Vortolo

03/11/2026

Conversations Under Pressure is officially here: practical workshops to help leaders prepare, stay clear, and perform when trust and stakes are high.

There are conversations you know you need to have and others you’ve been putting off for months.-A disagreement with a senior colleague that never quite gets resolved.-A committee member who keeps challenging your decisions.-Two departments that have stopped listening to each other.-A business rel...

03/11/2026

Leadership communication is about perception, not just words. Signals: presence, tone, pauses, shape how your message is received. Under pressure, leaders often over-explain and undermine confidence. ESC helps align intent with impact.

Leadership communication isn’t just about what you say, it’s about what others perceive.Some of the most powerful messages don’t come from words at all but come from the signals you send: your presence, your tone, your pauses, your confidence — even when you’re not speaking.Can you make a ...

05/10/2026

One year of Vortolo: setbacks, surprises and proof that persistence works. Year two begins calmer, clearer and still building.

A friend of mine in Kuwait messaged me on LinkedIn this morning to wish Vortolo a happy first anniversary.Oops, I’d completely forgotten.So I suppose this is where I’m expected to tell you what an incredible unimpeded journey of self-discovery and prosperity it’s been (Let’s add a unicorn in...

10/07/2026

Today’s biggest leadership risk isn’t not knowing—it’s pretending you do.

The leaders who will actually move organisations forward are the ones who can think out loud, invite challenge, and hold uncertainty without losing momentum.

For most of my career, executives were trained to do one thing on a stage: convince the room that everything was under control.Stand up. Project confidence. State the plan. Make the uncertainty disappear.I coached that for years. I was good at it. I was also, I now think, training people to send the...

25/06/2026

People are tired of polished scripts; they want leaders who think out loud, show their reasoning, and make decisions transparently. This article argues that authentic leadership comes from visible thinking—clear, honest moments where leaders reveal trade-offs, admit uncertainty, and guide action—because that’s what builds trust and helps teams follow. It’s a call to favor candid presence over performance and to lead by demonstrating how you arrive at choices, not just the outcomes.

This week I took five minutes to listen to Keir Starmer's resignation speech.On a personal level, I found it a little disappointing to see him go. Whether you agreed with his politics or not, I believed him when he spoke about caring for the country and wanting to improve people's lives.But as someo...

10/06/2026

Unsung professionals, not presidents, keep our world running. This article spotlights the quiet leaders who bridge politics and operations, turning grand speeches into real decisions, stability, and results behind the scenes.

One thing that strikes me whenever a major crisis emerges is how much attention we give to political leaders.And how little attention we give to the people making hundreds of operational decisions behind the scenes.Take any major disruption.A geopolitical conflict. A supply chain shock.A sudden incr...

04/06/2026

After eight hours of hearing that every startup is "revolutionising" something...
You may deserve a drink.
And a conversation.

Vivat’off 2026 is a small experiment for people who enjoy technology but occasionally need a break from startup theatre.

No panels.
No keynote speeches.

No investors pretending not to be investors.
Just founders, operators, builders, creatives and curious people getting together after VivaTech.

There may be impossible startup pitches.
There may be founder confessions.
There may be terrible ideas presented with complete confidence.

📍 schoolab, Paris�📅 Thursday 18 June�⏰ 18:00–22:00

Less hype. More signal.

More details soon.

28/05/2026

Strong pitches show how you think, not just what you did. Investors back decision-making under pressure: adaptability, clarity, and alignment—not chronology. It’s about future judgment, not past milestones.

Latest article from my website:

Most founder pitches tell chronology instead of operating philosophy.“We started here.”“Then we built this.”“Then we raised this.”The problem is that investors are rarely trying to reconstruct your biography.They’re trying to understand how you think under changing conditions.I worked ...

06/04/2026

This problem still going strong. More slides, more words, less credibility. Clear thinking beats slide clutter every time. Say less, show more.

Many professionals still believe credibility comes from explaining more.More contextMore background.More slides.More words.I’ve seen this pattern again and again in meeting rooms throughout my career. We all know it kills our audiences but sometimes company culture or fear can override this. Over ...

16/03/2026

Feeling like an imposter? You’re not alone and the world needs your voice, your ideas, and your leadership. Step into your worth, own your story, and let your light shine. ✨

I’ve lived with impostor syndrome for most of my career.And to be honest, I still work on it. It was particularly acute at the beginning of my career. I could sit through a client meeting with a colleague and not utter a word. When I came back more confidently some years later, people struggled to...