CN|8 founder, Cecilie Soendergaard Nielsen, is an Executive Coach, Leadership Consultant, International Speaker, and Board Advisor with 15 years of experience supporting executives at top multinationals and high-growth start-ups, globally.
Using a combination of coaching, neuroscience, and psychology, Cecilie works with highly successful senior leaders and organisations to help them realise their true potential by identifying and removing the blockers that stand in the way of optimal performance and wellbeing.
Cecilie started her career in Denmark before moving to Qatar, where her responsibilities included going offshore to support leaders working on production platforms in the Arabian gulf. From there, she became a Head of HR for an international energy company, working and travelling all over North, Central, and West Africa to help build and grow businesses in the region, prior to returning to London as a Head of HR for a large commodities trader. Her last corporate role before founding CN|8 was as a the Managing Director of Human Capital for a private equity fund, where she was responsible for setting up and running a human capital function across a portfolio of 25+ businesses.
Having worked globally from Copenhagen to Cape Town, on oil rigs and in Board rooms, Cecilie has a unique perspective on leadership and what it takes to succeed as a leader in today's world. Her current clients are spread across Europe, America, Africa and the Middle East and her work is largely sector agnostic, though her experience has created certain specific pockets of expertise:
High-growth, Founder-led
During her time as a private equity MD, Cecilie worked closely with a number of founder CEOs and their Boards on understanding how to navigate the challenge of getting the team and organisation right, while managing investors and growing at pace. Often a case of "what got us here will not get us there", there are few places where having a space to reflect and constructively challenge your assumptions is more required or impactful than at the early stages of a business.
Female Leadership
Having spent most of her career in energy and financial services, Cecilie has a deep understanding of what it's like to be a senior woman - and often the only woman - in the room, as well as the unaddressed dynamics that often get in the way of professional women reaching their full potential. Cecilie spends a significant portion of her time supporting senior women in overcoming biases and imposter syndrome, and developing lasting confidence based in self-trust.
Relational dynamics
With a deep interest in the psychology and neuroscience of human relationships, Cecilie has developed a specialism in the relational dynamics that often get in the way of personal and team effectiveness. Be it unspoken conflict in a team, or a top performer struggling to bring their peers and team along, Cecilie has helped numerous leaders untangle relationships to release capacity and potential.
Recent work includes:
Coaching a founder CEO on how to scale their team and navigate relationships with investors during a phase of hyper-growth
Coaching a Chief of Staff in a newly created role on how to optimise effectiveness and impact across the organisation
Managing 360-degree feedback and subsequent implementation of learnings for global blue chip executives as part of CEO succession plan
Facilitating team dynamics assessment and subsequent intervention to increase clarity of direction and effectiveness and clear internal conflict for high-growth executive team
Coaching private equity partner on how to reduce stress during period of significant growth and change
Conducting people strategy assessment and action plan for private equity firm
Designing and delivering culture and values process for executive leadership team
Coaching a CEO on transition into a portfolio career
Coaching female high-potential executives on overcoming imposter syndrome, and developing sustainable confidence, authentic presence and greater impact.
Cecilie has a BSC in Business Economics, an MSc in Leadership from Copenhagen Business School and Université Paris Dauphine, Executive and Life Coach training from Ashridge Business School and The Life Coach School, and has studied both trauma-informed and somatic approaches to coaching. She is also MBTI certified, and an advanced Hogan practitioner.
CN|8 is committed to the highest ethical standards and is a member of the International Coaching Federation.