For leaders, founders and people building something that matters

I help people get where they want to go — without losing themselves on the way.

I see the pattern. You make the choice.

I help you see where you actually want to go, what's in the way — and take the steps that get you there. Master what you want but can't quite reach.

Portrait of Therese Fallentin
  • Direction
  • Leadership
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Bridge-building
  • Innovation as readiness
  • Cheer culture
  • Internal communication
  • Generational understanding
  • Conflict handling
  • Self-leadership
  • Psychological safety
  • Burnout
  • Truth without shame
  • Safety without kid gloves
  • Challenge without judgment
  • Decisions without chaos

You're creating something, need someone who sees the possibility as clearly as you do, and helps you hold the direction. Support in saying what is true — without losing the connection.

This is what we solve together

  • What and where you actually want to go.

  • What is stopping you from doing it.

  • The steps that take you from here to there.

  • The support to walk them.

The problem

I help leaders, founders and people in positions of responsibility understand what's actually standing in the way of what they want to build — in themselves, in the team and in the culture around them.

Often the problem isn't a lack of competence. It's human protection: fear, shame, silence and over-accommodation that keep us from saying what we mean — and doing what we know.

Through keynotes, workshops, sparring and longer processes I help people and teams move from polite dishonesty to real contact, from silence to accountability — and from drive that's stuck to steps that actually move something.

You'll recognise yourself if…

This might sound familiar.

  • Communication seizes up

    People talk past each other, and no one says the real thing.

  • Everyone walks on eggshells

    You feel it in the room before anyone opens their mouth.

  • Generations talk past each other

    Values, pace and expectations collide.

  • Burnout lurks in the wings

    In you, or in someone you lead.

  • Same problem, again and again

    Just with new faces. The pattern won't break itself.

  • You don't know what to prioritise

    Everything feels equally important, and nothing moves.

If you nodded at one, two or six — you're not alone. There's nothing wrong with you or your team. There's something wrong with the room you're talking in.

Did this land? Book a no-strings conversation

What's at stake

I've seen what happens when people wait too long.

Bodies that break down. Relationships that snap. Careers that erode while you smile on the outside.

Teams that lose their best people — not because they were headhunted, but because no one dared to say what needed saying while there was still time.

That's why I do this work. Not because it's comfortable. Because the alternative costs more.

For you who lead, build or carry responsibility

Do you recognise yourself in any of this?

  • You're building something that matters — and you want it to reach where you can see it could go.
  • You lead people — and you want them to dare to speak up.
  • You're in the middle of a change that asks for something other than what you've done before.
  • You want a cheer culture where people dare, try and succeed — not one where everyone watches their own back.
  • You don't want a coach who pats you on the back — you want a sparring partner who dares to disagree.
  • You know what you want — but you don't get going. Again.

The shift

This becomes possible when truth, accountability and connection get more room.

  • People who dare to say the hard thing — and stay in contact while they do.
  • Leaders who take responsibility without taking over.
  • Teams that argue about the issue, not about hurt disguised as strategy.
  • Feedback that is precise and warm in the same sentence.
  • Decisions that hold because they're rooted, not imposed.
  • A culture where truth doesn't cost the job — it builds it.

This is what I help with

Concrete movements — from protection to connection.

From

Silence and politeness

To

Clear truth, still in contact

From

Blame and positioning

To

Accountability and learning

From

Conflict avoidance

To

Brave conversations

From

Over-accommodation

To

Your own limits, said out loud

From

Victim, rescuer, accuser — locked roles

To

Grown-ups in the room

From

Feedback that doesn't land

To

Feedback that moves people

From

Decisions that drag on

To

Clear next steps

From

Hidden friction

To

Healthy disagreement

Ready for the next honest step?

Book a no-strings call

How I work

Three movements. Straight to the point.

01

I listen for what isn't being said.

The patterns, the contradictions, what sits beneath the politeness — what you keep circling without landing. That's often where the answer lives.

02

I mirror what I see. Clearly.

Not what you want to hear. What's true. Direct, without kid gloves — but in contact, not in confrontation.

03

You make the choice.

Together we find clarity, direction, focus and define the next honest step. You decide what to do with it.

The five questions I keep coming back to

  1. 01What's actually happening here?
  2. 02What are we protecting ourselves from?
  3. 03What isn't being said — and why?
  4. 04What's our responsibility in this?
  5. 05What's the next honest step?

Want the longer method — sharp observation, deep listening, nervous system, pattern recognition, next honest step — read more on the services page.

Behind the work

Therese Fallentin. Strategic sparring partner.

Why this, of all things

“I do this work because I've been in the rooms where the important thing went unsaid — as a leader, as a colleague, as a person — and seen the price. My own, and others'. I didn't become a coach to teach people techniques. I became one because someone had to dare to say it out loud.”

The turning point

I remember the day I sat in a meeting room in Brussels and smiled while saying something I didn't mean. The coffee was lukewarm, the light too white, and something in my stomach turned. I heard my own voice come out polite, professional, acceptable — and I knew in that same second that I didn't recognise the one speaking. It wasn't a breakdown. It was a quieter realisation: that “nice” had become a mask I'd worn so long I thought it was my face. I began my work from that moment. Not to be less kind. To be truer.

Therese Fallentin in conversation

MSc Management Science from Brussels. Over ten years in organisation, strategy and human dynamics. Five years of facilitation, podcasting and deep conversations about what we usually don't say out loud at work.

I know what it is to stand in it. To carry others' expectations. To talk around the hard thing instead of about it. To over-accommodate, even in your own meetings. That's not where anyone needs to stay — and that's where much of my work begins.

“I'm not here to save anyone. I'm here to help people find their own power.”

Therese laughing
Wildflower meadow
Therese on coastal rock
Sea and evening light
Therese at a festival
Texture in bark

Between Brussels strategy and mountain hikes in Norway — same human.

My style

Sharp and warm. Direct and whole.

Working with me isn't just getting support. It's being met, mirrored and challenged — at the same time. Two voices, one person.

I laugh out loud. At work too. Especially when things are actually quite serious.

Leila

The one who says what no one says.

Sharp. Direct. Brave enough to point at what sits beneath the pretending. Not brutal — just honest enough that something can actually move.

Frøya

The one who holds the room while the truth lands.

Grounded. Warm. Present. The nervous system that can hold what's hard. Not comfort that papers over — contact that lets the truth stay in the body without becoming shame.

The bridge-builder

Much of my work is bridge-building. Between what we say and what we mean. Between people who can't quite reach each other. Between the corporate and the human. Between your drive and what actually happens day to day. That's where I stand — in the in-between, helping you across.

Cheer culture

I believe in people who build. In solutions that emerge when we dare to see each other. Anti-polarisation. Anti-cancellation. Pro-disagreement, pro-difference, pro-staying-in-it-together.

Innovation isn't just a product — it's a readiness. A society that can hold each other, cheer each other on, and find solutions together. That's where I want my work to land.

Truth without shame. Safety without kid gloves. Challenge without judgement.

What people say

Voices from people who have stood in it — and moved through.

Therese has been a fantastic coach and challenger for me. As a female CEO and co-founder she helped me explore my full potential, my priorities and my values. She balances the deeply corporate with the soulful — direct, clear and brave. I can't recommend her work highly enough.
Ester, CEO & co-founder
I lead a leadership team and saw no light on the horizon. In a month I went from considering quitting to enjoying work. Collaboration flows, we talk, conflicts get handled, and we have a whole new structure and flow in the leadership group. Suddenly I'm not dreading work — and I can see how we can meet whatever comes.
Lisa, Leader
I'm a coach myself and know the value of good guidance. Therese guided me through a process where both feelings and thoughts had room — and I got them sorted. Her approach was effective, and I felt safe and held. A week later I had made big decisions, and I stand steady in them.
Grete, Coach
Therese saw, recognised and named patterns in a way that crystallised them. Patterns that have been with me for a long time, but never had the light she gave them.
Nick
Therese asks questions that both challenge and land. She gave me the chance to see situations in new ways, see connections, and get to know myself better.
Kristina
Come as you are, and leave with a comfortable sense of acceptance and rootedness in yourself. Being coached by Therese is magic.
Malin
I found my way back to a perspective that had slowly disappeared since I was a child. Therese is a good guide with deep experience.
Christine

Become the next story

Write to me

The podcast

The Gut Feeling — conversations about what we usually don't say out loud.

No lifehacks. No morning routines. Just conversations about what's actually hard.

Since 2020. Over 80 episodes. Now also in English as The Gut Feeling Podcast. Guests from leadership, entrepreneurship, culture, health and politics — in honest conversations about following your own gut over others' expectations. The same work I do with leaders and teams, in a different form.

In good company withIsabelle RingnesMina GerhardsenNina JensenMaren Hjorth BauerKathrine Aspaas+ many more

For organisations

What this does to the numbers — without becoming a slogan.

The research is clear

“Workplace satisfaction drives sales growth, higher earnings and higher market value. Good leadership is positively associated with mental health and job performance — while destructive leadership has a negative impact on psychosocial health and performance.”
— Research on work environment and leadership

For HR, People & Culture and senior leaders: this isn't soft. This is what sits underneath the numbers you already measure. When truth gets more room, everything else moves too.

A leader directly affects health and absence in the organisation. What kind of culture are you building?

Health-promoting

People dare more, stay longer, perform over time.

Avoidant

Quiet friction, half-truths, slow exhaustion.

Health-damaging

Fear, sick leave, turnover, loss of competence.

§4-3

Working Environment Act — psychosocial work environment

Requirements for the psychosocial work environment: promote health and performance — and reduce sick leave and dissatisfaction.

This is no longer optional. It's legally required (Norway).

The risk picture

Risk arises when leaders and employees stand alone — with too much to do in too little time.

Role stress arises in the contact between leader and employee, and is made up of three things:

  • 01Unclear roles — the gap between available and needed information.
  • 02Role conflict — the gap between expectation and reality.
  • 03Overload — too much, for too long, too alone.

Especially risky among healthcare workers, leaders and founders — and for their investors.

Movements

  • Hidden frictionClearer collaboration
  • Quiet turnoverPeople who stay, and contribute more
  • Decision dragFaster, braver decisions
  • Competence on paperCompetence actually used
  • Leadership that performsLeadership that anchors

KPI areas we touch

  • Psychological safety (measurable, not as a slogan)
  • eNPS and engagement
  • Sick leave and turnover
  • Time from idea to pilot
  • Quality of the feedback culture
  • Trust across levels

Offering

Five ways to work together.

For you — leader or founder

01

1:1 coaching

For leaders and people in responsibility who need one person they can be fully honest with.

Read more

For the organisation

02

Leadership & team processes

Longer engagements for culture, trust and agency.

Read more

For the team

03

Workshops

Training in honest conversations, feedback and accountability.

Read more

For stage and events

04

Keynotes

Set the tone in the room — and say what no one else dares.

Read more

For podcasts and media

05

Podcasts & panels

Voices that move the conversation about leadership and culture.

Read more

15 — Next step

If you're ready to stop performing and start telling the truth — let's talk.

One message is enough. Tell me what's alive for you or your team right now.