often you are cut off.
The Imposter & Doer Identity Crisis
Results are measured against each client's own baseline. They are what the program is built to produce, not guarantees.
A weekly record of what you unblocked, ready to show your director
I was the best analyst on the team, too.
Over 18 years as an individual contributor (a team member who does not manage people), I had many managers. A few were great. Many were average. Some were really bad. I decided I did not want to be average, and I certainly did not want to be a bad manager. Then I was promoted, and I learned that being great at the job had not prepared me to lead it. My chain of command could not help. All they had was generic training. So I stopped waiting. I earned my coaching certification and combined it with everything finance had taught me. Later, I built a leadership program at Intel so future leaders could get the same tools.
23 years at Intel: operations governance, SOX audit, business process management, and risk management
Public Accountant
Executive coaching certification, INCAE Business School
40+ leaders coached
Trained 300+ analysts at Intel
Designed and delivered leadership programs at Intel for people promoted into leadership roles
Lived and worked in Malaysia and the United States
Bilingual: English and Spanish
What others have said
"Jessica helped me build confidence as I moved into my role as a finance manager. Instead of focusing on my weaknesses, we used my strengths to make me more effective. Her coaching wasn't just about answers. It was about helping me find my own solutions.”
Mónica Víquez Alvarado | Finance, Business Operations & People-Centered Leader"Jessica coached me through a structured yet uncomplicated process. It wasn't about fitting a certain idea of what a manager should be. I figured that out for myself, and where I needed to focus. I was able to come to my team as a more rounded leader."
Esteban Barrionuevo | Finance Manager"Jessica helped me grow in my first experience as a finance manager. When the team situation was challenging, she helped me tell what was inside my circle of control from what was hard to change. She was pivotal for my development and strengthened my self-confidence in tough situations."
Alonso Aguilar Solis | Finance Manager and FP&A Leader"Jessica's coaching was an invaluable resource as I got into a management role. The techniques I learned helped me navigate the complexities of the job and become an effective leader."
Jose Ignacio Valerio | FP&A and Capital Finance LeaderAt a shared service center in Costa Rica, my team took on operations transferred from several US business units. The controller business partners gave outstanding feedback on three things: how quickly the team absorbed the work, meeting the timeframes for the transition and the execution, and documentation. Many processes had run for years without written steps, so I asked the team to document them as they were trained. By the end of the transition, we had written standard operating procedures for about 85% of the processes that had none.
— Jessica Bonilla—
Frequently Asked Questions
We set a baseline in the first two weeks, then track a few simple measures tied to your top two problems, such as evenings you log off by 6 PM or days from "decision needed" to "decision made." You will have a record you can show.
How will I know it worked?
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You complete the Friction Audit form, and then we review your results together in a 1:1 session. Your top two come from that conversation, not from a guess.
How do you decide my top two problems?
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A starting point, a plan for your two biggest problems, 1:1 feedback on your real cases, and proof of progress. A course gives you ideas. This gives you a roadmap.
What do I get that a course does not give me?
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Why not just ask my boss or a mentor?
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You should keep doing that. Bosses and mentors are valuable. But your boss is busy, and mentors usually cover one skill at a time. This program adds a structure to build on, with measures you can share with them.
How much time does it take?
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One 45-minute virtual session a week, plus short text or WhatsApp support between sessions. You also practice at work, on your real cases.
Can my company pay for this?
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Many people choose to invest in their own development, and some ask their company to sponsor it from the professional development budget. The program and the price are the same either way. If you want to ask, I can send you a one-page summary to share with your manager. Session content stays private unless you choose to share your results.
The investment depends on your country. I share the details when we talk.
What does it cost?
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How do I start a conversation with you?
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Email me the word LEAD, or reply to your Mini Friction Audit results email with the word LEAD. I write back personally within 48 hours. There are no forms and no calendar link yet, just a short conversation about your situation. If it looks like a good fit for both of us, I will share the next step.
Start with your free Mini Friction Audit.
Ten short statements. About three minutes. You see your results on screen and in your inbox, with one first move for each of the five problems.