Bite-Sized Leadership Insights for the AI EraStruggling to balance AI efficiency with authentic human leadership?
Practical leadership strategies that work: twice monthly, 5-minute newsletters by executive coach Karla Schlaepfer. Valued by 700+ subscribers to the DesignChange Leadership Lab!
Frameworks to help you lead with clarity.
The Leadership Challenge
Despite billions invested in AI, most organizations still struggle to see meaningful business impact. Why?
- 92% say the biggest barriers are culture and people—not technology [source]
- Only 1% believe they’ve achieved AI maturity [source]
This isn’t surprising. In my executive coaching work with leaders at Telekom, Eurowings, Toyota and others, I’ve seen that technology delivers limited value without the human element to guide it.
Strong leaders don’t choose between technology and humanity. They balance both.
My Ideal Clients
I coach experienced leaders and teams driving transformation in complex, international environments.
My clients are often:
- Senior and mid-level professionals in HR, legal, innovation, and compliance roles
- International executives and expat leaders working in Germany
- Female leaders advancing in fast-paced, tech-driven organizations
They lead across cultures and functions—often under pressure to deliver results, navigate uncertainty, and adopt AI responsibly. My coaching supports them in building strategic clarity, authentic leadership presence, and the confidence to lead with purpose.
Key Outcomes When You Work with Karla Schlaepfer
- Confidence in making strategic AI decisions—without losing your authentic presence
- The ability to guide your team through AI adoption while maintaining real connection
- Skills to shift AI resistance into confident team adoption through proven change strategies
- Deeper self-awareness about how your leadership style shapes digital transformation outcomes
- Alignment between your values and the leadership choices you make in a digital world
These outcomes are delivered mainly through two focused offers:
🔹 AI Leadership Coaching: One-on-one executive coaching to strengthen your leadership presence, sharpen your strategic thinking, and support you through AI-era transitions.
🔹 AI Barrier Buster Workshops — Practical, team-based sessions to reduce AI resistance, build prompting skills, and lay the groundwork for confident digital adoption.
Lead with both technological confidence and human insight.
Book Your AI Readiness Consultation
Curious how these outcomes could apply to your leadership or team?
In this free 30-minute session, we’ll identify the key challenges standing in the way of confident, human-centered leadership in the AI era and outline your next best steps.
✅ Clarify your leadership goals in an AI-driven workplace
✅ Pinpoint barriers to confident AI adoption for you or your team
✅ Walk away with a personalized recommendation for moving forward
Book Your Free AI Readiness Consultation
💡 Limited slots available weekly
How Karla Can Help
As your executive coach, I bridge the gap between AI efficiency and authentic leadership. I help you build the confidence to leverage technology while maintaining your human judgment, creating the kind of leadership presence that algorithms can’t replicate, but your team needs.
With structured frameworks, intercultural experience, and personalized guidance, I support you in turning technological challenges into opportunities for meaningful growth. Drawing from 15 years of coaching, 25 years as an entrepreneur, and startup experience in emerging tech, I understand both the human and technical sides of today’s leadership landscape.
This foundation shapes a coaching experience that’s strategic, human, and fully aligned with ICF (International Coaching Federation) high professional standards.
Watch my introductory video
Karla Schlaepfer empowers mid-level leaders and executives to uncover their strengths, navigate uncertainty, and lead with confidence
I’m Karla Schlaepfer, a certified ICF Professional Coach (PCC) with over 3,000+ hours of validated coaching sessions. I’m a book author, with an agile Design Thinking background and a female tech business founder. I bridge two cultures; born in the USA and now living for 30 years in Germany. I bridge too; deep human leadership with cutting-edge AI and digital skills. With my support, you’ll learn to understand and transform self-doubt to lead with confidence and more ease in the face of change.
Free Bonus for you, compliments of DesignChange: AI Confidence Guide: Navigate Leadership in the AI Era
Discover the complete guide (26 pages) with tools, exercises, and glossary
Read my AI Confidence GuideTestimonials
But don’t just take my word for it. Here’s what other executives say:
Leadership Lab Offer Practical AI frameworks, delivered twice monthly. Trusted by top European execs
The path forward is clear, but the window for developing these critical leadership skills is narrowing as AI adoption accelerates. Ready to transform your leadership?
Book Your Personal ConsultationOnly 5 consultation slots open per week—secure yours now.
Impressions
FAQs
Still considering whether coaching with Karla is right for your challenges?
1. What is executive coaching for AI leadership transformation?
Structured leadership development for the AI era: I provide tailored coaching that helps leaders integrate AI leadership effectively while strengthening authentic human leadership skills. Available digitally and on-site in Cologne, Germany.
Tech expertise meets leadership development: With my IT background as a former Scrum Master and Professional Product Owner, plus my experience as female founder of Virtual Reality V4P GmbH (2019), I bridge technical understanding with transformative leadership development.
Real-world insights for genuine challenges: As an entrepreneur who built a VR technology startup, I understand the realities of digital transformation firsthand - both successes and setbacks. My frameworks address the cultural and organizational barriers that prevent 92% of companies from advancing beyond experimental AI implementations.*
Source: Accenture “Front-Runners’ Guide to Scaling AI”, VentureBeat 2025
Specialization since 2022: My focus on AI leadership includes the specialized Bitkom AI course, sold-out webinars, workshops, and keynotes on AI leadership transformation, including our successful April 2025 event.
👉 This combination of executive coaching expertise, entrepreneurship experience, and technical understanding enables me to guide leaders in building AI confidence and openness to innovation – because the human factor is crucial for successful AI transformation.
2. How does your coaching help female executives navigate AI implementation?
Understanding unique challenges: Female executives face distinct barriers in tech-driven environments - from imposter syndrome around technical topics to being outnumbered in AI strategy discussions. As a female founder of a VR technology startup, university lecturer, and AI Manifesto signatory (2025), I understand these challenges intimately.
Building genuine AI confidence: My coaching helps female leaders develop authentic technical confidence, strategic influence, and leadership presence during AI transformation. We focus on leveraging your existing strengths while building new capabilities - not trying to become someone you’re not.
Practical support for real life: My approach combines real tech industry experience with interdisciplinary insights, providing strategies that work for women balancing leadership roles with family responsibilities. I help you navigate AI decisions with confidence while staying true to your values.
👉 My AI Confidence Guide provides hands-on practical information, exercises, and discussion points specifically designed for leaders navigating digital transformation - with a focus on building sustainable confidence, not just technical knowledge.
3. What specific AI leadership challenges does your systemic coaching solve?
My systemic coaching identifies how organizational systems, team dynamics, and leadership patterns interact during AI implementation. As a certified Change Manager with Scrum Master experience and Hogan/360 certification, I find leverage points where human-centered leadership can improve technology adoption.
This interdisciplinary approach directly addresses the people and culture issues that determine AI success, connecting technical systems with leadership values to create relevant and balanced implementation strategies across diverse organizational cultures. I’ve developed an EU AI Act Cheat Sheet to help leaders navigate regulatory compliance while maintaining innovation.
👉Drop me an email at info@designchange.de for your free EU AI Act Cheat Sheet – a practical guide for leaders balancing compliance with innovation in the European market.
4. How is your 4C coaching methodology different for AI integration?
My 4C methodology combines my technical expertise with interdisciplinary leadership development drawing from both US and German business cultures. As a member of Viva la Coaching AI Rebels, tech entrepreneur, and keynote speaker, I deliver practical frameworks for making AI integration decisions while maintaining authentic leadership.
Our process aligns technology choices with core leadership values, creating clarity that transforms both digital strategy and team effectiveness. Drawing from insights in “More Human: How the Power of AI can Transform the way you Lead,” my approach emphasizes the critical importance of accelerating authentically human qualities for leaders - ensuring AI enhances rather than replaces genuine human connection, empathy, and intuitive decision-making.
👉Learn more about the 4 C’s and how this methodology can transform your leadership approach to AI adoption.
5. What makes Karla’s approach to AI leadership coaching unique?
DesignChange combines deep understanding of how leaders actually learn with real-world experience in both scaling and exiting technology ventures. My Masters in Applied Linguistics (MA Uni. Freiburg) and teaching experience at three German universities provides scientific insight into how adults acquire new skills - particularly relevant when executives need to rapidly develop AI leadership capabilities.
Having co-founded a VR startup that faced scaling challenges, I understand the practical realities of technology implementation beyond just the success stories. This experience, combined with my expertise in adult learning patterns and 25+ years of teaching, facilitating, and coaching, means I design learning approaches that actually stick.
My brain-based learning methods ensure executives don’t just understand AI concepts intellectually, but develop the neural pathways needed for confident, intuitive decision-making in tech-driven environments.
👉 This scientific approach to executive coaching accelerates leadership transformation in ways traditional coaching cannot.
6. How long does AI leadership coaching last?
Effective transformation requires a minimum of 6 coaching sessions. Most executives choose 2 sessions monthly for 3-6 months to develop sustainable AI leadership skills.
The schedule remains flexible based on your specific challenges and organizational needs.
My Leadership Lab newsletter frameworks provide ongoing support between sessions with just 5 minutes of implementation time twice monthly. AI Coach Karla launches September 2025, offering additional 24/7 support for continued development.
Available digitally, on-site, and in Cologne, Germany. Cancellations require 48-hour notice.
Choose from coaching packages of 1, 6 or 12 sessions designed for comprehensive AI leadership development.