The Power of Clarity in Complex Leadership Moments – Exclusive Interview with Anna-Maria Watz

Anna-Maria Watz, also known as Coach A-M, uncomplicates leadership. Consistently. As an executive coach, marketing mentor, strategic advisor, and entrepreneur. She helps leaders find competitive relevance by aligning leadership, brand, and culture. Her leadership work is grounded in the belief that complexity is not a sign of progress, clarity is when leading from the inside out.

Anna-Maria Watz, Strategy & Leadership Coach

Who is Anna-Maria Watz? Introduce yourself, your hobbies, your favourites, you at home and in business. Tell us something interesting about yourself.

I’m an executive coach, strategic advisor, and brand leadership mentor – by my clients known as Coach A-M – based in Sweden, working with leaders and organisations across industries and geographies. My work sits at the intersection of leadership, strategy, culture, and performance, with one clear focus: consistently helping people turn complexity into clarity.

In business, I’m known for my ability to uncomplicate. I help leaders slow down enough to see clearly, make better decisions, and lead with intention rather than urgency. I’ve worked across global corporations, executive education, and professional service firms, and that experience taught me something essential: sustainable success doesn’t come from doing more – it comes from aligning what truly matters, within you and with your allies and stakeholders.

At home, I’m energised by movement and creativity as much as reflection. You’ll often find me gardening, cooking, hosting friends for dinner or a glass of wine, or travelling to places that invite perspective. Yoga, working out, and long walks with my golden retriever help me reset both body and mind. These rhythms matter to me – they’re not separate from my work, but supportive of it. They remind me that clarity often shows up when life is lived, not rushed.

Something people often find interesting about me is that my philosophy wasn’t born from theory, but from lived experience. I’ve led at speed, delivered under pressure, and navigated complex transformations from the inside. Choosing clarity – personally and professionally – became a turning point. Today, it’s the lens through which I help others lead, build, and grow.

What problem do you solve for your clients, and why is it important today?

At the core, the challenge my clients face is a lack of clarity – clarity around strategic direction, priorities, and how to lead effectively in complex environments.

Many of the leaders and organisations I work with are high-performing, but they’re pulled in too many directions at once. They struggle to distinguish what is truly relevant from what is simply urgent. As a result, priorities blur, decision-making slows, and energy is lost in misalignment rather than execution.

I work directly with individuals, management teams, and boards to create clarity at every level. That includes sharpening strategic direction, defining priorities, and strengthening the interpersonal leadership skills needed to lead peers, colleagues, boards, and direct reports with confidence and consistency. When expectations are unclear, relationships suffer. When leadership is clear, trust and momentum follow.

This work is especially important today because complexity is no longer temporary – it’s structural. Leaders who can clarify direction, communicate with precision, and align people around what truly matters create organisations that move faster, collaborate better, and perform sustainably, even under pressure.

How did you discover your passion for helping people build clarity in their brand and business direction?

It emerged through experience rather than intention. Early in my career, at American Express EMEA HQ in London, I was exposed to complex organisations, ambitious strategies, and highly capable people. What struck me over time was that when things stalled, it was rarely because the strategy was wrong or the talent insufficient. More often, it was because clarity was missing.

That insight became personal quite early on. In my first leadership roles, I was a high-performing young professional, promoted into leadership at the age of 29. I was deeply results-driven and focused on delivery. In hindsight, I can see that while outcomes mattered, I underestimated the importance of building trust, relationships, and shared clarity within the teams I was responsible for.

As I evolved professionally, I also became increasingly aware of the importance of working in areas where passion and capability intersect. My own journey gradually moved from project management and sales into strategy and marketing – closer to where thinking, direction, and meaning are shaped. That shift sharpened my understanding of how leadership decisions ripple through brand, culture, and performance.

When I moved from my role as Head of Brand and Communication at Stockholm School of Economics Executive Education to start my own business, it was driven by a firm belief that every brand is only as strong as its leadership. I didn’t want to work around leadership – I wanted to work with it, both vertically and horizontally.

That decision led me to deliberately educate myself as an ICF-certified leadership coach, beginning in 2018, and I am now approaching nearly 500 hours of experience coaching leaders. When I started combining leadership coaching with strategy and brand development in workshops and advisory settings, the impact was immediate and profound. Strategy landed differently. Conversations went deeper. Alignment happened faster. What once felt complex suddenly became clear.

That pattern stayed with me. I began to notice that when leaders gained clarity – about who they were, what they stood for, and what truly mattered – momentum returned. Decisions became easier. Communication improved. Confidence replaced noise.

My passion for this work grew from seeing that shift repeatedly. Clarity isn’t abstract; it’s practical. It changes how leaders think, how teams collaborate, and how organisations move forward. Helping leaders access that clarity – and lead from it – became the natural and lasting focus of my work.

What makes your approach at Watzabrand Consulting different from other brand or strategy services?

The key difference is where the work begins – and how the work is held.

Most brand or strategy services start with outputs: positioning, messaging, frameworks, or plans. I start with leadership clarity – not as a reflective add-on, but as a strategic foundation. Because without clarity at the top, even the most sophisticated strategy struggles to take hold.

My work is built around reflection and dialogue rather than debate. In many leadership environments, speed is rewarded and certainty is mistaken for strength. I create spaces where leaders are encouraged to slow down, reflect, and engage in real dialogue – not to win arguments, but to reach shared understanding. That shift alone often changes the quality of decisions being made.

I integrate leadership coaching with strategic and brand work, working directly with individuals, management teams, and boards. Through facilitated dialogue, leaders clarify priorities, decision rights, and expectations – with themselves and with one another. This reduces friction, surfaces unspoken tensions, and builds trust, which is essential for execution.

Another important distinction is pace. I intentionally design moments for thinking – not to delay progress, but to remove noise. When leaders stop reacting and start reflecting, clarity emerges. Execution then accelerates naturally because people are aligned, confident, and moving in the same direction.

Finally, I don’t separate leadership, strategy, culture, and performance into silos. They are deeply interconnected. When leadership is clear, the brand becomes credible. When dialogue is honest, culture becomes coherent. When both are aligned, growth becomes sustainable. That integrated, human-first approach is what makes the work both effective and lasting.

Can you share a recent success story where your clarity-based guidance transformed a client’s business?

A recent example that stands out involved a senior leadership team in a growing organisation that, on the surface, was performing well. Results were being delivered, yet internally there was growing tension. Decision-making was slow, priorities were constantly shifting, and collaboration at the top had become strained.

Rather than starting with strategy or structure, we focused first on clarity. Through facilitated reflection and dialogue, the leadership team began to articulate what was actually unclear: decision rights, shared priorities, and unspoken expectations between peers. Much of the friction they experienced wasn’t personal – it was structural ambiguity.

As clarity increased, the dynamic shifted. Leaders became more decisive because they knew what truly mattered. Conversations became more direct and less defensive. Trust grew – not because people agreed on everything, but because they understood one another better.

What was particularly interesting was how quickly the external impact followed. Execution improved, energy returned to the organisation, and teams further down felt the difference almost immediately. Nothing dramatic changed on the outside – but internally, the organisation moved from reactive to intentional and innovative.

That is often how clarity-based transformation works. It doesn’t create noise. It creates momentum.

What mistakes do entrepreneurs make that hold them back from growth and visibility?

The most common mistake I see is confusing activity with progress. Many entrepreneurs and leaders are incredibly busy, yet unclear about where they are actually going. When clarity is missing, strategy is often replaced by tactics – chasing quick wins and harvesting low-hanging fruit rather than building something coherent and sustainable. Visibility increases in bursts, but direction remains fragmented.

Another frequent mistake is underestimating the human side of leadership. Entrepreneurs often focus heavily on product, performance, and positioning, while overlooking relationships, communication, and trust – especially within their leadership teams. When expectations are unclear or dialogue is avoided, friction grows quietly and slows everything down.

Finally, many leaders wait too long to pause and reflect. They believe clarity and recovery will come later – after growth, after funding, or after the next milestone. In reality, clarity is what enables those milestones in the first place, and it creates the headspace and time needed to recharge.

Entrepreneurs who scale sustainably are not those who move the fastest, but those who are clear about what matters, what doesn’t, and how they lead others along the way.

How does The Clarity Dispatch newsletter support leaders, founders, and creatives on their growth journey?

The Clarity Dispatch is designed as a pause in a very noisy world. It’s not a stream of tactics or quick fixes, but a space for reflection, perspective, and strategic thinking.

Leaders, founders, and creatives often tell me they don’t lack ambition or ideas – they lack clarity, resources, and time. The newsletter supports them by helping to separate signal from noise: what truly matters, what doesn’t, and where limited time and energy are best invested. It invites readers to step back, reflect, and recalibrate before moving forward.

Rather than telling people what to do, The Clarity Dispatch encourages better questions – questions around leadership choices, direction, priorities, and the human dynamics that shape performance. Over time, that kind of reflection builds confidence, sharper judgement, and more intentional action.

In that sense, the newsletter supports growth not by accelerating pace, but by improving quality – of thinking, decisions, and leadership. In today’s environment, that clarity is often what makes the biggest difference.

What core principles do you teach clients to help them stand out and communicate their value?

The first principle is clarity before visibility. Many leaders and organisations try to stand out by communicating more, faster, and louder. I coach them to slow down and clarify first – who they are, what they stand for, and what problem they are truly here to solve. When that is clear, communication becomes simpler and more credible.

The second principle is relevance over noise. Standing out is not about saying everything to everyone. It’s about making deliberate choices – what to focus on, what to leave out, and what to consistently reinforce. Clear priorities create stronger signals, both internally and externally.

The third principle is alignment between leadership and message. Communication only works when it is lived, not just stated. When leaders behave in line with what the organisation communicates, trust is built. When there is a gap between words and actions, value is quickly diluted.

Finally, I emphasise consistency over intensity. Sustainable impact comes from showing up clearly and coherently over time, not from short bursts of activity. When leaders communicate from clarity – internally and externally – they don’t need to convince. Their value becomes evident.

If someone is feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or unclear about their brand and direction, how can you help them get started?

The first thing I help people do is slow down – not to stop moving, but to stop reacting. When leaders feel stuck or overwhelmed, it’s rarely because they lack ability. It’s because too many priorities are competing for their attention at once.

My work begins by identifying the vital few – usually three, and a maximum of five, strategic imperatives that truly matter right now. Not ten. Not twenty. Just the handful of decisions, focus areas, and leadership behaviours that will make the greatest difference. Clarity emerges when leaders stop trying to do everything and start leading what matters.

At a practical level, this means working more granularly to:

• clarify strategic direction and success criteria

• sharpen priorities and decision rights

• strengthen leadership communication with peers, teams, and stakeholders

• address unspoken tensions that quietly drain energy

• align leadership behaviour with what the organisation claims to stand for – and where it can deliver superior value

This is where value compounds. When leaders are clear on the vital few, execution becomes lighter. Conversations become more honest. Progress becomes visible – not because people work harder, but because they work with intention.

I don’t believe leaders need more frameworks. They need fewer, better conversations – and the courage to act on them.

To close, I often invite leaders to reflect on three simple questions as they look ahead:

• What truly deserves my attention this year – and what no longer does?

• Where is lack of clarity costing me, my team, or my organisation energy?

• What would change if I led the vital few with consistency and courage?

Clarity doesn’t arrive all at once. It is built choice by choice. And once it’s in place, forward movement becomes not only possible – but sustainable.

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