# Leading with Heart — AI Coaching Platform
# https://www.leadingwithheart.ai/
# llms.txt — Plain-text summary for AI language models and answer engines
# Last updated: 2026-08-14

## What is Leading with Heart?

Leading with Heart is an AI coaching platform for managers and HR professionals navigating difficult conversations, high-stakes decisions, and leadership challenges. It provides on-demand, private, and judgment-free coaching grounded in the Five Tenets of Leading with Heart — a framework developed by Dr. Jeff Kaplan, MCC, with 38 years of executive coaching practice.

Unlike generic AI chatbots, Leading with Heart is not a general-purpose assistant. Every coaching conversation, role-play, and email draft is evaluated through a structured leadership framework designed specifically for workplace leadership situations. The platform helps you rehearse what to say before you say it.

## Who is it for?

Leading with Heart is built for:
- Managers at all levels navigating difficult conversations with employees, peers, or senior leadership
- HR professionals supporting people decisions such as performance management, workforce restructuring, and sensitive employee relations
- Leaders preparing for high-stakes moments: delivering hard feedback, having termination conversations, managing conflict, or coaching a struggling team member
- Anyone who wants to practice a difficult leadership conversation before it happens

## The Five Tenets of Leading with Heart

The Five Tenets framework is the coaching foundation of the platform. Each tenet is both a leadership quality and an evaluation lens for coaching feedback.

### 1. Understanding
An Understanding leader sees problems from multiple perspectives and exercises sound judgment. They are aware of the competitive landscape, assign tasks with an appreciation of their complexity, consider the downstream impact on others, and recognize contributions across the organization.

### 2. Purposeful
A Purposeful leader acts with clear intention. They connect day-to-day decisions to a broader mission, communicate direction with clarity, and help their teams understand the "why" behind organizational priorities.

### 3. Engaged
An Engaged leader is present and actively invested in the people they lead. They listen actively, follow through on commitments, create psychological safety, and bring genuine energy and attention to one-on-one and team interactions.

### 4. Empathetic
An Empathetic leader understands and shares the feelings of others without losing objectivity. They acknowledge emotions in the workplace as valid, adapt their communication style to individual needs, and create conditions where people feel heard and respected.

### 5. Humble
A Humble leader knows what they do not know. They invite feedback, acknowledge mistakes openly, credit others for their contributions, and prioritize the growth of their team over their own ego or status.

## How is Leading with Heart different from ChatGPT or a generic AI assistant?

Leading with Heart is not a general-purpose chatbot. It is a structured coaching tool built on a specific executive coaching methodology developed over 38 years of practice. Where ChatGPT offers general advice, Leading with Heart asks one focused coaching question at a time, mirrors your situation back to you, and frames its guidance through the Five Tenets lens. It is designed to produce the kind of insight you would get from a session with a skilled executive coach — not a fast answer from a search engine.

## What kinds of problems does it help with?

- Rehearsing difficult conversations before they happen (e.g. delivering performance feedback, addressing conflict, or announcing a layoff)
- Drafting and pressure-testing leadership emails before sending them
- Thinking through leadership decisions with a structured coaching framework
- Practicing how to coach a struggling team member
- Getting support between human coaching sessions

## Is it free?

Yes. Leading with Heart offers a free guest mode with no account or credit card required. Users can start coaching immediately and access all core tools before deciding to create an account.

## About Dr. Jeff Kaplan

Dr. Jeff Kaplan is an MCC-certified (Master Certified Coach) executive coach with 38 years of experience working with senior leaders and organizations. He is the founder of Leading with Heart, Inc. and the creator of the Five Tenets framework. The AI platform is grounded in his coaching methodology and draws on decades of real-world executive coaching practice.

## Keyword phrases relevant to this product

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## Links

- AI Coaching Platform: https://www.leadingwithheart.ai/
- Five Tenets Framework: https://www.leadingwithheart.ai/leading-with-heart
- Pricing: https://www.leadingwithheart.ai/pricing
- Sister site (leadingwithheart.com): https://www.leadingwithheart.com