Transformation I've understood, led and lived.
Hi, I'm Elisabeth! I live in Vienna and work as an ICF- and EMCC-accredited Leadership Coach and Organisational Consultant focused on digital transformation. My practice is built on 14+ years of international leadership experience in marketing, brand and growth across corporates and startups, and on an MSc in People & Organisational Development from the University of Sussex (UK).
Today I lead digital culture transformation in Vienna's public sector. Alongside that, I coach and mentor founders, leaders and teams, including through the Women's Leadership Programme of the European Innovation Council, Female Founders, and the Innovation Incubation Center at TU Wien.
Honestly, I didn't get here alone. I was lucky enough to have great leaders, coaches and mentors accompany me along the way. Over time, it became clearer and clearer that I wanted to be exactly that person for others. That's why coaching, mentoring and digital transformation advisory sit at the centre of my practice today.
I also know transformation first-hand: the uncertainty of leaving a corporate career, the loss of familiar structures, and the fear of the unknown. But also the joy, the growth, and the good feeling of finding your way back to yourself. I bring that experience into my work.
This mix is exactly the point: strategic perspective, hands-on leadership experience and grounded coaching craft, in one partner.
As a Leadership Coach and Digital Transformation Advisor in Vienna, I work with leaders, founders and teams across corporates, scale-ups and startups, both in person and online, in German and English.
University of Sussex
Craft, not attitude alone.
I'm happy to be transparent about the professional foundation my work rests on.
See how this shows up in my services →- Thinking Environment® Leadership Coaching Time To Think · Oxford, UK
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Solution-Focused Coaching
ICF Associate Certified Coach
EMCC Senior Practitioner - MSc People & Organisational DevelopmentMaster thesis: “Will AI Make Us More Human? A First-Person Inquiry into Artificial Intelligence, Trust, Connection, and What It Means to Be a Coach Today” University of Sussex, UK · 2025
- Women's Leadership Development Programme Saïd Business School, Oxford, UK
- Diversity & Inclusion Certification Cornell University, US
- AI-Empowered SAFe Scrum Master Course Scaled Agile Inc.
A conscious choice, not a fear of technology.
Whether we use AI in our coaching work is entirely up to you. My general recommendation, though, is to treat our sessions as a deliberate break from AI tools: no assistant, no note-taking bot, just the two of us and whatever you bring. Whether we meet in person or online makes no difference.
If you'd like to use AI between sessions, I'm happy to offer perspective on how to do that well and what to watch out for, especially given how sensitive and confidential coaching conversations often are.
For you as a client
Together we decide whether and how you'd like to bring AI into your coaching experience, entirely on your terms.
For organisations
I also consult organisations on whether and how using AI in coaching can make sense, grounded in research and practical experience.
In my Master's at Roffey Park Institute / University of Sussex, I researched AI in coaching in depth, first-hand, using AI coaching bots myself.
Master thesis: “Will AI Make Us More Human? A First-Person Inquiry into Artificial Intelligence, Trust, Connection, and What It Means to Be a Coach Today”
Read the abstract
My Master thesis explores the question “Will AI make us more human?” through first-person action research into the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in professional coaching. Using experiential cycles with three AI coaching bots, MarshallBot, Francis, and AIcoach.chat, the study focuses on the coach–coachee relationship as a cornerstone of effective coaching (Gyllensten & Palmer, 2007). Drawing on Bordin’s (1979) working alliance, Mayer et al.’s (1995) dimensions of trustworthiness, and Rogers’ (1979) person-centred approach, this research investigates how qualities like trust, empathy, emotional intelligence, and ethical concerns are perceived in AI coaching.
Findings suggest that while AI in coaching can support skills-based, goal-oriented development (Terblanche et al., 2022), it struggles to create emotionally resonant, trust-based relationships essential for transformational leadership coaching (Passmore et al., 2025). A core limitation is its lack of lived experience and affective empathy, which affects its ability to respond authentically to complex human emotions including uncertainty or fear (Cuff, 2016).
Ultimately, this first-person inquiry led to a more nuanced view of AI’s potential and limitations. AI may offer more accessible solutions for certain client groups but also poses risks, such as promoting purely skills- or transactional coaching approaches to human development, compromising data privacy and transparency, or reinforcing digital divides. The study therefore argues for a “both-and” perspective, where AI can support, but not replace, human-led coaching. It also calls for ethical, human-centred design (Hogenhout, 2021), as well as ongoing practitioner self-awareness and conscious ‘Use of Self’ (Cheung-Judge, 2012), suggesting that critically engaging with AI may itself become a pathway to deeper human presence, greater agency, and voice.
- Bordin, E. S. (1979). The Generalizability of the Psychoanalytic Concept of the Working Alliance. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 16(3), 252–260. Available at: clinica.ispa.pt [Accessed 21 April 2025]
- Cuff, B. M. P., Brown, S. J., Taylor, L., & Howat, D. J. (2016). Empathy: A review of the concept. Emotion Review, 8(2), 144–153. Available at: doi.org/10.1177/1754073914558466 [Accessed 30 April 2025]
- Cheung-Judge, M.-Y. (2012). The Self as an Instrument. A Cornerstone for the Future of OD. OD Practitioner, 44(2), 42–47. Available at: ebscohost.com [Accessed 7 May 2025]
- Gyllensten, K., & Palmer, S. (2007). The coaching relationship: An interpretative phenomenological analysis. International Coaching Psychology Review, 2(2), 168–177. Available at: doi.org/10.53841/bpsicpr.2007.2.2.168 [Accessed 21 April 2025]
- Hogenhout, L. (2021). A Framework for Ethical AI at the United Nations. Unite Paper, Issue 1. Available at: researchgate.net [Accessed 20 April 2025]
- Mayer, R. C., Davis, J. H., & David Schoorman, F. (1995). An Integrative Model of Organizational Trust. The Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 709–734. Available at: jstor.org/stable/258792 [Accessed 29 April 2025]
- Passmore, J., Olafsson, B., & Tee, D. (2025). A systematic literature review of artificial intelligence (AI) in coaching: insights for future research and product development. Journal of Work-Applied Management (Ahead of Print). Available at: doi.org/10.1108/JWAM-11-2024-0164 [Accessed 16 March 2025]
- Rogers, C. R. (1979). The Foundations of the Person-Centred Approach. Education, 100(2), 98–107. Available at: elementsuk.com [Accessed 25 April 2025]
- Terblanche, N., Molyn, J., De Haan, E., & Nilsson, V. O. (2022). Coaching at Scale: Investigating the Efficacy of Artificial Intelligence Coaching. International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, 20(2), 20–36. Available at: doi.org/10.24384/5cgf-ab69 [Accessed 8 March 2025]