Coaching The Elephant

René woke from a strange dream: HR had cut his client's pay because the company's AI had filed for a raise of its own. This episode uses that unsettling image to ask the real question — when machines become colleagues, how do we keep people from becoming line items?

A coach has great questions for your answers; a mentor has great answers for your questions. René untangles five disciplines people constantly confuse — coaching, mentoring, teaching, therapy, and consulting — and explains why knowing which one you actually need changes everything about the help you get.

Most people undersell themselves because they don't know their own worth. Drawing on his ten "commandments" of salary negotiation, René makes the case that the big ask is less about nerve and more about timing, preparation, and proving what you deserve — not what you need.

A coffee run taught René something uncomfortable: most people never looked up to thank the barista — their phones mattered more. This episode asks whether all our connectivity has actually brought us closer, and argues that staying human is a choice technology will never make for us.

Writing his first book taught René a hard truth: his best work doesn't happen in the cracks between emails. This episode makes the case for protected, unfragmented time — and why the deep thinking that shapes real leadership can't be squeezed into the gaps of a busy calendar.

We can order, answer, and avoid almost anything with a click — but trust, growth, and relationships still move at human speed. Through a leader trying to rebuild his team's trust, René shows why the work that matters most offers no shortcut and no "loading complete." Some things are one honest conversation away, not one click.

Why did WWII engineers nearly armor the wrong parts of their bombers? René uses mathematician Abraham Wald's famous insight to unpack survivorship bias — our habit of studying only the winners — and why copying successful people or companies, without seeing those who failed, leads us badly astray.

We're taught to say yes from childhood — yet the inability to say no can quietly run our lives. After a health scare forced him to change, René shares seven practical techniques for declining with honesty and grace, from setting boundaries to "returning the energy," so you can reclaim control of your time.

In a world obsessed with perfection, René makes the case for the opposite. From the Japanese arts of wabi-sabi and kintsugi to vulnerability in leadership, this episode explores how our flaws build resilience, deepen connection, and make us more authentic, creative, and human.

A short, reflective episode. As René begins his year of study to become a certified Conscious Capitalism consultant, he shares the movement's credo — a stirring statement of why business can be good, ethical, noble, and heroic, and how conscious businesses might help billions flourish.

What if business could pursue profit and a higher purpose at once? René introduces the philosophy of Conscious Capitalism — its four principles of higher purpose, stakeholder orientation, conscious leadership, and conscious culture — and the companies proving that doing good and doing well aren't opposites.

Confidence isn't a gift for the lucky few — it's a skill anyone can build. René draws parallels between athletes and executives, from learning to ride a bike to leading under pressure, showing how small wins, a growth mindset, and the right coach turn self-doubt into steady, durable belief.

Raised on Chicago's South Side and hardened by the loss of a friend to gang violence, Sofia saw the world as us versus them — until a coach challenged her to listen instead of fight. This episode follows her shift from division to bridge-building, and the quiet power of changing the lens through which we see others.

Belonging is one of the most underestimated drivers of human performance. René explores how mattering, identification, and social connection weave together to shape our well-being — and what families, teams, and organizations can do to build the safe, connected environments where people actually thrive.

Over an Easter lunch, René's friend Bruny shares the belief that carried her from losing everything to rebuilding a thriving business in two years: always construct, never destroy. A reflection on resilience, choice, and why — in a noisy, divided world — the slower, harder act of building is always the one worth choosing.

Can a conversation physically rewire your brain? René gives a friendly tour of the brainstem, hippocampus, and amygdala to show how coaching's deep listening and powerful questions forge new neural pathways — and how a shift in perspective can turn a failure loop into a fresh start. Welcome to the brain spa.

"It feels like we're building the airplane as it's taking off." Written on a flight from Buenos Aires to Paris, this episode warns against reaching for structures — councils, charters, family offices — before naming the purpose they serve. Before you build, ask what the airplane is meant to carry, and where you hope it's taking you.

A signed family protocol can look like governance and still change nothing. Through two siblings divided by a single dividend decision, René argues the document is only the visible result of the real work: building the trust, honesty, and maturity a family needs before it can actually live by its own rules.

Confidence rarely grows in isolation — it needs another set of eyes. René explores coaching as the catalyst that surfaces blind spots and reframes fear as fuel, with lessons from Olympic skier Bode Miller, basketball coach Rubén Magnano, and the inner game that decides more than talent ever does.

Where does confidence actually come from? René unpacks its two forms — the steady "trait" confidence built over a lifetime and the situational "state" confidence summoned in the moment — through Ronaldinho's journey from the streets of Porto Alegre to the Camp Nou, and shows how self-awareness and preparation train both.

Confidence doesn't arrive in one dramatic leap; it's stacked quietly, one small win at a time. René shares the fear behind his first big leadership offer and a quiet evening with Luís Figo to show how ordinary moments — and the reflection to notice them — become the real foundation of self-belief.

Real confidence isn't bravado — it's the quiet belief that you can move forward while fear is still in the room. Drawing on David Goggins, Rafael Nadal's 2008 Wimbledon stand, and Elon Musk's darkest days, René opens his six-part series by reframing confidence as the bridge between doubt and action — one anyone can build, one ordinary choice at a time.

This article is an examination of the common ground between high-level sports and the corporate world, focusing on how trust in preparation restores flow under pressure.

This post is a closing reflection on a six-part series, emphasizing that confidence is not a final destination but a daily choice to act despite doubt.

This article is an exploration of self-awareness and how two invisible forces—the story we tell ourselves and the story we believe others see—shape our behavior.