EXECUTIVE COACHING · CAREER MENTORING · BUSINESS ADVISORY

What got you here may not be what takes you where you want to go next.

I work with corporate professionals, managers and founders who are committed to their growth and to shaping what comes next — helping them gain perspective, make better decisions and move forward.

Madrid · International · In person · Online · Hybrid
A professional facing a higher level with a ladder that no longer reaches — a visual metaphor for needing a different approach for the next stage
José Carlos Villarejo
Certified Executive Coach with 26 years of international corporate leadership experience
DOES THIS FEEL FAMILIAR?

You may be here because something needs to change.

CORPORATE PROFESSIONALS & MANAGERS

You are considering your next career move or taking on greater responsibility.

What worked before no longer feels enough for the next stage.

A political or relational challenge inside your organisation is creating frustration, discomfort or holding you back.

You know something needs to change — but the right move is not yet obvious.

FOUNDERS

Your business is growing faster than your ability to organise it.

You need to sell, negotiate, hire, delegate or lead differently.

You know your product inside out, but limited experience with corporate customers is affecting hit rate, negotiation outcomes or confidence.

The next stage of the business is asking you to evolve with it.

A DIFFERENT WAY FORWARD

A new challenge may call for new perspectives, new tools and new choices.

Experience is invaluable. But it can also make us rely on assumptions, habits and solutions that worked in the past.

Sometimes what is needed is a different perspective. Sometimes it is greater clarity. And sometimes it is useful to bring another person’s experience into the conversation.

1

DISCOVER

what matters through a new perspective

2

DECIDE

what’s next with greater clarity

3

ACCELERATE

what’s possible by combining experiences

THREE COMPLEMENTARY DISCIPLINES

The right level of involvement for the situation.

Sometimes the most valuable thing I can do is help you find your own answers. Sometimes it is to bring relevant experience, ideas and resources into the conversation. And sometimes it is to roll up my sleeves and work on the problem with you.

José Carlos listening attentively to a coachee in a warm, comfortable coaching conversation Executive Coaching — a new perspective through self-reflection
01
EXECUTIVE COACHING

Creating the space for you to find your own answers.

My coaching work follows the standards of the International Coaching Federation (ICF). It is primarily centred around our conversations, using powerful questions, self-reflection and feedback to help you step back from the immediate situation, explore different perspectives, question assumptions and gain greater clarity.

The work happens mainly through our coaching sessions, supported by the preparation and follow-up needed to make those conversations valuable.

José Carlos mentoring a professional in a meeting room, sharing experience in conversation Career Mentoring — sharing experience, including successes and lessons learned
02
MENTORING

Bringing experience and additional resources into the process.

Mentoring goes beyond our conversations. I bring relevant perspectives from my own executive experience and may prepare ideas and frameworks, research specific questions, explore alternatives or bring additional resources into the process.

When useful, I may also draw on my professional network to create conversations with people who can contribute specialist knowledge or a valuable additional perspective.

José Carlos advising a young technology entrepreneur while reviewing financial information together Business Advisory — complementary expertise brought together to co-create
03
BUSINESS ADVISORY

Co-creating and working on the challenges with you.

Advisory is more hands-on. We work closer to execution, combining our complementary experience and capabilities to address specific business challenges.

In addition to our conversations, I may analyse information, review documents, develop recommendations or specific deliverables, provide written feedback and work independently on issues we have identified together.

Three complementary disciplines across three phases: Discover, Decide and Accelerate
The difference is not simply how much time we spend together. It is how deeply I become involved in helping you move forward.
NOT SURE WHICH APPROACH FITS? Start with the situation, not the label.
Let’s have a conversation
BEYOND THE CONVERSATION

Dedicated to your situation.

José Carlos Villarejo in a relaxed, approachable setting
01

Tailored to your situation

No standard programme. The work adapts to the client, the challenge and the moment.

02

Resources beyond the session

When useful, I bring research, frameworks, technology, AI, preparation and relevant expertise from my professional network into the process.

03

Human when it matters

Someone who knows the context, remembers the journey, provides honest feedback and stays close when executing change becomes difficult.

The work adapts to you, not the other way around.

EXPERIENCE

26 years of navigating change from the inside.

26 years International executive career
General Management Operations · Business Development · Transformation
Leadership Teams · P&L · Boards
Multidisciplinary Engineering · Business · Finance · Data · Technology

My international executive career has exposed me to very different businesses, cultures, people and situations — often when judgement mattered more than a textbook answer.

I have experienced many of the transitions and challenges that come with a demanding career: taking on new roles and greater responsibility, starting businesses, learning to lead different personalities, navigating corporate politics, managing difficult bosses, setting boundaries, dealing with business pressure, restructuring organisations and making difficult decisions affecting people and teams.

That exposure shaped the way I understand professional and business challenges today: not as isolated problems, but as situations where business realities, personal ambitions, relationships, emotions and decisions often intersect.

José Carlos Villarejo walking alone along the beach A career is also a journey of becoming.
MY STORY

From the coachee’s chair to the coach’s chair.

I believed in coaching first as a client.

I first experienced executive coaching in 2011, and again in 2015, at two different moments in my career. I researched the methodology, chose my coaches carefully and invested significant personal resources in the process.

It helped me see situations differently, make decisions I had not been making on my own and take professional steps with tangible impact.

Within a year, I could already see the return on my investment. Some of those decisions continued paying back throughout the rest of my corporate career.

Years later, I moved from the coachee’s chair to the coach’s chair. In 2025, I completed my Executive Coaching certification at Escuela Europea de Coaching, through an ICF-accredited programme.

Today, I want to bring that combination of formal coaching training, executive perspective and personal involvement to many more pivotal moments in other people’s careers and businesses.

CLIENT STORIES

Different people. Different challenges. A tailored approach.

Laura (pseudonym) · 50 · Scientific Researcher

Finding direction — and sustaining the journey.

After an unexpected dismissal at 50, I knew I wanted to work again, but I did not have the energy or clarity to define what my next step should be.

Through coaching, I was able to discard options, prioritise what mattered to me and discover roles and industries that better matched my objectives for the next stage of my career.

The work then evolved into career mentoring. We prepared each stage of the job search — positioning, CV, interviews and specific opportunities — while I also had personalised support through the more difficult moments of a six-month process.

I was able to sustain the search more effectively and ultimately found the opportunity I had been looking for.
Executive Coaching Career Mentoring
Daniel (pseudonym) · 35 · Operations Manager

Changing the question changed the possibilities.

I felt that the opportunities my manager was giving me were no longer aligned with my ambition to grow. I was frustrated, disengaged and increasingly felt trapped inside the organisation.

During coaching, I reframed the problem and understood how much of my attention was focused on what my manager was not doing rather than on what remained under my control.

I learned to manage the relationship with greater empathy while protecting my own objectives, identify limiting beliefs and activate options I had not been seriously considering.

One line of action that emerged in a coaching session eventually led me to a new professional opportunity outside the organisation.
Executive Coaching
Alex (pseudonym) · 28 · AI Entrepreneur

As the business evolved, the relationship evolved with it.

As a young technology entrepreneur, I had a strong technical background but I was not getting the business results I wanted. I felt insecure approaching large corporations and I was not always focusing my time on the highest-value priorities.

Through mentoring, I changed the way I approached corporate clients, learned to identify opportunities, build trust and negotiate with a different language and mindset. I also started paying attention to areas such as cash, revenue planning, backlog, operational design and growth risk.

As the business matured, I moved the relationship into Business Advisory so that we could combine my technical knowledge with José Carlos’s broader business experience and external reading of customers and situations.

The activity has evolved from the business of an individual entrepreneur into a small company with an ambitious growth plan.
Career Mentoring Business Advisory

Client names are pseudonyms to protect confidentiality, but the cases described are real.

STARTING A CONVERSATION

Perhaps the first step is simply a conversation.

You don’t need to know whether coaching, mentoring or advisory is the right answer. Start with what is happening and what you would like to change.

Madrid · International
In person · Online · Hybrid
Tell me what brings you here.

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