Helping execs in new roles accelerate impact, build credibility fast and avoid costly transition mistakes | xIBM Consulting | xPwC | Certified Executive Coach

You’ve just landed your next big executive role - congratulations!

Now comes the part no one prepares you for: making it successful.

The hard truth is, 40% of executive transitions fail within 18 months.

And the cost is staggering:

2.5x to 30x the executive’s salary in lost productivity, turnover, and disruption.

Career damage for the executive that can take years to recover from.

Maybe it's your first time at the senior leadership table. 
Maybe you've done this before, but this time, the stakes feel higher. 
Different company, industry, department or role.

Either way, you know this first year will define your reputation and your results.

Tell me if this sounds familiar:

You've inherited a team that doesn't fully trust you yet. 
You're navigating company politics, shifting priorities, and sky-high expectations. 
Everyone's watching, but no one's guiding. 
You're smart, experienced, and capable. 
But the pressure to prove yourself is relentless.

This is exactly where I come in.

I help new executives thrive where 40% fail by guiding them through the high-stakes first year.

My coaching is confidential, personalized, and focused on helping you:

✔ Earn trust quickly and secure early credibility
✔ Navigate politics and hidden organizational dynamics
✔ Build and align your leadership team for quick wins
✔ Make high-impact decisions without costly missteps
✔ Lay the foundation for long-term success and legacy

 Why Trust Me?
• 25+ years in Fortune 500 consulting, partnering with senior executives 
• Led $30M+ transformation portfolios and 250+ person practices at IBM 
• Led risk strategy for $100M+ proposals and complex transformations 
• Built and delivered IBM's top global executive coaching programs 
• Certified executive coach with 300+ leaders coached

If you’re ready to accelerate your impact and avoid costly missteps,

let’s make your first year your strongest. 

📩 DM me “Executive Transition” and let’s talk.

Dora Vanourek

The most painful part of growth:

The people closest to you will try to stop it.

And the faster you grow, the more uncomfortable others become.

It's not personal - it's human nature:

-  The edge in "wow, you've changed"
-  The unsolicited advice to "be careful"
-  The subtle comments that diminish what you've built

People prefer the version of you they're used to.

Some feel threatened by your progress.

Others try to keep you "safe" in your comfort zone.

5 ways to protect your growth:

1. Audit Your Circle 👥
↳ Who celebrates your wins vs. who diminishes them?
↳ Distance isn't betrayal, it's boundaries

2. Stop Explaining Yourself 🤐
↳ You don't owe anyone a justification for growth
↳ Let your results do the talking

3. Track Your Progress 📈
↳ Screenshot encouraging feedback and messages
↳ Celebrate small victories, they compound into big changes

4. Find Your Growth Squad 🔗
↳ Seek people 2-3 steps ahead of you
↳ Invest in mentors who've walked your path

5. Trust Yourself 💪
↳ Your intuition knows before your mind does
↳ Bet on yourself when no one else will

The people who truly support you will celebrate your growth.

Don't shrink yourself to make others comfortable.

♻️ Repost to remind someone they don’t need permission to grow
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Hard work doesn't burn people out.

Poor leadership does.

We used to have chair yoga sessions and 
stress management workshops at work.

The people who needed them most couldn't attend.
 
They were triple-booked in meetings.

That's not a wellness problem. 
That's a leadership problem.

A boss tells you to manage your stress.

A leader removes what's causing it.

Stop offering meditation apps while scheduling back-to-back meetings.

Stop promoting "work-life balance" while rewarding those who never log off.

Stop blaming people for burning out in systems designed to break them.

If your team is struggling, look for the real causes:

→ Unrealistic deadlines with no room to breathe
→ Back-to-back meetings with no time to think
→ Unclear priorities that change every week
→ Rewarding "always on" while preaching balance

If you're exhausted, you're not weak. 

You're stuck in a broken system.

And you deserve leaders who fix it - not blame you for it.

♻️ Repost to help someone who needs to hear this
➕ Follow Dora Vanourek for more

Executive Advisor for Senior Leaders Navigating a New Role | ex-IBM | ex-PwC | CPCC

20+ years of experience means nothing
if people dread working with you.

We've all met them:

The senior leader who humiliates in meetings.

The expert who makes everyone feel small.

The exec who treats people like obstacles.

Experience teaches you process.
It doesn't teach you humanity.

The most skilled person in the room
can also be the most damaging.

Signs someone has experience but lacks humanity:

→ They interrupt constantly
→ They take credit but never give it
→ They dismiss ideas without listening
→ They remember every mistake you made
→ They make you feel stupid for asking questions

Meanwhile, leaders who treat people well:

→ Ask questions before judging
→ Celebrate wins that aren't theirs
→ Make space for others to speak
→ Create safety for honest conversations
→ Leave people feeling capable, not small

Your years of experience don't define your value.

How people feel after working with you does.

Be the leader people want to work with.

Not the one they have to survive.

♻️ Repost to remind someone that people first leadership matters
➕ Follow Dora Vanourek for more

We've built hiring systems that strip away humanity.

Then we wonder why trust is broken from day one.

It’s because we have normalized 
the unacceptable:

❌ Posting ghost jobs to signal growth
→ while real people wait for an email that never comes

❌ Automated rejections
→ after someone spent hours filling out a complicated application form

❌ Six rounds of interviews
→ because no one trusts anyone else's judgement

❌ Ghosting people after the final rounds
→ because giving feedback is not a priority

❌ "Not enough experience"
→ when they could learn the job in a month

The hiring managers feel this too.

They're drowning in reqs.
Pressured by systems they didn't design.
Told to move fast while also de-risking every hire.

People are not numbers.

Every resume represents someone's hopes.
Their rent. Their kids' futures.
Their career turning point.

To the hiring managers doing their best within broken systems:

Thank you. It matters more than you know.

♻️ Repost if you believe hiring should be more human
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Leadership isn’t earned with a title.

It’s built when people feel safe.

Safe to speak up.
Safe to fail.
Safe to rest.

Build a culture where taking time off doesn’t come with guilt.

What to do as a leader:

✅ Be a role model for taking time off:
↳ Take time off - and talk about it. Normalize rest

✅ Recognize efforts: 
↳ Acknowledge achievements that promote well-being rather than appreciating health sacrifices

✅ Encourage flexibility: 
↳ Trust your team to deliver in ways that work for them

✅ Prevent post-vacation overload: 
↳ Plan ahead to make returning from time off manageable

✅ Conduct meaningful check-ins: 
↳ Make 1:1s safe spaces to talk about well-being and workload

What to avoid as a leader:

❌ Praising work while sick:
↳ "Thank you for working even though you don't feel well" 
↳ This sends the wrong message about your company's values

❌ Neglecting feedback: 
↳ Ignoring employee feedback about workload and stress

❌ Discouraging time off:
↳ Making employees feel guilty for taking breaks

❌ Setting unrealistic goals: 
↳ Targets that require overwork are unsustainable

❌ Promoting an "Always On" culture: 
↳ Expecting 24/7 availability, even on weekends or vacations

Be the leader you wish you had.

📌 Navigating your first year in a new role?
Get weekly insights in The First Year newsletter:

dora.coach

Image credit: Adam Grant

Betting on myself scared me more than staying stuck.

So I finally chose fear instead.

You might be there right now:

❌ Waiting to feel confident before starting
❌ Seeking perfection before launching
❌ Taking "one more certification" before applying

A year ago, I left my 25+ year corporate career.

And what made leaving possible  
was writing on LinkedIn.

Before that, I was stuck.

Overthinking. Doubting myself. 

Who am I to give career advice when my career isn't perfect?

One day, I just hit ‘post’.

Writing here opened doors I didn't know existed:

New people. New projects. New possibilities.

If you're stuck like I was - start anyway.

The hardest part was taking that first step.

If I'd had a tool like Stanley back then, I would've started sooner.

Stanley isn’t another AI.

It works as a true AI LinkedIn coach:

- shows you what your audience actually wants
- finds patterns you'd never notice yourself
- tells you which posts flopped and why
- gives feedback that stings a little (in a good way)

My posts created with Stanley outperform my others by 35-40%.

Try a free trial of Stanley today: https://lnkd.in/g9nvAJzJ

#stanleypartner

By 30, you should have it figured out.
By 40, you definitely should.
By 50, you shouldn't still be searching.

Society sells us a lie about what "on track" means.

That life should be a clean upward line.

That restarting means you failed.

That feeling lost means something is wrong with you.

When you believe those lies, you end up thinking:

This isn't where I thought I'd be.
I should have done more by now.
I should be further along.

I've felt that since walking away from 25 years in corporate.

The exhausting performance of "I'm fine."

The promise that tomorrow will be different 
- and then another day passes and nothing changes.

The shame of feeling behind, 
based on someone else's timeline.

You're not broken.

You're in process.

The most successful people I know restarted more times than they'll ever admit:

- New careers at 35
- New cities at 42
- New identities at 53

The only regret would be staying stuck 
because someone told you it's too late.

You are the greatest project you'll ever work on.

Don't give up on yourself.

♻️ Repost for someone who needs a restart
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A year ago, I left my 25+ years tech consulting career.

To build something of my own.

My friends couldn't understand why I'd leave stability.

Others questioned if it was "too late" to start over.

A few called it a midlife crisis.

But then I found my new people.

Entrepreneurs who'd walked away from golden handcuffs.

Creators building empires from their expertise.

Leaders who measured success differently.

Their ambition didn't make me feel behind.

It showed me what was possible.

When you change your path, you need people who've already taken the leap.

5 ways to upgrade your circle:

1. Audit your conversations - are you talking about problems or possibilities?

2. Join spaces where your future self would hang out, not where you currently are.

3. Share your bold goals openly - ambitious people are drawn to other dreamers.

4. Ask "What are you building?" instead of "How's work?"

5. Give yourself permission to outgrow relationships that hold you to your old life.

Your old circle will keep you comfortable.

Your new circle will keep you growing.

Evolve your circle.
Choose growth.

♻️ Repost to remind someone to find their circle
➕ Follow Dora Vanourek for more

You watched them get promoted.

The ones who laughed at the offensive joke.

The ones who stayed quiet when they should've spoken up.

The ones who took credit for your work.

And you wondered if YOU were the problem:

- Maybe I'm too naive
- Maybe I need to "play the game"
- Maybe integrity is just a fancy word for staying stuck

Those promotions came at a cost you can’t see at first.

The person who got ahead by compromising?
They have to keep compromising to stay there.

The person who sold out their values for a title?
They wake up every day performing a version of themselves they won’t recognize.

Adam Grant said it perfectly:

“The highest form of accomplishment is standing by your principles when they're tested.”

You didn't lose.

You refused to pay for a "win" that would have cost you everything.

Your integrity isn't holding you back.

It's the only thing that will matter when the titles fade.

📌 Navigating your first year in a new role?
Get weekly insights in The First Year newsletter:

dora.coach

♻️ Repost to remind someone integrity wins in the end

Image credit: Adam Grant

You know it's time to leave when you
can't recognize yourself anymore.

It's not the tasks that make you miserable.

It's not even the long hours.

It's having to wear a mask every single day:

- Apologizing for having boundaries
- Staying quiet when ethics get violated
- Laughing at your boss's offensive jokes
- Saying "great idea" when you know it'll fail

You tell yourself this is just how work is.

Everyone deals with it.

This is what being professional means.

But when you look in the mirror,
you don't recognize yourself.

People don't quit jobs.
They quit the person they had to become to survive there.

Start small:

- Stop apologizing for leaving on time
- Update your resume tonight
- Connect with one person in your field
- Remember: this isn't forever

There are workplaces where you can disagree without fear.

Where boundaries are respected, not mocked.

Where you don't have to pretend.

You deserve to feel whole again.

♻️ Repost to remind someone this isn't forever
➕ Follow Dora Vanourek for more

75% of people fear public speaking more than death.

Yet it's the No. 1 skill that accelerates careers.

Glossophobia, the fear of public speaking, held me back for years.

I avoided roles where I'd need to speak a lot. 

Declined podcast invitations.

Fear was costing me too much.

Then I found Ultraspeaking.

Here are the 8 techniques that transformed how I speak:

📌 Save these for later.

1. The Accordion Method 
→ Compress your talk to 60s, then 30s, then 15s 
→ Expand back, keeping only what matters 
→ Forces you to find your actual point

2. The Bow & Arrow 
→ Your Arrow = the ONE thing to remember 
→ Your Bow = supporting evidence

3. The Power Pause 
→ Stop for 3-5 seconds after key points 
→ Gives your audience time to absorb 
→ Silence is powerful, not awkward

4. The 2-3 Word Bookmark 
→ Create 2-3 word triggers, don't memorize scripts 
→ "Customer save" → your problem-solving story

5. Never Break Character 
→ Don't apologize for nervousness or mistakes
→ Your anxiety is invisible until you reveal it 

6. The Pushback Pivot 
→ Pause and acknowledge: "That's an important point" 
→ Reframe: "Here's how I see it..." 
→ Use challenges to strengthen your message

7. Use Clarity Prompts when Stuck
→ "The most important thing is..."
→ "If you remember one thing..."

8. The Opening Rule 
→ Rehearse your opening 3x more than the rest 
→ Early confidence will carry you through

These 8 techniques are just the beginning.

Ultraspeaking is different: 

It’s live practice, speaking games, and real-time feedback from other leaders and world-class coaches.

If communication is holding you back, I recommend joining their flagship course:

https://lnkd.in/gH9yVFE8

#ultraspeaking

26% of your promotion depends on executive presence.

But no one explains what those words really mean.

"She lacks executive presence" might be 
the most frustrating feedback ever.

Because it's rarely followed by what to actually do about it.

I've helped leaders work through this exact challenge.

Here are 8 ways to build executive presence:

1. Practise Strategic Silence
→ Leaders who listen first command more respect
→ Ask: "What are your thoughts?" - then pause

2. Name the Elephant
→ The person who calmly names the tension earns instant credibility
→ Say: "Can we talk about what's really going on?"

3. Make Others Look Brilliant
→ The most respected leaders give credit, not take it
→ Say: "That was Sarah's idea" before adding your own take

4. Simplify Complex Ideas
→ True expertise is ensuring others understand
→ Replace jargon with everyday language

5. Own Your Authority
→ Undermining phrases erase years of hard work
→ Drop "just," "kind of," "I think maybe." Say "I recommend."

6. Calibrate Your Reactions
→ Overreacting undermines credibility
→ Ask yourself: "Will this matter in 6 months?"

7. Bring Solutions, Not Problems
→ Great leaders are valued when they solve issues
→ Never raise an issue empty-handed

8. Learn to Disagree Without Drama
→ Executive presence lives in the middle: calm, direct, unafraid
→ Use: "I see it differently. Here's why."

Executive presence isn't about changing who you are.

It’s about showing up as your real, confident self.

📌 Navigating your first year in a new role?
Get weekly insights in The First Year newsletter:

Dora.coach 

♻️ Repost to help your network
➕ Follow Dora Vanourek for more

It starts with one small compromise.

"It's just this once."
"Everyone does it."
"This is how the game is played."

The system doesn't force you to compromise.

It just rewards the people who do with promotions, access, favour.

And makes you wonder what's 
wrong with you for hesitating.

But here's what nobody tells you:

The lies we tell ourselves are the most dangerous ones.

"I'll go back to my values when I make it."
→ You won't. The higher you climb this way, the more you have to protect.

"No one will notice."
→ You will. Every time you look in the mirror.

"I'm doing this for my family."
→ Your family needs your integrity intact - not a sacrifice they never asked you to make.

"I don't have a choice."
→ You do. It's just not the easy one.

The corporate world doesn't break people with one big ask.

It breaks them with a thousand small ones.

You're not naive for wanting to do the right thing.

You're not stuck because you have standards.

You'll sleep better than the ones who traded theirs for a title.

♻️ Repost to remind someone they're not the problem
➕ Follow Dora Vanourek for more

Transforming LinkedIn Profiles into High-Converting Landing Pages | Visual Strategist | Design Consultant | 270+ Happy Clients | Google Certified UXer | EU Aspirant ✈️

Eat. Sleep. Design. Repeat.

Scroll to my recommendations to see the proof.

Currently open to working student roles inside Germany.

Ubaid Ur Rehman

In 2025, I got a stage invite in Denmark.

The stage shared by the top LinkedIn names.

My host got everything sorted for me.

Tickets. Formal invite. Hotel stay.

Ubaid was ready to travel for the first time out of Pakistan.

First time to be on a plane.

"Finally, a dream coming true..."

I booked my appointment for immigration.

3 days in a row. One document after the other.

From fingerprints to financial proofs.

I did everything I could have done.

Result? Visa rejected.

Reason? My Pakistani passport.

I was holding the yellow paper and reading the clause. An invalid perception about my passport.

(All this while I submitted a whole sack of papers.)

But there is "Khayr" in every delay.

Life continued.

A few months later, I got my visa for Germany.

Since then, I have traveled to 7 countries. Met my favorite LinkedIn humans. Attended the coolest Link Up meetup in Bosnia.

What I thought was a rejection. 

Allah knew it was a redirection.

Keep pushing. 

The right doors will open for you.

At the right time.

- With love, Ubaid. ❤️

Ubaid Ur Rehman 

"What do you think of my banner?"
"Do you like my banner in general?"
"Any chance you can look at my profile?"

The most asked Qs since last week in my DMs.

I’ll give you two routes. You decide how serious you are.

(Save this. You’ll need it later.)
______

Route 1:

1. Duplicate your banner file.
2. Remove everything. Clean page.
3. Bring the "headline" first.
4. Social proof after it.
5. CTA at the very end.

Adjust your 3 elements in a way that the reader sees them in the following order.

Headline --> Proof --> CTA

Note: Your headshot, after everything is done.
______

Route 2:

1. Click on my profile. Link in Bio.
2. Access "Banner Ninja" training (free).
3. See me doing it all on runtime for you.
______

Your banner is the hero section of your profile.

You either get ignored or explored.

PS. Drop your banner below. If it’s unclear, I’ll tell you.

LinkedIn Profile Masterclass. 60 seconds.

(Save this before you change anything.)
 
1) Banner → Core offer, CTA, proof.
2) Headline → What + Who + How
3) Bio Link → 1 primary CTA for leads
4) Featured → 1-3 core offerings in order
5) About → Problem. Agitate. Solution.
6) Projects → Your result-driven case studies
7) Recommendations → Authenticity always wins.

Fact: Your banner alone drives ~50% of retention time.

PS. Comment "profile". If you want me to rate yours.

You will never see your profile the same way again.

(A shift that changed how I use LinkedIn.)

Imagine this.

You DM someone for the first time.
What happens next? They check your profile.

Your comment on a post goes viral.
What happens next? They check your profile.

Your post starts taking off by chance.
What happens next? They check your profile.

LinkedIn puts you in search results.
What happens next? They check your profile.

LinkedIn will never tell you "leads are waiting" for you.

It will give you signs.

Profile views. Connection requests. Silent lurkers.

Take the signs and optimize for them.

If your profile is not sorted in the first place, you have already lost them.

Simple as that.

PS. How many average "profile views" do you get?

I have audited 17+ profiles in the last 2 weeks.

(What I found will make you rethink yours.)

1. Mobile-first profiles win. 70%+ users are on mobile.
2. Mismatched CTAs across profile confuse buyers.
3. Poor color contrast makes the content invisible.
4. Visitors spend 7 of 15 seconds on the banner.
5. Featured order matters more than you think.
6. The About section is "about them", not you.
7. Complex jargon kills strong positioning.
8. Visual cues beat copy in 0.1 seconds.
9. Featured isn’t for pins. Link offers.
   
I can keep going ...

Enough data points for you today.

Bonus: Keep your profile up to date always. People love meeting the evolved version of you.

(Repost ♻️ if helpful.)

PS. Which one from 1-9 surprised you? or not at all 👀

The "Black Box" test for design.

(Check your next post today.)

1. Pick the carousel or post you want to test.
2. Show it to your peer or a family member.
3. Ask them what they see.

If they paused to "figure out", or they couldn’t answer it properly. The design needs to be iterated.

Simple as that.

If it's not functional, it’s not even a design.

Design class over.

PS. Whom would you pick to show your design?

7 out of 15 seconds users scan your banner.

(The easy guide for you all.)

LinkedIn Banner Framework

AI: I can design for you now.

Me: Wait… really? That’s insane.

AI: What do you want then?

Me: An infographic. Something clean.

AI: 
*takes the text, 
*puts it in a grid 
*adds 3 random icons

AI: Here you go. Designed.

Me: That’s… formatting. Not design. 🥴

AI: Faaaaaaaaa

You spend hours to draft a post.

You hit “Publish”. It tanks.

Does this means your content was not good?

Or is it just a bad day for posting?

50/50. Sometimes mix of both.

Here’s the way I see it.

Each of us know their average engagement.

Let’s say, 10 reactions in first 7 minutes.

If you’re getting 2 or less, bad day. 

Keep the content for another day.

If not, let the fish swim in th water for a while.

PS. Curious to know your mindset around it.

No alternative text description for this image

"You send the Stripe link and people pay up?"

Monday. 8:50 AM. He asked curiously.

Yes. Works all the time.

I don’t have a complex process at all.

1. A design inquiry happens.
2. I ask for your current brand state.
3. Ask if your offer and positioning are sorted.
4. Check my availability status for the matching offer.
5. I share the offer breakdown document.
6. If it aligns, the Stripe link is next.
7. Onboarding and getting started.

No time urgency in the offer. 

Works only if it's a priority for you.

Not just "exploring the options."

My process is designed as a collaborator, not another fiverr service seller.

Need an expert peer by your side? Welcome.

If not, plenty of options out there.

Peace out ✌️ .

Letting it speak itself. 

No long captions.

(The profile upgrade feedback.)

PS. If this resonates, I'm taking 2+1 new coaches or creators until 28 Feb. The last time I opened it was in 2025. Drop me a DM for details.

Tricky things about the featured section and fixes.

If you’re opening Canva without knowing exactly what you’re trying to communicate, you’re designing blind.

Design is less about the tool.

And more about approaching the problem with the right mindset.

I assembled a system that helps you think before you design.

PS. It may not be the kind of thing you're into. It's a different kind of approach. If you’re curious, send me a DM, and I’ll share more.

taplio

The Battle

Dora Vanourek

Ubaid Ur Rehman

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreDora Vanourek's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreUbaid Ur Rehman's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Dora Vanourek

Ubaid Ur Rehman

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Dora Vanourek's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreUbaid Ur Rehman's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreDora Vanourek's LinkedIn Performance