About Marie Louise Leistikow
I’ve spent 30+ years working with people and systems — worldwide
For more than three decades, I’ve worked internationally with leaders, teams, and organizations across sectors and cultures. Different industries, different languages, different challenges — and yet the same human patterns show up everywhere.
When pressure rises, collaboration often tightens. People become careful. Conversations get busy, defensive, or overly polite. Creativity fades. Decisions drag. Not because people aren’t smart or committed, but because the conditions don’t support how humans actually think, relate, and create together.
And then there are the other moments — the ones that feel almost effortless. People listen, build, challenge each other with respect, and leave the room with energy. You can feel trust in the air. You can feel clarity. You can feel forward motion.
That contrast has shaped my life’s work.
When there’s no flow, connection quietly starts to fray
I’ve learned that connection rarely breaks with a bang. It frays in small ways when there’s no shared flow — no process people can trust. People stop finishing each other’s thoughts. They stop asking the real question. They stop taking creative risks. Collaboration turns into coordination, and work becomes heavier than it needs to be.
The good news is: this is fixable. Connection can be designed for. Trust can be strengthened. Clarity can be made practical. And when those conditions are in place, creativity and innovation don’t need to be forced — they can be developed with intention.
Why Meaningful Innovation matters to me
I’m not interested in innovation as a slogan. I care about Meaningful Innovation: work that creates real value, serves a bigger purpose, and people genuinely want to stand behind.
Meaningful Innovation requires more than ideas. It requires people being able to explore the unknown together without fear, navigate differences without politics, and make choices that hold up under pressure. In other words: trust, clarity, and responsible collaboration — with clear structure and plenty of space for creativity.
This is also why the “human edge” of leadership matters more than ever right now.
AI can generate options, summaries, strategies, and content in seconds. Useful? Absolutely.
But AI can’t replace trust. It can’t replace responsibility. And it can’t replace the atmosphere that determines whether people dare to think out loud, challenge each other, and commit together.
That part is still leadership — and it’s deeply human.
What I do — and how it takes shape, MeetingPower Ltd
My work is about helping leaders and organizations create the conditions in which people can collaborate with more ease and more depth — and still deliver serious results.
Sometimes that looks like coaching: supporting leaders to lead with more clarity, presence, and trust, especially in complex or high-stakes environments.
Sometimes it looks like working directly with teams: strengthening how they think together, communicate with respect, and build real momentum — including the kind that sparks fresh ideas rather than repeating old patterns.
And sometimes it takes the form of online programs with live webinars, designed to make this work transferable at scale. These programs give leaders and teams practical frameworks, guided practice, and real-time application, so progress doesn’t depend on having “the right people in the room,” but on creating the right conditions — consistently, wherever people work.
All of this lives under one umbrella: MeetingPower Ltd — an evolving ecosystem focused on human connection, trust, clear thinking, creativity, and responsible collaboration, with AI as supportive infrastructure — never the driver.
MeetingPower Flow is the first concrete expression of this work: a structured approach to meetings, because meetings are often where trust, clarity, and creativity either grow — or quietly erode.
Over time, MeetingPower expands through online programs for Meaningful Innovation, leadership and organizational development, and later this year, supportive AI for preparation and follow-up — always strengthening human leadership, never replacing it.
A note on the EcoVillage in Andalucía
Alongside my work in business, I also initiated an EcoVillage in Andalucía. It has been one of the most practical leadership schools imaginable — where collaboration, trust, governance, and shared responsibility aren’t concepts, but daily practice.
It keeps my work grounded. It’s a constant reminder that “human systems” are real systems — and when you design them well, people thrive. When you don’t, even the best intentions struggle.
What it feels like to work with me
People often describe my style as calm, clear, and quietly challenging. I bring structure without stiffness, depth without heaviness, and focus without pressure. I’m comfortable with complexity and difference, and I have a strong instinct for when to slow things down — and when to help energy and momentum return.
And yes — I believe collaboration should be effective and enjoyable. Not “fun” like a teambuilding game, but the kind of enjoyment that comes from working with smart people who are genuinely with you.
What I’m committed to
I’m committed to a future of work where people don’t have to choose between performance and humanity.
Where leaders know how to create conditions for trust and successful progress.
Where technology supports human intelligence instead of replacing it.
And where working together feels like something people want to do well — not just something they have to get through.
If that’s the kind of environment you want to build, we should talk.