INSEAD Coaching Certificate – Lifelong Learning

Ten months ago, I became a student again. Today? I’m a graduate.

The INSEAD Coaching Certificate – a bucket list topic I’d been carrying around quite some time.
It’s been fifteen years since my coaching certification at #ISB.
I’ve done other trainings along the way – such as Scrum Master or Hogan – but this one was different.

Why now? Because it was time.

After founding my company the change shapers and positioning myself as an Executive Sparring Partner, I wanted to invest seriously in my own development again. Not just a weekend workshop – a real, deep dive.

What surprised me – and yet didn’t:
I thought I’d go in, refresh my toolkit, learn some new frameworks, and come out with updated skills. And sure, that happened. But the real work was different.
The program pushed me to sit longer with uncertainty, to resist the pull toward solutions, to really listen to what emotions are telling us. These aren’t new concepts to me, but doing them at a deeper level – that’s where the growth happened.

The INSEAD environment helped. Being surrounded by my #ICC20 cohort and faculty – great people who challenged me and gave new perspectives – made all the difference. There’s something about being a student again, that creates space for real growth.

What I’m taking forward:
If you ask “What are the takeaways?“ then you’re missing them 😉. Nevertheless, some things crystallized for me during these months:

Emotions are data. I can look at this differently now. When someone’s frustrated or excited or stuck, that’s information – not noise to move past.

Systemic thinking isn’t just a buzzword, it’s a choice on how to look at the world. People exist in context – their teams, their organizations, their lives. You can’t coach someone effectively if you’re only looking at them in isolation.

And maybe the biggest one: my job isn’t to have answers. It’s to create the space to help people find their own insights, generate new perspectives, discover what they might already know but haven’t articulated yet.

Why share this?
Because I believe in what I wrote ten months ago: we have to invest in ourselves. #DoItForYou isn’t just a hashtag – it’s how we stay relevant, how we grow, how we develop the change competency that actually matters. You can’t lead change if you’re not willing to change yourself. To be continued.

If you’re navigating a transition, wrestling with a complex decision, or just want someone to think alongside you – let’s talk. #ShapingChange

Thanks to the ICC20 crew and INSEAD Executive Education faculty for making this worth it.

#LifelongLearning #ExecutiveCoaching