Close-up of rippling dark water with reflections of light.

Exceptional leadership isn't
about having all the answers.

It's about staying grounded when you don't.
Reading the room while making the call.
Trusting yourself and your team—especially under pressure.

Brené Brown calls this grounded confidence:
the ability to navigate complexity with courage, clarity, and self-awareness.
Not performing certainty. Actually embodying steadiness.

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What this looks like

You walk into a difficult conversation. You feel the stakes—but you don't get hijacked. You stay present. You speak clearly.

Your organization announces another transformation around AI with impossible timelines or unclear strategy. Instead of panic, you slow down the room. You ask the questions no one else is asking. You create space for your team to process what this really means.

Critical feedback comes your way. You hear what's useful, let go of what isn't, and move forward without the spiral.

You make tough calls under pressure—not because you're certain, but because you trust your judgment. And your team trusts you.


This is grounded leadership.
And it can be developed.

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The real challenge

The leadership challenge of this moment isn't AI, restructuring, or economic volatility. It's what constant disruption does to the humans in charge.

The pressure to move faster. Decide faster. Transform faster. While internally, you need the opposite: space to think, to sense what's actually happening, to lead with intention rather than reaction.

Most leadership development focuses on skills and strategies. But the leaders who thrive in complexity aren't the ones with the best frameworks. They're the ones with the deepest self-knowledge—who can stay steady while everything around them is not.


That's the work.

Deep self-knowledge as the foundation for leading with integrity

When you know yourself deeply, everything changes.
You hold your values under pressure.
You navigate uncertainty without losing yourself.
You make conscious choices instead of reactive ones.


Five dimensions.
One foundation.

Grounded Leadership

How we work together

A smiling woman with glasses working on a laptop at a desk in an indoor setting.

We talk twice a month for an hour.

We meet on Zoom or Teams. Between those calls, you can reach out when you’re actually in the thick of it. Send a voice note to process a meeting you just left, or a quick text like: "I have 10 minutes before this board meeting—help me find my stance." I’m there to think with you before the decision lands, not just debrief it later (depending on capacity).

There’s no "12-week program" and no countdown clock. We go month to month. You stay as long as the work is alive for you.

Before you commit to anything, we do a first session for free. It isn’t a sales pitch. It’s an hour of actual work on a real challenge, so you can experience how working with me can create internal change and whether it clicks.



We start by seeing clearly.

Before we make a plan, we look at what’s true right now: your patterns, the system you're leading within, and where you get pulled off-center. No tests or scores. Just an honest look at the "unpolished" version of your work, so we’re building on reality rather than a slide deck.

Where we start

Two speech bubbles with scribbled lines connecting them, representing a conversation.

What's Included

  • Two 60-minute thinking sessions a month

  • Voice/text support between sessions—when you're in the moment, not just after

  • Notes, prompts, or resources tailored to your specific context

  • A free first session to see if we fit

Optional add-on — your AI Challenge Council

If you want a thinking partner that’s available 24/7, I can help you build a custom AI council in your preferred LLM.

It’s an AI-based set of voices shaped around how you think and how I work alongside you. It doesn’t make choices for you; it helps you turn a question over when I’m not in the room. We only add this if it makes sense for your flow.


Also for teams

A leader can bring this work into their team, or a leadership team can do it together. We bring that same grounding and clarity directly into the room where the decisions are actually being made.


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Investment:

I’ve never liked a single price that de facto decides who gets to benefit from this work. Choose the tier that fits your current situation—no proof or explanation needed.

Monthly tiers (two sessions per month):

Organisation — €700 / month
If your company is paying, or you’re using a professional development budget.

Self-funded — €500 / month
If you’re paying out of your own pocket from a stable income.

In transition — €300 / month (limited spots)
For seasons with less room—parental leave, a career shift, or a fresh start. This is a planned-for part of my practice, not a favor.

Month to month. Pause or stop whenever it’s right for you.
If you’re not sure about your tier, we can figure this out together in the first session.

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Selected organizations I've worked with

Corporations

● Scout24/ImmoScout24
● DKB Deutsche Kreditbank
● Mercedes-Benz ● TeamViewer
● ARDIAN ● DCMN ● CodeFactory
● e-pixler 

Industry Associations

● Handelsverband Deutschland (HDE)
● Verband Öffentlicher Banken (VÖB)
● BVR –Bundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken

Public Sector & Politics 

● BVG Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe
● Stromnetz Berlin
● FDP Niedersachsen

Civil Society & Foundations 

● Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung
● Berliner Stadtmission
● Neue deutsche Medienmacher*innen
● Impact Hub

  • „I often thought of Elli as my 'head chiropractor' — our conversations always left me mentally realigned, and their impact would resonate for days afterward. She never imposed solutions but helped me find my own."

    Julia Schieber, Director of Product

  • „I frequently use practical frameworks from her 'Leader as Coach' course to navigate complex situations. As a challenging and supportive sparring partner, Elli helped me connect my personal values to my work and gave me the confidence to trust my instincts during organizational change."

    Kirstin Hofstee, Director Cloud Infrastructure, Scout24

  • „I came into coaching looking for tools—but what I found was far more powerful: clarity, confidence, and a renewed sense of integrity in my leadership. I'm grateful not only for the professional growth I've experienced but also for the person I've become along the way."

    Jekaterina Cechini, Senior Director Product Management

  • „Elli has a rare balance of deep empathy and true objectivity. She not only helped me understand my own leadership patterns but also the motives behind others' actions — making tough situations easier to navigate."

    Ahmet Kesen, CDO, Königspunkt

  • „Elli was my anchor in the stormy sea. She creates an atmosphere of safety and trust where you can walk through your fears and blocks, just accepted as you are."

    Markus Wenzel, Director IT Infrastructure, TeamViewer

Let’s talk

If you're ready to lead from a deeper place—with more clarity, more presence, more you—let's have a conversation.


No pitch.
No pressure.
Just a conversation to see if this is right for you.