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How to Design a Team Offsite That Actually Inspires and Motivates
Earlier in my career, I flew to Orlando for what was supposed to be a global offsite. The agenda looked ambitious — strategy sessions, team alignment, big-picture planning. We were pumped. After we landed and checked into the hotel, we walked into the conference room for the opening ceremony. That's when they told us: our teams were being disbanded. Our roles were no longer going to exist. I still can't decide what was more absurd — the fact that they flew us across the world

Merve Kagitci Hokamp
Dec 8, 202511 min read


Rage Quitting: Why It Happens — and What It Reveals About Your Leadership Culture
A few months ago, a client came to our second session. She'd always been composed, strategic, the kind of person who thinks three steps ahead. That day, she was exhausted. "I quit," she said flatly. "Sent the email this morning. No backup plan. Just done." She'd been at the company for six years. Senior role. Respected. Good at what she did. From the outside, everything looked fine. But when we unpacked it, nothing had been fine for months. She'd been drowning in admin work t

Merve Kagitci Hokamp
Dec 1, 20257 min read


The Five Qualities High Achievers Share: Lessons From Coaching Hundreds of Leaders Across Cultures
Every week I sit with ambitious, talented, capable leaders who—on paper—look nothing alike. A founder in Berlin. A director in Dublin. A senior executive in Singapore. A first-time people manager in New York. Different industries. Different backgrounds. Different passports and parenting stories. And yet… the same patterns emerge. High achievers don’t share a personality. They don’t share a resume. They don’t even share a temperament. What they do share is the ability to o

Merve Kagitci Hokamp
Nov 10, 20255 min read


A Tricky Leadership Transition: How to Lead People Who Used to Be Your Peers
Stepping into a management role is already a shift in identity. Stepping into a management role over people who used to be your peers is a different kind of stretch. This is where many new managers get stuck. They know how to do the work. They are less sure about how to lead people who knew them before they were “the manager.”

Merve Kagitci Hokamp
Nov 3, 20258 min read


The Leadership Skill No One Teaches: How to Create Space for Strategic Thinking (When You're Drowning in Tactical Work)
A few months ago, a founder I coach said something I hear almost every week: "I feel like I'm juggling twenty balls, and none of them can drop." She runs a fast-growing startup. Her calendar is a wall of back-to-back meetings. She's managing a team, closing deals, mentoring, hiring, fundraising, fixing ops issues. If this sounds familiar to you, you are not alone. Whether you're a founder, an executive, or a people manager, the reality is the same: You're constantly pul

Merve Kagitci Hokamp
Oct 30, 20256 min read


If You Can Fix the Leak, Say So: Why Personal Brand Is a Leadership Responsibility
There's a Buddhist parable I come back to when I'm coaching leaders who shy away from visibility. A group sits in a room. It starts to rain. A leak appears in the ceiling. Water drips — quiet at first, then relentless. Everyone shifts their chairs. Someone grabs a bucket. The conversation continues, but now everyone's distracted, uncomfortable, trying to work around the problem. One of them is a plumber. She sees the problem immediately. She knows exactly how to fix it. She's

Merve Kagitci Hokamp
Oct 12, 20256 min read


How to Build a Culture of Accountability Without Micromanaging
Google didn’t scale to 190,000 employees by micromanaging. Here’s how you can build the same kind of accountability. When Connor (not his...

Merve Kagitci Hokamp
Sep 28, 20257 min read


The 68 vs. 1 Rule: How Leaders Handle Outlier Feedback Without Losing the Plot
It was 2:07 AM and I was staring at the ceiling, replaying two paragraphs of feedback in my head for the hundredth time. Earlier that...

Merve Kagitci Hokamp
Sep 8, 20255 min read


The First Five Minutes Rule: Why Day One Sets the Tone for Years
Eight years later, she still remembered the message. It was 2016, and I was preparing to welcome a new hire to our team at Google. She...

Merve Kagitci Hokamp
Sep 8, 20257 min read


What Money Can't Buy
Why the most successful leaders I coach never mention salary first Last weekend, I found myself at a dinner table with six accomplished...

Merve Kagitci Hokamp
Aug 11, 20255 min read
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