Mike Tamayo
Lead with Confidence, Purpose, and Impact
Studied at Florida State University
Works at Upside Partners
Available March 31 at 4:00 PM UTC
Questions? Start chatting with this coach before you get started.
Mike's Coaching Offerings
Custom hourly · $250/hr
Get help with Emotional Intelligence, Innovation and Creativity, and Coaching and Mentoring.
Mike’s Leadership Coaching Qualifications
Coaches professionally
Experience level: Executive
60+ people coached for Leadership Coaching
I have 20 years of corporate leadership experience, including directing leadership development initiatives and designing coaching programs. I am passionate about helping leaders make their impact while embracing their unique strengths and values. I hold certifications from the Co-Active Training Institute and the International Coaching Federation. Working with me is a creative journey of self-discovery resulting in a clear vision and a thirst for impactful action. Are you ready to discover the leader you were always meant to be?
Mike can help with:
Emotional Intelligence
Innovation and Creativity
Coaching and Mentoring
About Mike
My journey started with a passion… One of my earliest passions was technology - I followed that passion and built a 28-year career in the technology industry as an engineer, leader, and coach. As I moved into leadership roles, I noticed two things. First, there is no guidebook for navigating the transition from an individual contributor role into a leadership role. Second, the support that companies provide to established leaders focuses on management and authority, rather than influence and impact. Both of those situations exist because there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. The engineer in me wanted to design a solution for this, but another part of me rose to the occasion. What you don’t yet know about me is that before I was a technologist, I was a musician. My creative side led me to seek a more nuanced and personalized approach to leadership development. I came to realize the power and importance of establishing a coaching culture - some of the biggest impacts we create come when we help each other harness our own unique capabilities. I led a coaching program at one company in which I coached the coaches; at another company, I established a leadership roundtable in which leaders helped each other hone the unique qualities that made them excel in their roles. This gave birth to my new passion - to help leaders become the best versions of themselves by embracing their values and strengths, leading to fulfilling and impactful careers. The engineer in me chimed in and said, “if we’re going to do this, let’s be methodical and thorough”. I took a break from my career in tech and spent a year in training to become a certified coach. During that time, I worked with amazing coaches that helped me clearly see my unique way of making a lasting impact on the world. Ever since, I’ve been helping leaders achieve the same kind of powerful insights. The engineer and musician are still here, which makes working with me both methodical and creative, but most of all, we have fun! Are you ready to take a creative approach to finding your own way to make your mark as a leader?
Why do I coach?
I’ve seen what happens when capable, thoughtful people try to lead using someone else’s definition of what a leader should be. They get stuck performing, second-guessing, or chasing standards that don’t actually fit them. I know that pattern intimately because I’ve had to work through it myself. I coach to create a space where leaders stop outsourcing the definition of success. Where they can actually hear themselves think, recognize the patterns they’ve been operating in, and intentionally decide how they want to lead. I’m delighted by the moments when things click for someone - not because I gave them an answer, but because they saw something about themselves that was already there but hadn’t been named yet. That shift from external validation to internal clarity is central to how I think about impact. Essentially, I coach because too many leaders are trying to lead someone else’s way, and I want to help them find their own.
Work Experience
Executive Coach
Upside Partners
March 2026 - Present
Upside works with senior leaders who don't need to be fixed - they need support in navigating complexity, consequence, and the pressure to act without complete information. As a clarity and action firm, Upside coaches leaders and leadership teams from the inside out, strengthening the judgment and decisiveness required in high-stakes, complex organizations. This isn't skills training or performance improvement work. Upside works alongside capable leaders who are already trusted to act, helping them move decisions forward without waiting for perfect certainty or consensus.
Executive Coach
Athena
June 2025 - March 2026
I built Athena’s executive coaching program to help high-performing leaders stop operating in reactive mode and instead lead the way they’re truly meant to. I oversaw the vision, design, and delivery of a coaching experience that pairs human insight with the practical leverage of executive assistants and AI, ensuring leadership growth translates into real, daily impact. I developed the program from scratch: the principles, methodology, coach-matching technology, and tightly integrated workflows between coaches and EAs. After a successful pilot with exceptional client feedback, I scaled the team more than 5x by recruiting highly experienced coaches who bring diverse perspectives and lived leadership expertise.
Founder, CEO, and Coach
Mike Tamayo Coaching
July 2020 - June 2025
I work with accomplished and aspiring leaders who are ready to lead in a way that feels true to who they are. While they have been successful, they have the sense that they have untapped potential that can take their leadership to the next level. Leadership transcends titles and traditional molds - it’s about embracing your purpose, and then intentionally building connections and exerting influence to create the impact you want to see.
Director, Software Engineering
Capital One
April 2017 - July 2020
Designed and directed efforts to coach leaders, improve performance management, and increase diversity across a 500-person organization. Instituted data-driven approaches to talent development and performance assessment, bringing fairness and detailed insight to the performance review process. Created a leadership roundtable, through which leaders learn from each other by sharing their experiences and thoughts on topics relevant to their situations. Led Technology Scan, a prospecting and evaluation function that enables Capital One’s strategic technology imperatives by engaging with innovators and entrepreneurs in order to introduce disruptive new technology into the company. The Scan team conducts proof-of-concept implementations in partnership with internal and external stakeholders. These pilots leverage the Technology Evaluation Platform, a set of tools, guidelines, and processes that allow Capital One to evaluate third-party technologies in a safe and compliant manner. Led an engineering organization consisting of twelve teams that develop the platform and content for capitalone.com, as well as solutions in support of Capital One’s credit card line of business. Responsibilities included technical leadership, program management, partner management, and recruiting. Delivered products and services that generate over $500M in annual revenue. Drove region-wide initiatives as part of the Capital One Bay Area Site Council, a group of senior leaders representing the organizations that have a footprint in the Bay Area. Lead a committee that increases collaboration across unrelated organizations and brings visibility to the achievements and identity of Capital One’s San Francisco office. Conducted the first internal Open House event in San Francisco, creating the blueprint for fostering a culture of innovation.
Director, Engineering / Chief Architect
Next Century Corporation
April 2002 - April 2017
Drove efforts that fostered continuous improvement throughout the organization, keeping us on the leading edge of technology and making us more competitive and effective as a software development company. Designed an individualized coaching program that matches a coach to an employee based on background, career goals, and personality. Led multiple software development efforts, providing technical direction and programmatic oversight for an IT Solutions Provider to the federal government and private industry. Under my leadership, we developed technology solutions that have strongly impacted our customers’ life-saving missions. Member of a small advisory group of senior technical staff that provided the executive team with deep insight into customer relationships, employee morale, and the state of our technical practices and strategic direction. Hired as the company’s first software engineer and then progressively promoted into strategic leadership roles managing multiple simultaneous teams in: software architecture and design, customer relationship management, product management, and program management. Led several projects that applied advanced technologies and techniques to various real-world problems, such as human trafficking, terrorism, and humanitarian assistance/disaster relief. Kicked off an initiative to build a technology offering by building an analytics and visualization platform based on the solutions we have built for several customers. Formed a working group to regularly conduct technical exchanges and update the roadmap.
Engineering Manager / Technical Lead
Aether Systems
January 2001 - April 2002
Managed development projects, while maintaining hands-on technical involvement with teams of up to 10 software engineers. Delivered solutions in the areas of: • Data synchronization between mobile devices and enterprise applications. • Network Management. • A “create once, deliver everywhere” tool for effectively delivering web content to any wireless device.
Education
Florida State University
BS, Computer Science
Co-Active Training Institute
CPCC, Coaching
International Coaching Federation
PCC, Coaching