Executive sparring

Your sparring partner on an equal footing for important decisions.

I cannot take decisions off your hands, but I can make them easier. Many successful business owners and managing directors have a personal sparring partner: someone close enough to understand their business and far enough away to be honest.

To paraphrase Friedrich Freiherr von Logau, some business owners and decision-makers simply want someone who reflects their ideas back thoughtfully, shares their professional wavelength and confirms they are on the right track.

Others, for the sake of their own confidence, want someone who asks probing questions, takes uncomfortable perspectives and gives honest, unvarnished feedback. After all, opportunism gets nobody anywhere. 

As your executive sparring partner, I am both. Like the doctor you trust: you can relax in their company, but if necessary they will pull the tooth.

I am available to you as a decision-maker at short notice when quick action is needed, or whenever you find the time. 

Our credo: to make decisions easier for you with fresh impetus in your day-to-day business. 

I stand behind that personally. 

Yours, Tobias Bobka

When
decision-makers call me

Typical assignments:

  • Before a major investment, an acquisition or a move into a new market
  • Before a personnel decision in the leadership team
  • When shareholders, the advisory board or the family have different views on the direction
  • Before a difficult conversation with a bank, the advisory board, a major client or a senior manager
  • When the strategy is set but the company is not moving into action
  • When a crisis is looming and you want a second opinion before you act
  • When you are preparing succession or your own exit

What
you gain

  • A counterpart with no vested interest. I am neither part of your hierarchy nor of your shareholder group.
  • Clarity before the decision. You go into the decision with options, risks and consequences laid out.
  • Time. Questions that have occupied you for weeks, we settle in one conversation.
  • Confidence in difficult conversations. You are prepared before you face the bank, the advisory board or the team.
  • Experience from many companies. I bring patterns and solutions that have worked elsewhere.

How
we work together

  • Single conversation: on a specific question or decision
  • Ongoing support: regular meetings at a rhythm you set
  • Short notice: when a decision cannot wait
  • Location: by phone, by video or on site with you
  • Confidentiality: on request, with a confidentiality agreement before the first substantive conversation
  • Terms: agreed individually with you in the first conversation
  • The first step: a free introductory conversation, in which we check whether the chemistry is right
Who you will be talking to

I have run companies myself and held C-level responsibility for more than 20 years, in corporations and in Germany's Mittelstand (owner-managed mid-sized companies). Since 2012, I have taken responsibility for transformations and restructurings as Interim-Lotse and CRO. So I know both sides of the table: that of the decision-maker who has to decide alone, and that of the adviser who has to be honest. I bring that experience to every conversation.

Executive Sparring
Executive Sparring

See for yourself what
executive sparring
makes possible

Behind every successful business owner is the untold role of a strong sparring partner. 

In business and at C-level generally, stories of self-made success, visionary founders and charismatic CEOs are well known. Behind the scenes, away from the spotlight, there is a story that is told less often: that of the sparring partner. 

So why does this role matter, and what does a sparring partner contribute to business success? This video explains.

Client
testimonials in German

Do you have a decision ahead of you that you want to think through with someone? Arrange a free introductory conversation by phone, by video or on site. Afterwards you will know whether I am the right sparring partner for you.

Arrange your free introductory meeting
by phone / video call / in person on site.

Frequently
asked questions (FAQ)