Leadership Team Development · Keynotes · Executive Coaching

Less drag.
More lift.

In aviation, L/D max is the speed where a wing produces the most lift for the least drag. Your leadership team has one too. LD Max Leadership partners with organizations to find it.

We translate naval aviation and business leadership lessons into practical ways to lead teams through pressure and uncertainty.

Our founder, Loree Draude, was one of the U.S. Navy's first women to fly in a combat squadron and spent 20 years leading teams in Silicon Valley, including at Google and Meta. She leads a team of experienced executive coaches and facilitators.

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Loree Draude at the World Economic Forum

Why "LD Max"

Every team has a point of maximum performance.

Pilots learn it early: at one precise speed, the aircraft gets its best glide, its longest range, its most performance for the least effort. Fly slower and you're plowing. Fly faster and you're burning energy fighting the air. That point is called L/D max.

Leadership teams work the same way. Most are carrying drag they've stopped noticing: unclear priorities, unspoken conflict, meetings that produce heat instead of lift. The work of LD Max Leadership is to find that drag, name it, and trim it, so the energy your team already has starts converting into altitude.

LD Max Leadership was built at that intersection. Our founder flew jets off carriers and led teams through hypergrowth in Silicon Valley, and our coaches have guided executives through the moments when the stakes are highest.

The point where everything is working in your favor.

How We Work Together

Built for organizations that are serious about their leaders.

Every engagement is designed around your business, your culture, and the outcomes you need, and staffed to fit its scope, from a single facilitator to a full coaching bench. Here are the three ways in.

Flagship 01

Leadership Team Partnerships

A multi-month partnership to develop your senior team as a unit. We start with where the drag is, then build the practices that create lift.

Discovery interviews across the leadership team
1:1 coaching for key executives, matched from our coaching bench
Regular debriefs with measurable outcomes

Executive Coaching

ICF-certified coaching for executives and founders, as part of a team partnership or sponsored by your organization for individual leaders.

Confidential 1:1 engagements, typically 6 to 12 months
Each leader matched with the right coach from our bench
Hundreds of Silicon Valley executives coached

Keynotes & Workshops

Interactive talks that drop your audience into the cockpit and hand them frameworks they'll actually use. Customized deeply for every audience.

Conference keynotes and leadership offsites
Half-day and full-day team workshops
Every talk tailored to your industry and moment

Service Offerings

When the stakes are high, we work alongside your management team.

Interim and Fractional Executive Leadership

Providing temporary CEO, COO, general management, or executive advisory support during leadership transitions or periods of organizational strain.

Operating Performance Improvement

Working directly with management teams to address organizational effectiveness and execution challenges.

Rapid Operating Assessments

Conducting focused evaluations of portfolio company performance and management capabilities, with actionable recommendations and prioritized improvement plans.

Management Team Advisory

Supporting CEOs and founders as they navigate growth, organizational complexity, and the demands of institutional investors.

What changes when we work together

Working with me, your leaders will:

Surface what is slowing the team down, through confidential interviews with each leader.
Turn executive decisions into priorities people can repeat two levels down.
Make company-wide trade-offs as one team instead of defending their own functions.
Give AI decisions a clear owner, objective, and abort criteria.
Know how much more change their teams can absorb before the best people burn out or leave.
Give candid feedback with clear standards and practical support, so trust grows with performance.
Build a debrief habit that turns setbacks into shared learning and measurable progress.
Practice new behaviors on the job with 1:1 executive coaching.

“Loree not only guided us – as a team – through a difficult period but truly helped me personally. It was hard but Loree made it surprisingly pleasant. And it was a success. I would work with her again in a heartbeat.”

Steve Cohen, Partner, Pollock | Cohen

“Through individual coaching and facilitated discussions, Loree helped us to listen more carefully, establish shared expectations for constructive dialogue, and clarify our individual priorities and collective goals. Her work contributed to a stronger, more cohesive partnership and a firm culture that attracts attorneys who value collaboration and teamwork.”

Adam Pollock, Partner, Pollock | Cohen

Keynotes

Talks that start on a flight deck at midnight.

No moon. No stars. No horizon. Loree's keynotes open in the cockpit and land on frameworks your people will use Monday morning. She's a trained performer with an off-Broadway solo show, so your audience gets a storyteller, and your leaders get the takeaways.

Watch Loree's speaker reel (3 min).

Signature

When the Horizon Disappears: Leading Through Fear and Uncertainty

Loree brings audiences into the cockpit and the human moments behind high-stakes performance. Through candid stories, humor, and practical tools, she shows leaders how to manage fear, build trust, and help their teams perform through uncertainty and change.

Performance

Mental Fitness: Improve Performance and Increase Fulfillment

Naval aviators train for physical fitness. Mental fitness can be measured and strengthened too. Loree shows audiences why inner critics hold us back and how a simple daily practice builds the positive mental muscles that raise both performance and happiness.

Influence

Storytelling for Leaders

The stories we tell our teams to inspire them, and the stories we tell ourselves about what we're capable of. Presented to audiences of 2,000+.

What event hosts say

Loree Draude delivered an exceptional keynote presentation at the Florida Cemetery, Cremation, and Funeral Association’s Annual Convention this year. Her presentation captivated attendees and inspired meaningful engagement, with many taking advantage of the post-presentation Q&A session to continue the conversation.

Dee Kring, CAE, CMPExecutive Director, Florida Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association

The way in which you seamlessly connected your military and professional work, the struggles and ability to overcome, to what our GM’s face on a daily basis was incredible. The team left feeling energized and more ready than ever to take responsibility as a leader of their individual units to drive performance!

Lindsy WnorowskiRegional Senior Director, Operations & Owner Services, Marriott International

Loree was our keynote speaker at Lithium’s annual LiNC conference, with an audience of approximately one thousand attendees. If you’re looking for a speaker with humor, warmth, and compelling stories who can inspire an audience, hire Loree!

Beverly DunnGlobal Head of Customer Success, Ivalua

The Team

No bird (or person) soars on its own.

That line is from our founder's book, and it's how we build every engagement. You get a team scaled to your organization, with one person accountable to you for all of it.

Founder & Principal

Loree Draude

Navy combat aviator, 20 years leading teams at Google, Meta, and startups, ICF-certified executive coach, and author of SOAR into Joy. Loree leads every partnership personally, from the first briefing to the final debrief.

Executive Coaches

The Coaching Bench

A hand-picked network of certified executive coaches Loree knows, trusts, and has vetted personally. When a partnership includes 1:1 coaching for multiple leaders, each executive is matched with the coach whose background fits their industry, role, and goals.

Delivery Partner

Day Six Leadership

For large-scale leadership team development programs, we deliver in partnership with Day Six Leadership, adding experienced facilitators and program capacity so engagements can scale without losing the personal touch.

A young Loree Draude in a jet cockpit on the flight line during her Navy years — In the cockpit during her Navy years.

About the Founder

Loree "Rowdy" Draude

Loree Draude was one of the first women in the U.S. Navy to fly in a combat squadron, deploying twice aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln with 300+ carrier landings and a place in the top 10 percent of her air wing as its first woman-qualified landing signal officer. She then spent 20 years leading teams in Silicon Valley, including at Google and Meta, where her leadership practices raised her organization's recognition scores 16 percent.

She holds an MBA from Wharton, is a Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative fellow, an ICF-certified professional coach (PCC), and the author of two books, including the Amazon bestseller SOAR into Joy. Her one-woman show about her Navy years, I Feel the Need, has played Hollywood Fringe and off-Broadway.

Loree has also been laid off, forced to shut down her startup, divorced, fired, and quit her job. She keeps a written list of her failures and shares it with the leaders she coaches. She also overuses commas.

Less drag.
More lift.

Every team has a point of maximum performance.