Nicolai coaches capable leaders with ambitious aspirations. As a result, they experience new possibilities in leading themselves, others, and their businesses. He designs each engagement with the client according to their unique circumstances.

He is Cultivating Leadership’s client lead for several of its global clients within technology, healthcare, and professional services. His personal contributions span coaching top leaders, facilitating executive teams, and designing and delivering organization-wide programs and other large-scale interventions.

Nicolai also leads the Meadow, the firm’s platform for off-the-shelf workshops and courses.

The foundation for his client work is a broad toolbox, personal experience, and plenty of compassion and curiosity. Nicolai first trained as a coach in 1997, and this has been his profession since 2011. He has completed a range of certifications, including Growth Edge Coaching and Leadership Circle Profile. He has been a faculty member for both. Nicolai was also a faculty member at the Institute of Directors’ Board Director Programme for several years.

His most recent book Return on Ambition: A Radical Approach to Your Achievement, Growth, and Well-Being (Fast Company Press), co-authored with Nicolai Chen Nielsen, is a bestseller, winner of the Benjamin Franklin Gold Medal, and a finalist for the getAbstract International Book Award. Nicolai also writes a monthly column on leadership for Berlingske, a Danish national daily newspaper.

His career bridges the traditional left-brain and right-brain spheres. Nicolai holds a Master’s degree in economics from the University of Copenhagen and started as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company. He left for executive roles in corporate ventures, which included serving as managing director of a branding agency within the advertising network DDB Worldwide, being responsible for the launch of Hutchison’s mobile operator 3 in Denmark and leading more than five hundred consultants across the globe for telecom vendor Nokia Siemens Networks. Nicolai has lived in Stockholm, London, and Dubai.

Beyond the joy of his extraordinary colleagues and clients, Nicolai´s heart is foremost with his children Margaux and Axel, and his sweetheart Fie. They live in his native Copenhagen, and love spending time with friends and family.