References

I’ve worked with Sari across three different leadership roles since 2018, more than seven years now.

What matters most to me is her ability to challenge my thinking through difficult questions, pulling it out of its familiar grooves in a way that often leads to something simple yet essential, the kind of insight that actually stays with you in everyday work. Our conversations carry a spirit of openness and respect, and Sari’s warm presence makes even the toughest topics feel approachable. I’ve found our collaboration both valuable and genuinely enjoyable.

Paula Lehtomäki

CEO, Finnish Forest Industries Federation (Metsäteollisuus ry)

We started working together at a point when my role was going through some really significant changes, and I needed deeper reflection and sparring on which direction to take.

Over the course of the process, we didn’t just talk through my thinking, in many cases we also identified what things physically felt like, and experimented with looking at situations from different perspectives, using space and different roles.

HR Director

International publicly listed company

Sari has an incredible ability to create an atmosphere of trust. What’s more, her knack for asking exactly the right question at exactly the right moment helps your self-awareness genuinely develop.

I’ve learned to become more aware of my own limiting thought patterns and to understand what’s behind them. That’s helped me grow into a more present, calmer leader, even in challenging situations.

Henna Rundgren

Director of Digital Marketing, Benemen

Sari is a fantastic coach, even remotely, we built a trusting, immediate rapport within moments.

She guided me beautifully on a journey of discovery into myself, and I came away with some genuinely surprising insights. Understanding your own strengths and challenges supports personal development and builds confidence. Warmly recommended!

Sirpa Soini

Director, THL (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare)

I needed support and guidance to work through a complex situation at work and to lead myself forward in a constructive, dynamic way through a challenging period.

The most valuable thing about Sari’s coaching was that it let me arrive at real insight – into situations, events, and emotions – and see them as they actually were, becoming aware of my own thoughts, observations, and attitudes.

Senior Executive

Company

Going into the coaching process, my goal was to clarify my own direction for development and build a clearer understanding of the skills and ways of working I need to move toward both my own goals and my organization’s.

Starting the process gave me the chance to frame my goals in a new way and identify tools that support leadership development and remove obstacles from its path.

Executive

International company

When we started the program, I reacted to things emotionally, too quickly, and got “blinded” by things that ultimately weren’t as significant as I thought.

Working with Sari, I’ve come to understand my personality and my reactions much more clearly.

Leader

International company

True Potential and coach Sari Vuohtoniemi offered a rare combination of business acumen and human understanding, paired with dynamic ways of working.

I particularly recommend Sari’s coaching for senior executive and board-level needs, where the questions go beyond the operational and the routine. Working with Sari is a journey into your own deepest resources – exactly as the name True Potential suggests.

Elli Mäkilä

CEO, Storybound Oy; Chair of the Board, Tanssin Talo (Dance House Helsinki)

As a leader, I found the personal coaching process with Sari Vuohtoniemi genuinely helpful – in clarifying my own role, developing my self-reflection, and sharpening how I present myself.

The work has been enjoyable and focused precisely on the right things, agreed in advance. It also helped that we tracked agreed metrics from the start of the process and could follow the results achieved in concrete, numerical terms. I believe the benefits of this coaching will show up in business results going forward.

Senior Executive

International company

The personal coaching process with Sari was, without question, the best leadership development program I’ve taken part in across my twenty-year international leadership career.

Sari helped me discover entirely new sides of myself and develop my patterns of thinking and behavior. The finishing touch was the Enneagram training Sari ran for my international leadership team.

Merja Kannisto

Senior Vice President, Nordea.

Sari Vuohtoniemi served as coach for the “Reforming the Public Sector – Enabling Leadership” training program from 2018 to 2021, personally coaching more than fifty leaders from ministries, government agencies, municipalities, and cities.

With her outstanding, strong professional expertise, Sari has moved the public sector’s cultural shift forward – toward coaching-based, enabling leadership – by strengthening leaders’ own capacity for reflection, making an important contribution to the program’s goals.

Tero Vuorinen

Program Director, HAUS Finnish Institute of Public Management

Sari Vuohtoniemi was my coach as part of the Finnish central government’s senior executive “Uudistuja” (Renewer) program. From our very first session, I was struck by Sari’s ability to build a springboard straight into the deep end of the pool.

I realized this was a chance to explore how my own rules and boundaries shape my thinking and my actions.

Minna Karvonen

Director, Ministry of Education and Culture

I took part in a leadership program for senior central government executives, and one of its best elements was the coaching with Sari!

Sari’s skill at drawing the answers to my own nagging questions out of me was impressively effective and professional. Highly recommended!

Tapio Aaltonen

Chief Information Officer, Ministry of the Interior

I was in a situation involving a lot of change, along with a range of people-management challenges and development needs.

The most valuable part was the forward-moving reflection, which gave me a number of real insights, both personally and professionally. I also picked up new tips and theoretical frameworks for moving things forward. I’d particularly recommend this to leaders going through a change process or working through difficult management situations.

Satu Mäkelä

Director-General, Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment for Southeast Finland (ELY Centre)

I was in a situation where my area of leadership responsibility had grown, and I felt I was leading it in a fairly fragmented way. On top of that, a lot of the strain came from my own ideas about what a “perfect leader” should be.

I got to genuinely focus on myself and my own work, and to reflect on my own attitude. The coaching was true individual coaching – not training, and not general discussion. This kind of coaching should be available to every leader, regularly. Right now, I feel more confident, calmer, and better able to direct my energy toward the things that actually matter.

Johanna Nevala

Director, City of Kerava

Sari is an inspiring, positive coach with a genuinely broad range of skills!

The coaching began as part of Sitra’s program for senior government leaders, at a time when I was also going through major change in my own work. With Sari, I can always trust that the process works and that results follow.

Mia Nykopp

Development Director, Traficom

The coaching process was genuinely valuable for my professional development. It was constructive, enjoyable, eye-opening, and at times even a bit unsettling.

Just three sessions were enough to set a conscious process of change in motion in me, grounded in improved self-awareness. As a coach, Sari is reliable, knowledgeable, and genuine. She managed to get me thinking through difficult things about myself in a solution-focused way.

Senior Executive

Public sector

It was easy to talk with Sari, and she helped me see things from a new angle. Among other things, we worked through self-awareness using the mind-body bridging technique.

I also did exercises between sessions. I noticed that things aren’t necessarily as big a problem as you imagine them to be. I got a lot out of the sessions and realized that, in some areas, I was a prisoner of my own thinking.

Senior Executive

Public Sector

Working with Sari has given me valuable insights into my own patterns of thinking and behavior, and helped me recognize my strengths and areas for growth as a leader.

The coaching has provided genuinely useful, practical tools for managing energy and for facing and handling a range of leadership situations. The insights and tools that came out of the coaching are easy to keep using independently, even after the coaching process itself has ended.

Leader

Public sector