ICF PCC ACTC Candidate Founder, Unified Solutions Inc.

Before coaching was the profession, it was what the role demanded.

U.S. Army tactical leader. Fortune 500 consultant. Certified holistic coach. The arc is not a pivot — it is one continuous story about what it costs to lead when it actually matters, and what develops in people who learn to do it well.

Julian Johnson, ICF PCC — Founder, Unified Solutions Inc.
ICF PCC ACTC Candidate ExecOnline Faculty Emeritus Faculty

I am Julian Johnson, a Professional Certified Coach credentialed at the PCC level by the International Coaching Federation and a candidate for the Advanced Certified Team Coach (ACTC) designation. I founded Unified Solutions Inc. to make rigorous, holistic leadership coaching available to senior leaders and organizations operating in high-stakes environments.

My coaching is grounded in positive psychology and shaped by a deliberate training lineage. I completed foundational training through the Goal Imagery Institute under Marianna Lead, developing the holistic, whole-person capabilities that anchor everything I do. I have since studied under Marion Franklin's school of laser-focused coaching, which emphasizes speed to insight, precision, and a disciplined coaching presence that gets to the heart of what a client actually needs, without detour.

I am intentional about the distinction between systems-oriented coaching and the human-focused, structured coaching competency required at the practitioner level. My practice is built on ICF core competencies, positive psychology, and a formal group coaching methodology refined through years of facilitation across some of the most respected executive education institutions in the world.

sions while guiding leaders through executive education programs across a university partner network that includes Cornell, Yale School of Management, UC Berkeley Haas, MIT Sloan, Wharton, Columbia, Michigan Ross, and UVA Darden. I am also a contracted faculty member with Emeritus.

To date, I have accumulated over 1,200 formal coaching hours with more than 222 clients across every major sector and leadership level. That volume includes 780 hours through Torch focused on leadership development, 360-degree feedback debriefs, and Big Five-informed development; 460 hours through ExecOnline and related programs; 215 hours of dedicated group and team coaching; and additional hours through Ufacilitate peer coaching and private practice.

I specialize in working with upper-level leaders navigating the intersection of high-stakes organizational leadership and significant personal transition. That is a specific and demanding kind of coaching, and it is where my full range of training, experience, and intuition converges.

My coaching is assessment-informed throughout. I am certified in Thomas International's High Performance Type Indicator and AgileBrain's emotional and motivational needs survey. I have extensive experience debriefing clients across a wide range of competency, behavioral, psychological, and holistic assessments, including both self-assessments and multi-rater peer feedback instruments.

Introduction

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60–90 second intro from Julian
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"His perspective was refreshing, and you could tell he was genuinely invested in listening to each person and creating something collaborative rather than just running a session. I look forward to continuing."
Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs · Global technology company · Group coaching via ExecOnline
Career arc

The arc that built the practice.

Phase 1 — U.S. Army

1999–2003

Tactical team leader (31R). Deployed to Kosovo and Iraq. Led people and mission outcomes in conditions where clarity, communication, and trust were not aspirational values — they were operational requirements trained for every day. That standard did not leave when the uniform did.

Phase 2 — Fortune 500 Consulting

2013–present

Embedded consultant at Express Scripts, Optum, LifeTouch/Shutterfly, Wells Fargo, National Flood Services, Securian Financial driving blue-chip initiatives across global teams. Enhanced expertise with elected Board roles at local Project Management Institute, Adjunct professor at University of Minnesota CCAPS instructing on Project Management, and Directorship of Chief Operating Officer peer group in Minnesota. and Roles spanning project management to Agile transitions, internal and external leadership communication implementations, and high-stakes delivery inside some of the most demanding transformation environments (M&A, Intl. Regulatory Compliance, Business Process reengineering, etc.) in healthcare and financial services.

Phase 3 — Holistic Coaching Practice

Present

Certified holistic coach. ICF PCC. ACTC candidate. ExecOnline and Emeritus faculty. 1,200+ hours. 222+ clients. Founder, Unified Solutions Inc. The coaching practice did not replace the operational experience — it was built on top of it.

In practice

What the work looks like when it is working.

Individual coaching · Financial services · 1:1 via Torch

A senior director in financial services came in convinced the primary challenge was a team in dysfunction. The presenting symptoms were real — misalignment, missed commitments, communication that never landed. Three sessions in, a different picture emerged.

The team was not the root. An unaddressed clarity gap about what she actually wanted from her own leadership was creating downstream effects she had attributed to others. When the coaching shifted focus from the team to her, the discomfort of that was significant — and so was the movement.

Ninety days later, the team had not changed in composition or structure. Her relationship to the work, the team, and her own authority had. The team results followed.

Leadership clarity Decision-making confidence Accountability modeling

Group coaching · Technology sector · ExecOnline

A cohort of senior vice presidents at a global technology company entered group coaching having worked alongside each other for years. They were collegial, respected each other, and had never had a real conversation about how they each led.

The sessions surfaced patterns none of them had named directly — different assumptions about decisive leadership, different thresholds for directness, different responses to ambiguity. Naming those patterns in a facilitated space changed the quality of conversations they had outside it. Not because they agreed more. Because they understood each other more accurately.

By the end of the program, the cohort described themselves as a peer group, not just colleagues.

Mutual understanding Directness quality Collective decision-making speed

Our coach selection criteria

We continually update our bench of vetted coaches to support client and leader needs across multiple regions in the US and internationally. Every coach in the Unified Solutions pool meets four criteria before matching begins.

1

500+ hours of coaching experience supporting sponsored or independent clients, with documented development outcomes

2

125+ hours of coach-specific training from an accredited coaching provider

3

A coaching bio detailing niche, approach, and relevant experience

4

A track record of successful workplace or academic experience spanning 15 or more years

These criteria exist because coaching quality is uneven in an unregulated industry, and the leaders and organizations we work with deserve better than average.

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