“Je suis treize chaises” was a phrase I made up some time around the age of twenty. It had linguistic flair, or so I thought, and it didn't mean anything specific. But I liked it, it had a swing. It was what I said in the final flourish of a night, or when I'd lost the thread of a conversation. Maybe I was unsure what was going on and had decided not to mind (driving a 2CV definitely helped with that lesson).

Thirteen chairs is a seemingly random phrase so it accurately represents the feeling of having no idea which seat you're meant to be sitting in.

I’ve been thirteen chairs plenty of time in my life and career – grew up in one country and learned to make home in 4 different cultures; been in the room, sat at the table, pitched the idea, juggled the needs of people.

The most interesting moments arrived when it wasn’t entirely clear which place to take my seat in, when what got me to one place no longer got me any further, and when tension appeared between the expectations on myself and what I actually needed for the situation.

Over time, I learned to work with it and move through it.
Et voila, it’s what Thirteen Chairs is about: to make the tension an ally rather than fight it, and to open a confidential space to examine the possibilities from a different seat.

20+ years in senior leadership roles in media and advertising,
DE-US-FR-UK multi-expat, EMCC-accredited executive practitioner coach, trainee transpersonal psychotherapist.