Meet Jeff Thomas

I’ve spent most of my life inside pressure filled rooms.

Locker rooms. Meeting rooms. Classrooms. Living rooms.

Places where decisions matter, where people are watching more closely than they admit, and where the cost of getting it wrong is rarely abstract. I’m currently the head football coach at the University of Puget Sound, but my work has always lived at the intersection of leadership, learning, and lived experience.

Coaching taught me something early on that changed everything. Leadership is not about having the loudest answer. It’s about holding the most responsibility for the space you create.

That insight became the foundation for everything that followed.

Why I Write

I write for leaders who are tired of false choices.

Strong or kind. Decisive or empathetic. Confident or curious. Drive results or protect people.

Real leadership rarely lives on one side of those lines. It lives in the tension between them.

The Power of And is the first book in a twelve part leadership series built around a simple idea: two things can be true at the same time. Each book explores a different dimension of leadership tension and offers practical frameworks, grounded stories, and reflective tools for people who want to lead with clarity without losing their humanity.

This work is shaped as much by parenting conversations at the kitchen table as it is by game planning meetings and boardroom discussions. Leadership shows up everywhere. The stakes change. The principles do not.

How I Think About Leadership

I believe leadership is a craft, not a personality trait.

It can be practiced. It can be trained. It can be refined.

The frameworks I teach are built for real life. Not for keynote stages or social media soundbites, but for moments when you don’t have time to rehearse your values out loud. Moments when pressure reveals what you’ve actually trained.

My approach blends structure and reflection. Systems and self awareness. Action and pause. I care deeply about helping leaders build capacity without burning out, scale impact without losing soul, and make decisions they can stand behind when the noise fades.

Who This Is For

I work with:

  • Coaches and educators navigating high expectation environments

  • Organizational leaders managing growth, change, and culture

  • Parents trying to lead well inside the small, unseen moments

  • Readers who enjoy thoughtful leadership books and want something deeper than surface level advice

If you care about how leadership lands, not just how it sounds, you’re in the right place.

Beyond the Bio

This site is home to my writing, teaching, and ongoing projects across leadership, coaching, and culture. It’s also a place where ideas are allowed to evolve. Where nuance is welcomed. Where pressure is treated as a teacher rather than an enemy.

I don’t promise easy answers.

I do promise honest ones.

If you believe leadership is more art than algorithm, more posture than performance, and more about holding tension than eliminating it, I’m glad you’re here.

Jeff Thomas

hello@coachjeffthomas.com