Vortolo

10/07/2026

Today’s biggest leadership risk isn’t not knowing—it’s pretending you do.

The leaders who will actually move organisations forward are the ones who can think out loud, invite challenge, and hold uncertainty without losing momentum.

For most of my career, executives were trained to do one thing on a stage: convince the room that everything was under control.Stand up. Project confidence. State the plan. Make the uncertainty disappear.I coached that for years. I was good at it. I was also, I now think, training people to send the...

25/06/2026

People are tired of polished scripts; they want leaders who think out loud, show their reasoning, and make decisions transparently. This article argues that authentic leadership comes from visible thinking—clear, honest moments where leaders reveal trade-offs, admit uncertainty, and guide action—because that’s what builds trust and helps teams follow. It’s a call to favor candid presence over performance and to lead by demonstrating how you arrive at choices, not just the outcomes.

This week I took five minutes to listen to Keir Starmer's resignation speech.On a personal level, I found it a little disappointing to see him go. Whether you agreed with his politics or not, I believed him when he spoke about caring for the country and wanting to improve people's lives.But as someo...

10/06/2026

Unsung professionals, not presidents, keep our world running. This article spotlights the quiet leaders who bridge politics and operations, turning grand speeches into real decisions, stability, and results behind the scenes.

One thing that strikes me whenever a major crisis emerges is how much attention we give to political leaders.And how little attention we give to the people making hundreds of operational decisions behind the scenes.Take any major disruption.A geopolitical conflict. A supply chain shock.A sudden incr...

04/06/2026

After eight hours of hearing that every startup is "revolutionising" something...
You may deserve a drink.
And a conversation.

Vivat’off 2026 is a small experiment for people who enjoy technology but occasionally need a break from startup theatre.

No panels.
No keynote speeches.

No investors pretending not to be investors.
Just founders, operators, builders, creatives and curious people getting together after VivaTech.

There may be impossible startup pitches.
There may be founder confessions.
There may be terrible ideas presented with complete confidence.

📍 schoolab, Paris�📅 Thursday 18 June�⏰ 18:00–22:00

Less hype. More signal.

More details soon.

28/05/2026

Strong pitches show how you think, not just what you did. Investors back decision-making under pressure: adaptability, clarity, and alignment—not chronology. It’s about future judgment, not past milestones.

Latest article from my website:

Most founder pitches tell chronology instead of operating philosophy.“We started here.”“Then we built this.”“Then we raised this.”The problem is that investors are rarely trying to reconstruct your biography.They’re trying to understand how you think under changing conditions.I worked ...

06/04/2026

This problem still going strong. More slides, more words, less credibility. Clear thinking beats slide clutter every time. Say less, show more.

Many professionals still believe credibility comes from explaining more.More contextMore background.More slides.More words.I’ve seen this pattern again and again in meeting rooms throughout my career. We all know it kills our audiences but sometimes company culture or fear can override this. Over ...

16/03/2026

Feeling like an imposter? You’re not alone and the world needs your voice, your ideas, and your leadership. Step into your worth, own your story, and let your light shine. ✨

I’ve lived with impostor syndrome for most of my career.And to be honest, I still work on it. It was particularly acute at the beginning of my career. I could sit through a client meeting with a colleague and not utter a word. When I came back more confidently some years later, people struggled to...

23/02/2026

Stepping into senior rooms isn’t about sounding impressive, it’s about showing you understand the real stakes. This piece shares the hard lesson I learned going from “solid content” to speaking the language of decisions, trade-offs and judgment at the top table.

Early in my career, I started getting invited into rooms that were clearly above my pay grade. Bigger titles. Bigger stakes. People who decide very quickly. In the space of a year, I went from training mid-tier management to speaking in front of top leadership. It was terrifying.My instinct was pred...

11/02/2026

Improvising your way through a board meeting, investor pitch, or conference keynote is a high‑risk bet leaders don’t need to take. This article shows why “I’ll just wing it” so often backfires at high stakes, and how a simple shift in preparation helps you stay sharp, present, and persuasive without sounding scripted.

We’ve all been there. Or close enough.I certainly have.Years ago, I delivered an online training for a UK-based company on material I could teach in my sleep. I had other priorities at the time and assumed that any misalignment with the audience, who were different from my usual clients, could be ...

01/02/2026

Leaders rarely get blocked by “lack of confidence” – they get blocked by lack of readability: others can’t clearly see where they add value or what they’re ready for next. When you close that perception gap, promotions follow.

Full article 👇

Many of us think leadership progression is blocked by a lack of confidence.It’s a fair assumption. We associate good leaders with confidence and assertive decision-making.But I’m increasingly seeing that this is rarely the issue.The leaders who struggle are often calm, capable, respected, and tr...