Just A Bit More About Myself
Bio:
some experience and
stepping stones in a nutshell
Testimonials:
from people I had
the honor to work with
Moments of Joy:
what gives
me a buzz
Bio
What gives me energy and a heartfelt sense of meaning in life is to serve leaders to thrive, nurture higher forms of energy in their teams, and awaken the soul of their organisations. This is what guides me. I thoroughly enjoy working with like-minded people who see their organizations as vehicles to serve all stakeholders they work with and the communities they live in.
I have over 15 years of professional experience in leadership development, culture shaping, organizational development, and coaching. As a consultant, facilitator and coach, I have supported senior leaders in leading organizations such as Rolls Royce, NATO, Nomad Foods (owning the Birdseye and Iglo brands), Hertz, British Telecom, l’Occitance en Provence, Novartis, Boots, as well as a globally operating consumer bank, and an Apple equipment manufacturer. In my work I have partnered with both Executives, managers of all levels, experts, and front-line employees across various European countries, the US, South America, Africa, and Asia. Prior to my work as a consultant I was responsible for the Leadership Development activities at a global division at Siemens.
In the recent past, I was responsible for leading the culture shaping efforts at Majid Al Futtaim, the prime shopping mall, communities, retail and leisure pioneer across the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
I first studied Economics in Toulouse (France), and then graduated with distinction from ESCP Europe following my studies of international management in Paris, Oxford, and Berlin.
I’m married to the love of my life, and have two beautiful children who give me joy and help me grow. Currently we live in southern Germany. We’ve also lived for many years in London (UK), and Genova (Italy).
I used to sing when I was a bit younger. Nowadays, I play a bit of piano and Ukulele, to entertain family and friends when I find a good enough excuse to do so.
I am fluent in English, French, Italian and German (my mother tongue).
Testimonials
Hani Weiss, Chief Executive Officer at Majid Al Futtaim Retail [read more…]
Richard Bateman, Culture Lead, Rolls Royce [read more…]
David Kovara, Chief Learning Officer, Majid Al Futtaim* [read more]
Keith Amoss, Head of Talent Management, NATO* [read more…]
Brian Murray, Group HR Director, Nomad Foods, Europe’s Largest Frozen Food Company [read more…]
Chris McManus, Deputy General Manager UK & Ireland, L’Occitance en Provence* [read more…]
Dustin Deale, Partner & Managing Director EMEA*, Senn Delaney, a Heidrick & Struggels company [read more…]
Ann Clancy, President of Clancy Consultants, Author [read more…]
Garry Hargreaves, Head Organisational Development, Joint Warfare Center, NATO* [read more…]
John R. Childress, Business Author, Advisor, Keynote Speaker and Visiting Professor at IE Business School [read more…]
It was fantastic to work with Boris. His exceptional skills in motivating and energizing people has helped me and my team to focusing on lifting up our mood elevator and working together on delivering our results despite very challenging conditions. I also found that culture is the most important element in any organization, and Boris is great when it comes to focus on culture. I genuinely recommend Boris to a group of senior executives who want to unlock their potential and work as one team.
I’ve known Boris for around 5 years as he supported our Culture shaping journey here at Rolls-Royce. Why do I recommend him? The reasons are pretty clear: a great Facilitator, consultant and coach who brings insight to others in a profound yet very humble and respectful way. He has been a great guide to me personally in my work and has been someone who has gone the extra mile(s) to support me and the teams here. Boris prides himself on making sure he helps those he works with be at their best and is an inspiration to work with. For these reasons I recommend Boris to you.
What really sets Boris apart for me is his compassion and incredibly positive energy. He’s the walking definition of servant leadership and he works with purpose and grace. He also holds an incredible depth of expertise; I’ve seen him hold the room in board meetings and the next day build meaningful connections with our frontline cashiers. In all instances he tries to understand people and the environments they work in, and as a result he can affect change on even the largest scale. To be concrete: in Majid Al Futtaim he directly reached over 3000 employees with his coaching and methods, and was the principal architect of a culture change programme that has affected – and by affected I mean can be visibly seen and felt by – the entire population of 40,000 people, in 15 different businesses across 15 countries. Really inspiring stuff.
It was a great pleasure to work with Boris. He was instrumental in devising, launching and piloting the first ever Executive Development Programme in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The, so entitled, NEDP started with 15 hand-picked international civilian executives drawn from the various NATO nations. The Programme was an innovative mix of residential and distance learning spread over 12 months. At their first session in London, in September 2010 Boris set out the aim of the Programme. In short, at its end the participants would better know themselves, NATO and the world. A lofty ambition. It is a huge credit to him that it was achieved. The Programme was a major success and continues to this day, in no small measure because of the knowledge, skills and consistently positive attitude of Boris in getting it underway.
Boris generates such an infectious and positive energy that it is impossible not to feel uplifted in his presence. I’ve seen him motivate, inspire, energise and engage a group of 250 people – and each audience member was left feeling that he was talking to them individually.
If you’re looking for someone to quickly understand a workforce culture, identify the key blockers to great employee engagement and then facilitate an effective and sustainable change programme then Boris is absolutely the man for the job!
As an admirer of his passion, insight and commitment, I very much hope that in the future I can work with Boris again – he’s just great at what he does.
Boris Diekmann has been a student and practitioner of Appreciative Coaching beginning in June 2013 when he attended a 3-day certification workshop on Appreciative Coaching: A Positive Process of Change hosted by IDC Institute in Geneva, Switzerland that I led. He has also engaged in 13 mentor coaching sessions with me that finalized in August of 2017. The mentoring program involved skill building sessions based on the principles, stages, strategies and tools of Appreciative Coaching. […] He has a sound foundation on the theories of change underlying this generative coaching approach and understanding and practice with the model for igniting substantial change within the coaching context. I would highly recommend Boris as an outstanding transformational coach.
Moments of Joy
What gives me a buzz…
