Executive 1:1 Coaching
New Role. Bigger Mandate. Let's make sure your first 100 days count.
Connect, Inspire, Grow: The First 100 Days
A 10-session, 1:1 coaching program for senior leaders navigating the first 100 days of a bigger role, a larger team, a newly merged organization, a promotion into unfamiliar territory, built to help you find your footing fast, without losing yourself in the process.
Is this you?
You’ve just stepped into a bigger role — or you’re about to — and you already sense the first 100 days matter more than the usual settling-in period.
You want a strong start: decisive, visible, credible — but you’re weighing how fast to move, which battles to pick first, and how much of what worked in your last role will actually work here.
You prepared for this on paper — the strategy, the business case, the plan — and you’re starting to feel that none of it accounts for the parts that are hardest to plan for: reading a culture that isn’t yours yet, earning a team that didn’t choose you, trusting your own judgment when nobody’s confirming it back to you yet.
40%
of international assignments fail, according to INSEAD. Not for lack of competence.
This tension - high stakes, limited runway, no instruction manual - shows up everywhere leadership changes hands, and it shows up hardest in international assignments. INSEAD found that roughly 40% fail, and not for lack of competence: it’s what happens in the space between arriving and actually landing. The good news is that space isn’t a talent problem. It’s a specific, learnable set of moves.
The real gap
The first 100 days in a bigger role are exactly when this gap tends to show up.
In my book, I write about a leader I call Alex (not his real name) — an executive who arrived in Shanghai fully prepared. He'd done the research, read the performance reports, completed the cultural training, found the right schools for his kids. On paper, nothing was missing. Six months in, he was isolated, and the team around him had quietly disengaged. Nobody had told him that the technical prep wasn't the part that would break him.
Alex's story happens to be about trust — but the pattern underneath it is broader than that. Stepping into a bigger role tests several things at once: how quickly you can read a room that doesn't share your history, how you hold onto your own judgment before the feedback loop catches up, and whether the people around you decide to follow you or simply comply. Formal authority gets you the seat. It doesn't automatically get you trust, credibility, or a team's best effort — those still have to be earned, on a clock you don't fully control. That's the gap this coaching program exists to close with you: we get an honest read on where you actually stand, make sense of what surfaces, and build an approach for the specific room you're now in.
Authority gets you the seat. Trust is what gets people to actually follow you.
The work we'll do together
This program exists for exactly this window — the first 100 days in a bigger role — because what you do in it either sets you up or sets you back. The premise is simple: the skills that got you the role — strategy, expertise, a strong track record — aren’t automatically the skills that help you land it well. Landing well takes self-awareness, a clear read on the people around you, and yes, trust — built in a specific sequence, not something you either have or don’t.
Connect, Inspire, Grow is the three-phase method behind my book of the same name, built from years of coaching leaders through exactly this kind of transition — across borders, and increasingly much closer to home. Winning your team’s trust is part of it, but it’s not the whole of it: this is about giving you a clear, honest read on your situation, a direction worth rallying behind, and the follow-through to make it stick — so the impact shows up early, not months down the line.
Coaching isn’t a fixed script, and the ten sessions don’t unfold in a neat straight line. What’s constant is the arc we move through together — Connect, Inspire, Grow — not as a curriculum, but as the natural rhythm of finding your footing and making it count.
Connect
We start by getting an honest read on where you actually stand: with your team, your stakeholders, and yourself. This is where most of the real information surfaces, not through a checklist, but through structured conversations you have with your team and stakeholders, and the reflection afterward that lets you see patterns you're too close to notice on your own. As those conversations go deeper, the relationship itself starts to shift.
Inspire
Once you have a clearer picture, we work on turning it into something your team can rally behind — a vision they helped shape, not one handed down. That shift is where compliance starts turning into genuine commitment.
Grow
We shift from insight to ownership: building your team’s capability so the changes hold, and so your team feels it too — genuinely energized by the growth and opportunity ahead of them. Six months from now, this is meant to feel like the version of leadership you were reaching for the whole time, with the outcomes to show for it.
In practice, these phases overlap and double back. A good Grow conversation often sends us back to Connect for a moment, and that’s exactly how real coaching works. It’s not a pipeline, it’s a rhythm of exploring, discovering, reflecting, and acting — one we return to for as long as the change needs to hold.
What's included
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10 one-on-one coaching sessions of 60 minutes each, every two weeks.
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The ELI (Energy Leadership Index) Assessment at the outset — a validated tool that shows you exactly how you operate under normal conditions and under pressure.
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A structured approach for gaining deep self-awareness, reading your new environment quickly, and building genuine trust with the people you now lead.
Where this comes from
I’ve spent 25 years turning exactly this kind of transition into a leader’s biggest advantage — first as a leader myself in the Netherlands and China, then as founder of GLTD, initially in Hong Kong and now in Dubai. Along the way, I’ve coached leaders globally at organizations including The Coca-Cola Company, PwC, Standard Chartered, and Danone. Most of that work has been with senior expat leaders, though not all of it — this gap is relevant everywhere leadership changes hands.
My book, Connect, Inspire, Grow, draws on that experience and goes deeper into the ideas behind this program — available on Amazon. This coaching program applies the framework directly to your transition, not as a generic leadership course.
See more of my work on LinkedIn.
Executive 1:1 Coaching
$5,500
ex 5% VAT when based in the UAE
Let's find out if this is the right fit.
A 60-minute, no-pressure conversation about what you're walking into and whether this program is right for you.
FAQ
How is this different from general executive coaching?
Most executive coaching addresses challenges as they come up, on an ongoing basis. This program is different: a specific, structured approach for one specific moment, stepping into a bigger mandate, when the direction you set and the trust you build in those early weeks shape everything that follows. If what you’re facing falls outside that moment, I also offer other coaching programs, just reach out, and we can talk about what fits.
What if I'm already three months or more into the role?
Even better. We'll simply spend more time in Connect, closing whatever gap has opened up, so the rest of the arc moves even faster from there.
Do I need to be relocating internationally for this to apply?
No. The book grew out of global leadership transitions and that's still very much part of what I coach, but the same trust-before-authority gap shows up any time someone steps into a bigger mandate: a promotion, a reorg, a newly merged team, wherever it happens to take place.
Is this remote or in-person?
This program is delivered virtually, over video call, so it fits your schedule wherever you and your team are.
What Participants Are Saying…
Before starting the Coaching Program, I found myself facing the same recurring challenges in leading my team. Both my own energy and that of the team were low, and as a Regional Director in a remote location, leadership often felt lonely. I was looking for honest feedback and practical guidance to improve my leadership style.
What I appreciated most about working with Liesbeth was her very hands-on approach. Her Dutch directness immediately invites reflection on your own role in the challenges you face, while at the same time equipping you with new skills and tactics you can apply straight away in your day-to-day leadership.
The biggest shift for me has been gaining deeper insight into my own behaviour and how it directly impacts my team. I now lead with more calm and confidence, and I feel better equipped to face any leadership challenge.
One of the most impactful changes was learning how to get my team moving in the same direction together, instead of me constantly pushing and expending energy trying to steer everything myself.
To anyone considering this program: do it. The short-term discomfort of being challenged, reflected, and held accountable creates space for long-term benefits. Instead of leadership draining your energy, you start gaining energy from leading your team.
Before coaching, I was leading a rapidly expanding organization in a growing market while navigating a challenging internal environment. Time and focus were my biggest hurdles. From our very first interaction, Liesbeth's approach stood out: clear, structured, and practical, enabling me to turn insights into actions. Her communication is direct yet supportive, which immediately built trust and momentum.
What I valued most were the open, frank conversations. There was no rigid agenda; instead, a genuine back-and-forth that always led to what mattered most. As a result, I've created more freedom and optimism in how I lead and live. I see fewer obstacles, both personally and in the business, and I choose what's right for me more often, without losing sight of 'us' and the organization's interests. The most powerful shift? Realizing I'm doing a great job, without doubt.
If you're considering working with Liesbeth: she brings the knowledge and tools to cut through noise, create clarity in complex situations, and keep you focused on what truly moves the dial. She's not afraid to challenge assumptions and ask the uncomfortable but necessary questions. It's exactly what I needed.
Before I started coaching with Liesbeth, I was struggling with the challenges of today's fast-paced, system-changing environment. I questioned whether being 'good' was enough and felt the need for self-reflection guided by an experienced third party to prepare for the future.
The coaching journey began with curiosity and no expectations, but it led to lifelong lessons that have truly transformed me. The most significant changes I've experienced are a sense of calm, conviction, and the ability to communicate with concision, both in life and business. Liesbeth's guidance has taught me not to wait for the 'expected' result but to trust the process and just take action.
What makes Liesbeth stand out is her ability to guide you toward your personal path of excellence while offering the right balance of support and challenge. She has a knack for knowing when to give you that necessary 'kick in the butt' to keep you moving forward. I'm already looking forward to returning for more!
If you're considering hiring Liesbeth as a coach, I highly recommend her. She's an experienced executive coach who will help you unlock your full potential and make that next big leap in a way that becomes an enjoyable and even addictive journey.