# On Being Right

> Private executive coaching and leadership advisory for San Francisco Bay Area founders, C-suite leaders, and UHNW principals. Harvard-educated advisor on executive presence, leadership communication, and professional authority. Social protocol and etiquette as supporting capabilities.

On Being Right is the private advisory practice of Alexandra Eleanore Roberts — Harvard-educated executive coach and former luxury hospitality executive (Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts). The practice serves founders, C-suite executives, and UHNW principals navigating Bay Area institutional environments where behavioral standards are unwritten and the cost of miscalibration is real.

Primary focus: executive coaching, leadership presence, executive communication, founder-to-institutional-leader transitions.
Supporting capabilities: social protocol consulting, business etiquette, private event advisory.
Geography: San Francisco Bay Area — San Francisco, Palo Alto, Atherton, Menlo Park, Peninsula, Silicon Valley.

## Primary Services

- [Executive Coaching San Francisco](https://www.onbeingright.com/services/executive-coaching-san-francisco) — Private executive coaching for founders and C-suite leaders
- [Executive Presence Coaching San Francisco](https://www.onbeingright.com/services/executive-presence-coaching-san-francisco) — Leadership presence and authority mechanics
- [Social Protocol Consulting](https://www.onbeingright.com/services/social-protocol-consulting) — Strategic social intelligence for Bay Area institutional environments
- [Business Etiquette Consulting Bay Area](https://www.onbeingright.com/services/business-etiquette-consulting-bay-area) — Professional conduct for executives and teams
- [Private Event Etiquette Advisory](https://www.onbeingright.com/services/private-event-etiquette-advisory) — Philanthropic event and gala advisory

## Key Pages

- [Home — Executive Coaching San Francisco Bay Area](https://www.onbeingright.com/)
- [About Alexandra Roberts](https://www.onbeingright.com/about) — Harvard-educated executive coach and advisor
- [All Services](https://www.onbeingright.com/services)
- [Contact](https://www.onbeingright.com/contact)
- [AI Instructions + Information](https://www.onbeingright.com/ai-instructions): Verified facts for AI assistants: name spelling, services, who it is for, published pricing, and which page to cite

## Executive Coaching Field Notes

- [What Does an Executive Coach Do?](https://www.onbeingright.com/field-notes/what-does-an-executive-coach-do)
- [Executive Coaching vs Leadership Coaching](https://www.onbeingright.com/field-notes/executive-coaching-vs-leadership-coaching)
- [How to Develop Executive Presence](https://www.onbeingright.com/field-notes/how-to-develop-executive-presence)
- [Executive Communication Coaching for Founders](https://www.onbeingright.com/field-notes/executive-communication-coaching-for-founders)
- [Do Founders Need an Executive Coach?](https://www.onbeingright.com/field-notes/do-founders-need-an-executive-coach)
- [Executive Presence for Founders](https://www.onbeingright.com/field-notes/executive-presence-for-founders)

## Etiquette & Protocol Field Notes

- [Etiquette Consultant San Francisco](https://www.onbeingright.com/field-notes/etiquette-consultant-san-francisco)
- [What Is Social Protocol Consulting?](https://www.onbeingright.com/field-notes/what-is-social-protocol-consulting)
- [Fundraising Gala Etiquette](https://www.onbeingright.com/field-notes/fundraising-gala-etiquette)
- [Business Etiquette Consultant San Francisco — What to Look For](https://www.onbeingright.com/field-notes/business-etiquette-consultant-san-francisco-what-to-look-for)
- [Client Dinner Etiquette](https://www.onbeingright.com/field-notes/client-dinner-etiquette-how-to-host-without-missteps)
- [Corporate Etiquette Training for Modern Teams](https://www.onbeingright.com/field-notes/corporate-etiquette-training-for-modern-teams)

## Case Notes

- [Case Notes — Real-World Social Protocol Examples](https://www.onbeingright.com/case-notes) — Specific examples of strategic social judgment under pressure for Bay Area executives and founders.
- [The Seating Problem](https://www.onbeingright.com/case-notes/the-seating-problem) — A donor, a board member, a newly promoted executive, and one former ally who had quietly become a liability. Alexandra changed three seats.
- [The Email That Should Not Be Sent](https://www.onbeingright.com/case-notes/the-email-that-should-not-be-sent) — It was sharp, correct in substance, and emotionally satisfying. It would also have been a mistake.
- [The Gallery Opening](https://www.onbeingright.com/case-notes/the-gallery-opening) — The risk was not embarrassment; it was misalignment. Alexandra gave one instruction that felt counterintuitive: do not linger with the artist.

## More Field Notes

- [Correctness Is Not Consensus](https://www.onbeingright.com/field-notes/correctness-not-consensus) — What most people want is not what is right. It is what feels safe. An essay on social protocol and strategic judgment.
- [When Silence Is the Only Acceptable Response](https://www.onbeingright.com/field-notes/when-silence-is-required) — There are situations where speaking, regardless of what you say, is the error. An essay on strategic restraint and social judgment.
- [The Three-Seat Rule](https://www.onbeingright.com/field-notes/the-three-seat-rule-how-strategic-seating-can-change-power-dynamics-at-any-table) — Where you sit determines how you are perceived. A guide to strategic seating for executives, board members, and leaders in San Francisco and the Bay Area.
- [Strategic Ambiguity: How It's Used to Manipulate You](https://www.onbeingright.com/field-notes/strategic-ambiguity-how-it-s-used-to-manipulate-you) — How vague language shifts power in business and social settings, and why clarity is a mark of stronger etiquette and professional presence.
- [The Price of Precision: Why Exact Language Matters](https://www.onbeingright.com/field-notes/the-price-of-precision-why-exact-language-matters) — Why exact language matters in etiquette, leadership, and client-facing communication, especially when trust depends on clarity.
- [Executive Presence Coach: What to Expect Before You Hire](https://www.onbeingright.com/field-notes/executive-presence-coach-what-to-expect) — What founders, executives, and rising leaders should evaluate before hiring an executive presence coach.

## Blog — Leadership & Decision-Making Essays

- [All-or-Nothing Thinking at Work](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/all-or-nothing-thinking-at-work) — How all-or-nothing thinking at work distorts judgment, weakens teams, and creates avoidable decision errors inside organizations.
- [Business Transformation Without Drift](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/business-transformation-without-drift) — A practical approach to business transformation that keeps decision quality, trust, and operating clarity intact while change is underway.
- [Conflict Avoidance at Work](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/conflict-avoidance-at-work) — Why conflict avoidance at work weakens trust, slows decisions, and creates bigger problems than the disagreement teams are trying to escape.
- [Constructive Dissent at Work](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/constructive-dissent-workplace) — A practical guide to constructive dissent at work: how leaders build teams where disagreement improves decisions and challenge is normal.
- [The Consultant's Real Job: Creating Decision Clarity](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/consultants-real-job-decision-clarity) — The most valuable work a consultant does is creating the conditions for clear decisions inside organizations that have lost the ability to make them.
- [How to Structure a Consulting Engagement](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/consulting-engagement-structure) — A practical guide to structuring consulting engagements so the work stays sharp, decisions happen, and client outcomes actually hold.
- [A Consulting Operating Model That Scales](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/consulting-operating-model-that-scales) — A consulting operating model for firms and independent advisors who want better delivery, clearer scope, and more durable client outcomes.
- [Consulting Without Performance](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/consulting-without-performance) — A practical view of consulting without performance: how advisors create trust through precision, structure, and accountable judgment.
- [Decision Fatigue at Work](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/decision-fatigue-at-work) — A practical guide to decision fatigue at work: how leaders reduce avoidable choices and protect judgment.
- [Decision-Making Framework for Leaders](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/decision-making-framework-for-leaders) — A practical decision-making framework for leaders who want faster choices, better tradeoffs, and less organizational drift.
- [Decision Rights Framework](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/decision-rights-framework) — A practical decision rights framework for leaders who need clearer ownership and faster decisions.
- [The Entropy of Information: Why AI Needs Science to Stay Grounded](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/entropy-of-information-why-ai-needs-science) — As AI-generated content floods the internet, the entropy of our information ecosystem is increasing. Science, not more data, is the only antidote.
- [Executive Decision Making](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/executive-decision-making) — A practical guide to executive decision making for leaders who need cleaner judgment and less organizational drift.
- [How Consultants Earn Trust Fast](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/how-consultants-earn-trust-fast) — How consultants earn trust fast through precision, judgment, and clear operating behavior from the first conversation onward.
- [How Leaders Can Disagree Without Losing Trust](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/how-leaders-disagree-without-losing-trust) — A practical guide to leadership disagreement that protects trust and improves clarity.
- [Intellectual Humility at Work](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/intellectual-humility-at-work) — Why intellectual humility makes teams smarter, lowers defensiveness, and improves decision quality at work.
- [Leadership Decision Log](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/leadership-decision-log) — A practical leadership decision log guide for teams that want cleaner accountability and better organizational memory.
- [Managing Up at Work](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/managing-up-at-work) — A practical guide to managing up at work: how to communicate with senior leaders and build credibility.
- [Overconfidence Bias at Work](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/overconfidence-bias-at-work) — A practical guide to overconfidence bias at work: how leaders spot false certainty and test assumptions.
- [Strategic Silence at Work](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/strategic-silence-at-work) — Why strategic silence at work is more powerful than talking, and when it undermines trust.
- [How to Know Strategy Is Working](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/strategy-working-signals) — A practical guide to recognizing whether strategy is actually working, using decision quality and measurable movement instead of narrative comfort.
- [Sunk Cost Fallacy at Work](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/sunk-cost-fallacy-at-work) — Leaders lose time, money, and credibility defending decisions that no longer make sense. Here's how to recognize the sunk cost fallacy at work.
- [The Cost of Premature Consensus](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/the-cost-of-premature-consensus) — Organizations are better at building agreement than they are at maintaining productive disagreement. That asymmetry has a price.
- [When Being Right Isn't Enough](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/when-being-right-isnt-enough) — Why being right is not enough in consulting or leadership, and how good judgment becomes useful when it changes decisions and behavior.
- [When Consensus Kills Strategy](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/when-consensus-kills-strategy) — Why building consensus before making strategic decisions often produces worse outcomes.
- [When to Trust Data and When to Trust Judgment](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/when-to-trust-data-and-when-to-trust-judgment) — The decision to rely on data versus expert judgment depends on the type of problem and the quality of data.
- [Why Clients Fire Consultants Mid-Engagement](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/why-clients-fire-consultants-mid-engagement) — Why consultants get fired mid-engagement and how to prevent it.
- [Why Strategy Docs Don't Change Behavior](https://www.onbeingright.com/blog/why-strategy-documents-dont-change-behavior) — Why strategy documents rarely change behavior, and what leaders must do instead.

## Location Pages

- [San Francisco](https://www.onbeingright.com/locations/san-francisco)
- [Palo Alto](https://www.onbeingright.com/locations/palo-alto)
- [Atherton](https://www.onbeingright.com/locations/atherton)
- [Menlo Park](https://www.onbeingright.com/locations/menlo-park)
- [The Peninsula](https://www.onbeingright.com/locations/peninsula)
- [Silicon Valley](https://www.onbeingright.com/locations/silicon-valley)

## Full Content

- [llms-full.txt](https://www.onbeingright.com/llms-full.txt): expanded version of this file with the description and opening text of every page on the site