The AEX Equation · BE × DO = HAVE
You're paying for coaching. Your business should show it.
Most coaches sell mindset. Mindset alone doesn't move the business. Our clients are coached to harness both halves of the equation — BE × DO = HAVE. The diagnostic below shows you in minutes whether your current coach is delivering on both, or only the comfortable one.
Start the diagnostic
Most coaches are working on BE — mindset, identity, belief. That work is real. But if DO sits at zero, BE doesn't produce results. It produces confidence. Any number multiplied by zero is zero. Research on coaching confirms what business owners already know: when given a choice, they prefer a slightly directive coach — one who knows enough that their questions actually cut. “A slightly directive coach significantly outperforms a purely non-directive one in goal attainment.” — Prof. Nicky Terblanche, Stellenbosch Business School Our clients are coached to close that gap. Here's what the two experiences look like from where you sit.
This is what "DO" actually looks like in a coach — and it's exactly where we operate. Not every coach needs to be expert in all six, but a coach who can't hold a competent conversation in any of them is coaching half-blind. We treat these as the bar because they're the half of the equation most coaches go quiet on.
Can sit with your P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow and tell you which numbers are actually driving the business — not just summarize what they say. Understands margin, cash conversion, and unit economics.
Can point to specific places AI could create leverage in your business — operations, sales, content, decision support — and tell you honestly where the hype overshoots the reality.
Understands the difference between scaling revenue and scaling profit, channel economics, and when systems break and need rebuilding — and can tell you which one you should be optimizing for right now.
Speaks with basic competence about shareholders' agreements, LOIs, earn-outs, NDAs, IP, and employment fundamentals — and knows exactly when to bring in a lawyer and what to ask them.
Can help you build hiring systems that attract and keep exceptional people, install performance cadences, and develop the talent density that makes your org scale. A team of high performers who grow doesn’t just run better — it compounds. (EOS, Scaling Up, 4DX, OKRs — and the people disciplines that make them stick.)
Can diagnose a broken sales motion — pipeline mechanics, conversion math, pricing psychology, negotiation — at a level you'd trust to make real changes.
It could be the most leveraged hire you make this year, or it could leave you swearing off coaching forever — depends entirely on the coach.
A junior employee executes tasks. This engagement is pointed at the decisions that move your entire business. For the price of an entry-level salary, you get a hand on the highest-leverage points in the company.
The documented return on executive coaching is 5 to 7 times the investment. We don't hope for it — we target 6.5×, and we measure it. A return you can't defend to a board isn't a return. It's a feeling.
Owner-operators see returns faster than Fortune 500 executives, because there's no bureaucracy between your decision and the result. The feedback loop is days, not quarters.
Our clients use this diagnostic before every coaching decision. Answer honestly about your current coach, a prospective coach, or a program you're considering.
No sign-up. No email. No follow-up unless you ask for it — your answers stay on your device.
Ten high-signal questions across all five evaluation areas. A fast, honest read before you commit more time.
The complete assessment across BE, DO, Toolkit Depth, measurement, and coach capability — with a custom analysis and action plan.
15 minutes with Kevin Simpson, AEX. Walk through your results and what they mean for your coaching decision. Confidential — no pitch.
Book with KevinA one-paragraph assessment of what your score means — written plainly so you can share it with a partner, board, or team.
Know a business owner or executive who should take this? Send them the link.
Open DiagnosticThe fastest way to earn your trust is to tell you when not to hire us. If any of these describe what you're looking for, we're the wrong fit — and we'd rather say so now.
If you're looking for agreement, not challenge, a cheaper option exists. We're going to ask the question you've been avoiding.
We baseline metrics, set targets, and review against them. If you don't want your progress tied to numbers, this engagement will frustrate both of us.
You either believe in this or you don’t. A leader who sends their team to coaching while exempting themselves from the same standard tells their team exactly what they think of accountability.
Identity work has a place — in service of execution. If you want sessions that feel good but never touch the operating reality of the business, we're not your coach.
If none of those describe you — if you want to be challenged, measured, and helped to actually execute — then we should talk.