Jeff Smith, Founder, Board-Certified Business, Executive and Life CoachSuccess Facets helps owners of established small- and mid-size businesses and senior executives work through these challenges to achieve meaningful business progress and become more effective leaders.
At the helm is founder Jeff Smith, a board-certified business, executive and life coach. He has spent years as a lawyer and senior corporate leader, taking on responsibilities spanning human resources, mergers and acquisitions and management training. His career also took him to 120 countries, where he managed departments of more than 500 people and worked with organizations employing thousands. The experience gave him a front-row view of the business decisions, team dynamics and personal challenges that shape performance.
That understanding shapes his work. Reflecting his belief that business performance and personal well-being cannot always be separated, he coaches the whole person, bringing together business, behavioral and relationship skills. He helps business owners improve profitability, manage their time and build capable teams, and guides senior executives in strengthening leadership, addressing employee performance and preparing for new responsibilities.
“When my clients are successful, I feel successful,” says Smith.
A Plan for Progress
Each engagement begins with a 15-minute call to assess whether the coaching fits the client’s needs. If their concerns require expertise in estate planning, intellectual property or banking, he refers them to a specialist.
For suitable clients, Smith sends a questionnaire asking about their business, goals and obstacles. He studies the responses, develops potential strategies and discusses them in a free, hour-long session. Clients can implement the recommendations themselves, work with another advisor or hire Smith for month-to-month coaching. The client can end the engagement if the value no longer justifies the cost.
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When my clients are successful, I feel successful.
The coaching is tailored to each client’s circumstances. Their backgrounds, ambitions and working relationships all influence the issues they need to address. When partners disagree on priorities or the company’s direction, he helps them resolve differences and find mutually acceptable solutions, where possible.
Smith considers accountability the largest part of effective coaching. He helps clients establish ambitious annual goals and breaks them into quarterly, monthly and weekly commitments. He also conducts goal-setting and planning sessions with the wider team at least once a year. During regular sessions, he examines what has been accomplished, what remains unfinished and what is preventing progress. When priorities change, the plan changes with them, but the responsibility to follow through remains central to the engagement.
Accountability also matters in executive coaching, where results depend partly on how leaders manage and motivate people. Smith works with executives to strengthen delegation, build capable teams and develop the relationship skills needed to bring out the best in employees.
Measuring What Matters
Success means different things to different clients. Some measure it in financial terms while for others it may mean getting their personal lives back.
One client, for instance, measured success partly by how much time he could get back. Working more than 90 hours a week had left him overwhelmed. Over four months, Smith helped him introduce better systems and delegate more responsibilities to his team, reducing his working week to about 30 hours. The owner could focus on sales and marketing, improve profitability and regain personal time.
For another client, success meant rediscovering the enjoyment he had once found in his work. He felt burdened by the financial commitments that came with the firm’s size, including payroll, employee benefits and marketing expenses. Smith helped restructure the company, easing the burden and allowing the owner to return to the legal work he loved.
By keeping meaningful progress at the heart of its work, Success Facets has earned recognition as the Top Business and Executive Coaching Services 2026.
