This is where the real work starts.
And where the next chapter begins.
Private six-month executive coaching for senior leaders ready to move — out of what's not working and into a leadership and life that's actually theirs.
Who this work is for
The leader at the crucible moment
You've succeeded by every measure that matters. And something still isn't adding up. You might be here because:
The biggest role of your career has arrived and you're standing at the precipice unsure you can actually inhabit it
You've been running at full capacity for so long the body is finally sending signals you can't keep overriding
A PE acquisition, merger, or restructure changed all the rules of the game you thought you were playing
AI is transforming your organization and pressing the question underneath: when everything shifts, who are you and what do you actually bring
You were passed over, sidelined, or fired — and the identity built on two decades of achievement is suddenly unmoored
You're being asked to hand over what you built — to succession, to the next generation, to whatever comes next
At senior levels nobody tells you the truth anymore. Your team is cautious. Your peers are political. You're operating in a feedback vacuum and you know it
The marriage has been on autopilot too long and it's starting to cost more than you can ignore
A parent died. The last kid left. The structure that organized your life is gone
You're in the back half of life quietly asking on a Tuesday night — what was this actually for
You've done the work. Leadership development, executive coaching, maybe therapy or deep personal work. You got something from all of it. The underlying pattern didn't move.
You're not looking for another framework. You're looking for something that actually changes something — and for a next chapter that's genuinely yours to build.
The leader on international assignment
You took a senior role in DACH or Western Europe. You showed up prepared. And something still isn't clicking. You might be here because:
The 90-day plan looked clear in the briefing. It doesn't anymore.
Influence and credibility that came naturally at home have to be rebuilt from scratch here.
The cultural signals — how decisions get made, how feedback lands, how trust is built — are different in ways nobody explained.
The personal cost is real. The exhaustion, the distance in relationships, the performance that takes more than it used to.
You're smart enough to know that pushing through isn't the same as navigating it well.
You're not failing. You're navigating a transition that asks more of you than anyone told you to expect — professionally and personally. This work addresses both.
Who this is not for
Leaders looking for a quick fix, a framework to apply, or someone to tell them what to do. This work is for leaders who are willing to look honestly at where they are — and who want a genuine thinking partner, not a consultant with a ready-made answer.
The Engagement
Both engagements follow the same structure — a six-month thinking partnership built around your actual situation, not a generic program.
Extended intake — two to four hours: Before the ongoing work begins, we spend significant time together. This isn't a standard onboarding conversation — it's a serious exploration of where you've come from, the patterns and assumptions you carry, your values, your leadership history, and the fuller context of what you're currently navigating. The depth of this conversation shapes everything that follows and makes the work considerably more precise. Duration varies depending on the complexity of your situation.
Bi-weekly sessions — 60 to 75 minutes: Twelve sessions across six months. Each one a dedicated space to think clearly about what's actually in front of you — the organizational dynamics, the cultural complexity, the leadership decisions, the personal dimensions that don't get discussed elsewhere. Practical, honest, and applied directly to your real situation.
Between-session availability: Access via email and WhatsApp for questions, real-time decisions, or significant moments that arise between conversations. When something important comes up, you're not waiting two weeks.
Curated tools and frameworks: Selected specifically for your situation following the intake — not a generic workbook. Frameworks and practices chosen because they're directly relevant to what you're navigating. These might include approaches for reading organizational culture, mapping stakeholder dynamics, managing energy and performance under pressure, or clarifying values and assumptions in an unfamiliar context.
Assessments: Where relevant, the engagement can include certified assessment debriefs — Hogan, Leadership Circle, 360-degree feedback, or HBDI — integrated directly into the coaching work rather than delivered as standalone reports.
Session notes and reflection prompts: After each session — key insights captured, questions worth sitting with, and one concrete next step. Something to return to between conversations. Something that compounds the work over time.
Mid-point review — month three: A structured pause at the halfway mark. Where were you when we started? What has shifted? What needs more attention in the second half? Deliberate accountability built into the arc of the engagement.
Closing integration session: The final session is distinct from the rest. A considered reflection on the full six months — what changed, what was learned, what you carry forward into the next chapter of your leadership. A proper ending rather than simply stopping.
Investment: €14,000 for six months
The first conversation is 30 minutes. No pitch. No agenda. Just an honest look at where you are and whether this work is the right fit.
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Most leaders who come into this work aren't struggling with competence. They're navigating a moment that has fundamentally shifted — and the old way of operating isn't working anymore.
Common entry points include:
Carrying sustained pressure across multiple domains simultaneously — the role, the team, the organization, the personal life — with limited space to process any of it
A growing gap between how they're perceived externally and what's actually happening internally
The biggest role of their career arriving and quietly wondering if they can actually inhabit it
Sensing that pushing through isn't the same as actually navigating it well
Operating in a feedback vacuum — at senior levels nobody tells you the hard things anymore
Wanting a confidential space to think clearly — not advice, not a program, but real depth with someone who has no agenda except theirs
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At its best, this work helps leaders develop a clearer, steadier relationship with themselves, their role, and the specific complexity they're inside.
That often looks like:
Sharper judgment and clearer decisions — made from actual values rather than oldest fears
Greater composure under pressure — less reactivity, more range, more choice
A clearer read of the organizational and political systems you're operating in — without being consumed by them
Stronger relationships — built on credibility and presence rather than performance
More honest self-awareness of patterns, assumptions, and blind spots — without it becoming paralyzing
A more sustainable operating rhythm that doesn't require running on empty
The gap closed between the leader you're performing and the human you actually are
A next chapter that's genuinely yours — not inherited, not defaulted into, but chosen deliberately
Not just getting through the hard season. Actually knowing what's on the other side of it.
This is not a program. It's a six-month engagement — private, confidential, and built entirely around what's actually happening in your leadership and your life.
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My work sits at the intersection of executive coaching, leadership development, and systems thinking — with a particular focus on the human dimensions that shape everything but rarely appear in job descriptions.
I'm interested in how leaders think under pressure, how they read complex systems, how they regulate themselves when the stakes are high, and how they find their footing in contexts that are genuinely unfamiliar. Much of my work is with leaders who are operating across cultures, countries, and organizational systems that don't match their previous experience — where the old playbook doesn't quite apply and a new one has to be built in real time.
The work is practical and psychologically informed. We look at both the external reality — the role, the stakeholders, the culture, the decisions — and the internal dynamics that shape how you meet that reality. Assumptions you're carrying. Patterns running underneath the surface. What's working and what's quietly working against you.
I don't arrive with answers. I create the conditions for clearer thinking — and then help you translate that clarity into action.
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This work is best suited to leaders who are willing to look honestly at where they are — not just manage the impression of it.
It is not therapy. It is not generic motivational coaching. And it is not for leaders who need someone to tell them what to do.
If you're privately wondering whether you can actually pull this off — whatever this is for you — this is the work.
About Derek
I'm an executive coach and leadership facilitator based in Munich, working with senior leaders across EMEA and the United States.
For more than 20 years I've supported leaders in multinational organizations, professional services, executive education, and complex cross-cultural environments. The work has taken me from PwC in the U.S. and Germany, to The Energy Project, to UNC Executive Development, to leadership programs across Europe and beyond.
The through line across all of it: helping senior leaders find genuine clarity and steadier footing in the middle of real complexity — not a performance of it.
I know this terrain because I walked it. Changed careers. Moved across the world. Lost people I love. Grew up in a home that was equal parts difficult and beautiful. That's why I can sit with another person in their hardest moments without looking away — and why I know when the work needs someone else's hands, not mine.
Which is exactly what this work requires.