Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Gopen.
Hi Danielle, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in an extremely entrepreneurial family in Boston, where my own sense of entrepreneurship was really nurtured. I had all sorts of gigs and side hustles, including my personal favorite: finding, cleaning, and reselling lost golf balls to hapless golfers on the local golf course at age 10 with my 8-year-old brother as my business partner. I knew that eventually, I would end up pursuing entrepreneurship in my career; I just wasn’t sure exactly when, what, or how.
I always had the itch to live in NYC and then eventually LA, so I set off and did just that, with a 2-year stop in Chicago for business school. The bulk of my two-decade career was in finance, where I did very well – running large teams on multiple billion-dollar projects and raising over $500mm for private investments – but after so many years, I felt like there was something more for me. At that point, I began speaking with executive coaches, and I discovered that world which felt like a perfect integration of my skill in relating to people, my business background, and the call toward entrepreneurship.
Since 2019, I’ve been the CEO and founder of DG Executive Advisors, a boutique executive coaching and advisory firm. I spend every day partnering with insanely talented people who are growing their businesses, and I get to have the most interesting conversations. One particularly memorable one was identifying how a finance client’s mom was seriously interfering with their productivity and what to do about it. Another was a senior executive in tech who had an aha moment when I suggested leading with curiosity instead of accusations as they led their team through a difficult transition. My clients come to me because they are intentional about growth both for themselves and their business.
I run my business remotely while I call LA home. I’ve been here for 10 years and still go out of my way to explore our diverse and vibrant city, usually driven by food, even if it means an hour in traffic from the west side to Echo Park on a Wednesday evening.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No, the potholes are very bad here. Oh, you meant my personal and professional road, not Sunset? Oh well, that, too, hasn’t always been smooth! I don’t think it is for anyone. The question really is, what do you do when you realize something isn’t working, whether it be a job, relationship, city, etc.? For me, when I’ve identified a suboptimal situation, it usually started with this internal feeling that something wasn’t right, but my brain chose to override that feeling in the name of “what should happen.”
You could say that some of my previous struggles include a job that was prestigious but killed my self-esteem or the ending of a relationship I thought would be forever. I definitely struggled to live in a country where I felt unequipped to communicate as I learned the local language, and the time I went backcountry skiing, our group got split up, and I wondered if I’d survive the night. But it feels strange to even think of those things as struggles. To me, they are just life experiences that taught me something and strengthened my resiliency.
As I’ve gotten older and more experienced, I’m much better about shortening the timeframe from when that nagging feeling first pops up to when I take appropriate action to rectify the situation. That’s something I also work on with my clients. You know the boiling frog syndrome? Without an external objective viewpoint, it’s so easy to get boiled in the pot before you realize it. Maybe the phrase is something like “our struggles can help define us, but they shouldn’t own us”?
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about DG Executive Advisors?
I love people, and I love business, and I love that I run a business focused on people and their businesses. It’s an honor to be a part of it. DGEA’s global client base includes founders, small business owners, and mid-level to senior executives from companies like Uber, GoodRx, and UBS.
What sets me apart is my innate ability to uncover the root cause. I can quickly see things that may otherwise take months or years to understand. This allows change to happen much faster. I generally see meaningful change start to take place within 6 weeks.
In our work together, my clients foster innovative thinking, make better decisions, and expedite improved outcomes. They can speak candidly and be understood in an unbiased, confidential partnership. My specialty is getting someone to be mentally prepared to take on their next challenge. Our work together incorporates fun with a healthy dose of tough love, and it’s always impactful. My core belief is to meet people where they are to get them to where they want to go.
That being said, small business owners and founders generally have quickly changing needs that require a more holistic, integrated approach that I especially enjoy. We often veer between mindset development and tactical, strategic work while working toward their overarching goals. For example, one week, we might talk about their internal relationship with selling, and the next about improving their hiring process.
I’m extremely proud of helping my small business owner clients get results that positively impact their business trajectory. Some examples include building out a concierge medical practice and increasing patient volume by 400% in 6 months, delivering a 2.5x ROI within the first year of a new office lease for the expansion of a speech therapy practice, obtaining a 70% increase in new assets under management for an investment advisor, growing a luxury travel consultancy during the COVID-19 crisis, and more.
My approach is supported by my two decades of corporate and entrepreneurial experience, a Chicago Booth MBA in managerial and organizational behavior, and my intensive professional coach training and certification across several disciplines. I combine a genuine desire for your success with research-backed methodologies to challenge and strengthen you and your organization across all dimensions.
If you’re curious to learn more, definitely reach out via the DGEA website!
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out.
This question always gets me because even if I told someone just starting out the MOST INCREDIBLE piece of wisdom if they aren’t ready for it, then it’s lost on them.
That’s what I mean when I say meet people where they are.
That being said, my best piece of advice is to really understand and tackle your saboteurs or “inner critic” – you know, that part of your brain that likes to make you feel badly about yourself and holds you back. We all have them. There will be huge wins and deep lows, but everything you do starts in your mind with your mindset. How you perceive yourself and the world will shape your recurring beliefs and dictate your actions. Taking on your saboteurs is very difficult to do on your own, so if you can find the right external resources, including a saboteur-trained coach, I’d highly recommend it. Once you have them under control, things just get a lot easier. Or, as a client once said two weeks after an impactful saboteur session, “Wow, nothing has changed (i.e., same job, income, housing, relationship), but EVERYTHING has changed.”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.dgexecutiveadvisors.com/
Image Credits
Allie Dowd Photography
