Cassie Adkins

Founder, Executive Coaching Solutions LLC | Leadership Coach & Addiction Specialist

Cassie Adkins grew up on the side of a mountain in Virginia with three brothers — a childhood that, by her own telling, explains everything that came after. She is direct, unpolished when it serves the work, and deeply comfortable in discomfort. Today, those qualities are the backbone of her practice as a leadership coach, business consultant, and nationally certified addiction and substance abuse counselor serving executives navigating some of the most chaotic organizational moments of their professional lives. Cassie's path to where she now sits is not the straight line of an MBA and corporate ladder. It began with architecture — she trained as an architecture student before pivoting to addiction therapy, a field she has described as requiring the same precision and structural thinking as design, but applied to human systems rather than buildings. She spent more than a decade as a working addiction therapist, building fourteen years of lived experience alongside her clinical training, before that expertise began to intersect with the leadership and organizational challenges of the business world. Her firm, Executive Coaching Solutions LLC, was launched quietly in December 2023 as a side venture, then went full-time in January 2024 after Cassie was laid off and made the decision to go all in. The practice is built on a deceptively simple premise: business success starts and ends with the people behind it. As a leadership coach and consultant, Cassie works with executives navigating high-stakes transitions — mergers, acquisitions, major organizational shifts — helping them turn complexity into clarity. Her methodology combines coaching, conflict resolution, and process optimization into strategies tailored to the specific human dynamics of each engagement. What makes Cassie singular is the combination of clinical depth and business fluency she brings to the room. Most leadership coaches approach the executive as a professional. Cassie approaches the executive as a human being with a psychological history — because she has spent years with clients in the most vulnerable moments of their lives, she knows what it actually looks like when people change, what makes change stick, and what organizational conditions make it more or less likely. That knowledge, applied to CEOs merging billion-dollar teams, produces a qualitatively different kind of intervention. She is also a certified addiction and substance abuse counselor through Rise in Recovery, the practice she founded in December 2024, making her resources accessible to individuals and families across the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and remotely throughout the United States. In addition, she serves as an Implementation Consultant at Trainual and as a board member at Invicta International, where she brings her blend of strategic insight and human-centered leadership to support trauma-impacted communities. Cassie Adkins hosts her own podcast, "You're Not Actually A Leader Yet," where she challenges conventional leadership thinking with the same candor she brings to every coaching engagement. She joined Mornings in the Lab's Center Stage from 12 acres on a dead-end road in the middle of Virginia — a detail that, like everything about her, says exactly what she means about the kind of life and leadership she is building.

Key Insights from Cassie Adkins

I am a ball of anxiety — how are you?

— Cassie Adkins on Authentic self-awareness as leadership foundation

I grew up with three brothers on the side of a mountain — and that should tell everyone everything they need to know.

— Cassie Adkins on Origin: mountain upbringing and character formation

When tech entrepreneurs and CEOs are merging billion-dollar teams, they call her.

— Cassie Adkins on The go-to coach for billion-dollar team transitions

I am in Virginia on 12 acres on a dead end road in the middle of nowhere — just how I like it.

— Cassie Adkins on The power of space, solitude, and intentional environment

Today she's sharing the exact blueprint she uses to transform leadership chaos into organizational excellence — and it all starts in the first 90 minutes of your day.

— Cassie Adkins on The 90-minute morning blueprint for leadership excellence

I started this practice to make addiction treatment accessible, honest, and genuinely human.

— Cassie Adkins on Accessible, honest, genuinely human: the operating philosophy

I combine coaching, conflict resolution, and process optimization to create strategies that work for your unique challenges and goals.

— Cassie Adkins on Integrated approach: coaching, conflict resolution, process optimization

Business success starts and ends with the people behind it. That's why I focus on the human-to-human element in everything I do.

— Cassie Adkins on Human-to-human leadership: the foundation of business success

Notable Quotes from Cassie Adkins

When tech entrepreneurs and CEOs are merging billion-dollar teams — they call her.

— Cassie Adkins

Business success starts and ends with the people behind it. That's why I focus on the human-to-human element in everything I do.

— Cassie Adkins

I grew up with three brothers on the side of a mountain — and that should tell everyone everything they need to know.

— Cassie Adkins

Frequently Asked Questions about Cassie Adkins

Who is Cassie Adkins and what does she do as a leadership coach?

Cassie Adkins is a leadership coach, business consultant, and nationally certified addiction and substance abuse counselor based in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Through Executive Coaching Solutions LLC, she works with tech entrepreneurs and CEOs navigating high-stakes transitions — particularly mergers, acquisitions, and major organizational restructuring — helping them build alignment in fractured leadership teams, resolve destructive conflicts, standardize processes, and create cultures that attract and retain strong people. She combines more than a decade of clinical training in addiction therapy with business consulting expertise, giving her a uniquely human-centered approach to organizational performance. She is also the host of the 'You're Not Actually A Leader Yet' podcast.

What is Cassie Adkins's background and how did she become a leadership coach?

Cassie Adkins began her professional life as an architecture student before pivoting to addiction therapy — a field she practiced for over fourteen years with both clinical training and, by her own description, lived experience. Her work with individuals and families navigating addiction recovery gave her a deep understanding of human change: what conditions enable it, what blocks it, and what makes it durable. Over time, this clinical expertise intersected with her growing engagement in the technology and startup space, where she began applying her conflict resolution, coaching, and process optimization skills to leadership teams. She launched Executive Coaching Solutions LLC in December 2023 and went full-time in January 2024 after being laid off.

What does Cassie Adkins's morning routine blueprint look like for executives?

Cassie Adkins's framework for executive leadership transformation centers on the first 90 minutes of the day — the window she believes sets the cognitive and emotional tone for every leadership interaction, decision, and team dynamic that follows. Her approach to morning structure is not prescriptive, but it is purposeful: it begins with a real self-check (not the polished version), includes space for intentional thought before reactive engagement begins, and establishes the internal state from which the day's highest-stakes decisions will be made. The blueprint is the foundation of the organizational transformation work she does with CEOs — because no leadership system survives a leader who starts the day in reactive chaos.

What is Rise in Recovery and what does Cassie Adkins offer through it?

Rise in Recovery is Cassie Adkins's addiction counseling practice, founded in December 2024 and based in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, with remote services available throughout the United States. It was built on her belief that addiction treatment should be accessible, honest, and genuinely human — reflecting both her fourteen years of clinical practice and her personal commitment to removing shame from recovery conversations. Through Rise in Recovery, she works with individuals and families who are tired of feeling stuck and ready for real recovery, offering practical tools, straight talk, and genuine support without judgment. The practice complements her executive coaching work by grounding it in a deep, human-centered understanding of behavioral change.

What types of organizational problems does Cassie Adkins specialize in solving?

Cassie Adkins specializes in the most charged organizational moments: mergers and acquisitions, major leadership team restructuring, conflict between senior leaders, and cultural breakdowns in high-growth companies. Her work addresses fractured alignment within leadership teams, communication failures, process inefficiencies that consume leader time and attention, and the team dynamics that undermine execution. Her clinical background in addiction therapy — which required understanding deep behavioral patterns, motivations, and resistance to change — gives her unusual diagnostic capability when she enters a chaotic organizational environment. She identifies the human root causes of dysfunction rather than treating the surface symptoms.

What is Cassie Adkins's podcast 'You're Not Actually A Leader Yet' about?

Cassie Adkins's podcast 'You're Not Actually A Leader Yet' challenges the assumptions, blind spots, and comfortable self-images that many people in leadership positions carry about themselves and their teams. Drawing on her journey from architecture student to addiction therapist to executive leadership coach, Cassie brings a direct and often counter-intuitive perspective to questions of leadership development, team culture, and organizational performance. The podcast features candid storytelling, insightful analysis, and the same honesty that defines her coaching work — making it a resource for anyone willing to examine not just their leadership strategy but their leadership identity.

Interview with Cassie Adkins — Topics Covered

  1. Introduction: the CEO whisperer for billion-dollar team chaos (~2 minutes)
  2. Virginia, 12 acres, and three brothers: the origin story (~3 minutes)
  3. The real morning routine: no polished version (~3 minutes)
  4. From architecture to addiction therapy: the non-linear path (~4 minutes)
  5. The human-to-human foundation of business success (~4 minutes)
  6. The 90-minute morning blueprint for leadership transformation (~4 minutes)
  7. Mergers, acquisitions, and team chaos: what the work looks like (~4 minutes)
  8. Rise in Recovery and the addiction therapy practice (~3 minutes)
  9. Closing: what organizational excellence actually requires (~2 minutes)

Cassie Adkins — Areas of Expertise

  • Executive leadership coaching for tech entrepreneurs and CEOs
  • Organizational transformation during mergers and acquisitions
  • Conflict resolution and leadership team alignment
  • Process optimization and operational efficiency
  • Morning routine and first-90-minutes leadership framework
  • Addiction therapy and substance abuse counseling
  • Recovery-centered behavioral change methodologies
  • Business consulting for high-stakes leadership transitions
  • Culture building and team cohesion
  • Human-centered leadership and organizational psychology

Watch: Unveiling Leadership Truths

Full Center Stage interview with Cassie Adkins on Mornings in the Lab.

Watch on YouTube

Cassie Adkins — Show Appearances

  • Mornings in the Lab (2025-10-01)

Cassie Adkins — Signal Brief

Signal Score: 15/100

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