3x Olympian | Executive Sparring Partner for Senior Leaders in D-A-CH | The Executive Edge - ASPIRE: High performance that protects people’s health and dignity

I’m Eva Gysling, a three-time Olympic swimmer and executive/team leader with 35+ years in complex organisations. I know real pressure - on the starting block and in the boardroom - and how much potential gets wasted when culture is left to chance, systems are poorly designed, and leadership behaviour goes unchallenged.

My work sits where Olympic mindset, executive leadership, culture and corporate mental health meet. Burnout isn’t an individual weakness, and “tough” leadership doesn’t justify daily micro-suffering - especially when it’s driven by bad behaviour. High performance without psychological safety is a contradiction. If people pay with health or dignity, it’s not performance, it’s system failure and a culture problem.

That’s why I created The Executive Edge - ASPIRE: a clear six-module framework for senior leaders who build healthy high-performance cultures on purpose. ASPIRE turns intent into standards, rituals and tools across:

• Pressure design
• Accountability
• Resilience
• Strategic agility
• Team confidence
• Culture anchoring

Purpose:
Design pressure, behaviour and collaboration so people can deliver ambitious results while staying healthy, respected and appreciated.

Who I work with (DACH)
• Senior leaders in tech, healthcare and other disruptive environments (and their leadership teams)
• People & Culture / HR leaders responsible for culture, mental health and leadership quality
• Interprofessional bridge leaders (Product, IT, Ops, Clinical/Service) living in the friction between silos
• Selected consultants, coaches and executive-education partners who want an Olympic-tested, tool-rich system to plug into their work

Together, we redesign how pressure, workload, behaviour, collaboration and culture are handled so leaders don’t have to choose between results and system health.

What I don’t do:
I don’t train people to “be more resilient” so they can tolerate the intolerable. No glossy wellbeing without accountability. No treating bad leadership as a private issue. Psychological safety is infrastructure, non-negotiable, measurable, and owned.

What working with me feels like:
Calm under pressure; direct, respectful and appreciative; Olympic-level standards with high respect for people. We install small, robust rituals/behaviors that hold when things get tough: clearer decisions, fairer load, healthier teams, and more honest collaboration. Proof, not slogans.

If this sounds like your world, let’s explore whether ASPIRE can help you build the healthy high-performance culture you actually want to own.

Eva Gysling, OLY

Money can buy influence.
Degrees can open doors.
But only character earns respect.

Some things grab attention fast.

Money. Degrees.
Followers. Status.

They look impressive from the outside.
They just do not tell you who someone really is.

What actually matters shows up differently ↓

→ How someone treats people with nothing to offer.
→ How someone carries success without arrogance.
→ How someone acts when no one is watching.
→ How someone gives without needing credit.

Titles fade.
Positions change.
Attention moves on.

But…
Character stays.
And it always leaves a mark.

Choose carefully what you admire.

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Eva Gysling

Most mistakes feel enormous only because we replay them in our own head.

We zoom in.
We exaggerate.
We turn one moment into a full story about who we are.

But step outside your perspective for a second.

What feels huge to you often barely registers to anyone else.

People are focused on their own deadlines.
Their own worries.
Their own missteps.

The real damage rarely comes from the mistake itself.
It comes from how long we punish ourselves for it.

Growth does not come from being flawless.
It comes from recovering quickly.

This is what you should do...

✅ Learn the lesson.
✅ Adjust the approach.
✅ Keep moving.

Most mistakes are small.
Staying stuck in them is what makes them feel big.

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Character is revealed not in the spotlight.

It shows up in how you treat the people who cannot help you.

The ones who cannot influence your career.
The ones who cannot reward or recognize you.
The ones who are invisible to everyone else.

This is where true integrity lives.

True leaders behave the same way regardless of the situation:

→ Always give time and guidance.
→ Treat everyone fairly - not selectively.
→ Listen actively and acknowledge perspectives.
→ Speak with respect, even when no one is watching.

Why does this matter?

Because power and success are temporary.

Titles fade.
Money comes and goes.
But reputation and integrity endure.

The way you treat those who cannot help you defines who you really are.

It shows what kind of leader, colleague, or human you are when no one else is looking.

Credits: Jen Blandos

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Founder of “Change is Possible” Community & Accelerator where corporate professionals build influential brands & portfolio careers I Change Advisor to Leaders I Ex-Citi COO I Follow for modern leadership, career & change

Over the past 25 years, I have built a successful international banking career.
Most recently, I was the Regional COO for Citibank’s $2Bn business across 16 countries in Asia - leading large-scale transformations in digitisation and culture.

But in 2021, I walked away from my high-paying executive role.

Why?

Because I wanted more space.
More time with family.
More alignment between who I am and how I work.

But I didn’t want to start from scratch.
So I asked myself a question:
What if I could build a career around everything I already know - and love?

That’s how my portfolio career began.
And it changed everything.

Now, I help other professionals do the same.

What I’ve built since 2021:
→ A 6-figure portfolio business with 3 income streams
→ Founder of Change is Possible - a business community for professionals redesigning their next chapter
→ 100K+ LinkedIn followers (grew from 17K in under a year)
→ Coached 100+ professionals through successful career transitions
→ Host of a Top 20 global podcast on career change, Change is Possible
→ TEDx speaker, Forbes columnist, and Bloomberg TV guest

Want to build your own portfolio career?
🚀 THE PORTFOLIO CAREER ACCELERATOR (Launching January 2026) 
Apply here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1thkmph_EwRxLGfuL9muCsRir1uKDdF2nXYeI7X_1oSA/edit

This is an 8-week program designed to help you:
→ Turn your expertise into income
→ Build a personal brand that opens doors
→ Create your first income stream - even before you leave your job

Only 20 spots. 12 already claimed.

Other ways we can work together:
✔️ Join my business community — Change is Possible https://changeispossible.co.uk/ - doors open for new members on Sept.10, 2025
✔️ Book me to speak — I deliver keynotes on leadership, change, career reinvention, and the future of work - send a DM.
✔️ Hire me as an advisor — I support companies navigating complex transformation - send a DM to meet and explore.
✔️ Book 1:1 coaching — For senior execs ready to design their next chapter - send a DM.
✔️ Book my LinkedIn Growth Bundle — A 2-session intensive where I teach you the exact system I used to grow to 100K+ followers. Apply here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1bLp7wmK8xhIpfFu8beImvD5JZQHYsbraTBx5Orjx0zs/edit

P.S. Still wondering if change is really possible?
🎧 Tune in to my podcast Change is Possible — where 100+ professionals share how they redesigned their careers and lives. Watch here - https://www.youtube.com/@ChangeIsPossiblePodcast

Ani Filipova

Most people do not need more ideas. They need less noise so they can hear the ideas they already have.

When was the last time you sat in silence for 30 min??
No phone. No coffee. No distractions.

I am sure that many will say “Never”.
And that's the problem.

Brian Tracy calls this the solitude technique.

Sit alone for 30 to 60 minutes with no distractions whatsoever.
Your brain gradually stops reacting and starts creating.
Ideas buried under constant noise begin to surface.
Things that felt messy start to make sense.
Patterns you missed become obvious.


We spend most of our lives consuming.
Notifications. Meetings. Messages. Content.

But creation needs the opposite.
It needs space.

The challenge is not coming up with better ideas.
It is creating the conditions to notice the ones already trying to find you.

And then having the discipline to act on them.

♻️ Repost this for someone who needs a reset.
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The GPS doesn’t argue with reality.
It adjusts to it.
Your career works the same way…
Except most people wait too long to recalculate.

They stick to the original plan because:

– It once made sense
– It used to be rewarded
– It feels safer to continue than to adjust

Even when the signals are obvious.

The company changes.
The market shifts.
The skills that mattered five years ago lose value.

And still… they stay on the same route.

So how do you recalibrate? Here are several ways to it:

1. Review direction, not just performance

Every quarter, ask:
"If I started today, with what I know now, would I still choose this path?"

2. Run small course-corrections

You don’t need a dramatic pivot.
You need optionality.
Add one new project, one new skill, or one new network outside your role.

3. Reduce single-path dependence

Build at least one capability that creates value beyond your employer.
Anything that moves you from dependent to adaptable.

4. Treat friction as data

Persistent frustration usually isn’t weakness.
It’s misalignment.


You don’t have to abandon the destination.
But you do need to accept that the path will change.

The professionals who adjust early rarely need dramatic change later.
Those who ignore the signals end up being forced into it.

---

Here is the problem:

Most people only see recalibration options within their job or industry.
A promotion. A new company. A sideways move.

But there are usually far more ways to use your skills than your employer is paying you for.

You just do not see them yet.

That is what I help with inside the Portfolio Career Accelerator:

→ How to identify the real market value of your skills
→ How to position them beyond one employer
→ How to build options while you are still employed

Cohort 2 starts on April 27.

Apply here: https://lnkd.in/gpEqqqFs
♻️ Repost if someone in your network needs to see beyond their current path.

Some people did everything right and still didn’t make it.

I think about them a lot.

They made smart decisions.
Built the right skills.
Were genuinely good at what they did.

And the break never came.

Meanwhile, I know people (myself included) who caught a moment of luck so precise, so accidental, that if you shifted timing by six months, or moved geography by one country, the whole story collapses.

Here are two of mine:

1) A colleague in London mentioned, almost in passing, that there was a COO role available. I applied. I got it. That one conversation shaped the next chapter of my career.

2) Years later, I got invited to an event where entrepreneurs pitched to magazine editors. I saw what people were building. The energy in the room. The possibilities. That night is a direct line to me leaving my job.

Neither moment was “earned”.
Both changed everything.

And I know plenty of successful people have these moments too, but they rarely mention them because it complicates their success story.

We are sooo binary:

- Success is merit: work hard, decide well, win.
- Success is luck: hard work doesn't matter anyway.

The real version sits in the middle.

Decisions create the conditions.
Luck pulls the trigger.

Sometimes luck pulls the trigger for someone who didn’t deserve it.
Sometimes it never shows up for someone who did.

If you are navigating this, here is what I know:

1️⃣  Your decisions still matter a great deal.
They don’t guarantee the outcome.
But they are how you stack the odds in your favour.

2️⃣  Luck is real.
You don’t get to choose when it shows up. Acknowledging it keeps you hungry without making you bitter, and grateful without making you passive.

3️⃣  Make peace with the unfairness.
This is the hardest part.
Sometimes you do everything right and still don’t make it. The only move left is to accept and move on

The truth is: most success stories are part skill, part luck, and a lot of editing.

---
You can’t control luck, but you can control your odds.
That’s what we build inside the Portfolio Career Accelerator. Apply here: https://lnkd.in/gpEqqqFs

or DM me

How to learn so fast it feels unfair.

Here is why this matters now more than ever:

- The half-life of skills is shrinking.
- What you learned 5 years ago may already be outdated.
- AI is changing industries faster than most people can adapt.

Learning how to learn is no longer a nice-to-have.
It is the skill that makes all other skills possible.

Leaving corporate was one of the biggest learning curve of my life.

- Suddenly, no team.
- No structure.
- No playbook.

If I did not learn fast, I did not earn.

So I devoured information.
And still felt behind.
Because volume is not the same as mastery.

When I interviewed Dr. Justin Sung on my podcast, he explained why.
The best learners do 3 things differently:

1️⃣ They pause.
Your brain needs time to organise what it just received.

2️⃣ They synthesise.
They teach it, apply it, turn it into something useful.
This is where real understanding happens.
And where you discover what you actually do not know yet.

3️⃣ They compare.
They connect new ideas to what they already know.
This anchors new knowledge into your existing mental frameworks.
It makes learning stick.

🎥 Watch the full podcast episode with Dr.Sung here: https://lnkd.in/g32j73jq

♻️ Repost if someone in your network needs to learn faster.

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