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The Most Revealing Sentence a Leader Can Say
“Can recruiting send me three juniors for Project Delta?” I still remember sitting in a recruiting meeting when one partner said exactly that. Not because he needed people – but because of how he spoke about them. The sentence reminded me less of building a team than of ordering supplies. “I need three pallets of water in aisle four.” “I need three graduates for Project Delta.” Different words. The same structure. It made me wonder: When do people stop seeing individuals and start seeing headcount? The strange thing is this: I have never met a graduate who wanted to be treated as interchangeable. We all wanted someone to see us,…
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Get into first row!
Do I need to leave my job to follow my dream?
Doing a career is easy [1/2]
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Before You Answer, Question the Question
Most people believe that good communication is about having good answers. I’m no longer convinced that’s true. Over the years, I’ve noticed that before I answer almost any important question, something happens almost automatically in my mind. I question the question. Every question creates a frame. It defines the playing field. It determines what is relevant, what assumptions are already accepted and, sometimes without us noticing, what answers are even possible. The moment we answer a question without examining it first, we may have already accepted someone else’s way of looking at the situation. That’s why one of the most powerful rhetorical tools I know is surprisingly simple: Question the…
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How weakness could be our strongest teambuilding (Part 1)
Bringing Your Whole Self to the Room
When a Team Member Falls Short: How to Lead Without Losing Heart
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The Hidden Cost of Reinventing Yourself
We live in a world that celebrates reinvention. Everywhere we look, we are told to start over. Find your passion. Follow your purpose. Leave what no longer serves you. Take a leap. Begin again. And sometimes that is exactly the right thing to do. Sometimes a career change is necessary. Sometimes a relationship has run its course. Sometimes a chapter genuinely needs to end. But there is another side to the story that receives far less attention. What if the urge to reinvent yourself appears precisely when your most important contribution is about to begin? Over the years, I have watched many successful professionals reach a surprisingly similar point. The…
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What do you want?
Your narrative determines success or failure – but differently what you expect
Do I need to leave my job to follow my dream?
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Stop Networking. Start Building Relationships.
For years, young professionals have been told the same piece of career advice: “Build your network.” The advice is right – but the mental picture is often wrong. Many people hear networking and immediately think of conferences, business breakfasts, LinkedIn connection requests or exchanging business cards. But that’s rarely how the relationships that shape careers are actually built. What is a network? A network is not a collection of names on LinkedIn. It’s a collection of people who know you, trust you, have worked with you, and have seen how you think and solve problems. In other words, a network is accumulated trust. Think about something simple. Imagine you suddenly…
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Why focussing on your people will bring your business from good to great
Stop Trying to Make Yourself Smaller
If you want a career, this is important
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The Dangerous Romance of Starting Over
Every few years, I have the same conversation. Someone tells me they are thinking about making a major change. Not because they hate their job. Not because they are failing. Not because the situation is unbearable. In fact, most of the time, the opposite is true. They are successful. Respected. Financially secure. They have spent years building expertise and credibility. And yet they find themselves looking over the fence. The conversation usually sounds something like this: „I know how this works now.“ „I don’t want to do the same thing for the next twenty years.“ „Maybe I need something with more purpose.“ „Maybe I should work for an NGO.“ „Maybe…
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The Pink Mouse – Keeping Your Soul in Consulting
How to be hated by your team easily
How often do I have to call my mentee?
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Don’t Mistake Boredom for a Calling
There comes a point in many careers when something changes. The work that once felt exciting becomes familiar. The meetings become predictable. The challenges that used to keep you awake at night can now be solved almost automatically. You know the industry. You know the people. You know how things work. And if you are honest with yourself, a small voice starts to whisper: Is this really it? Recently, I have had several conversations with people who were wrestling with exactly this feeling. Most of them did not dislike their jobs. In fact, many of them were successful. They were respected by their peers. They earned good money. They had…
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Toxic! I hate working for you!
From the Sidelines to the Spotlight: What Your First Leadership Role Really Feels Like
Why being UNHAPPY is actually great
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Whose Mountain Are You Climbing?
Why success only matters after you decide what it means to you Every once in a while, life requires focus. There are seasons when it makes perfect sense to set your navigation system to a specific destination and run towards it with everything you have. Perhaps it is the next promotion. A master’s degree. The first successful year of your own business. A marathon. A leadership role. A major transformation program. Whatever the goal may be, there is nothing wrong with becoming temporarily obsessed with achieving it. In fact, many meaningful accomplishments require exactly that. They require focus, discipline, sacrifice, and the willingness to keep moving when the excitement has…
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How to handle a missed promotion
Resilience through thankfulness
Your passion is welcome at work
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How to Kill Your Career in Five Easy Ways
Over the last almost 20 years in consulting, I have seen careers accelerate faster than anyone expected. I have also seen careers stall, drift, and quietly disappear. The interesting part is that most careers are not destroyed by one dramatic mistake. More often, they are shaped by small decisions, repeated over time. The thoughts below are based on my own observations and experiences. They are neither universal truths nor a complete guide to career success. But if your goal is to limit your opportunities, slow down your growth, and make promotion increasingly unlikely, these five approaches are a surprisingly reliable place to start. 1. Become Reliably Average If you really…
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Will you regret your success?
Be aware: you are being copied!
Why anonymous feedback sucks
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Stop Trying to Make Yourself Smaller
He was almost two meters tall. For several months, I worked with him on a strategic finance transformation. He was the Head of Finance. The person responsible for shaping the future target operating model of the department. A senior leader. A decision maker. And yet, throughout the project, something felt off. Not in a single meeting. In almost every interaction. His shoulders were rounded. Eye contact was limited. He seemed to physically occupy less space than his height would naturally suggest. The interesting part was that he was not lacking competence. Nor was he lacking opinions. Whenever he spoke, it became clear that he understood the subject matter. He had…
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Why it’s a good sign when your job feels boring
You can change the world today
You need to love the process over the result
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The Pink Mouse – Keeping Your Soul in Consulting
Early in my career, a mentee left consulting after less than two years. She told me something that stayed with me ever since. “I feel like I have to change too much. If I stay here, I will lose myself.” I remember feeling sad when she said that. She was talented, thoughtful, and clearly capable of building a long career in consulting. At the same time, I wasn’t entirely sure what she meant. Did she mean consulting itself? Or did she mean the quiet, male-tailored behavior that – at least back then – often seemed required to reach leadership roles? I never found out. She left, and I let her…
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Small stuff matters
Why focussing on your people will bring your business from good to great
Why leading a few is harder than leading many
