About

I’m Matt. I believe in you.

That’s not a tagline — it’s the job. I’m a transformational coach, a trainer of coaches, and an author. I’ve spent a decade helping leaders build things that matter without losing themselves, and helping coaches master a craft most of the world doesn’t know how to take seriously yet.

Matt Thieleman — full-body black and white portrait

The coach's chair, and the CEO's seat.

I started Golden Bristle in 2015. The path there ran through marketing, mindful leadership work, and a first coaching call I prepared for by literally googling “how do I onboard a coaching client.” (We all start somewhere.) A decade later, I’ve coached founders, executives, and coaches, trained hundreds of coaches, and written a book about the craft.

In 2021, I took the other seat: CEO of a small company, in what I imagined would be a 10-year role. I grew the team, we beat our targets, I served clients I loved — and I made just about every mistake there is. Hired wrong. Chased too many goals at once and called it mission. Burned out, broke down with the cofounder, and walked away from something we’d built together.

That chapter taught me what you can’t learn from the coach’s chair — what it actually costs to sit in the seat, hold the weight, and keep going when it’s hard. It changed how I coach more than any certification ever could.

The stand under all of it

Everything I do runs on one stand: we can make a more beautiful world. Not someday, not once conditions improve — now, starting with how we lead, how we love, and who we’re willing to become, one moment at a time.

That’s why I coach coaches, not just leaders. I believe in a world where every human has the skills and being of a coach — curious, compassionate, empowered, and connected to something bigger than themselves — because more people who can see each other clearly and call each other forward is exactly what a more beautiful world is made of.

Underneath it, the beliefs that shape the work: who you’re being shapes what you create — your company, your family, your life. Coaching is an art, mastered through practice, not certificates. And most people are carrying something bigger than they’re letting themselves build.

The name Golden Bristle comes from Gullinbursti — the golden boar of Norse myth, crafted with thousands of strands of gold, who carried the god of the harvest and made things bloom wherever he went, including times of war. Light-bearing. Life-giving. A more beautiful world, everywhere he walked. That’s the stand — and that’s the work.

How I work

The seven values

Be Human.

Whole people only — the win, the dread, all of it.

Be Leader.

Nobody’s coming to save you, and that’s good news.

Be Integrity.

Say the true thing. Close the gap between word and deed.

Be Ecological.

The whole system matters — self, other, the environment. Consider the whole picture.

Be Generous and Generative.

We create abundance as we make the pie bigger for everyone.

Be an Artist.

Your life and business are creative acts.

Be Fun.

This is serious work. We take it lightly. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Michigan is home. My work travels.

I live in Dexter, Michigan, a few minutes outside Ann Arbor, with my wife Kristen and our daughter Opal. I care about this place, and I’m committed to its people and businesses — that’s why my mastermind meets in person here in Southeast Michigan.

And I work with people everywhere. Leaders and coaches in Detroit, Cincinnati, Tucson, Edinburgh, Japan. The Zoom room works fine; what matters is who shows up in it.

Off the clock

Baseball (playing, not just watching). Hiking with my daughter. D&D since 2019. Bonfires, board games, beaches, and a mild obsession with regenerative farming. I love good stories — written, animated, and acted — and cry at the human parts. I love to be barefoot.