One-to-one leadership advisory Craftport Consulting Start a conversation

For the situations that don’t come with a playbook.

Cornelia Raubal in profile, looking ahead across a field of yellow rapeseed

You’re good at what you do. That’s why you’ve been trusted with this much. But something has become difficult, and it isn’t the kind of thing you can simply look up.

I’m Cornelia Raubal, and I work one-to-one with leaders in exactly that moment. Not to teach you leadership, and not to ask you six times what you think you should do. We work out what’s really going on, decide what to do about it, and get you ready to do it well.

Start a conversation See how I help

You’re not failing.
You’re somewhere new.

Right now you’re facing something you haven’t had to handle before, or not quite like this. You know it, too.

  • You’ve stepped up, and being good at your last job isn’t the same as being good at this one.
  • You’ve inherited a team, along with its history.
  • Someone senior is making your life difficult.
  • A high performer is behaving badly, and everyone is watching how you handle it.
  • Two people on your team simply can’t work together.
  • You know you should delegate. It keeps coming back to you anyway.
  • Your remit has grown. Your authority hasn’t.
  • You need to influence people you don’t control.
  • You’re restructuring, and it affects people you care about.
  • There’s a conversation that needs to happen. You keep putting it off.

Whatever the situation, what matters is that it’s real, it’s yours, and getting it wrong would affect people you’re responsible for.

What actually happens when we work together.

You bring the situation. I bring experience, perspective and an honest view. Here’s what that looks like in practice.

Cornelia Raubal in profile
An illustration

You’ve inherited a team that was loyal to your predecessor. Meetings are polite, nothing changes, and six weeks in you’re quietly doing the work yourself.

FirstI listen, properly.

We go through what’s happened, who’s involved and what you’ve already tried. I’ll ask the questions nobody inside the organisation can ask, including what it costs you to act, and what it costs you not to.

You leave withThe whole picture, out of your head and in front of you.

ThenI tell you what I think is happening.

From the outside, and having seen versions of this before, I’ll offer a read. Perhaps they’re waiting to see whether you’ll last. Perhaps nobody has told them what’s actually changed. You’re free to disagree, and that’s often where the useful thinking starts.

You leave withA second opinion you can argue with.

NextWe decide the move.

We weigh up your options and their consequences. What do you want to be true in three months? What needs to be said, to whom, and in what order?

You leave withA decision you can stand behind.

Before you actWe prepare it.

Your opening sentence. The likely pushback. What you’ll do if it goes badly. If it helps, we rehearse it.

You leave withThe words, ready when you need them.

AfterwardsI ask what happened.

Then we look honestly at how it went and decide what changes next. This is where judgement is built: not in theory, but in your real situation.

You leave withSomeone in your corner for what comes next.

An illustration of how the work runs, not a specific client. Every situation shapes its own agenda.

Leaders also bring me things like…

  • A big decision they want to test before committing
  • A board paper or presentation that has to land
  • Working out which parts of the problem are theirs to fix, and which aren’t
Black and white portrait of Cornelia Raubal Cornelia Raubal around 2007, in a double-breasted winter coat on a beach
Cornelia Raubal. Inset: around 2007, during my years in steel.

Always myself. Translator. Trader. CFO. COO. CEO.

I built a career in steel, at one point as one of only two women steel traders in the world, and I’ve carried decisions with real consequences for people and for the business.

I’ve also lain awake at 2am wondering whether I should already know the answer, and what it would cost to let anyone see that I didn’t.

When we work together, there’s room for warmth and humour, and no requirement to arrive with a polished explanation. I want you to leave better able to use your own judgement, and to lead in a way you recognise as yours.

More about me
It was a ‘safe space’ for me to be able to talk about things I didn’t understand or didn’t ‘get’.
Global Head, professional services

Cornelia managed to ground me.

I can trust my thought process and decision making.

Dr Sarah Campbell, Founder, Play Well for Life
Watch Sarah’s video

This works best when…

  1. You carry meaningful responsibility. Your decisions affect other people, so getting this wrong matters.
  2. There’s something real going on. A live situation, not an abstract wish to improve.
  3. You intend to act, and to do the work between our conversations.
  4. You’re open to challenge. You want an honest view, not just reassurance.
  5. You value practical judgement as well as good questions.
  6. You, or your organisation, are ready to invest in getting it right.

It’s probably not the right fit if you’d like to explore your potential in general terms, or you’re hoping someone will solve it for you. For a programme for a group of managers, see Craftport Leaders.