Coaching

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I’m a coach for personal development and purposeful living and working.

I guide executives, leaders and creatives through meaningful transformations via philosophical conversation and advice.

I work in English and in German (native) language — worldwide online, and locally in Berlin.

Send me an email or schedule a free intro call with me so we can get to know about each other:

When I started my sessions with Simon, I had no idea what to expect, but now I’m amazed with what has come from it.  With an approach that felt somewhere in between therapy and professional development, Simon was able to get to the core of who I am and who I am trying to be and guide me forward.

— Chase Bowman, Director of Photography

Simon is one of three people I go to when I have a Big Question on an interpersonal or mission level. He has a special way of cutting through to the heart of the matter. He’s spent his 40 days and nights in the desert and came back with gold. As such I think he’s particularly well equipped for soul-shaped inquiries and quests. His music taste is what some would call “excellent” as well.

— Brent Baumgartner, Founder & CEO @ Refract.space

I’ve worked with Simon in evolving capacities for over a year now. He has helped me in navigating interpersonal tensions while staying steadfast to my truth. And he has shown me how to balance chaos and order in structures that support my creativity. On a personal level, Simon sees me in a way that very very few people can. His support has been such a gift.

— Ananta Pandey, Fmr. Director of Engineering @ Google's Sidewalk Labs

I feel incredibly grateful to have been working with Simon for the last 9 months. His skillfulness in deep listening helps me feel witnessed and empowered, and he has supported me in moving through difficult life challenges with empathy and ease. Simon’s capacity to see the micro and the macro is a gift.

— Lauren Uba, Founder @ Climate Action Community Berlin

Simon has been a dependable and insightful mentor. I know I can count on him to untangle my knottiest problems and help put words to the fears that I have had trouble articulating. A clear thinker who leads with compassion, I can't recommend him enough.

— Tim Lim, Head of Engineering @ Interintellect

FAQ:

What can you gain from working with me?

• Time:
  You might feel like you don’t have enough time in life. Time is terribly finite. However, when you appropriately engage with time, you will somehow have more of it. Millions in the bank is fun, but true wealth is in being a time millionaire.
• Faith:
  Faith might be a loaded term, but having faith is actually quite practical. The right amount of faith is a great antidote to worry, stress, restlessness, micromanagement and other common ailments. You could also call it trust — in yourself and the world around you.
• Understanding:
  Many problems stem from misunderstandings. Understanding other people is a key skill to be a good leader. When you understand someone, you can treat them better. That leads to more effective collaboration, and it is also joyful for your feelings and your soul.
• Clarity:
  Clarity is like understanding, but for things and processes. Complexity creeps up on everyone. Untangling, discerning and naming situations brings clarity, and clarity brings effective action.
• Grounding:
  Today’s world is fast paced, which can be overwhelming. It’s always good to turn our attention to what matters most. The essentials of our life are what keeps us human and mission driven. Returning to the roots keeps our daily life stable and grounded.

I’ve studied and applied myself to these universalisms extensively, and I can offer many angles on them, so that we can find ways in which they will be most useful to you.

Here is how I work:

My coaching practice is having conversations, in which I’m helping you find out what is true, timeless and essential. 

I do this by asking questions and helping you put your experience into words and metaphors. We will have contemplative conversations over video call or in person. One conversation lasts about 90 minutes.

My goal is that you gain from our sessions in the long term. I do offer long term collaboration, because I think it has the biggest impact. Change is always happening, and if a collaboration works well, the returns compound over time.

In a free intro call (30m) we can discover your needs and goals and decide together which scope is best for you. If you have questions before getting on the phone, please email me.

What are some examples of situations we could work on together?

• Relationships & Understanding:
  You are a human, you are complicated, you have relationships with others, others are complicated. Not always easy to fit together, but life is 80% relationships or more.
  I’m happy to help you build bridges of understanding with yourself (that’s where it starts), with your loved ones, and with the people you work with. This can be 1:1, but I’m also available for mediation with multiple parties present.
• Reorientation & Identity:
  You have found your place in the world, but you are thinking about going elsewhere. Or you are trying to find your first place. Maybe it is changing your job. Maybe it’s changing your line of work. Maybe it’s stepping away from work for a while. Maybe it has to do with your place of living or your relationships. Change as an adult is underrated and extremely healthy, in my opinion. But it is hard — it often leads through a dark valley of uncertainty.
  I’d be thrilled to help you embrace this uncertainty and encourage necessary change in your life. I’ve been through plenty of dark valleys myself and it’s good to have a guide by your side.
• Creativity & Purpose:
  You are living, you are surviving, maybe even thriving in some aspects of your life, but there is a spark missing. Maybe you would like to integrate creativity, art or expression in a way that feels meaningful and colorful, not just matter of fact or necessary. Some people say we are in a meaning-crisis. I think finding clarity about meaning and purpose is an extremely important practice. Practice, because it needs constant renewal. Meaning and purpose can be found very well in personal creative pursuits, and creative pursuits offer access to faith and a sparkle of the divine.
  I’m honored to help you approach your natural creativity and all that comes with it, and to help you balance your life between necessity and artfulness.

My promises to you:

• I care deeply about people and treating people well. That’s what I want to do when working together, and as our work together progresses, I’m happy to hear feedback on how I can treat you better as my client and friend who I’m helping. My service is highly customized, this is not a one-size-fits-all approach.
• I don’t speak confidently about what I don’t consider myself knowledgeable on. I can’t know your life exactly as we work together, but I like making educated guesses as to what might be going on for you. Sometimes these are soft and kind, sometimes they are provocative. When it comes to your life, you are the authority and I want to help you very individually (as in, non-generically) make uniquely good decisions for yourself.
• I am not a therapist, yada yada, legal disclaimer. I’m also not someone who is paid to just listen to you. In working together, I’m as present as you, and I’m offering you my full being (in a somewhat professional manner) as a conversation partner, in which my interests and strengths appear, as well as my weaknesses and opinions. If tensions occur, they will point us towards what wants to unfold. I promise you that, if necessary, I will disagree with you. If appropriate, I will encourage you. I want to give you this promise of integrity.

Book a free intro call now or read on below if you’re interested in more details about my work.

More FAQ:

How does personal change work?

In my opinion it looks like this:

• Know Thyself:
  What are your core motivations? Why? Who are you really?
• Change Thyself:
  Are there parts of yourself that need updating or shedding? Can you align yourself more precisely with your ideals? 
• Express Thyself:
  As you dissolve the layers of your being that encumber you, you’re making more space for what’s essential in you. How can you represent your essence in your life and work, through your actions and your being? This will have a positive effect in your life and helps you know thyself better.

This is a cycle I’m constantly riding myself. Maybe everyone is. Change is the only thing that is truly permanent. Oftentimes we don’t clearly see the change we’re involved in. That leads to pain. What I’d like to do is help you be aware of the change you’re going through, so you can make the most of it. Guiding you through change and transformation is at the core of my work.

Here are some of the influences I work with:

• Meditation (after Eckart Tolle)
• Shadow / Ego / Pain Body Work (after Eckart Tolle and C.G. Jung, co-developed with Louis Bijl de Vroe)
• The Artist’s Way (after Julia Cameron)
• Mediation & Difficult Conversations (after Patton, Stone, Heen)
• Radical Honesty (after Brad Blanton)
• Life and Work in the Rhythm of the Seasons (after Jaap Voigt and the I Ching, co-developed with Louis Bijl de Vroe)
• 48 Laws of Power (after Robert Greene)
• Spiral Dynamics (after Cowan and Beck)

My self developed concepts and techniques:

• Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine Integration (self developed, after the I Ching)
• The Village: Metaphors for Creative Life and Work (self developed)
• I Ching Divination (co-developed with Louis Bijl de Vroe)

At this point I would like to remark that I have no formal training in any related practices. What I do have is extensive life experience and philosophical practice in meaning making for myself and others. I like it that way, it makes my practice unique and alive.

If you care about numbers, I‘ve spent most of my twenties doing this, so that’s easily over 20,000 hours. The time I’ve spent actively giving advice and helping with meaning making for others (only conversation, not thinking) I’d conservatively estimate at over 5,000 hours.

Here are some philosophical components that flow into my practice:

• Narrative:
  I’m a storyteller. I think stories are fun and essential to understand what’s going on in life. Stories create meaning, and having a meaningful life is the thing we strive for. I like to have a good handle on the story of my life (I’m a real meaning nerd), and I like to help you tell your life story to yourself and others in a way that makes sense, is helpful and brings much joy and meaning. Through narrative practice, metaphors come up, which brightly illustrate core concepts uniquely relevant to you, so you will naturally remember our work even years later and you can use them freely for long term growth.
• Values and Beliefs:
  In my opinion, values are like the operating system of you. They are strongly ingrained in your being and they change more rarely. Beliefs are a little more flexible, they are more memetic. We read self improvement books to change our beliefs, so they do not limit us but instead offer us interesting ways to go. I like to analyze values and beliefs so you can be true to your values and adjust your beliefs so they serve you reliably.
• Encouragement:
  Courage is a rare and important quality. You are likely a leader or creator, so you’re already courageous. That’s great and I admire you for that. To work with someone like me takes courage, because you’re opening yourself to analysis of your being, your blindspots, your pain points. But also of your strengths! No matter how bright your fire of courage burns, it will always be grateful for an additional log that feeds it. We all need encouragement, especially as a leader. It gets lonely at the front of the race.
• Goals and Games:
  Life is a game, or at least it is more fun as a game. Doing stuff as play is infinitely more fun than because of obligations or other externalities. Children and animals know this better than us. I’m a gamer, nothing makes more sense to me than that. You probably have goals. I like to zoom out and understand how they fit the larger game you are playing. Sometimes we don’t know why we actually do things. Our own motivations can be opaque to us. To position yourself narratively as a player in your own game can bring you clarity. It also enables you to change your game, if you decide to. Oh and: fun counts! Or let’s call it joy. Optimize for joy in life and work! You’re probably an advanced player in your game. Let’s add some meaning to it! Why not? 
• Natural Creativity:
  Somehow we are overconditioned by culture and convention. We are taught fear and apprehension, instead of faith and acceptance. We often don’t accept others, because we don’t accept ourselves. When we decondition ourselves and let fear be overcome by faith — faith in our ability, faith in our good intentions, faith in the care of others, and faith in something that is greater than us, even if it’s “just” other people — we shed layers. Shedding these layers brings light to our authentic core. From that core emerges our natural creativity. Others might call this ”purpose”. My experience is that living and working from natural creativity allows me to give great meaningful gifts to the world, and brings great satisfaction to myself.

Why I do this:

I believe my place in the world is to offer conversation and advice. I don’t care much about running businesses, winning competitions and world domination (ok, maybe a little bit). What I do care about is love and understanding. In essence, I want to love and understand people. And I want to help people love and understand each other, and themselves. 

This can be done in many ways. But another thing I like is listening to individuals and hearing their stories, and making sense of these stories for myself. I also like seeing how what I’ve learned in life can help people. It’s extremely joyful for me. So I feel most effective and at home in a conversation. That’s where my natural creativity lives.

After music, conversation is the highest art form I know. I’m not such a great musician (yet) so for now conversation is the art I’m practicing professionally.

Also, you are probably very interesting, and I love meeting and getting to know interesting people up close.

Do you have any questions about what I do? Please feel free to email me! I’d be delighted to hear from you.

Thank you for reading! Please book yourself into my calendar for a free chat if you’re interested in working together.