What was my aha moment?

I started work, full time in a bank, in Australia at age 16.? Yes, 16. I completed my studies at night school and correspondence school (pre internet)over 5 years part-time and two years full-time, and joined KPMG in Melbourne.? There I worked and studied again and became a Chartered Accountant. I was rewarded with a 3 month exchange in Switzerland in Dec 1989, where I worked hard again and extended to 5 months, to be a Controller at a Japanese bank, before traveling Eastern Europe (wow thats a story!) and then heading home.? I relocated permanently with KPMG to Zurich later that year.? 34 years later and a few years in the USA in between and I am still working very hard and still learning constantly, but for the last 25 years there is a big difference.??

Moving to Switzerland, then the USA and back to Switzerland I was always a little bit different.? I didn’t know if it was because I wasn’t from Zurich or Basel (I went through the Merger of UBS and Bankverein and that was a thing ….) or if it was because I am female, in a very male dominated environment.? Being human we are very adaptable to our environments, and we can go a long way outside of our own natural personalities to “fit in”, but it is not sustainable, and will result in ill health. ? We need to know who we are.?

When I was pregnant the first time, I thought, its all too toxic. I am going to have my babies, take my maternity leave, and exit.? So I stopped caring what others thought of me, stopped trying to be Swiss, stopped speaking in the Sie form which doesnt really suit my personality, stopped saying yes to everything like a “good” girl and focused on what I wanted to do, my own list of goals for the year, the things that really mattered.? And it worked. The projects succeeded. My contribution was outstanding.? I was good, on my own terms.? It was noticed, and I got a promotion.??

For years, I worked hard—but I didn’t truly succeed until I stopped trying to fit a mold and started leading as my authentic self.??

• I learned how to gain visibility (for my projects) without self-promotion or feeling awkward.
• I mastered an accepted version of executive presence & influence without changing who I am.
• I figured out how to balance success, confidence, and fulfillment in leadership.

Now, I help others do the same with my Leadership and Executive Coaching. But I want to help more, and at scale, so I am launching programmes to do just that.???

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing key insights, strategies, and leadership shifts that help professionals gain recognition, influence, and fulfillment on their own terms.? And I will be offering for those that think they might benefit, a free course on how to do that.

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Re photo: yes, early 1990 in my office in Zurich Seefeld with the lake view. I was Controller at a bank there, seconded from KPMG Zurich. Check out the tech! I was the lucky one to have the computer in my office and people had to come in to use it. Phone was of course fixed line, and still close though.