About
Helping leaders grow in clarity, capability, and conviction
Our Philosophy
Better leaders create better companies. And better companies provide a number of benefits to employees, customers, and society. Above was founded to help leaders become the kind of leaders people want to follow into battle.
We believe modern leadership growth begins with self-awareness. Coaching engagements can strengthen how leaders think, execute, and communicate, enabling them to lead with focus.
We have no interest in teaching leadership theory. We want to help leaders live it.
Our Approach
Our approach to coaching begins with you. We listen to understand where you are, where you’ve been, and partner with you on a direction that feels energizing and aligned. We spot the gap between words and actions, and help close it. In other words, self-accountability.
The coaching engagement starts with your unique way of operating. We primarily focus on Question-Answer format. With a sprinkle of exercises that can help with your presence, creativity, communications, and executive presence.
At the core is a simple belief: the most valuable investment we can make is in our own evolution.
About Sanoop Luke
Founder and Executive Coach, Above
Sanoop Luke is an executive coach and advisor who works one-to-one with executives, senior leaders, high-potential talent and founders.
He partners with clients across Europe, the UK, the US, Asia and Australia, from Fortune 500 companies and creative agencies to fast-growing technology and investment firms.
His coaching draws on more than 20 years of experience in leadership, media and technology, including roles at Google and YouTube, WarnerMedia and Cartoon Network, and General Electric.
Notable content that he was commercially involved in include 30 Rock (16 Emmys), Fruit Ninja: Frenzy Force (1 Emmy), Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens (#1 for Boys 2-11), Johnny Bravo Goes to Bollywood, Exchange Student Zero, and Sesame Street India.
While at Google, Sanoop was on the founding team of the YouTube Kids app, which has been downloaded 700+ Million times and maintains a 4.6/5 rating on the App Store.
Sanoop’s approach combines practical business experience with a deep interest in how people grow and lead. He has developed frameworks including the 12 Pillars of Executive Leadership, Aligned and the 11-Dimensional Dashboard to help clients assess their development and make progress in their performance.
Sanoop worked across strategy, partnerships and content, with an international career spanning New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, and London. That experience continues to inform his view of leadership as both an inner practice and a way of working with others.
Sanoop was named one of the Top 15 Coaches in Copenhagen. He completed the Executive Coaching Programme at the University of Cambridge and continues to study behavioral change, communication and leadership development.
Outside work, he enjoys exploring Denmark and Europe with his family, traveling and developing new ways to make leadership ideas practical.
Commitments
Every coaching relationship is guided by three core principles:
Confidentiality
A space for reflection, discussion and growth.
Accountability
Setting a North Star early, and ensuring progress is made against it.
Transformation
New ways of working that is everlasting.
Above’s Charter
Our Mission: To help exceptional leaders understand themselves, lead others, and create meaningful impact.
We work with leaders who want to become better at what they do and more intentional about how they do it. Through executive coaching, thoughtful challenges and practical action, we help leaders make meaningful progress on the issues that matter most.
Our Vision: Our ambition is to build Above into one of the world’s most respected independent institutions for leadership development.
Over the next 25 years, we want to contribute original thinking, research and practical tools that deepen our understanding of leadership and help develop generations of exceptional leaders. We want Above to become known for the quality of its coaching, the rigor of its thinking and the measurable impact of its work. And we want to build something that lasts.
Our Values:
Clarity - We seek to understand what matters and say what we mean.
Courage - We ask difficult questions, give candid feedback and act when something needs to change.
Curiosity - We remain students of leadership, people and ourselves.
Humanity - We treat people as people, with different histories, ambitions, strengths and ways of seeing the world.
Impact - We care about what changes because of the work we do.
Looking to 2050
Above began with executive coaching, but our ambition extends beyond individual engagements.
Over time, we intend to develop original leadership frameworks, assessments and programs that contribute to a deeper understanding of how exceptional leaders develop.
We hope Above will eventually bring together coaches, leaders, researchers and thinkers who share an interest in understanding leadership and helping people practice it well.
By 2050, our aim is for Above to represent a recognized body of work and a standard of leadership that can endure for generations.