About Arno
I've spent more than two decades working closely with business owners, founders and senior leaders. Much of that time has been spent around important decisions, although over the years I’ve become increasingly interested in what happens before the decision.
Why does one question keep coming back?
Why can something make perfect sense on paper and still not feel right?
Why do very capable people sometimes find themselves stuck on decisions they would normally expect themselves to make?
Those questions gradually shaped the work I do today.
Somewhere to think out loud
One of the things I’ve learnt is that senior people aren't usually short of advice. In fact, they often have very good advisers.
What can be harder to find is someone with whom they can think out loud without worrying about where the conversation is going.
There is a freedom in speaking to someone who isn’t part of the business, the board or the family and who doesn’t need a particular outcome. I think that freedom matters.
It allows us to stay with a question a little longer instead of rushing towards the first sensible answer. And quite often, that is where something shifts.
How I work
I listen.
Probably more than I speak.
I'm interested in what you're saying, but I'm also interested in the places where something doesn't quite fit, or where we keep finding our way back to the same point. I'll ask questions. I'll challenge you when I think it will help.
And I'll tell you what I see. I don't have a methodology that I take every client through because I don't think people or businesses work that way. The conversation has to belong to the person sitting in front of me.