01 · 6 months · 2024
CFO Onboarding · DAX 40
Companionship through the first 100 days after a competitor hire. Focus: stakeholder landscape, first quarterly results, personal visibility.
About
Fifteen years inside a corporation became a practice that works.
After twelve years as HR Director in an international group, I now work as an independent advisor and systemic coach. I know what I do from both sides — the boardroom and the coaching chair.
Twelve years as HR Director in a DAX-listed group. Responsibility for people strategy, compensation, talent development and two major restructurings. I now accompany the people whose desks I once occupied.
By the Numbers
15
Years in Practice
Coaching since 2010
240+
Accompanied Mandates
Executive · MD · HR
94%
Repeat Engagements
From past programmes
DBVC
Certified
Senior Coach (DBVC)
Method
Three phases. No esoterics.
Every engagement follows a clear arc — but never a template. What happens between the sessions matters as much as the conversation itself.
01 — Diagnosis
Three confidential preliminary conversations, structured anamnesis, identifying the real question behind the first question. Together we decide whether to proceed.
02 — Companionship
Sessions every two to four weeks, with clear assignments and an open communication window in between. Tools drawn from systemic coaching, business strategy and behavioural psychology.
03 — Impact
Results become measurable — through behaviour, decisions, and the responses of those around you. Each quarter ends with a structured review. Optional 360° feedback.
Engagements
Four formats. One stance.
Executive Coaching 1:1
from €12,000Twelve sessions over six to nine months. For executives in new roles, before consequential decisions, or at personal turning points.
Onboarding Companion
from €18,000A structured 100-day programme for incoming CXOs. Stakeholder mapping, relationship building, first decisions. In high demand.
Transformation Coaching
on requestAccompanying executive teams through restructuring, mergers, or growth inflection points. Project-based engagement.
Keynote & Talk
on requestTopics: leadership under uncertainty, women's careers in corporations, the first 100-day plan. Half-day or short format.
Selected Mandates
Confidential. Anonymised. Real.
Every client explicitly approves whether and how I refer to our work together. Three anonymised excerpts.
02 · 9 months · 2023–2024
Restructuring · Pharma Family Business
Working with a five-person executive team through the closure of two sites. Weekly one-to-ones and monthly team coaching.
03 · 9 months · 2024
Step Up to MD · SaaS Scale-up
Preparing a VP People for appointment to the management board. Focus: boardroom presence, financial command, personal brand.
Voices
What clients say.
„Marlene Köhler asks the questions I don't dare to ask myself. After every session I leave the room with less noise and more direction."
„I tried three other coaches first. Marlene was the first who actually understands how a corporation works — and at the same time doesn't sugar-coat anything."
„The investment paid for itself in the first sixty days. Not through methods — but through one decision I would otherwise have made too late."
Perspectives
Written thoughts.
Observations from fifteen years of coaching and corporate practice. Once a month, no newsletter machine.
OnboardingMarch 2025
The First 100 Days — What No One Says Out Loud
Why most CXO onboardings stall in the second month — and three questions every new executive should ask on day thirty.
— Dr. Marlene Köhler
MethodFebruary 2025
Coaching Is Not a Tool. It Is a Stance.
What separates a coach from a consultant? And why the answer matters more than most clients think.
— Dr. Marlene Köhler
Frequently asked
What you should know before we speak.
Ready for a conversation?
Three complimentary preliminary calls — then you decide. No obligation, no sales phase. Confidentiality is a given.
Location
Where to find me.
Adresse
Brienner Straße 7
80333 Munich
Anfahrt
U-Bahn Maximiliansplatz · 3 Min. Fußweg