• Boots,  Highheels

    Your narrative determines success or failure – but differently what you expect

    The project is intense. Everyone delivers at their best. You deliver at your best. You walk every extra mile – for the client, for the team, for your career. Mostly, you get positive feedback. But one of your deliverables gets rejected. The feedback feels horrible. Instead of walking on and putting the one negative feedback in perspective to all the affirming ones, your mind plays a trick on you. The feedback regarding your work somehow transfers to you as a person. The sentence „the deliverable is not good enough“ echoes into a „you are not good enough“ – getting louder and louder. If the self-talk isn’t stopped at this point,…

  • Highheels

    Do you dare to dream?

    “My dream always was to build a sailing boat”, he smiles. “And I have already created the design with a well-known yacht architect.” As we start discussing about design elements of boats and how life led these two people together, I let the moment sink in. This is exactely the type of talk that I have missed so much during ‘lock down’. Not meeting new people also means not meeting new ideas. And while you don’t feel the absensce of those ideas on your couch, it is more than deliberating when talking to people and exploring their thoughts and dreams. Just a day earlier, a lady tells me her story…

  • Highheels

    Is it opportunistic to take that new job? Or: When loyalty becomes a toxic value.

    I can recall many conversations in which the behavior of colleagues – especially younger colleagues – got labeled with being ‘opportunistic’. For example, when they asked for a new project opportunity, said ‘no’ to extra work or even switched companies for a new offer quite quickly. The word ‘opportunistic’ has different shades, but in these moments it was used in the bad sense of the word – with the slight touch of betrayal and unethical behaviour. As I knew a lot of these people very well, I knew that they had what you call a ‘good heart’. They did not act out of bad motives. For them, having the choice…

  • Highheels

    What it takes to make a career

    „What does it take to make a career in consulting?“, is a question I get asked on a regular basis. Coming from several years of university, young professionals want ideas on how to be successful in their new realm. Therefore, I put together some key learnings I have seen working over the past years. For sure, they are not comprehensive. But they are proven principles that will make you successful in your team, with your clients and you can even apply them in other life areas. SERVANT MINDSET – I love working with people who have experience in service, e.g. from travel business or gastro. Serving people requires a lot…

  • Highheels

    Why you should always have a notice of termination ready

    Like every morning, he is opening his word document, adjusts the date and saves his termination notice. He never turns it in. But the feeling of being ready to leave any time relaxes his mind when the pressure gets on in the project. It‘s his daily reminder that each job and task is temporary and that the power of ending any business situation is in his hands. Feeling in control and being aware that there are always options is an important factor when it comes down to feeling well at work. Maybe you know the feeling of being stuck. It quickly turns into a damned and doomed scenario where it…

  • Highheels

    Your career is fueled by a learner’s mindset

    How do you react when people share something with you that they have learned? Astonishingly, I often hear ‘oh, I know that already’. It leaves me wondering: if that was true why does your career (or: life) looks like it does? What do people mean when they use the term ‘know’? Have they heard the information before? Have they applied the principle in their life? Are they still curious what else there is to learn? I recently had the chance to listen to the CEO of my company and I was inspired when she was speaking about the values of her leadership style – and that she especially loves the…

  • Highheels

    When silence kills your team spirit

    I remember a team call that went horrible bad. For some reason the atmosphere already alternated from ignorance to arrogance of the participants and not one idea made it through the devastating critics of the outnumbered naysayers. As a result noone wanted to share any idea, thought or update. It hit climax when the boss asked an important question and noone of the management people in the call wanted to answer. The silence weighted heavier than any argument could have. I was reminded of this call when I recently went into another team call in which one team member ignored the question of the moderator. Even after offering three time…

  • Highheels

    Do I need to leave my job to follow my dream?

    Quite often I hear the perception that one would need to leave the job in order to follow the dream, be happy or however you want to call it. But as the job is paying the bills – and in some cases quite well – leaving the job is a high hurdle. In turn, these people feel like not being able to live their dream. Somehow the feeling stays that they would be happier at another place. If you are at this point in your career, I would like to challenge you a bit. Let’s assume, you will not win in the lottery and you need your regular income to…

  • Highheels

    What is your superpower?

    Everyone is new to the team. Noone knows each other. And as the intro, each person should name his/her superpower. Analytical thinking is joined by encouragement as well as positivity and topped with baking or collaboration. This perspective of a team where everyone brings in a strength that results in a multi-power group, resonantes in the participants. You can see everyone smiling, relaxing and enjoying the moment. What is your superpower? What do you like to bring to your team? And what is it that others love about you being around? Take a moment to reflect and explore. It strengthens your self-perception, resilience and mood. And once you are done…

  • Highheels

    How weakness could be our strongest teambuilding (Part 1)

    “I would never go back to that company”, a friend tells me. “There is a culture where you cannot share your real emotions. You are forced to play cool at all times. This is toxic.” I nod silently. Although the professional business environment certainly encourages less emotions than other work places, there is a tendency in some company cultures to extinct emotional up and downs in order to not seem ‘weak’. To be precise: not ‘weak’ towards clients or competitors, but even within the same team the competiveness can be so challenging that grief, sleepless nights and illnesses are hidden. In consequence, colleagues who hit bad luck in life are…