Nadja Schwind is an Executive Coach and Leadership Advisor with a passion for understanding people and challenging conventional thinking. As founder of The Face Reading Company, she brings fresh, unconventional perspectives to leadership and communication. With The Human Advantage, she explores what makes us deeply human in the age of AI. As an entrepreneur and mother of three, she believes in the courage to question expectations, follow your curiosity and create a life that reflects who you truly are.

Find further details on her website: www.nadja-schwind-coaching.de

1. What do you love most about the work you do today?
The moment something shifts.
When a leader suddenly sees what has been holding them back for years. When a team finally has the conversation everyone has been avoiding. When someone rediscovers a part of themselves they had almost forgotten.
Those moments fascinate me.
I work with leaders, teams and organisations, but what truly interests me is what happens beneath the surface. The unspoken dynamics. The invisible patterns. The beliefs that shape our decisions, our relationships and ultimately the cultures we create.
I love asking questions that open doors people didn't even know existed.
And I love challenging the idea that things have to stay the way they are simply because they've always been that way.
For me, leadership development is not about turning people into better-functioning versions of themselves. It's about helping them become more conscious, courageous and genuinely human.
Because sometimes the most powerful transformation begins with a question nobody has dared to ask.

2. Was there a particular decision, turning point or experience that significantly shaped your career?
Absolutely. In 2014, I went through a personal crisis that made me question almost everything about myself and the life I was living.
It wasn't an easy time, but looking back, it was one of the most important periods of my life.
I turned my life upside down, started questioning beliefs I'd held for years and began looking at myself, my choices and my relationships in a completely different way.
And somewhere in that process, I discovered my deep passion for coaching.
I became fascinated by how much of our lives is shaped by patterns we aren't even aware of. How we develop certain beliefs about ourselves, how they influence our decisions and how much can change when we begin to question them.
That fascination has never left me.
Over the years, my curiosity about human behaviour has taken me in many different directions, including 10 years in China, exploring LEGO SERIOUS PLAY and Face Reading.
I even founded The Face Reading Company, a startup that brings a different approach to communication workshops into the business world. I use Face Reading to explore perception, communication and the way we relate to ourselves and others.
What started as a deeply personal journey eventually became my professional passion.
And perhaps the most important thing I learned back in 2014 is something I still bring into my work today:
Just because you've lived a certain way for years doesn't mean you have to continue living that way.

3. What does New Work mean to you personally? Has the way you think about work changed over the years?
I think we've spent decades asking how to make people more productive.
Perhaps it's time to ask how work can make us more human.
For me, New Work goes far beyond flexible working hours or working from a beach somewhere. It's about questioning what we really want from work and, ultimately, from life.
I meet many successful people who have built careers, businesses, beautiful homes and achieved everything society considers success. And yet, at some point, a different question emerges: Is this really it?
We often call it a midlife crisis. I actually think it can be one of the healthiest things that happens to us.
Suddenly, it's no longer about the next promotion, the bigger house or the impressive car. It's about meaning, inner peace, finding your place in the world and discovering who you are beneath all the expectations and conventions you've lived by.
This is what fascinates me about people, and why my work fulfils me so deeply. I love exploring what becomes possible when we start questioning our own beliefs and patterns. And I believe this awareness changes not only individuals, but also the way we lead and build organisations.
Especially in the age of AI, our emotional intelligence, empathy, creativity and ability to connect become even more valuable. That's what I call The Human Advantage.
On a personal level, I absolutely love living New Work. I'm a single mother of three daughters, and I love the freedom to create a life around what matters to me.
And here's something that might sound unusual: I love working hard. I love taking responsibility, developing ideas and putting my energy into something I believe in.
I don't dream of working less. I dream of doing more of what I love.
That's why I've never quite connected with the traditional idea of work-life balance. I prefer life alignment.
I don't want work and life to compete. I want them to enrich each other.
And if there's one thing I hope my daughters learn from watching me, it's that they can be ambitious, independent, work hard, love deeply and create a life that feels truly their own.

4. What does “Love What You Do” mean to you — especially during the more demanding or difficult phases of working life?
I think we sometimes romanticise the idea of loving what we do.
As if passion meant waking up inspired every morning, never doubting ourselves and always knowing exactly where we're going.
That's not real life.
I love what I do. Deeply. But that doesn't mean every day is easy, every decision is clear or every chapter feels exciting.
There are days when I'm tired. Days when responsibilities feel heavy. Days when I question things or myself.
And that's precisely when the meaning behind my work becomes important.
Loving what you do doesn't mean loving every moment. It means knowing why the difficult moments are worth navigating.
I need something worth getting out of bed for.
Something I can believe in. Something that challenges me intellectually, touches me emotionally and allows me to contribute something meaningful.
I'm not particularly good at accepting the status quo. When something doesn't feel right, I want to understand it, challenge it and explore what else might be possible.
That's what keeps me curious.
And curiosity, I've discovered, is one of the most beautiful forms of life energy.
I also believe that loving what you do requires the courage to change.
To let go of roles that no longer fit. To admit when something has lost its meaning. To reinvent yourself, regardless of age, expectations or previous achievements.
Because the opposite of loving what you do isn't necessarily hating your job. Sometimes it's simply forgetting what makes you feel alive.
And I never want to forget that.

5. What does a good work bag need to do for your real working life? And what do you usually carry with you?
My working days rarely look the same.
One moment I'm sitting with executives discussing organisational transformation. The next I'm facilitating a workshop, exploring human behaviour or moving between meetings, ideas and the everyday adventures of being a mother of three.
So my bag needs to be a little like me: versatile, practical, curious and ready for the unexpected.
It needs to hold my laptop, a notebook for the ideas that appear at the most inconvenient moments, a good pen, my phone and all those little essentials that somehow accumulate throughout the day. There's always a lipstick and mascara in there, too, along with a little lucky pig my youngest daughter gave me. A small reminder of home that travels with me wherever I go.
And, knowing me, there might occasionally be a few LEGO bricks inside. I use LEGO SERIOUS PLAY in my work, and I love how something as simple as a handful of bricks can open conversations that conventional meetings never would.
Sometimes I carry the book I co-wrote about Face Reading. Mentioning that I'm a Face Reader usually sparks curiosity, a little nervousness and lots of questions!
And after years of carrying diapers, wet wipes, snacks and pretty much everything three children could possibly need, I have to say, I really appreciate having a bag of my own these days.
It may sound like a small thing, but to a mother of three, it's practically the definition of luxury.