Dr. Gabriele Lang: Change comes with Emotional Intelligence

In a world where workplace pressure is rising and emotional friction is quietly costing billions Dr. Gabriele Lang is rewriting the rules of coaching. Blending psychology, systemic thinking, and hard-won business insight, she has built a powerful toolkit to help leaders and teams navigate conflict, complexity, and change with clarity and compassion. As the founder of UP’N’CHANGE, she is making coaching more accessible, digital, and discreet proving that personal development and growth do not have to wait for a crisis. In this exclusive interview, Dr. Lang reveals how emotions, when understood and harnessed, can become an organization’s strategic asset.

With over 30 years of experience across global corporations and entrepreneurial ventures, she brings both credibility and courage to her mission. Her work is not just about solving problems, it is about reshaping how we lead, connect, and grow under pressure.

Dr. Lang, your work combines psychology, systemic knowledge, and business expertise. How do these three areas uniquely complement each other in your conflict resolution and coaching approach?  

I focus on organizations and teams because poor leadership and unresolved conflict do not just harm results, they harm people. Psychology helps us understand individuals and dynamics. But to make this knowledge actionable in high-pressure business settings, you need the language and logic of the business world. I work with teams facing deadlines and complex decisions. Systemic thinking adds another layer: it helps reveal hidden dynamics, interdependencies, and blind spots across teams and hierarchies.  

People wear many hats: individual, team member, leader, private self, shaped by heritage and belief systems. My multidisciplinary background helps me navigate that complexity and find practical paths to progress.  

As I often say, business and private conflicts are not that different. Emotions drive both. 

What inspired you to transition from traditional executive coaching to creating digital coaching tools accessible to a broader audience through UP’N’CHANGE?  

When I faced my own sleepless nights due to stress during the day, I wanted instant relief and not a waiting list. Luckily, my studies, training and curiosity gave me tools to help myself in the moment.  

But many people under pressure do not have that. They say, “I cannot afford coaching,” or “I do not even know who to turn to.” Others fear the stigma: “Send me the bill privately, I do not want anyone to know I am getting help.”  

That is why I created UP’N’CHANGE. To offer discreet, low-threshold access to support. Thus no one has an excuse not to get help when they need it most. 

 

Emotional intelligence is essential for sustainable success. Can you share a real-life example where emotional intelligence transformed a conflict or difficult situation into a competitive advantage?  

I worked with a large family business stuck in endless internal debate. The owners’ different personalities brought diversity but also constant friction. Decisions were delayed, strategy stalled, and managers were confused.

We used digital tools and deep coaching to explore triggers, systemic entanglements, and emotional dynamics. Over time, they built empathy, improved communication, and slowly rebuilt trust. Collaboration and even humour returned.  

This emotional maturity accelerated decision-making, improved hiring, and helped align the strategic direction. Emotional intelligence became their competitive edge, where others suppress conflict, they learned to transform it.  

What are some of the biggest challenges managers and teams face today in maintaining constructive collaboration under pressure, and how do your coaching tools help address these?  

Managers and organisations underestimate how much emotional friction costs in productivity and profit.  

In today’s complexity, managers cannot control everything but still need to deliver. Our tool InnoSparker revealed the biggest blocker to innovation: lack of resources, i.e. lack of time, money and too much workload. That pressure fuels conflict, as less time means more tension, more miscommunication, more mistakes. But we have learnt and been trained to hide vulnerability. So instead of expressing emotions, people suppress them until they erupt in toxic behaviour.  

Our tools offer a way out of that cycle: targeted, low-threshold support for reflection, development and growth. Even with little time or budget, you can make meaningful progress.  

With over 30 years of experience in international corporations and your own companies, how have you seen the role of mental health and emotional intelligence evolve in the business world?

People talk more about it, especially since Covid. But actual behaviour? Often still behind the rhetoric.  

Everyone says emotional intelligence matters. But when you listen closely, many still see emotions as “soft stuff” or distraction. Real emotional work takes courage, time, and self-confrontation. That is not always welcome in performance-driven environments. Worse, many people have lost touch with their feelings entirely. One manager once told me, “Emotions have no place at work.” I laughed and asked, “Where did you leave them this morning?”  

The truth: emotional maturity is more needed than ever, but fewer people have the courage, tools or support to develop it.  

Your platform aims to break down obstacles like time, money, and location for coaching. How do you ensure the digital tools still deliver a personal and impactful coaching experience? 

We have spent 15 years refining the UP’N’CHANGE tools to ensure depth and quality. Behind every digital tool is a “digital tree” of logic that adapts to the user and answers. Emotional and rational prompts, tested techniques, audios: everything is designed for meaningful insight and outcome.  

It is resource-efficient coaching that fits into real life without losing depth. Often, the necessary first, immediate or next step which currently is missing.  

What advice would you give entrepreneurs who have ambitious goals but hesitate to seek coaching or support due to fear, budget constraints, or pride?  

Reach out, help exists.  

Resilience is essential for every entrepreneur. You will face pushbacks, valleys, and resource shortages. Ironically, we found in InnoSparker that a lack of resources can fuel creativity if you stay grounded.  

And one thing I had to learn the hard way: detach from external validation. If you do not, you will end up pleasing others instead of following your path.  

Sometimes I still wonder what I would have earned if I had stayed at Coca-Cola or Egon Zehnder instead of investing everything into building UP’N’CHANGE. But my drive was never money it was impact.

You have mentioned the frustration in clients who stop coaching or development after the most pressing issue is resolved. How does UP’N’CHANGE support sustained personal development and resilience beyond initial coaching?  

Our platform bridges the gap between specific problems and solutions. It allows people to develop emotional skills – personal, social and creative skills – step by step at their own pace.  

Whether you need quick relief or deep development, the tools are there to help you stay on the path and not just take a few short sprints.  

How do you measure success in your coaching practice, both for individuals and teams? Are there particular indicators or outcomes you prioritize?  

1. Tangible relief from pressure.  

2. Shift from powerlessness to action.  

3. Feedback from colleagues noticing behavioural change.  

4. User ratings concerning satisfaction.  

5. Referrals, so people recommending us to others. 

In the future, I would love to see KPIs like “conflict time lost” or “project delay due to emotional loops” in the KPI reports of organisations. Emotional friction losses are measurable and fixable. It just needs more people daring to look at the blind spots and development areas blocking success.  

Looking ahead, what innovations or expansions do you envision for UP’N’CHANGE in the next 3–5 years to continue supporting entrepreneurs and leaders worldwide?  

Having help at every stage of need for you through the suite of tools we offer at UP’N’CHANGE.  

We are launching our Masterclass Conflict-Mastery and UP’N’CHANGE Membership in 2025. Beyond that? I dream of making even trauma release work scalable through smart tech and collaboration with academia.  

Imagine younger people accessing conflict resolution tools early on. That is the impact I want to create and where my energy is going. Enabling collaboration in challenging times despite differences in opinion and typology to ensure the solving of complex problems we are facing. So, get UP aNd CHANGE!