A Copenhagen-based coach works with founders across seven countries and finds that while stress and doubt feel universal, cultural backgrounds shape how people handle pressure. He shares how a calm Mexican client's approach helped a struggling European founder see new ways to manage stress.
Not a lot of people know, but all my coaching clients are actually not in Denmark where I am today and where I live. When I started this business 4 years ago, I had a few local clients here in Denmark, here in Copenhagen, that I would go and meet with and coach on a weekly basis. But very quickly I got inquiries from around the world. And now work with founders in 7 different countries, anything from Mexico to the United States to Belgium, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, Norway. So it's a really international business. And one of the things that that gives me, and one of the things that I enjoy about that, is while people have different cultural backgrounds The emotional aspects of being a founder and CEO are universal, right? We all have the same challenges being the best we can be at work and being the best we can be at home. We all have the same kind of doubts, the same kind of challenges, both strategically and tactically in our businesses. But working with an international group of clients, also allows me to take that cultural difference that we have and see how I can apply it in other ways. For example, recently my client who is based in Mexico was not really stressed out about some of the things that were happening in the business, even though most other people I know would be stressed out about it. And so I took that kind of attitude and his perspective on these issues And I brought that to a conversation I had with a client here in Europe who is in a not dissimilar situation. And we just talked about this idea that based on your cultural heritage, you might be able to manage stressful situations differently and better. And so that's how I leverage the fact that the client base is international. Sharing that this morning to give you a couple of things to think about. One, How do you leverage the experiences of international team members on your team if you have a team, right? How do you look at how they approach the world and how they approach problem solving because of their cultural background and see if there's something you can learn there? That's number one. And number two, which is maybe even the bigger point, is you're not alone, right? So no matter where in the world you might go and find somebody who is in a similar situation like you in terms of being a founder and CEO. I guarantee you they're struggling with the same issues that you're struggling with, both personally and professionally. And so just have comfort that there are many others like you, and everybody will find a way to get through the things that they're dealing with. I hope you found this helpful, a little perspective on having international clients. As always, if there's anything you want me to record a video on, just let me know in the comments where you're watching this, and I'd be happy to do that.
