Ali Merchant

I help managers become leaders in 12 weeks or less.

Senior L&D leader with 18 years of experience designing, delivering, and scaling enterprise wide learning programs. 

Deep expertise in learning strategy, facilitation, and executive coaching.


My track record includes:


✅ Scaling enterprise learning platforms including a $1.4M LMS rollout in 10 countries and a platform generating 1M+ page views with 1,500 resources.


✅ Launching and scaling L&D program for 2,000+ employees across 54 offices reducing ramp up time by 62%  


✅ Launching and scaling customer education programs that reduced onboarding time by 4 hours per customer and accelerated productivity for 15,000+ users


✅ Designing, launching, and facilitating training programs (live and virtual) globally for audiences ranging from first-time managers to executive teams, training more than 1,400 leaders 


✅ Coached 100+ senior leaders including founders, CXOs, VPs, and directors


✅ Author of "The All In Manager: Become a better leader today. Not someday"


✅ I write a weekly newsletter for 2700 leaders and my LinkedIn community reaches 50000+ leaders

Founder

👉🏼 My mission is to help ambitious managers become better leaders. 

I can help your managers in three ways:

1️⃣  Leadership workshops: 60-90 minute monthly workshops depending on your company's needs. Popular workshops include: 

1. Remote productivity, performance, and resilience
2. Building Psychological safety in a remote world
3. Delivering, asking, and receiving feedback virtually
4. Learning to become an effective coach.


👉🏼  "This is the best feedback training I have attended on this topic. I really like Ali's style and how he goes thru examples and breaks it down" - Sales leader


2️⃣ First-time manager training: A 5-week virtual program designed to get your first-time managers up and running. Topics include:

1. Understanding the role of leader
2. Building one on one connections 
3. Building Psychological safety
4. Delegate or DIY
5. Understanding feedback mechanics
6. Learning to become a coach.


👉🏼 “With becoming a manager recently, these sessions have really helped” - Engineering manager


3️⃣ Director and VP level coaching: Your leaders want someone who's a coach + consultant + mentor. Having coached for a decade, I know when to play each role.


👉🏼 "Ali's dedicated his career to developing leaders and it shows in his ability to effectively coach me." - Customer support leader.

I guide senior executives into becoming confident, culturally intelligent global leaders.

I help you when:
↳You're navigating complex multicultural teams.
↳You need to enhance your leadership presence.
↳You're leading strategic transformation.
↳You're stepping into a bigger role.
↳You're managing high-stakes decisions.

From my 30+ year IMF journey (junior assistant to senior executive), I understand your challenges because I've lived them.

I deliver:
↵Strategic clarity in complex situations
↵Enhanced leadership presence
↵Cross-cultural communication mastery
↵High-impact decision-making frameworks
↵Team transformation strategies

My Impact:
↱ Oversaw $1.4B in administrative and capital expenditures with strong controls
↱ Built high-performing, cross-functional international teams
↱ Guided successful cultural and career transitions
↱ Led $100M+ organizational changes and IT modernization initiatives
↱ Provided strategic, technical, and leadership guidance shaping policy and processes

I specialize in helping:
→C-Suite Executives
→Senior Leaders
→Rising Directors
→Global Team Leaders
→Transformation Managers

Why leaders choose ME:
⬏ ACC Certified Coach
⬏ 30+ Years IMF Leadership Experience
⬏ Proven Global Leadership Framework
⬏ Cultural Intelligence Expertise
⬏ Real-world Executive Experience

I'm ready to help you transform your leadership journey.

Let's connect:
  Book your strategy call.
  RekhaJ@RuReady.fyi
  www.RuReady.fyi

Rekha Jillella

Did you know people form opinions about you in the first 10 seconds?

Over the years, I noticed a common thread 
among the leaders I admire most. 

In the first 10 seconds of meeting them, 
there’s a sense of ease, a quiet confidence, a kind of peace. 

Their presence alone sets the tone. 

I’ve also seen the opposite.

Leaders who come across tense, distracted, or closed off. 

In those cases, trust takes longer to build, 
and every word requires more effort to land. 

Those first seconds matter more than we realize.

The good news? 

We’re given a fresh start every time we walk into a room,
join a call, or greet a colleague.

👇 Here are 6 ways leaders can make a positive impression in the first 10 seconds:

1. SMILE
I know an amazing, introverted leader. poised, capable, measured, 
and who typically maintains a neutral expression. 
But when this individual smiles, it lights up the entire room. 
A genuine smile is disarming. 
It signals openness, warmth, and confidence without a single word.

2. MAKE EYE CONTACT
Whether you’re greeting one person or many, make eye contact. 
If it’s a group, scan the room. 
Make your presence felt in a positive, quiet way. 
Eye contact signals respect for your audience whether it’s a dinner party, 
an office meeting, or a formal presentation.

3. DRESS FOR THE OCCASION
A disheveled appearance can be distracting and 
pulls focus away from what’s inside. 
As humans, we process visual signs first.
Dressing with intention isn’t about vanity.
It’s about eliminating anything that gets in the way of your message.

4. PROJECT OPEN POSTURE
Posture speaks before you do. 
Slouching or closed body language can unintentionally 
signal disengagement or disinterest. 
Stand (or sit) in a way that shows you want to be there.

5. BE ATTENTIVE
Don’t check your phone. 
Don’t appear distracted or as if you’re multitasking. 
Attention is a form of respect.
Focused presence tells people they are valued and heard.

6. SPEAK WITH CALM INTENTION
Your greeting matters. 
Tone and tenor, the pace of your words, and 
how you enter a conversation all shape perception. 
Calm, grounded, and intentional language sets a strong foundation.

Your presence speaks before your words ever do. 

Those moments create the conditions for everything that follows.

💡Pick one of these 6 actions and practice is consciously in your next interaction.

♻️ Repost if this can help others make a great first impression. Follow me, Rekha Jillella for more leadership insights.

Helping Executives Lead with Clarity and Influence Across Complex Organizations | Executive Coach (ICF-ACC) | Former IMF Senior Leader

What's the difference between a COMPETENT leader and an AGILE one?

For years, I thought agility was a separate leadership competency. 

It turns out it’s actually about how and when you deploy the ones you already have.

When I tried to staff a team for both today AND 
five years from now with the same tight budget....

I realized that I didn't need to build new competencies. 

I needed to understand which ones the moment needs, and how to deploy them.

The competency framework said I had "strategic workforce planning." 

But it didn't tell me how to plan for today AND 
five years from now at the same time.

I was stuck between today's urgent needs 
and tomorrow's inevitable reality.

We needed financial analysts NOW. 

The work was piling up. 

The budget was tight. 

The demands were relentless.

I could see where the field was headed. 

The skills we needed today wouldn't be enough in 5 years. 

The roles were evolving. 

The team structure we had wouldn't match the organization we were becoming.

So, I was fighting two battles at once:

👉 Justify current hires to meet immediate deliverables, 
while making the case for higher-grade positions we would need in the near future.

👉 Stretch a tight budget to cover today's gaps, 
while protecting resources for the transition we'd need in 2-3 years.

👉 Deliver on this quarter's priorities, 
while building a team that could handle next decade's complexity.

I had to learn to hold both facts at the same time:

Yes, we needed bodies in seats now.

AND yes, we were building for a future that looks different than today.

That meant some hard conversations:

👉 Deprioritizing deliverables that didn't serve the long game.
👉 Saying no to "good enough for now" hires.
👉 Justifying budget asks for roles that didn't exist yet.

The competency I thought I had - "strategic workforce planning" 
wasn't enough.

I had to develop the ability to operate in two time horizons simultaneously without losing credibility in either.

Present-focused enough that the team trusted I understood the pressure they were under.

Future-focused enough that leadership saw I wasn't just managing today. I was building capacity for tomorrow.

That recruiting challenge taught me that:

Agile leadership needs: 
-> balanced focus AND
-> ability to adapt competencies based on what the moment requires.

The competencies stay the same. 

How we deploy them shifts constantly.

💡 What's one competency you've had to learn to "flex" differently as you've grown?

♻️ Repost to help other leaders adapt their competencies to the situation. Follow me, Rekha Jillella for more leadership insights.

If you care about leading well, especially when things feel intense, I recommend this.

Andrea is a passionate coach who does powerful work around leadership under pressure, and she’s hosting a free live session that gets to the heart of what actually trips leaders up. This is a great opportunity to learn from her.

Freeing Business Leaders from Constant Reactivity | Reclaim 10+ Hours/Week | Create Clarity, Alignment & High-Performing Teams | Executive Coach

Pressure isn’t what creates leadership problems.
It’s losing sight of choice when pressure shows up.

I’m hosting a free live session on how to recognize that moment and lead intentionally when demand is high.

Details in the comments.

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Rekha Jillella

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The Battle

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Rekha Jillella

Followers

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Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Rekha Jillella's LinkedIn Performance

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