Career Coaching Secrets

Konstantin Zois: Building Trust and Awareness for Interim Management

• Davis Nguyen

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Host Regen interviews Konstantin Zois, an executive and interim manager providing "management as a service." With 25+ years experience, Konstantin helps industrial and private equity-backed firms in Germany, US, and Greece with leadership and execution.

His coaching focuses on business goals, inspired by leading during turbulent times. He gains clients primarily through referrals and LinkedIn, working to raise awareness of interim management versus traditional consulting, especially in less mature markets.

Konstantin emphasizes that interim managers implement strategic plans, unlike consultants who only provide concepts. His advice for scaling coaches is to gain practical experience, build a strong theoretical base, and genuinely love working with people.

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Konstantin Zois:

The first thing is their awareness. Still, regarding if it's a more mature market like in Germany, because I'm offering my services also in Central Europe, German-spoken countries like Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, but also in Greece, where I have my base for the past 12 years, where they don't know what interim management is. They know only consultancy values.

Davis Nguyen:

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets, the podcast where we talk with successful career coaches on how they built their success and the hard lessons they learned along the way. My name is Davis Nguyen and I'm the founder of Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to $100,000 years, $100,000 months, and even $100,000 weeks. Before Purple Circle, I've grown several seven and eight figure career coaching business myself, and I've been a consultant at two career coaching businesses that are doing over a hundred million dollars each. Whether you're an established coach or building your practice for the first time, you'll discover the secrets to elevating your coaching business. business.

Rexhen Doda:

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Career Coaching Secrets Podcast. I'm your host, Rejan, and today's guest is Konstantin Zois. He is an experienced executive and trusted interim manager providing management as a service. With over 25 years of experience across Germany, the US, and Greece, Konstantin brings a powerful blend of strategic thinking, executional rigor, and empathetic leadership. He helps many Welcome to the show, Konstantin.

Konstantin Zois:

Regan, thank you for the invitation. And I'm looking forward to having a very, very nice conversation with you.

Rexhen Doda:

It's a pleasure for us too. So I wanted to ask you, it's been now a while that you have been doing this. You also mentioned early on in our conversation that the coaching part of it is not the exact focus, but you tend to do it while you're also doing the... integral manager role. So what inspired you to do this or start doing this and start your own business?

Konstantin Zois:

First of all, I was visiting a nice school, I would say, you know, in a multinational company based in Germany in the industrial environment and being involved in some projects all over the world. At the end, there was also the general manager for industrial business in Greece for eight years. And here dealing with a manager role and combined with a leadership role, I realized that I like, first of all, the leadership role. And secondly, I like to have turbulent times, interesting challenges. And this is what is for me a challenge and what is satisfying, let's say, my needs for, let's say, to having a purpose, and how to support organizations. And this was for me the initiation to say, I want to provide this kind of management and leadership experience and expertise to mid-sized companies that very, very often they don't have this insight and they need this kind of expertise only on a temporary time and not on a permanent basis.

Rexhen Doda:

Absolutely. Throughout these years of experience, which part of the... Because today we have to focus on coaching a little bit because that's also where we focus as a podcast. But which part of the coaching journey would you say you find the most rewarding since you started doing this?

Konstantin Zois:

The most rewarding is I love, develop and inspire people and work with people together. And for me, it is, let's say, a great pleasure to... to support them to do the next step. And if I see that I was helpful and they're coming back, sometimes months later or years later, and they said it was a good advice and you opened my eyes for entering new ways or new opportunities, then this makes me happy, you know?

Rexhen Doda:

Mm-hmm. And... We did talk about this on the intro as well, that you're focused on the industrial companies or private equity-backed firms when it comes to the work that you're delivering. Is there a specific... When we talk about the coaching part of it, is there a specific... Is it only... focused on this industry or could also be other industries as well?

Konstantin Zois:

I'm coming from the industrial environment for more than 20 years. However, in the past years, I was involved also in software business, call center business, business regarding furniture. So totally different industrial segments or branches or whatever, how you want to call that. And my lessons learned is that it's not about the industry. It's about the people. It's about behavior, how to treat people, how to develop people, how to inspire people. Again, it's about the people and how to work with them, how to listen to them, how to understand their needs. And this is the focus. And this is what I've realized also in the past three years. But I have to clarify, when I'm talking about business, about coaching, I'm talking only about business coaching because we all know that there are now many, many, let's say, life coaches existing and they are doing their job. I'm focused, when we are talking about coaching, about their business coachings, their business goals, and how to develop them in this field.

Rexhen Doda:

And how do people find you? How do you connect with these companies and have them as your clients? What marketing channel works well for you right now?

Konstantin Zois:

Thank you for this question. So there's a... A good answer and the difficult part. The easy answer is referrals. People that they know me, I would say a big network. In Germany, more in the industrial area. In Greece, it's different areas where they know me. And then they are referring me to different organizations. The issue is, the challenge is, if organizations... And people, and here we're talking about private equity companies, executives, owners of companies, they don't know you because the magic question or the magic word is trust. And if they don't know you and they don't trust you, then it's difficult. And I had also the opportunity working for a private equity company that they found me via LinkedIn. And we had here some one, two, three, It was, I think, two discussions, and it seems to that they trusted me. And I was there in a post-merger project for 10 months, and it worked out. But there was no guarantee for them. It was a try for them. It was good for them. Okay, I knew what I can do and what not. But normally clients, they don't know me. They have to depend on, let's say, the referrals, recommendations. They read, for instance, in LinkedIn. This is what they are based on.

Rexhen Doda:

What about goals looking at for the next one to three years with your business? What are some goals you're working towards?

Konstantin Zois:

First of all, continuing with providing management as a service because I still think that interim management is a role that is needed for many, many mid-sized companies. They don't have the expertise and the resources facing the challenges they are dealing with. Most of them are in a transformational phase and they need the experts. Coming back now, in a multinational company, they have a pool of people that they are using, but the mid-sized companies, they don't have that. On the other hand, there is this more long-term goal. I have a certification as a senior advisor for a board member, not executive, in order to challenge goals and measures that So like being, let's say, a senior advisor to the owner. But here also is the question of trust. We all know that most of the owners, they want people, some friends, some family members. They are trusting them, but they don't have normally the expertise. This is a big, big issue. In Germany, for instance, they have figured out that they need some experts also there. This is why we have a certification there and I did that. For instance, as an example in Greece, still this is very traditional where you trust only people that you know for decades or this is the next generation. I know your father, I know your grandfather or whatever. Third thing is for sure coaching and mentoring. What I'm interested in, but this is a project, is in business, we are realizing that managers, they need coaching and mentoring. This is very clear. Even there, not all the managers are open to get support, to get help, because they think that, oh, probably I failed. But it's not the case. I compare this with a football or soccer player. Sometimes you need a personal trainer to come to the next level. For sprinting or for technical stuff and so on, you need a personal trainer. And here, staying with, you know, in Europe we say football, in the US where I live we say soccer. But the interesting thing is that also coaches in team sports, they probably know soccer quite well, all the tactics. But here also, I think that there are some lacks in competencies and there is a need coaching them in specific competencies. There is an interesting dissertation by this guy, Anselm Küchle, He wrote, based on this competence model of Heiser, also what kind of competencies a soccer coach needs. And there are 64 competencies based on the four areas, personal competence, activity, action competence, social, communicative competence, and methods and professional competence. And he's analyzing what kind of competencies mix you need as, let's say, in the first league, or if you play Champions League or in the second division, you need a different mix. And sometimes this is a normal thing that you are lacking. You have to develop. But who is developing this kind of competencies? I think there is a lack. There is a need, I would say. And this is also an area where I try with some contacts in the, let's say, in the soccer field to discuss with them How, let's say, a business coach could support their coaching team in order to become better coaches?

Rexhen Doda:

Do you currently have a team that you've invested on or have you made other sorts of investments in your business to help it grow or that you've seen that were actually good investments?

Konstantin Zois:

At the moment, not.

Rexhen Doda:

So currently is mostly you working on the business?

Konstantin Zois:

Yes, I'm here, let's say, working like a doctor where I'm dealing with specific, let's say... People, they have some needs, but I'm not collaborating in specific projects with other, let's say, interim managers or other business coaches. I'm in an interim management network like Akeem. They are other interim managers. They are exchanging regarding experiences and expertise. It's a nice network where we are sharing information. And helping each other, this we are doing. And this is also very, very important because at the end of the day, we are working with teams. And it would be a pity if we as interim managers, we will not also collaborate and share information because at the end of the day, we are not competitors. They are so big market and there's enough to do for all the interim managers.

Rexhen Doda:

Would you say that your company is kind of similar to what in the United States would be McKinsey, Bain, BCG, those types of management consulting firms?

Konstantin Zois:

You know, they are doing business consulting. I would say we, the interim managers, we are helping the companies to implement, to execute these important plans. Again, I'm coming from strategic departments and here you need The methodology, how to do, let's say, a right business plan or business concept or integration project. Here also a concept. This is important, but only the concept is to understand what to do. But at the end, if you want to bring this to life, you have to work with people. And not one size fits all. Again, McKinsey, you mentioned McKinsey. It's not a surprise that 70, 80% of the transformation projects fail. You have a fantastic concept, but it's not about the concept. It's about the implementation, how you take the people with you, how to inspire them, how to understand, not... only their thoughts but also to understand their feelings and here we are talking feelings is resistance to change this is a very normal thing and then how to deal with that and nevertheless is despite of all this resistance how to convince them that is also in their advantage and you cannot convince all the people this is also very clear and coming back to methodology. I'm a big fan of methodology and theory because theory is best possible reality. And here for me, it's convincing the Kotter model, how to deal with change. But again, this project has to come to an end. It's not a purpose for itself to make a transformational project. The people are getting tired if all the time you are changing. You have also to... We're talking here Mediterranean Sea in Greece. You can travel, but then you have to find the next harbor and then to rest a little bit. Then you can start a new journey. That's okay. But you have also to rest. This is important for the people. And this is what many, many business consulting companies are, I would say, sometimes... Underestimating.

Rexhen Doda:

Underestimating, you mean? Yeah. So, yeah. What about challenges right now? What is a challenge that you're trying to focus on or solve in the short-term future with your coaching, with your business?

Konstantin Zois:

It is to convince. Let's say it this way. The first thing is the awareness. Still, regarding if it's a more mature market like in Germany, because I'm offering my services also in Central Europe, German-spoken countries like Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, but also in Greece, where I have my base for the past 12 years, where they don't know what interim management is. They know only consultancy. Oh, you are a consultant. Then I'm explaining, you know, no, I'm not a consultant. I'm an interim manager. I'm bringing this to life. You can take a concept from other people or from McKinsey or all these consulting companies. But I'm supporting you. I'm sitting with you. I'm working with you. I can be the program officer. I'm organizing this you. And I'm coming back to coaching. I can coach and mentor your people. You know, I'm learned to do that. I have some success stories. I can support you. And by the way, dear owner, you are so busy with your daily business. Normally, you have to admit that you don't have the time to do that kind of leadership work with your people. And sometimes you're also biased. And coming back to your question, the thing is awareness. What is interim management? But also what is coaching? Also what they are doing, they're mixing up many times coaching, coaching or business coaching with business mentoring. This is two different things. With coaching, you have to lead the people. You are not talking so much. You are more questioning, guiding the manager. So I would say normally your portion is less than 20% talking and 80% should, coachee should talk. Mentorship is the opposite. Because you are sharing your experience, methodology, other things, here it can be the opposite around that 80% you are talking. So these have to distinguish here. Okay, coming back, so this is the awareness. What is this, what you are offering? The second thing is the image. Image, again, that we are talking about trust. How to gain trust? What is the credibility? That I'm reliable. This is intimacy. We can do this. Also, to convince the owners that you don't have to hire me. Also, sometimes if you need a lawyer or, again, a doctor, you're not hiring a doctor or a lawyer normally. You said, okay, I need this for a specific period of time. He's helping me. And then... Hopefully, this is then obsolete. You don't need you. And this is also, you know, my goal that be at the end of the day, leaving you again because you can go, you can walk by yourself. So this is the image thing. And then coming to the next is consideration that the people are considering these kind of services, this kind of person. And this is, we are talking also about fit. You're not talking who is the best interim manager or the best business coach. It has to fit. And sometimes, okay, if this is not the right one, probably another one is the right one. And also by experience, when I was a general manager at Siemens, I had also some sales reps and there was not a fit with the customer, then probably I have to change. It was not a bad sales rep, but probably the other sales rep fit more to the customer because of the customer side, the procurement department, they changed the people. And it was a fit in the past, but not the fit here. So working and in the image of the services is for sure a lot of work that I have to tackle also the next day months and quarters.

Rexhen Doda:

For me, actually, the only confusion was created because I was looking at your logo and I was like, Zoe's Management Consulting. I thought, oh, okay, maybe that's what it is. Maybe that's a little bit misleading sometimes.

Konstantin Zois:

Yes, you are absolutely right. First of all, it's interim management and business consulting. Because in many cases, a huge part is also consulting where you're doing the concept or there is a current concept what you have a little bit to adjust but this absolutely right this is why more and more also in my business card i've deleted the management consulting it's only zoist and then i'm i'm writing providing management as a service and whoever is interested then you can have a look on my home page zoismc.com where They can read the different, let's say, portfolio elements of my services. And this is industry management, business consulting, senior advisor and academy. And below academy, then you find also coaching and mentoring, sales trainings. But you are absolutely right. This is also the feedback I got. And this is why I'm changing also some smaller things also on my homepage because I've realized that this is confusing. And this is why we have to learn, then to change, and then make the next step.

Rexhen Doda:

Well, I really appreciate that. I really appreciate that you explained this to me because I haven't come across... I mean, I might have come across this concept of Integrim Manager, but I haven't actually understood it completely on how it works. And... You can correct me if I'm wrong in my analogy here, but how I see it is like in an analogy is you have the architect that just paints the blueprint and then someone has to make that happen. Like someone has to have the builders make the, like actually make the building, like build it. Like you have to project manage everyone. Like the architect is not going to do that. So that's where you would say the integrated manager would come in. Would that be a good analogy?

Konstantin Zois:

It's a good analogy, yeah. The analogy what I'm using most of the time is you have realized that I like soccer very much. It's that you are president and the owner of a football or a soccer team and then you have all the radio and TV stations and these experts they know everything better and they say how you have to play in this way or this way and there are so many let's say semi-professional coaches and everybody knows everything. And I said, no, no, I'm not this from the TV station, the expert. I'm the coach. I'm coming to the bench and I'm working with the people day by day, developing them, improving them. And then we are getting the results on the field, you know, because I will be also responsible for And I'm supporting that getting the results because at the end of the day, it's not a philosophical discussion what we want to do. At the end of the day, you have to deliver results and most of the time, very quickly.

Rexhen Doda:

Thank you. Thank you so much, Konstantin. And the final question is, what advice would you give to other coaches in this case, business coaches, or even people that are doing similar thing that you're doing, if they're trying to scale their impact? So trying to impact more people, basically.

Konstantin Zois:

This is a very good question. Thank you, Regine, for this question. The advice would be, first of all, be active. in this role by yourself in some organizations. Work in a mid-sized company or bigger company to grow there and to face the different challenges in the different roles. You have to learn from the early stage. In German, we say, the little Hans is not learning. Hans The bigger one will not learn anymore. You have to do this in the childhood, in the early years, and make these experiences. And not only experience, you need also a good, solid, theoretical, methodological background. You have to do some courses, some seminars, or some studies, You can do this within your organization. You can do this by yourself. And I'm now 56 years old. At the end of the day, I read many books, many articles, seminars. At the end of the day, it's not so much what you have to learn. In the strategic environment, there are, let's say, 10 articles, 10 books, what you have to read. regarding people you have understood, not only read, that you've also understood the Goldman, the emotional intelligence, and I'm not telling you about all the books, Facebook, you're making very big steps and consciously implementing that. Reading is one thing, but at the end of the day, if you... I make an example, empathy. And if we talk about empathy, it's cognitive empathy, emotional empathy, how to deal with other people, try to be this from their perspective. Everybody's struggling with that, but you have to do that because you're dealing with different people with different perspectives. And this, you have to train consciously on a daily basis. In a nutshell, Some theory, yes. More important, there's some points to implement that. And if you have implemented that, then go to the next. There's not so much. And be and still be interested in people. You have to love dealing with people. Not all the jobs you have to deal with people. There are also jobs you are dealing with data analysts or whatever, only with figures and so on. This is also fine. But as a coach, you have to deal with people, to develop people. And at the end of the day, every man, every woman is different. So it has to fit to their needs, to their way. And the tools are helpful. But at the end of the day, the ways are totally different.

Rexhen Doda:

Thank you. Thank you so much, Konstantin, for coming today. For anyone who wants to find you or connect with you, they can go into LinkedIn. They'll be able to find you at Konstantin Zoys. And there's also the website, which is zoysmc.com, where they will be able to also get more information around you. Is there any other way they could reach out to you?

Konstantin Zois:

That's enough. Less is more.

Rexhen Doda:

Thank you. Thank you so much for coming, Konstantin. Thank you, Reggie. That's it

Davis Nguyen:

for this episode of Career Coaching Secrets. If you enjoyed this conversation, you can subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening to this episode to catch future episodes. This podcast was brought to you by Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to $100,000 years, $100,000 months, or even $100,000 weeks, all without burning out and making sure that you're making the impact and having the life that you want. To learn more about our community and how we can help you, visit joinpurplecircle.com.