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The more I use AI, the more my own voice matters.
Two years ago, I started experimenting with generative AI out of curiosity. This year, it became part of my writing practice. Not because I wanted AI to write for me, but because I discovered it could really help me find and amplify my own voice.
“The Cloak does not make the monk… Or does it?
In any culture, wearing the appropriate clothes is a strong sign of showing up as a professional. It signals that you understand your role, your competence and what is expected about you. But nowhere is it as true as in Japan.
The Long Way Around
A journey through Japan that begins with an unexpected encounter and ends somewhere I never expected: a different way of understanding leadership, people and myself. Because sometimes the longest journeys are the ones that quietly change how we see the world.
One Year In – example
One year after a relocation, most people ask a simple question: “Is this working?”
It sounds reasonable. But it’s the wrong question.
The one-year mark does not call for a neat conclusion, but for a more honest form of reflection—one that resists the temptation to tidy up the experience into something coherent, and instead lingers on what has actually unfolded: what worked, what did not, what has shifted quietly
It invites a different kind of question, one that is less concerned with whether expectations and goals have been met, and more attentive to what this experience is now asking in return.
One Year In: The Moment No One Talks About
One year after a relocation, most people ask a simple question: “Is this working?”
It sounds reasonable. But it’s the wrong question.
The one-year mark does not call for a neat conclusion, but for a more honest form of reflection—one that resists the temptation to tidy up the experience into something coherent, and instead lingers on what has actually unfolded: what worked, what did not, what has shifted.
It invites a different kind of question, one that is less concerned with whether expectations and goals have been met, and more attentive to what this experience is now asking in return.
When Competence is not enough: What Japan Taught Me About Leadership
Most leaders think working abroad is about learning a new culture.
In my experience, the deeper challenge is something else entirely.
Living abroad quietly shakes the assumptions that made you feel competent in the first place.
Sometimes, it even cracks your professional identity.
Coaching International Leaders
Coaching international leaders is not a specialization you acquire by adding a cross-cultural tool to a generalist practice.
The question is not whether you have lived internationally.
It is whether you have done the personal, cultural, and psychological work required to coach in this terrain without simplifying it, projecting onto it, or prematurely reframing it.
What follows is not only a “must-have list”. It is the minimum bar I hold for myself when working at this level.
🧡 Reviving the Spirit of the Ajumma
Since moving to Seoul, I keep crossing paths with the same kind of women — small, determined, often wearing floral pants and a big sun visor.
When I described these scenes to a friend who’s lived in Korea for years, she smiled knowingly. “You’ve just met ajummas,” she said — and with that single word, a whole world of meaning opened up.
The Case Against Bad Travel
Travel isn’t broken. But how we do it often is.
From the selfie-storm in front of Monet’s Nymphéas to the queue for the “perfect” shot in Jeju, I’ve seen how travel risks becoming performance over presence. But what if we made it personal again? Emotional, intentional—even transformational?
In this article, I share my take on what meaningful travel can look like—and how we need to move beyond bucket lists and filters. Not just for us, but for the planet too.
The Unexpected Shock of Returning from Expatriation
You thought that coming back would be easy after years abroad? Think again! What seems like a smooth cruise often turns into a rough ride. Let me tell you why.
