Strategic Leadership Advisory | Leadership & Organizational Development

Some organizations navigate complexity more easily than others.

Decision-making, communication and strategy-to-execution just work.

This is what I help leaders achieve.

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The Problem

You’ve got good people and a clear strategy… and something’s still off.

Maybe your leadership bench is thin, or you haven’t kept pace with the market, or you’re so far out ahead there are no role models. It might sound like:

“We’ve hired great people, developed leadership skills, communicated a solid strategy, and we still aren’t meeting our targets. What needs to change?”— Executive Team Member, Denmark

“We’ve had tremendous market success; now we should be asking: ‘What’s our moonshot?’ How do we get our people to innovate?”— Business Unit CEO, Denmark

“We need to regroup and get everyone moving in the right direction again. What’s the best way to do that?”— Regional Leader, Middle East

“We know we’re behind. How do we leapfrog or catch up?”— Multinational CEO, Zürich

That’s where the conversation begins.

Ways to Work Together

The engagement fits where you are.

I work with leaders and teams on a fractional basis. Most engagements look like one to two days per week — enough to be embedded, not just advising from the outside.

The work varies, but the through-line is consistent: help turn strategy into something the team can actually execute, get leadership aligned at every level of the organization and support people to work with less friction. No RFPs. No long proposal cycles. No programs divorced from your daily realities. Just expert support on what you need, when you need it, so you have clarity, momentum and impact.

Leadership Alignment Diagnostic

01

My first step is always to listen to your organization so we know where to go to work and how. We’ll start with a structured research process to make our work relevant to your day-to-day. With quantitative and qualitative data to build from, we’ll have clarity and a data-driven roadmap so your resources are focused where they make the greatest difference.

Fractional Leader

02

Call it Chief Transformation Officer, Chief Leadership Officer, Chief Learning Officer, I join your team on a part-time basis and work as an embedded partner. The work varies, the goal is consistent: increase ease and clarity navigating complexity, support leadership and organizational development, ensure the team is moving in the same direction together. This is ongoing work.

Project-Based Work

03

Sometimes there’s a specific challenge or opportunity that needs time and brainpower: your leadership bench needs developing, the organization needs to get to the next level, learning programs need improvement, or you need a full-spectrum approach for a particular situation. I scope the work, do it and make sure it sticks. Contained, focused, with a clear outcome at the end, managed over time.

Not sure which fits? That is what the first conversation is for.

Let’s Talk
How I Partner With You

Structure and flexibility, in equal measure.

Every engagement is different, but each begins with the diagnostic so we have a data-driven roadmap, what success looks like and what’s getting in the way. From there, we design our partnership. I’ll review what you have that’s working well, update what needs revision and embed an approach to fuel collaboration. I stay until all of it is embedded in how your leaders and team operate every day.

01

Clarify

We start by gathering qualitative and quantitative data so we have a data-driven roadmap for our work together. What will we go to work on and why? What does success look like? What have you tried? What’s in the way?

02

Design

With our mission clear, we design our work together to support it. The right support in the right rhythm, with the right level of accountability. Enough structure to make progress visible, without overcomplicating how your leaders and teams work.

03

Build

I work with you to do some of the leadership work: crafting messaging and delivering it in a way that inspires teams, developing teams and leaders, coaching, designing and hosting events and the follow-up that makes the work stick.

04

Embed

Without sustained follow-up, leadership, learning and communication interventions don’t stick. Our engagement ends when the work is embedded, when it’s become your new normal. That shift takes time, trust and someone willing to see it through.

What Changes

Great learning, leadership and culture are felt before they’re measured.

The first shift usually happens in the room; training evaluation scores might knock your socks off. People who resented coaching or the mention of culture become their advocates. Leaders and teams feel lighter, more engaged and get better results. The metrics follow.

90%

hit ratio in executive talent pools, a quantifiable increase in employee engagement and a measurable reduction in operational risk and unit cost

4.75/5

evaluation average over 5 years with hundreds of leaders from over 60 countries in a Qatari energy firm

3×

sector leading firm experienced 3× growth and requested 3× expansion of leadership programming to build capacity

The change that’s hardest to measure, and the one you may notice first, is the weight. The mental load starts to lift because roles, decisions and communication are clearer. A course participant years ago said it best:

“I’m here because whatever my husband got six months ago? I want that too!”

— SafMarine participant, Cape Town

The Work

Our work sits at the intersection of
leadership, strategy and implementation.

I don’t hand over a plan and step back — I stay to build the culture, communication, and capability that makes it run.

20

years of leadership advisory, learning and organizational development

45

countries on 5 continents

10,000+

leaders developed across sectors, from multinationals to nonprofits

Selected Client Work

Selected Client Work

Shipping & Energy

For over a decade, I was part of a small team delivering Maersk’s 4.5-day transformational leadership development programs, Leading Others and Leading Leaders. We worked across business units, functions and geographies with 18,000+ leaders on five continents.
I personally worked repeatedly with leadership teams for Egypt, Libya, Lebanon, Syria; the South China Sea, in post-disaster and post-merger contexts and with ship captains.
I also served, with selected colleagues, on the client co-design team to align the global leadership architecture with strategic and cultural changes.

“Thank you for the best course I’ve ever attended, leadership or otherwise.”

— Joakim A., Qatar offshore

“This isn’t just a training; it changed my life.”

— SafMarine, Belgium

Pharma

A sector-leading, global pharmaceutical firm requested design and delivery of interventions for Senior and Corporate Vice Presidents to create a shared foundation for modeling new leadership behaviors in Investment Project Steering Groups.
Those interventions started with research and a series of live events in 2018 and 2019, a rapid pivot to digital learning during COVID and a 3× increase in scope to include Project Managers and a global rollout of programs into 2025.

“Our Senior Vice President carries your notes with him into almost every meeting with his Management team — and he uses them!”

— Senior Project Manager, Copenhagen

“This is really good! I can use it right away!”

— Rasmus H.L., Business Unit CEO, Copenhagen

Energy

For over 5 years, I led Thunderbird School of Global Management’s first program in Qatar, its largest Middle East program at the time and the largest leadership development program in the state of Qatar. Each cohort of the 3-module, multi-day program ran over several months so leaders could apply their learning and return to refine and discuss it. The program included leadership skills and organizational awareness, prompting rich cross-cultural conversations across functions and roles.
Program success led to invited keynotes at the annual senior leader program four consecutive years.

“Rebecca has worked with hundreds of our leaders, from over 60 different nationalities, for over 4 years. Her ability to engage individuals and groups from all walks of life is second to none.”

— Adam A., Head of Talent Management, Doha

Financial Services

With Impact International, SwissRe designed a transformational leadership development program for its top 300 leaders.
My role was as a newscaster with a camera crew during an intense 24-hour simulation — interviewing senior leaders during high-stress, political moments, then rapidly producing a newscast with their video and quotes. The next day I delivered coaching, feedback and media training.
Impact and SwissRe won the Excellence in Practice Award for ‘Partnership in Organization Development’ from the European Foundation for Management Development.

“That was you?! We’ve used those newscasts for a decade as examples of our best work.”

— Helen, Impact International

Digital Learning

The leadership and organizational development part of my career started as Director of Content Development with the Gronstedt Group, a pioneer in immersive, gamified, digital learning and communication.
With a small team in Sweden and Colorado, I worked on end-to-end product development — from needs assessment and research to design and delivery of learning and communication programs and products for Volvo, Avaya, Ericsson, TD Waterhouse Ameritrade, StorageTek and more.
The work spanned needs assessment, research, proposal writing, marketing, long-form content like White Papers, scriptwriting and leading teams building cutting-edge digital learning for enterprise clients.

“This is even better than I expected!”

— Roger O., Volvo N. America

Dr. Rebecca L. Self

About

I’m Rebecca, a strategic partner and fractional leader with 20 years of global experience in leadership and organizational development.

Before launching RLS Leadership, I worked for 20 years through business schools and consultancies designing and delivering leadership and organizational transformation programs for Fortune and Global 500 companies in pharma, energy, tech and financial services.

I like to work with clients in long-term partnerships so we see results. Nearly every client engagement has lasted more than five years; one ran for over a decade. I’ve been lucky to be part of programs that change people’s lives for the better, building coaching and leadership skills, self-reflection and confidence no matter the circumstances.

Working with thousands of leaders in 45 countries has taught me I am at my best delivering end-to-end strategic solutions. I work alongside leaders, listening for needs, priorities and root causes, then developing and leading approaches to their challenges and opportunities. I research, ask questions, crunch data and generate actionable roadmaps, then inspire teams to collaborate and create together.

The leaders and teams I work with are navigating change and complex environments. Wayfinding has always been part of my life and work.

I started my career in California media (TV and magazines), before becoming a Professor of Media Law and Ethics in Universities in the USA and Europe. Understanding and implementing communication and culture are the foundation of everything I do. How can I help you?

Outside of work, I live on a hill near Zürich with my husband and unusually large dog, where I grow organic fruits and vegetables and enjoy time in the mountains.

Rebecca Self speaking Rebecca Self Rebecca Self speaking
Work Together

Let’s talk about what you need.

Every engagement starts with a conversation.

Book a Free Discovery Call