About the team :)
Othar Hansson, coach
It’s often said that "who you are is how you coach." As a leader with diverse experience, I create a safe and supportive environment where clients can explore new possibilities when facing challenges. I strive to live up to the positive feedback I received from a fellow Googler: "I never left a meeting with Othar the same way I entered it."
Leadership Development & Coaching Experience
My passion for leadership development and coaching has grown steadily throughout my years at Google. In 2024 alone, I coached Googlers across six continents, and in recent years, I’ve done over 200 hours of internal coaching through programs like Tech Advisors and G2G Coaching.
From 2021 to 2023, I led Google's Core Leadership Development Program, graduating 67 leaders across three intensive cohorts. Additionally, I've delivered roughly 100 hours of large-scale training and speaking engagements to nearly 3,000 Google employees.
Professional Development & Accreditation
To improve as a coach, I began the Hudson Certified Coach program in 2024 and anticipate earning the HCC and also the ACC accreditation from the International Coaching Federation in 2025.
Othar Hansson, product & engineering leader
“All progress depends on the unreasonable person. And Othar is often that unreasonable person” —- early in my Google career, someone offered this perspective to endorse me for promotion.
And it’s true: I’ve always shown a healthy disregard for the technically “impossible” or the organizationally impossible, and my niche at Google has been cleaning up organizational messes, and also driving innovation across organizational boundaries.
In my latest role, I work to facilitate technical negotiations across Google’s top-level units, in each case identifying a common roadmap to solve key challenges for the company.
Over almost 20 years at Google, I've worked in Search, Android, Play and now, Google's Core team. I've managed teams in Boulder, Cambridge, London, New York and Tokyo as well as the Bay Area.
Mentorship & Impact
But in retrospect, the most satisfying legacy of my time at Google has been at the individual level. I’ve supported, encouraged and coached many Googlers who were trying to channel their passion effectively in a large organization. They were trying to build something that many others thought was impossible.
In my best moments, I have simply seen the person they were trying to become, and helped them see that also.
Othar Hansson, volunteer grief counselor
A Personal Journey and Inspiration for Service
In April 2002, my first wife died by suicide after a long struggle with bipolar mood disorder. In the aftermath of that, I received amazing professional and peer grief counseling, and then decided to volunteer my time to give back.
Since then, I've volunteered in several of Kara's programs, doing crisis response at local companies and schools, working with kids, running groups for parents, and doing 1:1 counseling. I was Kara's treasurer, VP and then Board President for several years. All of this experience helps me to “coach the whole person” in my current work.
Lessons Learned and Guiding Principles
The experience of being a volunteer, over the course of two decades, has transformed how I see the world, and how I focus my energy. To summarize: people are precious, kindness is magic, and active listening helps people understand themselves better as they navigate crises and challenges.
Contact me
Interested in working together? Fill out some info and I will be in touch shortly. I can’t wait to hear from you!