What you think is a performance issue
is often leadership under pressure.
In volatile environments, pressure affects more than markets. It affects leaders directly.
Trust erodes.
Talent disengages.
Succession weakens.
Reputation becomes fragile.
Under sustained pressure, even strong leaders can begin operating in ways that amplify leadership risk.
These are rarely technical failures.
They are leadership patterns under stress.
We partner with senior leaders and the organizations that support them to strengthen leadership effectiveness when the stakes are high.
What’s at stake
Loss of trust
Credibility and alignment weaken when leadership narrows under pressure.
Reputational exposure
Behaviour at senior levels influences how clients, partners, and markets perceive the organization.
Talent loss
High performers disengage when leadership feels reactive or inconsistent.
Succession failure
Future leaders are not developed when current leaders operate in survival mode.
Most organizations address symptoms.
Few address the leadership patterns driving them.
“Working with Eric during the RBC Leadership Program was both practical and impactful. As I navigated complex people and business challenges, he was a steady sounding board who asked sharp questions rather than jumping to solutions. He helped me develop practical frameworks to manage conflict and broaden my thinking. The impact on how I lead has been significant.”
— Patrick Bhang
Senior Director, Regional & Retail Marketing, RBC
Approach
We work at the level of leadership behaviour under pressure.
We do not redesign systems. We work with the leader.
Executive coaching built around real-time leadership challenges.
Team engagement.
Evidence-based assessments where appropriate.
Executive Coaching
1:1 coaching for senior leaders operating in high-accountability roles. Structured, deliberate, grounded in real situations.
Team Coaching
For leadership teams navigating complexity, conflict, or sustained pressure.
Focused on how collective leadership patterns under pressure shape trust, decision quality, and strategic alignment.
Evidence-Based Assessments
Hogan · iEQ9 · DiSC · Five Behaviors · Leadership Navigator 360
Fully certified and integrated where appropriate.
When engagements require expanded capacity, VitalAction works with a select network of senior certified coaches aligned to our standards and approach.
About the Founder
Eric Dulong is the founder of VitalAction Coaching and an ICF Master Certified Coach (MCC). He has accumulated more than 5,000 hours of coaching experience working with over 400 leaders in high-accountability environments where decisions carry significant consequences, including engineering, financial services, and legal.
His work focuses on helping leaders maintain clarity and restore access to the full range of responses available to them when pressure increases and certainty decreases.
→ Learn more about Eric Dulong
Where this applies
This coaching is most relevant in high-accountability environments where leadership behaviour carries amplified impact:
- Partner groups in professional firms
- Senior leaders in engineering and infrastructure
- Executives in financial services and insurance
- Leaders in pharmaceutical, biotech, and biomedical organizations operating under strict regulatory and scientific standards
- Regulatory or public institutions under scrutiny
When a senior leader leads differently, it shifts how people trust, decide, and perform across the system.
“In a global cybersecurity leadership role, the complexity and stakes are constant. Working with Eric helped me better understand the motivations and triggers behind my reactions and how they were influencing my leadership, particularly in challenging situations. Our conversations built deliberately on each other and pushed me to respond more intentionally. The impact on how I lead has been lasting. This reflects my personal experience.”
— Chad, Cyber Security Director, Fortune 500 (Industrial Sector)
Start with a conversation
If this reflects what you are seeing in your leadership environment, begin here.