

I coach senior leaders who are stepping up fast, running hot, or ready for mastery - and thoughtful humans navigating life transitions.
BRILLIANCE & WHOLENESS
leading
with

I coach senior leaders who are stepping up fast, running hot or ready for mastery - and thoughtful humans navigating life transitions.
BRILLIANCE & WHOLENESS
Leading with


Bring more wisdom. Be more courageous. Take bold, daring action - and take people with you. We’ll grow three capacities: clarity in heat, range under strain, and influence in complexity - so you deliver dazzling results with less drag and less “friendly fire.”
1. unlock 'brilliance'
Ascend the spiral. Wake up, grow up, open up, clean up - and show up for what matters. Wholeness is integration: mind, body, identity and purpose aligned. You lead from a steadier centre - values intact and legacy in view.
2. DISCOVER 'wholeness'
I help leaders Do two things:
I help my clients Do two things:

I HELP MY CLIENTS DO TWO THINGS:

My musings on Human
development
Hello - I'm Nikolai

I CAN HELP YOU lead with brilliance & wholeness

Coaching is a high-trust partnership for leaders operating in real pressure—complexity, ambiguity, politics, pace. We work on what actually drives outcomes at your level: how you direct attention, hold tension, make trade-offs, and shape the system around you.
As your coach, I’ll bring deep care and fierce truth. I’ll champion you - and I won’t collude with coping strategies that keep you small, stuck, or over-functioning. Expect clarity, challenge, and committed action - grounded in what’s happening in your meetings, your decisions, and your relationships.
Whether you’re stepping into a bigger seat, course-correcting under strain, building strong foundations as a new leader, or ready for your next edge in presence, range, and legacy, I can help. We’ll get crystal clear on what you want, what’s in the way and the smallest set of changes that will create the biggest impact, fast.

Hi, I’m Nikolai.
Unleashing people’s brilliance and wholeness is my life’s work - especially for leaders operating in real pressure: complexity, ambiguity, pace, politics, and high-stakes decisions.
Over the last 18 years, I’ve designed and delivered award-winning leadership and coaching experiences for global, blue-chip organisations across Europe, North America and APAC, reaching 100,000+ people. I’ve worked with senior bankers and consultants, regulators and policy makers, luxury and retail leaders, and commercial teams inside high-performance cultures. I’ve been the driver of peak performance - and I know what it costs when the system is running too hot.
My work now centres on four leadership moments - the ones that most often determine whether a leader rises, wobbles, or truly matures:
Step Up Accelerator - when you’ve stepped into a bigger seat and need to find your authority, altitude, and rhythm fast.
Leadership Reset - when strain is shaping your leadership and you need calm clarity, trust repair, and course correction.
Launchpad - when you’re new to leadership and want the fundamentals done brilliantly: confidence, conversations, and clean standards.
Mastery - when the stakes outgrow skills and you’re ready for purposeful presence in chaos, expanded range, and legacy beyond KPIs.
My style is simple: fierce truth, deep care, committed action. I’ll champion you - and I won’t collude with coping strategies that keep you over-functioning, armoured, or stuck. The work is coaching-led, grounded in real decisions and relationships, and supported by industry leading psychometric tools and deep mind training developed over two decades in the wisdom traditions.
A couple of fun facts: my Buddhist name is Yeshe Dorje (“Diamond Wisdom”) and Donatella Versace once referred to me as “my beautiful boy.”
Welcome.
ABOUT ME
HI, I'M NIKOLAI.
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Hi, I’m Nikolai.
Unleashing people’s brilliance and wholeness is my life’s work - especially for leaders operating in real pressure: complexity, ambiguity, pace, politics, and high-stakes decisions.
Over the last 18 years, I’ve designed and delivered award-winning leadership and coaching experiences for global, blue-chip organisations across Europe, North America and APAC, reaching 100,000+ people. I’ve worked with senior bankers and consultants, regulators and policy makers, luxury and retail leaders, and commercial teams inside high-performance cultures. I’ve been the driver of peak performance - and I know what it costs when the system is running too hot.
My work now centres on four leadership moments - the ones that most often determine whether a leader rises, wobbles, or truly matures:
Step Up Accelerator - when you’ve stepped into a bigger seat and need to find your authority, altitude, and rhythm fast.
Leadership Reset - when strain is shaping your leadership and you need calm clarity, trust repair, and course correction.
Launchpad - when you’re new to leadership and want the fundamentals done brilliantly: confidence, conversations, and clean standards.
Mastery - when the stakes outgrow skills and you’re ready for purposeful presence in chaos, expanded range, and legacy beyond KPIs.
My style is simple: fierce truth, deep care, committed action. I’ll champion you - and I won’t collude with coping strategies that keep you over-functioning, armoured, or stuck. The work is coaching-led, grounded in real decisions and relationships, and supported by industry leading psychometric tools and deep mind training developed over two decades in the wisdom traditions.
A couple of fun facts: my Buddhist name is Yeshe Dorje (“Diamond Wisdom”) and Donatella Versace once referred to me as “my beautiful boy.”
Welcome.
KEY STATS
18
Years in leadership transformation (from frontline to boardroom)
370
The number of organisations I've served in Europe, North America & APAC
100K
People reached through leadership programmes, coaching & facilitation
4
The pathways I coach leaders on
5000
The number of leaders I've coached and rained personally (from first-time managers to C-suite)
20
Years of contemplative practice (training attention, steadiness and insight)
some organisations my clients work for

ABOUT MY
LOGO
SERVICES
Executive & Leadership Coaching

Helping CEOs, CXOs, Founders and VPs unlock the secrets to sustainable success in constant disruption, without losing humanity.
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Helping individuals find fulfilment, balance, agency and success in their professional and personal lives.
Life Coaching
WHY WORK WITH ME?
01
I’ll meet you with deep respect for what you’ve built - but I’ll also be fiercely committed to who you’re becoming. Wherever you are, you’ll have a coach who sees your brilliance and also encourages you to be more.
authentic care
02
I work well with high-achievers, sceptics, and senior leaders - the ones who can perform while navigating a storm. I use evidence-based diagnostics and behavioural science and I listen for what your data won’t tell you: the pattern underneath. I’ll challenge you calmly and without drama - especially when you’re over-functioning, avoiding, or kidding yourself.
fierce truth
03
No off-the-shelf programmes. We build a plan around your reality: role, stakes, system, and season. You’ll get a proven pathway (Step Up / Reset / Launchpad / Mastery) but tailored to you, with a simple dashboard to track what’s shifting, and a toolkit of “minimum effective practices” to apply.
precision pathways
04
Bring all of you. The driven part, the tired part, the protector, the sceptic, the dreamer. Leadership maturity isn’t perfection - it’s integration. This is a space where nothing human is exiled, and where we turn what you usually hide into range, wisdom, and lasting impact.
whole person work
05
I’ve spent 18+ years inside leadership and culture change - from new managers to the boardroom - delivering coaching and training at scale across global organisations. I’m certified in Hogan and Leadership Circle, trained in Co-Active coaching, certified by the International Coaching Federation and grounded in long-term mind training. You're in capable hands.
deep expertise
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Clients come to coaching for a wide range of reasons and so the results vary. Generally speaking however, you can expect to experience some of the following changes, all of which are backed up by evidence.
What's the impact of coaching?
clearer PRIORITisation
When everything feels urgent, clarity becomes a leadership advantage. We’ll cut through noise, name what matters most, and build a plan your diary can actually support - so your focus lands where impact is.
Faster authority
Stepping up isn’t about working harder—it’s about being trusted sooner. Expect cleaner executive presence, sharper decisions, and stronger stakeholder confidence, so you take your seat with less wobble and more weight.
Beyond KPIs, leaders want their work to matter. We’ll reconnect you to values, purpose, and contribution -so success stops feeling hollow and starts feeling worth the cost.
meaning & legacy
Not grit. Not bravado. Steadiness. You’ll learn to recover faster, stay clear when things get loud, and lead without tightening, snapping, or going numb.
calm under pressure
decisive courage
Confidence is the by-product of clean action. We’ll strengthen your ability to make hard calls, have the conversation you’ve been avoiding, and move with integrity - even when there’s no perfect answer.
For most leaders, the real currency is bandwidth. Expect fewer self-inflicted fires, better boundaries, less bottlenecking, and more time for thinking, recovery, and the work only you can do.
time & space back
Great leadership is relational. We’ll rebuild trust, bring truth back into the room earlier, and reduce “friendly fire” - so people don’t manage your mood, they bring you the real story.
truth & trust
wider range
More awareness isn’t the goal - it’s the gateway to choice. You’ll expand your repertoire - fierce, tender, still, decisive - so you can meet any moment without defaulting to the same old stance.
TESTIMONIALS
“Nikolai is a naturally talented coach with wisdom way beyond his years. His unique approach blends a variety of techniques drawing from the sciences, logic, emotion, and spirituality. Our coaching sessions focus on the ‘whole self’ and I find our sessions deeply valuable and insightful. In an increasingly complex and demanding world Nikolai has helped me focus on what is important and work out how to generate immediate impact against my ambitions.”
Yasha Vojdani - Co-Founder

“Nikolai holds a safe place to help you explore options or to get comfortable in the fog. His encouragement and challenge have crystalised new perspectives, opened more ideas whilst cheerleading me towards successful outcomes. He has helped me get ‘unstuck’, held me to account and celebrated with me during a very important chapter in my career. He’s a trusted voice in a rapidly moving world and I couldn’t recommend his support more.”
Jacqueline Corbett - Head of Commercial Training

“I have done coaching before and always benefited from it. But Nikolai’s approach is different: the way he is able to explain how body and mind are connected is an eye-opener. I fully trust him and the no-nonsense approach he brings to our sessions. I feel I am getting closer to self-actualization through exploring how to fully live my values – in work and my private life.”
Pieter Meulendijk-de Mol - Co-Founder

“I came to Nikolai looking to level up at work as I started a new role, but I got way more than I expected! He’s great at quickly reading my behaviours and noticing blind spots I didn’t even see. He’s helped me get unstuck in areas of life I wasn’t even planning to work on. Nikolai’s approach is very down-to-earth, and he’s really pushed me in all the right ways these past few months. I love that he’s direct, speaks his mind, but also manages to balance being professional and friendly. I can honestly say this experience has brought a whole new perspective, it’s totally elevated my thinking in and out of work.”
Rachel Conroy - Client Director

“Lucky is the person on whom Nikolai shines his brilliance, humour, and ability to reframe—unlocking fresh ways of thinking and being. If you're looking for someone to simply mirror your words, go elsewhere. But if you want a partner who dives deep, unearthing and refining the gold with you, Nikolai is a true gem.”
Eileen Laillier - COO
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"Nikolai is a naturally gifted coach, very empathetic and inquisitive and yet also results driven. During our sessions, his patient yet no-nonsense approach expedited a critical decision in my life and I felt clearer and more empowered as a result. I highly recommend his services."
Laura Bridge - Celebrity and Private Chef

"Working with Nikolai is a game changer. His approach to coaching is considered, personal and exceptionally professional. He cares not only about understanding your goals and priorities, but also your values. In doing so, he has supported me on a journey of aligning my values to my growth approach. I wouldn't be in this next phase of my career without his guidance and support!"
Zehra Odunayo - Growth, People Strategy & Change Lead

"Nikolai has helped me enormously on a wide range of topics starting with helping me to determine my values, selecting my next career move and land a job, right through to helping me overcome significant personal issues. Nikolai draws on his vast experience, wisdom and use of appropriate, powerful tools and techniques – including many which are quite unconventional and new to me, but very effective."
Paul Ruggier - FTSE 100 Co-Founder

"I feel very blessed to have had Nikolai as my thinking partner and coach over the past 6 months. He has a very unique skill of being able to hold space for you to think and reflect and has an almost magical way of evoking awareness. He challenges you to stretch and grow, often forcing you to question assumptions and self limiting beliefs. Nikolai continues to help me work through sticky challenges, figure things out and become more aware of who I really am to live a more energised, balanced and fulfilled life."
Nicola Amiss - Senior Vice President of Sales

“Nikolai has helped me train my focus, identify my saboteurs, find my leader within and hone my personal brand storybook. Crucially, his coaching approach has held me to account and helped me to avoid distraction from other business pressures. The outcome of the coaching has been outstanding.”
Rob Bloor - Senior Principal, Professional Service Firm, Switzerland

"I'm very happy with my coaching journey and Nikolai personally. His support has changed the way the revenue organisation at Nasdaq produced results and has equally helped me in my current role at a sales leader in the venture capital industry. Nikolai is experienced not only in enterprise sales but also in corporate psychology, stress management, career planning, and many other areas. I'm looking forward to many more sessions of fruitful professional exchange."
Daniel Scheiferdecker - Head of Institutional Business Development










