OBK Performance celebrates its 14th anniversary
Fourteen years after its founding, OBK PERFORMANCE continues to support executives, leadership teams, and managers across Europe, Africa, and the United States: Executive Coaching, seminars, and conferences.
A conversation with its founder,
Odile Bocandé-Koffi.
To mark this anniversary, we look back on an entrepreneurial journey born almost by chance, after twenty years in the corporate world, and on a conviction that hasn’t changed: the leaders who seek coaching aren’t necessarily the ones going through a difficult time.
✨ They are also the ones who want to keep improving.
Q1 – Odile Bocandé-Koffi, before founding OBK Performance, you spent nearly twenty years working for multinational corporations.
What was your professional background?
I’ve held a wide variety of roles in Europe and the United States: sales, marketing, supply chain, transformation, SAP implementation, and managing multicultural teams…
I’ve seen firsthand the goals to be achieved, the reorganizations, the difficult decisions, and the teams that need to be brought on board.
This experience is essential to my work today.
When meeting with an executive, I don’t just listen to them through my coach’s lens: I also understand their operational reality, the results they need to deliver, the trade-offs they must make, and their responsibility toward their teams.
Q2 – The idea for OBK Performance came about during the closing seminar of your Executive MBA program at ESCP Business School. What happened?
This Executive MBA was a turning point: it taught me to learn in a different way, to take a broader view, and to dare to imagine the future differently, all supported by a wonderful alumni network, exceptional professors and guest speakers, and the school’s highly dedicated staff.
During the closing seminar, my conversations with the other participants served as a revelation: what truly energized me, the impact I could have on others, and that entrepreneurial spirit that I hadn’t yet recognized in myself.
One thing became clear: I needed to channel this energy toward supporting leaders and teams, to help them grow and turn their ambitions into action.
That’s when OBK Performance came to life.
Q3 – Let’s be provocative: Odile, does a high-performing executive, backed by an executive committee, really need a coach?
✨ Sometimes even more!
The higher up you go in an organization, the harder it becomes to get completely “unfiltered” feedback.
A leader may be surrounded by many people… and yet feel quite alone when faced with certain decisions.
A coach provides that confidential space where you can bring up anything: test an idea, question a decision, identify your blind spots, take a step back, and be open to being challenged.
This is a belief I’ve held dear for 14 years:
Coaching isn’t a fire extinguisher you only pull out when everything’s on fire! 🧯 It can also help someone who’s already successful take things to the next level.
“A leader doesn’t need to have a problem to work with an executive coach.”
“I’m successful.
How can I get even better?”
Q4 – What situations might lead a leader to seek guidance?
Taking on a new role. A promotion. A major transformation. Leading a team through change. A high-stakes communication challenge. A career transition, or simply the need to step back and gain perspective, with an unbiased perspective and thought-provoking questions, in complete confidentiality.
That’s often where the most rewarding mentoring relationships begin.
Q5 – So how can you tell when coaching has truly brought about a transformation?
When a manager can say:
“I’ve made some changes in the way I think and act, and it shows in my results, my relationships, and the impact I have on others.”
Because the real challenge is transformation: getting to know yourself better, building on what already works, and developing those “extra” qualities that enable you to grow, evolve, and achieve even greater success.
Coaching also helps you feel more at ease and find a better balance between your professional performance and your personal life.
Because success also means feeling good about your achievements.
In fact, the entire OBK Performance team has been carefully selected for its rich cultural diversity, varied backgrounds, and professional experiences.
Q6 – Managing in France, Africa, or in the United States: Is it the same job?
No. And that’s exactly what makes international leadership so exciting.
I remember a manager, appointed to lead a team in West Africa, who gave blunt feedback in public, just as he would have done in Paris. The result: employees who lost face, became defensive, and no longer dared to take the initiative. In the United States, that same direct feedback would be seen as a sign of effectiveness and clarity. In West Africa, however, the priority was to preserve the relationship first, praising people publicly and offering constructive criticism privately.
Attitudes toward authority, conflict, and hierarchy do not translate from one country to another.
What remains the same, however, is the need to be respected, recognized, and listened to, and to understand the meaning of what we do.
International leadership requires this kind of cultural intelligence: adapting one’s approach without losing sight of one’s goals.
Q7 – Can a Leader be demanding and still be human?
It is a mistake to pit them against each other.
Being human doesn’t mean being less demanding. You can ask a lot of a team while still respecting people, giving them a sense of purpose, and communicating clearly.
This is one of OBK Performance’s core beliefs: putting people at the service of performance, and performance at the service of people.
“The leadership of tomorrow will be deeply human.”
Q8 – In the face of AI and uncertainty, what will make the difference?
Paradoxically, the more technology advances, the more our deeply human skills become strategic: building trust, making decisions in the face of uncertainty, communicating clearly, and harnessing collective intelligence.
A leader will never know everything. But he or she must know how to create the conditions that allow others to give their best.
Q9 – What defines OBK Performance’s DNA?
Practical business knowledge, combined with coaching, emotional intelligence, neuroscience, and leadership.
And this DNA is shared by the coaches and experts around me.
Kindness, good humor (yes, we laugh a lot 😄), but also challenges, high standards, and, above all, taking action.
Q10 – And after 14 years?
Continue to keep this DNA alive with the entire OBK Performance team.
And to fulfill a more personal dream: to write a book. 📖
🙏🏽 A huge thank you to our clients for their trust, which they have often renewed over many years. Thank you also to the entire OBK Performance team, our partners, and everyone who has contributed to this adventure✨.
14 years already… and still the same drive: helping women, men and teams spread their wings. 🪽
