Meet our newest WOL Coach: Jan Köster
Beyond Jan’s obvious intelligence and deep, wide-ranging expertise, I greatly admire his working style: generous, gracious, encouraging.
No wonder he is already en excellent coach.
The opposite of scale is human
What do you do when you preach being authentic and your own website feels like you’re hiding being a mask?
Being yourself can, ironically, require practice and support.
Here are some lessons I learned along the way.
Meet our newest WOL Coach: Konstanze Kampfer
Working with Konstanze is seamless, creative, and fun.
As a WOL Coach, I admire her candor, her positive energy, and her ambitious aspirations.
And I can’t wait to see what she does with WOL.
Meet our newest WOL Coach: Janine Kirchhof
Janine is smart, generous, encouraging, creative. She’s the kind of person who makes the people around her more effective and also happier. Perfect for a WOL Coach.
I asked Janine three questions so you can get to know her a bit.
A program that has empowered over 6,000 women
Every year I look forward to the #FrauenStärken program.
It’s not a course. It’s not “training.”
It’s a space where people show up as themselves and leave changed in beautiful ways.
As one participant wrote, ““For me, WOL is more than a method – it is a space of possibility.”
“What if there’s another way?”
If there’s a part of your life that doesn’t feel quite right, maybe the start of 2026 is a good time to ask:
“What if there’s another way?”
Making it easier for organizations to Work Out Loud in 2026
Working Out Loud helps people feel more connected, more confident, and more capable of shaping their future—in ways that are good for them and good for your organization.
Now WOL is simpler, more flexible, and an even better value than ever.
Here’s how you can get started.
A new WOL Coach Program coming in 2026.
A new program to train and certify coaches to form Circles and innovate on top of WOL, bringing growth and connection into organizations, communities, and their own work.
If ever I write another book, Bettina and Constanze will be in it for sure
Everyone deserves a chance to shape their future, inspire others, and make the world a better place. Bettina and Constanze are living examples of what that looks like.
The Gratitude Letter
We included this exercise in WOL Resilience because gratitude isn’t soft or sentimental. It’s fuel — for connection, for meaning, for happiness.
Who would you write to? Who has made a difference in your life — and deserves to know it?
Confessions of a bad manager (and what I wish I had back then)
If you’ve been a manager, can you relate to my "confessions"?
Did you feel forced to fit into a bad system or were you able to lead with authenticity?
WOL at the Landschaftsverband Rheinland (LVR): “Qualität für Menschen”
Why would a government organization with 22,000 employees, serving almost 10 million German citizens, use Working Out Loud?
What benefits would they get? What benefits would the individuals get?
“Neighbors helping neighbors”
Carl Sagan said, “When too much cynicism threatens to engulf us, it is buoying to remember how pervasive goodness is.”
Almost 12,000 people volunteer with City Harvest, and “Neighbors helping neighbors” is how they describe who they are. It’s a reminder of who we all can be when we choose to work together to make things better.
The tragedy of (some) commons in New York City
We often assume shared spaces will fall into neglect — the “tragedy of the commons.” But it isn’t always true. In this essay, I explore examples from New York and beyond of how communities can care for what belongs to all of us.
“What are they thinking?” Engaging young people for collaboration and growth
From skipping life-saving medicine to resisting “good advice,” young people’s choices often puzzle adults. But research reveals a deeper logic — and a path to building stronger, more respectful relationships across generations.
How Organizations Make WOL “Their Own”
One size doesn’t fit all — and with WOL, it doesn’t have to. For us, the real measure of success is when organizations feel that WOL isn’t just another program, but their program, designed to fit and last.
What can your CliftonStrengths profile reveal about you?
Strengths assessments aren’t meant to be filed away. They can be a powerful lens on who we are — and who we might become — if we actually use them.
The smell of the place
Within each interaction, each moment, is the chance to choose kindness and human dignity, for ourselves and the other person. If it helps, we can view our choice as a form of rebellion: “Yes it’s hot and unpleasant here, but I won’t add to the suffering or be someone I don't want to be.”
My Top 5 CliftonStrengths®
Suddenly, I believed. I became convinced that the 35 million people who’ve taken the test can, as Gallup writes, “use their CliftonStrengths to thrive at work and everywhere else.”
Have you taken the CliftonStrengths test?
Have you done anything with the results?
What are your top 5?