Blog - salomons.coach

14 Jul 2026

The ADHD Leader

Most leaders with ADHD aren't short on ability, they're working with a brain the role was never designed around. A look at the real challenges, the strengths hidden in the same wiring, and the development steps that turn a private struggle into a workable design.

05 Jul 2026

The Authenticity Paradox and the Work of Becoming

Hero banner with navy gradient: large white serif title 'The Authenticity Paradox' on the left, subtitle 'and the work of becoming' in italics, small gold decorative line, and the site 'salomons.coach' at the bottom left; right side features concentric gold rings and a dotted circular path with a gold center.

"Just be yourself" is the worst advice a growing leader can follow. Herminia Ibarra's authenticity paradox explains why growth starts with behavior that feels unnatural, and what 35 years in management and 20 years of coaching confirm: discomfort is the entry fee, not a warning sign.

27 Jun 2026

The Authenticity Paradox | Professor Herminia Ibarra

By salomons.coach
In Blog, Improving personal leadership effectiveness, Video

“Be authentic” — that’s what organizations, brands and people keep being told. But too often, following that advice can limit us, especially at work, says Herminia Ibarra, professor of organizational behavior. She proposes an expansive way to think about authenticity,

27 Jun 2026

Your Strengths Are Why You’re Stuck.

By salomons.coach
In Blog, Improving personal leadership effectiveness, Video

Every senior leader has a signature strength: the thing they're known for, rewarded for, promoted for. It's also, more often than anyone admits, the thing holding them in place. On outsight, endings, and why growth at the top is less about adding a strength than loosening your grip on the one you trust most.

27 Jun 2026

You Don’t Plan a Career Switch. You Explore One.

Blue gradient hero with a golden dotted path winding from left to right toward a compass on the right; headline reads 'You don’t plan a career switch. You explore one.'

Senior leaders are trained to remove uncertainty, yet a career switch resists exactly that. You can't analyse your way into a new identity; you have to explore your way in. Here's how the Pioneer Map and The Expedition guide the senior career pivot — and the theory beneath the method.

26 Jun 2026

Transactional Analysis for Leaders: The Foundations, and How to Use Them

Infographic showing three TA ego states—Parent, Adult, Child—on the left and three leadership actions—Develop, Manage, Stay strategic—on the right, with a central 'A' node labeled Lead from Adult.

A clear, deeper introduction to transactional analysis: where Eric Berne's Parent, Adult, Child model comes from, the psychology of why we shift between stances, how it connects to Kahneman, Rogers, and psychological safety, and how to apply it in everyday leadership.

26 Jun 2026

The Daily Firefight Hijacks Your Leadership, Not Just Your Calendar

Diagram titled 'The Operational Pull' showing an adult at center (A) with a glowing circle, arrows pointing from A to three top categories: 'Mid & long-term goals', 'Developing people', and 'Managing up'. Text 'ADULT' and 'the stance you choose' under A, and 'the daily firefight pulls your stance down' with a downward arrow toward two circles labeled P (Parent) and C (Child) at the bottom, indicating rescue and control dynamics.

Every leader knows the day that vanishes into ad-hoc fires. The real cost isn't lost hours, it's a hijacked stance. A transactional analysis lens on staying strategic, developing people, and managing up when everything is urgent.

20 Jun 2026

The Reliability Paradox: 5 Habits of Reliable Operations

Promotional banner for 'The Reliability Paradox' featuring a dark blue gradient, bold left-aligned title and an illuminated orbital diagram on the right.

Efficiency makes an operation look strong. Reliability under the unexpected asks for almost the opposite. Karl Weick's five principles of high-reliability organizations — and what they looked like on a real hub floor.

11 Jun 2026

You Don’t Have a People Problem. You Have a System.

Systems-thinking infographic: scattered people icons, curved arrows around a glowing central circle on a dark blue gradient with the phrase 'You don't have a people problem. You have a system.'

Your team won't take ownership. The same crisis keeps returning. You replaced the problem person and nothing changed. These aren't character flaws — they're the shape of the system you're standing inside. Drawing on three decades in the leadership chair, Jan Salomons on why so much competence produces so little change, and where the shift actually begins.

10 Jun 2026

AI Can Coach Your Career. It Can’t Coach You.

Silhouetted heads in a line with one highlighted gold figure and a glowing vertical bar, against a dark gradient background; text mentions AI and coaching relationships.

Generative AI is a superb career thought partner — for CVs, interviews, search strategy, and rehearsal. But coaching isn't information. Drawing on systemic and provocative coaching and three decades in the leadership chair, Jan Salomons argues that the deeper work, seeing your system, facing your blind spot, growing past your own comfort, is precisely what an AI built to agree with you can never do.