Growing up in Poland under a Communist regime, Gosia quickly learned how to follow the rules and do everything by the book. “I got good grades in school, paid attention to my teachers and followed the advice of those who had made smart career choices,” says Gosia.
When it came time to choose a college and a career direction, Gosia went to the best business university in Poland, Warsaw School of Economic and studied business administration. After graduating with a Master of Commerce degree and later earning an MBA from the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin, Gosia worked for several world-renown international corporations, like Siemens, Deutsche Telekom, SHOTT AG, Panasonic. She specialized in marketing, sales and Pan European project management. For over 12 years, she gained international corporate experience, moving to England, Austria, Holland, The Netherlands and eventually Germany, in order to further her career.
While Gosia appreciated the diversity and challenges of her international corporate life, she felt as if something was missing. She had done everything right, followed a smart career path and was doing good work. But she wasn’t fully satisfied. And she wasn’t sure why.
“I never thought to ask myself, what are my unique gifts, talents and strengthens? Or, am I expressing these gifts in my work?” says Gosia. “I was taught to choose a career that would provide both money and opportunity, but I was never taught to ask whether that career would allow me to feel personally fulfilled.”
There came a point when she couldn’t seem to get ahead in her work. She felt she had to work three times as hard to get her usual top-level results. She did her best to cultivate good working relationships with her colleagues and be happy in her work. But it was as if she had to give 10-times the effort for one-tenth of the results.
Determined to find a way to change her situation for the better, Gosia started to explore the world of personal growth and development, including mindfulness meditation, somatic leadership (as taught by Wendy Palmer) and coaching. These practices opened up a new awareness and clarity for her, and she started to acknowledge and honor her innate gifts, passions and talents.
“I started working on myself,” says Gosia. “And as a result, I discovered and developed specific steps that allowed me to reconnect with my own wisdom, intuition and strengths. I started to express myself and my talents in the context of my job, and as a result, I became more confident in my abilities. Not only did my job performance improve, dramatically, but I became so satisfied and fulfilled in my work. Oh, and I got promoted! At the very same job where I’d been struggling just months before.”
Inspired by her own discoveries and the development of what was becoming her own Career Coaching System, she entered and completed the coaching and leadership training at the Coaches Training Institute. She realized that if she was to fully live her life purpose and honor her gifts and talents, she needed to start her own coaching business and help other women cultivate a professional life that is deeply fulfilling, financially rewarding and perfectly suited to their strengths, gifts, and passions. She left the corporate world, founded her coaching company Johansson Coaching and co-founded Body Centered Leadership, a somatic leadership training company that helps corporate employees reconnect with their personal strengths, creativity and intuition.
Gosia is continually studying and exploring ways to deepen her own knowing, awareness and body-mind leadership skills. She meditates daily and continues to work with her own mentors and coaches. A lover of physical activities like running, trekking, dancing and skiing, Gosia has a personal goal to someday run a marathon. She also loves traveling and visiting other cultures and places. Presently, she lives in Rheinland Pfalz, Germany.
