WHO I AM
I'm Gero Novara. Executive Coach and sparring partner for leaders who carry real responsibility in their roles.
For over 20 years, I didn't advise on leadership. I practiced it.
As a manager and senior leader in international corporations, most recently as Director and Member of the Management Board. At L'Oréal, BASF, Johnson & Johnson, HSBC and Vanderlande, I held leadership responsibility across Germany, Belgium, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. In organizations where complexity, pressure and conflicting expectations are not the exception. They are the norm.
I don't work with methods that sound good. I work with leaders who need a sparring partner that has been in the room. Someone who knows the game.
No methodology noise. No standard formats. Executive Sparring at eye level, when it counts.
YOUR TRANSFORMATION CAN START RIGHT HERE
Book a consultation to discuss your needs:
FOR WHOM?
I work with Vice Presidents, Directors and C-Suite executives, at the moment when standard answers no longer hold.
When decisions cost more energy than they should. When pressure builds but clarity is missing. When conflicting expectations leave you reactive instead of decisive. When you are functioning, but you know it cannot continue like this.
That is the right moment.
I do not work with leaders looking for validation. I work with those ready to define their own course clearly and hold it.
WHY NOW?
Because leadership at this level does not wait.
Most of my clients do not come because they want to learn something new.
They come because they sense that their current way of handling pressure, responsibility and expectations is no longer enough.
Not deciding is already a decision. And it costs more than any sparring session ever will.
HOW I WORK
No seminar. No program. No methodology kit.
I work 1:1, focused, individual and close to what is actually on your table right now. Not in theory. In concrete situations from your leadership reality.
Clarity starts from the first session. Not eventually. Immediately.
What you gain is not a toolkit for every situation. It is decision confidence for the situations where it matters. For your role. Your context. Your next clear step.
Executive Sparring is not a promise of change. It is a process that works, because it works with you, not around you.
THE PROCESS
Clear. Focused. No detours.
Step 1: Initial Conversation
We speak for 30 minutes, openly and directly. You describe where you stand. I listen and tell you honestly whether and how I can work with you. No sales pitch. No soft commitments. A straightforward assessment of whether working together makes sense.
Step 2: Contracting
If both of us are convinced, we clarify the framework in a separate conversation. Goal, focus, format, expectations, on both sides. Clarity before we start is not a formality. It is the foundation for effective sparring.
Step 3: Executive Sparring
We work. Individually, focused, directly on what is on your table. Sessions of 90 to 120 minutes, at intervals that fit your rhythm. On-site, in Düsseldorf or remote, depending on the situation.
Step 4: Closing
We take stock together. Not as a ritual, but as a deliberate endpoint. What has changed? What stays? Where does it go from here?
