“Thomas is a masterful trainer in the true sense of the word. He has the unique ability to take each participant beyond what they thought was possible. With kindness but unrelenting focus on the person and the task at hand, he succeeded in making each of us stretch beyond the confines of our comfort zones. Each of us tried and failed and then - thanks to a well-honed intervention - managed to do things that we did not think possible a few minutes earlier. As a coach, I was particularly impressed with Thomas' ability to have a good sense of who each person is and what challenges he or she might be facing while completely focussing his attention and targeting the intervention at what is needed and doable at the moment. While many courses provide good knowledge and insights, this course made me feel and experience that specific changes are possible, well knowing that moving beyond the boundaries of habitual behaviour takes time and continued practice.”
The quality of your enterprise cannot exceed the quality of your executive thinking.
Thomas Bothe works directly with chief executives and management teams of European medium-sized companies to dismantle recurring friction, sharpen strategic coherence, and resolve high-stakes decisions.

Thinkware Kickoffs
Six short courses for managers and leaders. Each opens one theme that runs through the interventions: feedback, trust, conversation, meaning, brainstorming and learning.
Useful Feedback
Giving and receiving feedback that helps people understand what needs attention.
Even well-intentioned feedback can create upset instead of calm, or simply fall flat. The person shuts down, gets defensive, or nods while checking out. This course looks at human-to-human feedback as information for adjustment, and at ways of giving and receiving it that work for everyone involved.
Understand feedback as information for adjustment, and develop more useful ways of giving and receiving it.
Trust in Leadership
Understanding how trust works across leadership and stakeholder relationships.
Trust is central to all human interaction, yet many leaders in small and medium-sized enterprises do not use it deliberately. This course looks at recognising trust opportunities, how trust operates differently with different stakeholders, and practical methods for working with it.
Understand how trust works across leadership and stakeholder relationships.
Insightful Discourse
Making conversations more clarifying, productive and useful.
Some conversations leave us energised and clearer; others leave us feeling less intelligent than before. The difference is rarely the other person. This course examines the hidden, manageable factor behind good and bad conversations, and how to steer a discussion back towards something useful when it drifts.
Develop an understanding of what makes conversations clarifying and productive, and ways to make them more useful.
What Really Matters - Meaning at Work
The connection between meaningful work, motivation and people’s experience at work, including the social value the company creates.
When people believe their work is meaningless to the world around them, health, happiness and motivation suffer together. This course explores that common denominator, and how leaders can connect personal meaning with the contribution the company makes to people and society.
Explore how work can connect personal meaning and motivation with a company’s contribution to people and society.
Productive Brainstorming
Helping teams move between exploring possibilities and practical execution.
Brainstorming often goes in circles because a team stays in its execution mode, where every idea is blocked by another precondition. This course looks at how teams move out of that mode to explore, and then back into execution with a reworked plan.
Understand how teams can move between exploring possibilities and practical execution.
Managing Learners
Recognising different learning stages and responding appropriately as a leader.
Beginners, advancing learners and masters each come with their own mindset. Misreading the stage leads to discouraged newcomers, stalled learning and skilled people leaving at the least convenient moment. This course covers the stages of learning and how a leader can recognise and respond to each.
Recognise different learning stages and develop ways to respond appropriately as a leader.
Five Points of Strategic Leverage
Four interventions for CEOs and management teams, each at a distinct altitude of executive reality, with the six Thinkware Kickoff workshops at the apex carrying shared thinking into the wider organization. Select any node to inspect its focus.
Useful Feedback
Giving and receiving feedback that helps people understand what needs attention.
TLTrust in Leadership
Understanding how trust works across leadership and stakeholder relationships.
IDInsightful Discourse
Making conversations more clarifying, productive and useful.
WMWhat Really Matters - Meaning at Work
The connection between meaningful work, motivation and people’s experience at work, including the social value the company creates.
PBProductive Brainstorming
Helping teams move between exploring possibilities and practical execution.
MLManaging Learners
Recognising different learning stages and responding appropriately as a leader.
Thinkware Kickoffs
Six Four-Hour Thinkware Workshops
CEiL
Communication Essentials in Leadership
CEO Sparring
Confidential 1:1 Thinking Partner
Thinkware Horizon
Choosing a New Direction
Thinkware Tuning
Continuous Organizational Adaptation
A Facilitator, Not a Consultant
Thinkware means designed tools for thinking. Like a wrench, a good thinkware does not decide what you build; it helps you work out how. The Pareto principle is one. John Boyd’s OODA loop(Observe → Orient → Decide → Act) is another, and it runs through every intervention.
Thomas Bothe does not arrive with answers or claim to know your business better than you do. His expertise is getting the best out of a team’s thinking: introducing shared thinkware, adapting to how each person actually thinks, and holding the space when the conversation gets difficult. The solutions stay yours.
Architectural Formats for Executive Reality
Choose the situation closest to yours. Each intervention is engineered for a distinct executive challenge.
CEiL
Communication Essentials in LeadershipFor executive teams whose difficult conversations become defensive, avoidant or unproductive.
Duration2 days for 4 people, 3 days for 6Participants4 or 6 team leadersThinkware Horizon
Choosing a New DirectionFor a CEO and core team whose way of winning has stopped working and who must choose where to go next.
Duration4–6 weeksParticipantsCEO and core management teamThinkware Tuning
Continuous Organizational AdaptationFor leadership teams facing recurring bottlenecks and feedback that fails to change execution.
DurationMonthly, about 4 hours a weekParticipantsThe management team with the CEO (4–12)CEO Sparring
Confidential 1:1 Thinking PartnerFor a CEO who needs a confidential external partner to challenge consequential decisions.
DurationMonthly retainer, about 10 hoursParticipants1:1, the CEO only
What Leaders Say
“Thomas is a true professional. In his trainings he is able to identify and combine a) urgent needs for productivity with b) management team performance improvement and c) effective individual leadership development. By "nailing" the relevant point in each individual feedback and by applying understandable practical training tools, every trainee is able to make tangible progress in a very short time.”
“Thomas course on leadership and communication is completely different from any other courses I have ever attended. Nothing to do with general boring theory. Interesting, practical, useful, shakes you out of your everyday routine.”
“I can say that I learned more in a short time about how to approach the problems of developing teams and individuals than I have for many many years. His "spiral" concept of how to judge and improve the learnability of those you have to lead was ground breaking in its simplicity and power. Thomas is a true master of his subject and his training will bring value to any leader or company.”
“The course was intense, yet still never overwhelming as we had to push our comfort zones higher. It was a great balance of focus and relaxation and at times shared laughter. Personally, after the course had finished I felt a great relief.”
“I am a very challenging person for trainers, especially when the training is about areas where I feel already confident. Thomas is one of the 2%, a trainer who managed to help me to reset my perspective on areas where I felt I was doing perfect.”
“During the C.E.I.L. course Thomas is not allowing to avoid or to stop improving oneself until its done. That disciplined and purposeful approach really pushed me out of my comfort zone. I myself faced my real problems in the course and I used the techniques and trained on my problems and I noticed that EVERYone on course tried to do just that.”
“I have the best memories about the training sessions with Thomas three years ago, and I feel that they have given me so much in terms of understanding certain things about myself, my management style and emotional intelligence. You have helped me to mature as a person and a professional. Thank you for that!”
“Thomas has helped me and my Nordic management team with training, but also specific challenges in our company's development. Another strength of Thomas is the ability to translate theories into useful skills by actively train participants in various situations. I can highly recommend Thomas broad repertoire and in particular his ability to convey it.”
“Thomas has meant a lot for our business then it comes to improve internal and external communication but also for more specific management skills. All our office staff have been on his AKL training and all have been affected in a positive way. Many people in our business have grown both as individuals and as employees and do today reach goals through other people which before was very hard for them.”
“Two days training with Thomas was very productive for me. I highly appreciate the combination of knowledge and passion and how Thomas leads the training process. I plan to cooperate with Thomas in the future and recommend managers, who want to develop efficiency of communication and leadership and who want to rebuild a company strategically, to get in contact with him personally.”
“We had a great cooperation with Thomas at our online opening event for ALFA Leadership program next pillar- Leading People. Thomas shared his thoughts provoking spiral of learning from managers perspective- emphasizing the flexibility of a leader to adopt to his team member development spiral stage- from instructor to mentor and coach. That was a great inspiration for all our people managers!”
“The most unbeatable aspect and a power of Thomas is his ability to speak you through your own mind. He is not invading it with his own dogmas, he enters it and simply points out to an additional doors. Doors that not only helps you to discover yourself more deeply and therefore see more further in your own life, but also a door to a better, interpersonal communications and leadership nuances.”
“For me as an experienced (and passionately curious) language teacher, Thomas' 5h online seminar was eye-opening. His six-phase-spiral outlines a natural and never-ending learning process. It helped me gain an integrated perspective of what the process looks like from within the learner.”
“Thomas is a master trainer. I would recommend his program to every modern and progressive leader and his team. In my opinion the only trainer who can not only keep each participant's attention for every minute of training but also be able to present the most up-to-date and high-quality content that immediately inspires the whole team and its applicability is visible with the next working day.”
“Communication Essentials in Leadership was one of the most useful courses I ever had. Course is so cleverly built with lots of practices which are logically connected with each other and finally making the whole picture so clear. Thomas not allowing just making practice but pushed you out of your comfort zone while you are making practices right.”
“Some time ago I took part in the training course on leadership communication led by Thomas. The content was customized to every participant of our small group, that I felt like on one-to-one training. Great value for my daily work, which is still valid even few years after it took place!”
“Leadership Communication training provided by Thomas Bothe introduces unique tools and methods of team communication. Training process is highly personal and customised according to particular needs of each participant. I would recommend this training to any team leader irrespective of her managerial experience.”
“Training delivered by Thomas was very valuable. He actively engages each participant in training process, explains concepts from theory that corresponds to individual goals of each participant. Most important he challenges training participants to work with own skills and step out of comfort zone.”
“I attended Thomas two days open training course on Leadership Communication in Riga. It was the training where skills are really transformed to new level, professionally meaningful experience gained and horizons for future achievements widened. One of the rare opportunities to obtain powerful, action oriented communication tools, yet ethical and respectful.”
“Thomas is excellent Leadership trainer, able to show another perspective about responsibility, teamwork and communication. Bringing complicated concepts into simple words and practical examples, combining theory and practice, so that people are not just aware about what is effective leadership but they feel it in their spine and are able to implement it in daily work.”
“Thomas is a seasoned business strategist with bags of experience working with people and processes. He is focussed, powerful and highly credible. His goodwill and humanity make him a pleasure to work with.”
“Thomas is very trustworthy and has got deep knowledge in the subjets that we at the time where working with. Thomas is also very carismatic and focused on what he is doing which in my opinion gives great results.”
Recent Perspectives & Essays
Bad communication kills good intention
A summer evening in a Paris pub I chatted with a friend over a glass of wine. We met for a few hours because we happened to be in the same city.
Read Essay →Interview with Thomas Bothe “A Valuable Mind”
E-Magazin of Latvia Football Federation “Latvian Football” (pages 38-47),July2017
Read Essay →C.E.I.L. Open Course dates in Riga for 2017
7 – 9 February 2017
Read Essay →Initiate a Confidential Diagnostic Dialogue
Every THINKWARE DESIGN intervention begins with a focused, confidential conversation between you and Thomas Bothe. There are no automated payments, no automated sales reps, and no high-pressure funnels.
