Former United Nations peacekeeper, leadership coach, mountaineer, and author Urs Koenig has spent his career in environments where leadership is tested under pressure.
From conflict zones in the Balkans and the Middle East to executive coaching and keynote stages, his experiences led him to a simple but often misunderstood idea: humility is not weakness. In this conversation, we explore the philosophy behind his book Radical Humility, why the strongest leaders build trust before crises arrive, and how self-awareness, relationships, and curiosity create more resilient teams.
Urs' path has been anything but conventional. Born in Switzerland, he studied geography before moving to Australia to pursue a PhD, eventually transitioning into management consulting, executive coaching, and leadership development. At age fifty, inspired by his late father and a desire to do meaningful international service, he returned to military service after more than two decades away. His deployments with NATO and the United Nations exposed him to the realities of peacekeeping, where diplomacy, uncertainty, and everyday humility often mattered far more than command and authority. Those experiences became the foundation for the leadership philosophy he teaches today.
Throughout our conversation, Urs challenges the common belief that humble leaders lack confidence, arguing instead that genuine humility requires deep self-awareness, emotional security, and the willingness to ask difficult questions. We discuss psychological safety, the importance of meaningful relationships before a crisis occurs, and why listening has become one of the rarest leadership skills in today's distracted environment. Drawing on stories from military deployments, Urs illustrates how trust built long before an emergency often determines how effectively leaders respond when the stakes are highest.
