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The short answer: An executive coach develops you as a leader: your communication, decisions and influence inside a role. A business coach works on the business itself: customers, offer, marketing, sales and profit. If your biggest problem is how you lead, choose an executive coach. If it is how the business grows, choose a business coach. Some owners need both, at different times.
Kevin D'Ambros-Smith is an Auckland-based business coach and advisor who has coached 200+ businesses one-on-one across 30+ industries. This guide exists because owners regularly arrive having paid for the wrong kind of help, or about to. Competitor facts below were read from their own websites on 19 October 2026.
The difference is what is being improved. Executive coaching improves a person: how a leader communicates, decides, handles pressure and builds a team, usually inside an organisation with a board or a chief executive above them. Business coaching improves a business: who the customers are, what is being sold, how it is marketed and sold, and what it earns.
Both rely on good questions, accountability and honest challenge. The scorecard is what differs. An executive coach is judged by whether you lead better. A business coach is judged by whether the business moves. Here is the comparison side by side.
Nick Roud Coaching in Auckland is a clear example. Its website describes one-to-one leadership coaching for Chief Executive Officers, Senior Executives and Emerging Leaders. At 19 October 2026 it lists CEO coaching at $32,400 plus GST over a minimum of 12 months, senior executive coaching at $18,500 plus GST over nine months, and emerging leader coaching at $12,400 plus GST over six months. It describes Nick as an International Coaching Federation accredited Master Certified Executive Coach.
That is a well-defined offer for a leader working inside an organisation, with a structure, a term and a price you can plan around. The International Coaching Federation names three credential levels: Associate Certified Coach, Professional Certified Coach and Master Certified Coach. If you hire an executive coach, asking which level they hold and how they earned it is a fair question.
Start with the problem, not the label. Read these two groups and see which describes your last month.
Signs an executive coach is the better fit:
Signs a business coach is the better fit:
Most owners of established SMEs Kevin meets fall in the second group. Their leadership is fine. The constraint sits in the offer, the marketing, the sales process or the way the week is organised. Leadership polish cannot fix an offer nobody is buying.
Yes, and sequence matters. A common path is a business coach first, to find the real constraint and build a 90-day plan, then an executive coach later if growth has produced a bigger team and your leadership is now the limit. The reverse can waste money: you can become a more polished leader of a business that still has the same underlying problem.
Apply these criteria to any coach, including Kevin. Ask every candidate the same questions and compare the answers.
Kevin is a business coach, not an executive coach. He coaches the owner who is growing the business itself. His background is over 30 years in business, including at DDB, Ogilvy and Saatchi and Saatchi working on 60+ global brands, then founding or co-founding 9 companies, and coaching one-on-one since 2017. Coaching clients surveyed through The Icehouse return a Net Promoter Score of +72.
If what you need is a leadership development programme inside a larger organisation, Kevin will say so and point you to an executive coach, because that is the honest answer. If your question is how your business wins more customers, earns more per sale and runs without you in every decision, that is his work.
"Kevin's knowledge and intellect on all things business — no matter what industry it is — he just seems to find gems that you can focus on."
John Roberts
Co-owner and COO, Oragene
If you are unsure which kind of help suits you, the Find Your Growth Fit questionnaire takes a few minutes.
No. An executive coach develops a leader's skills, such as communication, decision-making and influence, usually inside an organisation. A business coach works on the business itself: customers, offer, marketing, sales and profit. They share methods, but they are measured against different outcomes.
Not necessarily. If your leadership is the limit, for example you struggle to delegate or lead a growing team, an executive coach can help. If the issue is stalled revenue, thin margin or an unclear offer, a business coach will usually move things faster.
It varies by coach and seniority. As at 19 October 2026, Nick Roud Coaching lists $12,400 plus GST for six months of emerging leader coaching, rising to $32,400 plus GST for a minimum of 12 months of CEO coaching. Check any coach's current listing.
Prices vary by coach and format. Eligible NZ businesses may get RBPN co-funding of up to 50% for one-to-one coaching programmes. Check current rules with your Regional Business Partner growth advisor, then book a call to scope what you need and what it would cost.
If you run an established business and suspect the constraint is in the business rather than in you, start with a conversation. You will leave knowing which kind of help fits and, if coaching does not suit you, Kevin will say so.
Simple-Growth publishes this guide and Kevin is one of the coaches discussed. Criteria are listed above so you can apply them to anyone.
Kevin D'Ambros-Smith, Simple-Growth
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