Experience and Expertise

“As a leader, you are always on stage. Your people observe your every move and the show never stops. Only a truly authentic leader can bring his people along and succeed!”

Urs Koenig

Experience and Expertise in Numbers

Urs has been an endurance-event junkie since he completed his first multi-day ultra-race with his dad when he was 12 years old. Since then he has earned countless titles, medals and top rankings in long-distance endurance events including ultra-marathons, adventure races, long-distance ski races, ultra-cycling events, and Ironman triathlons. Each of these achievements taught him real world lessons on leadership, self empowerment, self motivation, and team management.

Most recently in 2017, Urs placed 2nd in the grueling military ‘Dancon March’ among a highly competitive field of soldiers and officers stationed in Kosovo (nearly all of them half his age!)

Ultra-Endurance Competitor

Ultra-Endurance Competitor

Excerpt from Urs’ athletic resume:

Ultra-cycling

  • 2nd place: 3,000-mile Race Across America (4-person team)
  • 1st place and course record: 750-mile Cascade 1,200
  • 1st place and course record: Ring of Fire 24-hour race
  • 1st place and course record: 2-person, 535-mile Race Across Oregon
  • 2nd place: Hoodoo 500-mile race
  • 2nd place: 750-mile race Boston-Montreal Boston

Cross-Country Skiing

  • Won three podium places at Swiss cross-country skiing championships
  • Won more than 20 international university cross country skiing championship titles in Austria, Australia, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland
  • Won numerous races in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.A.

Multi-Sport

  • 1st place overall in multi-sport event ‘Big Hurt’
  • 2nd place overall in multi-sport event ‘Ridge to River’
  • 2nd place overall in ‘Methow Valley Winter Triathlon’

Executive Coach

Executive Coach

Urs has 18+ years of executive coaching experience across three continents. He’s coached more than 200 individual leaders and dozens of leadership teams.

Urs has empowered and coached Directors up to CEOs in a wide range of organizations and industries. He works with leaders to hone their leadership skills in the following areas:

  • decision making
  • conflict management
  • self-improvement
  • listening training
  • time management
  • communication
  • interpersonal skills
  • collaboration
  • teamwork
  • empowerment

To date, 100 percent of Urs’ clients have achieved improvement in the leadership areas they selected to improve. How does he know that? From the feedback from their teams, bosses, and other stakeholders – Urs’ coaching guarantees measurable behavioral change!

Urs holds various certifications and accreditations from recognized global executive coaching organizations, including:

  • Professional Certified Coach (PCC) by the International Coaching Federation
  • Master Certified Leadership Coach by Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching
  • Certified Team Leadership Coach by Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching
  • Certified Executive Coach by Dr Mary Beth O’Neil
  • Certified Change Professional by Centerpoint
  • Certified Master Coach by Dr. Suzanne Skiffington
  • Personality Type Tools PI International

Military Peacekeeper

In 2017, Urs served as a Team Commander and Captain in the NATO military peace-keeping mission in Kosovo, former Yugoslavia in the Balkans. He was in command of a team of military peacekeepers and local staff.

  • Consistently high final reviews
  • Highly trusted key member of the senior leadership team of the 250+ strong Swiss Armed Forces contingent
  • Built a strong, cohesive team of officers, soldiers and local interpreters that fulfilled the mission to the fullest satisfaction of the commanders
  • Led his unit with zero incidents or accidents during the time of deployment

Urs plans to deploy on his next UN military peace keeping mission to the middle East or Africa in 2019/2020.

Urs’ academic achievements include:

  • Senior lecturer and research fellow at the University of Zurich, Switzerland and the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
  • Adjunct Professor at Seattle University.
  • Published more than 25 original, peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and presented at more than 30 conferences across the globe.

Urs holds an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management, Sydney, Australia as well as a PhD and Masters of Science from the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Well-traveled and culturally aware, Urs has lived and worked in Europe, Australia/New Zealand and North America.

He has spent more than half of his life outside his native country of Switzerland, coaching and speaking to business and corporate leaders.

With his strong multi-cultural background and international experience, Urs is uniquely equipped to speak on the cross-cultural leadership challenges many of his audiences face during his keynote speech, seminar, or workshop.

Urs is the proud dad of two energetic and spirited boys (11 and 13) who at times make commanding peace keeping troops look easy.

Urs is a huge believer in focus!

He is a strong believer that the reason most of us don’t achieve what we set out to achieve is because we spread ourselves too thin trying to do too many things.

His speeches therefore always focus on one key takeaway approached from different angles.