In January 2008 I was nominated CEO of an “area” of several market companies in Southern Europe for a FMCG multinational with HQ in the Netherlands. This was a big step-up in my career, after my previous role as GM of a small market company; and there were some serious complications waiting for me: a strong legacy of authoritative management style, no empowerment of middle management, an organization not promoting a long-term strategy, no common ambition in the company, a very low Climate Survey score, an inexistent value from the HR function and an absolute isolation in working style amongst the 5 sites of the market company, involving 3 countries, resulting from a merger of the 3 countries’ organization started 3 years before, without ever happening in real. The situation required obviously serious intervention and rapid change. I asked and was allowed coaching help by Paul Hiltermann.

I am a Senior Executive for a Swiss based multinational corporation on international assignment within the EMEA region. I was offered a Talent Development plan as part of our Global Talent Development Program and consequently attended a Talent Development Workshop that included an individual performance assessment, plus Executive Coaching. My direct reports and my boss had given me some feedback on my sometimes overly modest leadership style but I quickly discarded this feedback as I did not see myself at all as being a shy or introverted leader.

I am a 40 year old CEO and majority shareholder of a family owned retail business. The company exists since over 50 years and was established by my grand father. It has grown significantly recently from being a small local discount operation to now a national retail chain with over 30 outlets in Switzerland and over 300 employees. I am running the company for over 10 years now, but –as it grows bigger and bigger- I felt the lack of education and experience in moving the company and my Leadership to the next level.

January 2009 I was promoted to the role of Managing Director of the French Market organization (+/- 800 employees) of a large FMCG multinational. During my 2010 mid-year appraisal the COO gave (totally unexpected) serious improvement feedback and maximally 6 months to improve my Leadership behavior; plus the opportunity to immediately embark on an intensive Leadership Development journey with Paul Hiltermann. I was fully surprised by this situation and could not see what I was doing so wrong to deserve this harsh appraisal.