Background
Coaching for leaders in the space sector
I partner with space sector leaders in transition whose challenge is creating lasting change while staying true to their values.
I'm Jake Malthouse. For two decades I've worked to move large systems — in responsible finance, the open internet, and now space — and I coach the leaders trying to do the same.
You went into space for a reason — an opportunity others couldn't see, a wider canvas for change, a chance to move humanity to the stars, or to make life better here on earth. You bring a strategic perspective that lets you see what others cannot.
But seeing the opportunity for change and creating it aren't the same thing.
You are navigating a transition — a new role, institution, specialization, or country. Each carries its own complexities: norms you don't know, connections you can't see, stories that reinforce the status quo.
It's not clear where, when, or how to act. The wrong calls can be costly — and so can standing still: momentum stalls, conviction wears thin, and the system you came to change can slowly begin to change you. The right ones can change the world. I help people thrive through these transitions.
Who I work with
They work in space — a rapidly evolving industry where the rules are still being written — and have come to their current role with an outside perspective. That perspective is how they can see what needs to change. Meeting the challenge of that change is what brings them here.
You took this role because you saw an opportunity, or wanted a wider canvas for the change you care about.
You see what those inside cannot, or will not — the assumptions, the limits, the openings. It is why you were brought in, or why you moved.
A board, a regulator, an institution, a new sector — each with norms you do not yet know, relationships you have not yet built, and a gravity that favours the established way.
Is the friction a sign that your approach needs to change, or simply the nature of the system you have entered?
Most people are principally aware of one culture, one setting, one home; exiles are aware of at least two, and this plurality of vision gives rise to an awareness of simultaneous dimensions, an awareness that — to borrow a phrase from music — is contrapuntal.
Edward Said · Reflections on Exile
How we work together
My support is most useful during an active transition in a dynamic environment. We start with your story and values, then work outward — reading the system you're in, finding where you can genuinely move it, and learning how to sustain yourself while you do.
We map what you are actually working within — its norms, relationships, incentives, and history — to see what is genuinely constraining the change, as distinct from what merely appears to be.
We work out where your outside perspective is leverage and where it is friction, so you can move the institution without provoking the reflexes that defeat change introduced from outside.
Leading change from the edge of a system is demanding and often isolating. We keep sight of who you are becoming, so your conviction holds for as long as the change takes.
Throughout this process, the work moves between the big picture — strategic, systemic, who you're becoming — and the practical: a board dynamic, a financial decision, a key relationship. Having built and led global organisations myself, across governance, finance, fundraising, and operations, I can stay with you across both levels.
This wide-ranging exploration is central to our work. It's where clarity opens up, and action follows.
What I ask
Real change takes time. You can expect a space that takes your full complexity seriously — your culture, your values, your professional and personal worlds both.
Be ready to reflect deeply, sit with discomfort, and explore — this work is positively oriented and high-empathy, but it asks something of you.
Commit to going beneath the surface — examining not just the practical challenges but the assumptions, stories, and values underneath them.
Bring what you discover back into your daily work. The goal is not just insight — it's change you can see and feel in how you lead.
What clients say
"Leading a nonprofit foundation in a sector as dynamic as space comes with constant complexity, and Jake's support has been invaluable. His approach — grounded in lived leadership experience, high emotional intelligence, strong business acumen, and a curiosity that gets to the crux of matters — has helped me find clarity through rapid change. He brings a rare combination of big-picture thinking and operational pragmatism, and has helped me make critical decisions I could stand behind with confidence, from long-term strategy to governance and budgets."
"Jake has this amazing ability to understand the core of the issues you are trying to solve or address, and is able to verbalize what you are experiencing with such clarity. Every time we had a conversation, Jake enabled me to identify with greater understanding the options that were in my control and the things that required a different way of thinking or perspective. Ultimately, Jake is a true professional and excellent coach as he tackles difficult matters with great care and compassion."
"I asked for Jake's help during a period of profound change: country, job, role, and parenthood all at the same time. He's extremely sharp, with a rare ability to draw clear statements out of a conversation even when it takes non-linear paths. Over our sessions we developed a concrete framework that's helping me tackle my daily challenges — specific but generalizable, something I'll be able to reuse and expand over time."
Background
A conversation
That's probably worth a conversation. I work with a small number of clients at a time. We'll talk about what you're navigating — and whether working together makes sense.
Start a conversationjake@jakemalthouse.com · Vancouver, Canada · Working globally
