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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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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 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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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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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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Problems Never Go Away — They Only Change Their Shape
There is a particular kind of conversation leaders tend to avoid. Not because it is technically difficult. Not because it requires a formal decision. But because it is uncomfortable. It is the conversation where opinions surface. Where loyalties become visible. Where it becomes clear who stands on which side of an argument — and why. These are often not decision conversations yet. They are alignment conversations. Exploratory. Early. Seemingly harmless. And precisely because of that, they are easy to ignore. The Quiet Calculus of Avoidance Most leaders do not consciously decide to avoid these moments. The avoidance happens through a quiet internal calculation: What if this person no longer likes…
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When Words Sound Right — But Feel Wrong
“…I’m very happy to share this.” “I’m so pleased with what we’ve achieved.” “Thank you all for your contribution.” The words are right. The tone is polite. And still — it feels off. You can sense it immediately. The faces stay neutral. No reactions in the room or virtual call. It’s not resistance. It’s distance. And in moments like this, the quiet question hangs in the air: Was this ever really meant? When leaders speak into a room, there are a few things that can go wrong. And one of the most common ones is this: we speak from ourselves instead of from the people we are speaking to. We…
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“I’m Not That Important.” Or Am I?
“I’m not that important.” I’ve heard this sentence many times from leaders. Usually said with good intentions. A wish not to appear arrogant. A desire to stay humble. And yet, every time I hear it, something feels slightly off. Because in leadership, it is never really about importance. And at the same time, it absolutely is. One of the most important distinctions we need to make as leaders is this: the difference between the person and the role. You are a person. Whole. Complex. Valuable. Independent of any title you hold. And then there is the role. Team lead. Programme lead. Managing Director. CEO. A role you stepped into —…
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Why Leadership Always Starts One-to-One
Many people associate leadership with scale. With responsibility for many. With titles, headcount, and large organisations. And yes — careers often grow in that direction. But what is often overlooked is this: you don’t learn how to lead 200 people by starting with 200 people. You learn it by leading one. If you want to lead a larger group one day, you need to be clear on how you are steering people in general. Once you have learned how to lead small groups you can start scaling – and correspondingly adjusting your style. That’s why every sustainable leadership model starts small. At some point, you will need your circle of…
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It always starts with you
Large transformations might look like complex machinery — dozens of teams, hundreds of people, timelines, milestones, dependencies. But beneath all the moving parts, transformation leadership begins exactly where small-team leadership begins: with you. Your clarity becomes the organisation’s clarity. Your discipline becomes the team’s discipline. Your consistency becomes the culture’s consistency. If you are not on point, your programme won’t be on point. This is not theory — this is physics. The behaviour of a leader cascades, always. Your people look to you for: How you show up. How you communicate. How you plan. How you prioritise. How you handle pressure. How you treat others. And they follow that cue.…


























