SDLR Life and Career Coaching | Consulting
SDLR Life and Career Coaching | Consulting

I’m Simon. I spent 15 years in corporate environments across engineering and operations. I was good at it. I was also burning out on a schedule I couldn’t see clearly until I was already in it.
I left a stable career to figure out what I actually wanted. That process was uncomfortable and necessary. It led me to coaching.
I work with people who are where I’ve been: capable, self-aware, and stuck. I’m not a therapist or a consultant. I don’t hand out answers...I help you find yours, faster than you would alone.
I hold a degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering with an emphasis on process improvement, lean manufacturing, and program management. For over 15 years, I built a career solving complex problems and leading operations at scale. My journey began in operations and logistics / supply chain management, eventually taking me to Amazon, where I managed last-mile delivery fleet operations across North America and multiple European markets. Over the past 5 years, I have consistently coached those around me; supporting colleagues, mentoring both direct and indirect reports seeking career advice, and guiding clients through life transitions.
I was born in Colombia, raised in the U.S., and now live in Berlin. Outside of coaching, I spend much of my time outdoors and in creative pursuits. Family and a strong connection to self, through meditation are central to my life. I’m an avid road cyclist and have completed more than 25 triathlons. I’m also an advanced scuba diver who enjoys exploring the underwater world. Creativity plays a big role in my life: I paint, take photographs, and write regularly (as possible) on Substack. Reading widely keeps me curious, while writing helps me reflect and share insights along the way.
My clients are founders, leaders, creators, and professionals in their late 20s, 30s, and 40s, spread across the US, Europe, and Latin America. They come from tech, finance, creative industries, logistics, marketing, and everything in between. They’re not shopping around. They’ve reached a point where they know they need a different kind of support, and they’re ready to do something about it.
The work tends to cluster around five areas:
If any of that sounds familiar, we should talk.
Some of my best work happens inside companies. . High performers, team leads, and senior managers who are delivering results on the outside while dealing with pressure on the inside.
I’ve worked across three layers of leadership within a single organization. From the executive sponsor, through their direct reports, down to the people those managers lead. Groups as large as 18 people in the same company, three different vantage points on the same challenges.
What that work showed me is that pressure trickles down the entire org.
The numbers back this up. Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace report found that 70% of team engagement is directly tied to the manager. When the person in the middle is burning out or checked out, the team below them mirrors it almost automatically. Manager engagement dropped from 30% to 27% in 2024 alone, and overall global engagement has now fallen to 21%, only the second decline in twelve years. Only 33% of employees say they are thriving.
Gallup found that managers who received targeted coaching saw engagement rise by up to 22%, with their teams following at 18%. Those gains held, with performance improvements of 20 to 28% still present nine to eighteen months later.
If you’re thinking about coaching support for someone on your team, or for a group of people across a layer of your organization, let’s talk about what that could look like.
B.S. in Industrial & Systems Engineering (Magna Cum Laude)
Six Sigma Green Belt
Certified Project Manager
Published 2 research papers
Trilingual (English, Spanish, Portuguese)
Worked for 3 Fortune 500 companies
Managed teams of 5–12 direct reports
3 burnouts in my 15-year corporate career
Failure and learning has been a constant
Completed 25+ triathlons
Sports enthusiast: scuba diving, tennis, padel, horseback riding, surfing, snowskiing, water skiing, rock climbing
Longest bike ride: 305km
Lover of life + spiritual
Painted 100 pieces of art
Sold 20+ works (www.idelrio.com)
Writer on Substack (@NotesOnBeingCurious)
Lived in 5 countries
Traveled to 51 countries
I coach because the most meaningful moments in my career were never about systems or metrics, but about people. Guiding others through change and helping them see new possibilities showed me where my true energy lies.
At the heart of my work is one intention: to help people align who they are with what they do, so their next steps feel not only right on paper, but right within themselves. I work with clients facing career challenges, life changes, or questions of personal direction, offering coaching in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
My approach blends the structure of an engineer with the empathy of someone who has navigated change himself. I create spaces of stillness and curiosity, where clients can move from uncertainty to purposeful action.
Choosing a coach is personal. Clients choose to work with me because I understand both professional and personal transitions. I believe in your ability to unlock courage and clarity through self-discovery. I ask questions that cut through noise, balance structure with flexibility, and focus on helping you align who you are with what you do, so your next steps feel not just right on paper, but deeply right within yourself.
My approach combines proven coaching tools (DOTS, GROW, CLEAR, WoL, IKIGAI, and others) to help you balance ambition, purpose and well-being.
What sets me apart is what I value:
• Belief in your potential: I see coaching as a path to unlock the courage and strength to live as your truest self.
• Understanding of transitions: With roots in Latin America, a career in the U.S., and a new life in Berlin, I know the realities of starting over and questioning what’s next.
• Clarity with empathy: I ask the questions that cut through the noise and reflect what matters most, in a space free of judgment.
• Balance of structure and flexibility: I bring tools and frameworks when helpful but always adapt to your unique path.
• Focus on alignment: My goal is to help you connect who you are with what you do, so your decisions feel authentic and sustainable.
• Confidentiality & Trust: holding your story with respect, ensuring a safe and professional space for exploration
Before coaching, I often carried my challenges alone. When I was hired as Head of Operations for a large company based out of Miami I was the youngest person in the room. I was leading multi-location operations and managing teams older and more experienced than I was, and here I faced the full weight of impostor syndrome. I turned to coaching to help me navigate that responsibility and self-doubt, to trust my instincts, and to lead with confidence instead of comparison.
Years later, when I decided to leave Amazon and step away from a successful corporate path, coaching again became a bridge. One coach helped me design that transition; how to leave well, with clarity and purpose. After that, I worked with another wonderful coach who guided me inward, helping me reconnect with what I truly wanted to create next. That work gave me permission to trust myself fully and to build a life and practice that feel aligned with who I am.
The Simon before coaching led mostly with my head. I was analytical, driven, and capable, but disconnected from my intuition. I knew something in me wanted change, but I kept pushing it aside, focusing instead on results and responsibility.
Over the years, I’ve turned to coaching for different reasons: first, to overcome impostor syndrome and become the best version of myself as a leader and professional; later, to align my inner passion with work that feels authentic and meaningful.
Life is wonderful because it keeps changing. And while change can feel isolating, we’re never meant to face it alone. Sometimes all we need is a steady hand to help us cross the bridge to what comes next.
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