Thobias Solheim

Thobias ‘Thoby’ Solheim is an Executive Coach at Harbor who specialises in leadership development and career transition, particularly for people in high-pressure jobs.

Before moving into coaching, he spent 19 years in global investment banking, including as a founding divisional director within Macquarie’s cash business in South Africa. Since 2015, he has coached senior professionals in investment banking, private equity, asset management, hedge funds and family offices.

He is also a recovery and wellness coach, and has been in recovery from alcohol addiction himself since 2009.

Professional Background & Qualifications

Thobias holds an MPhil in Management Coaching, with First Class Honours, from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Stellenbosch, as well as an MA from the University of Cambridge.

He is a Certified Business Coach with the World Association of Business Coaches and has further training in executive coaching, neuroscience, recovery and wellness coaching, and the psychology of eating.

He is a professional member of the World Association of Business Coaches and the Association for Coaching, and an Associate of the Møller Institute at Churchill College, Cambridge.

Professional Experience

Having spent 19 years in banking, Thobias knows the pressures of a senior finance career firsthand. His recovery coaching, therefore, combines that experience with his own recovery.

He has a particular interest in professionals who are trying to stay in recovery while holding down demanding jobs.

He also coaches teams and high-potential professionals, focusing on leadership style, influence and emotional resilience, as well as work-life balance.

Approach to Care

Thobias encourages clients to question long-held patterns and assumptions, and then to make practical decisions about how they want to work and live.

He adapts his approach to each person, particularly where the pressures of a career and the demands of recovery overlap.

Many of his clients have built much of their identity around their careers, so recovery and career change can feel closely linked.