Jiří Koleňák: Welcome to another episode of the Úspěšní (Successful) podcast, where my guests and I explore the principles and habits that drive their success. My special guest today is Dan Müller. Hi Dan.
Dan Müller: Hi Jirko.
Jiří Koleňák: Dan is the founder of the strategic advisory studio ComoJo, co-founder of the therapy clinic Bude dobře (It Will Be Fine), and a member of the Red Button business network. Operating at the intersection of startups and corporations, Dan helps leaders and teams fulfill their visions and strategic goals. Dan, I always start by asking what brought my guests the greatest joy in recent days. What was it for you?
Dan Müller: Things have generally been going very well for me recently, so I don't have one specific event. It’s just a great period overall—in business, in nature, and in life.
Jiří Koleňák: Wonderful. If you were to describe the core value you bring to people, how would you put it?
Dan Müller: You can look at it pragmatically or more philosophically. I tend to view it on a broader level. The main thing I bring to people—whether in business or therapy—is expanding their possibilities. I show people that things can be done differently. By broadening their perspectives, I empower them to make decisions and start living and working on their own terms. Beyond that, I bring honesty, openness, and courage—acting as a role model to encourage meaningful change.
Jiří Koleňák: What does working with people in the business environment bring to you personally?
Dan Müller: I genuinely enjoy participating in other people's success. Throughout my career, I realized that I thrive as the "number two" in a team—the person running right behind the leader, supporting and empowering them to succeed. Being part of those growth stories and seeing my tangible contribution is deeply rewarding.
Jiří Koleňák: You are also active in psychotherapy. How do you distinguish between business advisory and therapy, or how do they merge?
Dan Müller: They have naturally converged over time, which is why I pursued formal therapeutic training. Originally, I operated strictly as a business strategist and executive coach. However, human personal stories kept surfacing during strategic business discussions. I wanted to build professional therapeutic competence to address those human aspects properly. Today, whether working with a client in a personal or corporate context, we focus on developing them as a whole person. I'm often struck by how deep personal and therapeutic themes emerge when working with corporate executives and senior leaders.
Jiří Koleňák: Is that how Bude dobře was born?
Dan Müller: Exactly. As these therapeutic themes kept surfacing in my business work, I discussed the idea of bridging the two worlds with colleagues. I realized I wasn't alone in seeing this need. A small group of us joined forces, realizing that combining our distinct therapeutic methodologies and backgrounds created a sum greater than its parts. Having trusted partners with different therapeutic approaches allows us to cross-refer clients when an engagement reaches its natural limits.
Jiří Koleňák: Were you always inclined toward psychology, or did that enter your life later?
Dan Müller: It evolved gradually. Historically, I had a strictly technical, rational, and logical mindset. The shift began when I was preparing to sell my first company. Questions began emerging: "Why do you own this business? What personal need does it fulfill? Who are you once you step away from it?" I hired an executive coach to guide the professional management and exit process. That experience raised profound personal questions that led me directly into formal therapeutic training.
Jiří Koleňák: Selling a first business often leaves a strange void. We also share a technical academic background—I studied at Brno University of Technology, and you studied at Czech Technical University in Prague. How does a technical background inform your human-centric work today?
Dan Müller: At CTU, I studied Systems Engineering. In coaching and therapy, I practice systemic theory—so the underlying philosophy is identical. Systems engineering provides a macro-perspective on principles and interconnected structures. A technical background brings precision, rigor, and clarity. Many coaches and therapists can seem overly vague or soft to business executives. My engineering foundation allows me to cut straight to the core, measure outcomes, maintain rigor, and hold firm boundaries when necessary. It's an ideal combination.
Jiří Koleňák: What was the spark behind founding ComoJo?
Dan Müller: It grew out of a Blue Ocean Strategy mindset. After operating as a solo freelancer, I wanted to elevate my practice beyond the crowded "red ocean" of generic business consultants and strategists. I realized my core work centered on helping specific individuals succeed—blurring the line between professional strategy and personal development. Through conversations with Jirko Vávra, who was also a guest on your podcast, we realized our true value lies in helping leaders discover and cultivate their unique "MOJO." That shared insight launched ComoJo.
Jiří Koleňák: What separates a leader who merely designs a strategy from one who can effectively execute it?
Dan Müller: Courage. Many strategies fail during execution because designing strategy is an engaging, collaborative exercise where teams align on exciting ideas. But strategy decks often end up forgotten in a drawer. Execution requires the courage to walk away from unprofitable clients, confront group executive boards, defend a bold narrative, and embrace daily operational discomfort. Courage in execution separates planners from true leaders.
Jiří Koleňák: Where do managers and leaders systematically fail when setting strategies, and how do you help them?
Dan Müller: Leaders often fail by striving for absolute consensus. While collaborative dialogue is important, a true leader must have the backbone to step up, raise the banner, define the direction, and take the initial steps. Teams get bogged down when leaders grant endless debate without making decisive choices, resulting in diluted compromises. Furthermore, involving employees without high-level business context produces naive ideas that cannot be implemented, causing frustration. Systemic failure usually stems from a leader's reluctance to take personal responsibility and mandate a clear path forward.
Jiří Koleňák: You also practice systemic coaching and hypnotherapy. How do these therapeutic modalities influence your work with executive leadership?
Dan Müller: Systemic thinking is a worldview and a way of communicating. It involves working with context, metaphors, and expanding the mental frameworks through which leaders evaluate decisions. Systemic awareness should be essential equipment for any senior executive building an enterprise. As for hypnotherapy, it’s not about theatrical pendulums or hypnotist tropes—it’s about conversational flow. In our therapeutic training, we assume people exist in natural states of trance continuously. When working with a leader or team in deep focus, hypnotherapy helps you connect to that mental state and extract profound strategic breakthroughs.
Jiří Koleňák: Through Bude dobře, you help people navigate burnout, lost motivation, and relationship challenges. Are there universal patterns you observe?
Dan Müller: I frequently meet professionals who have boxed themselves into rigid mental corners, drastically limiting their perceived choices. They adopt a passive mindset, assuming external circumstances dictate everything. Surprising numbers of C-suite executives feel completely trapped by operational forces. My role is to unpack alternative narratives: "What is your Plan B? What is your Plan C? What options are you overlooking?" If your entire identity is tied strictly to your corporate title at Company X, what happens if you are replaced tomorrow? Exploring alternative options restores personal agency.
Jiří Koleňák: Can healthy leadership be taught?
Dan Müller: It must be lived and experienced rather than absorbed purely through lectures. With skilled executive coaching and therapeutic guidance, individuals can develop deep leadership capabilities in practice. Of course, some natural leaders carry these instincts in their DNA—they possess inherent self-reflection and continually evaluate their own impact.
Jiří Koleňák: You are also active in the Red Button business network. What is the value of this entrepreneurial ecosystem?
Dan Müller: Building a global startup taught me the immense power of international networking. In North America, founders and investors share insights with remarkable openness. In the Czech Republic, business culture historically leaned toward insular individualism—founders feared sharing ideas or getting cheated. Experiencing global startup culture showed me the power of open collaboration. Red Button brings that open, supportive ecosystem to the Czech market, bringing together around 200 leaders who openly share know-how and lift each other up.
Jiří Koleňák: What core values guide your professional and personal life?
Dan Müller: In client work, the foundation is absolute psychological safety, confidentiality, and integrity—agreements and handshakes are sacred. My first company sale was executed entirely on a handshake without legal battles, which reflects my personal ethos. Beyond that, I value direct, radical honesty. While unvarnished honesty isn't for every client or company, it acts as a powerful quality filter.
Jiří Koleňák: How do you maintain balance between running your own ventures and advising clients?
Dan Müller: I focus on smart integration rather than artificial separation. Systemic theory shows that magic happens when you connect seemingly opposing areas. When people feel overwhelmed by competing priorities, the solution rarely requires cutting activities out; it requires smartly connecting them so they reinforce one another.
Jiří Koleňák: Do you have a personal ritual for managing high-stress periods?
Dan Müller: During COVID-19, I discovered heavy physical strength training. Rigorous physical exercise provides mental and physiological reset. Research confirms that intensive physical labor stimulates neuroplasticity and cognitive function. Strength training became my healthy addiction, keeping me operating at my peak.
Jiří Koleňák: You co-guarantee the MBA Strategy & Innovation in Business program at Newton University with Jirka Vávra. What comes to mind when you hear the word "strategy"?
Dan Müller: Decisions—specifically, a coherent series of courageous decisions. Second, a compelling story that you are excited to tell and others are excited to follow.
Jiří Koleňák: How does individual personal development drive corporate growth?
Dan Müller: A company is ultimately a vehicle for personal human development. When founders, executives, and employees recognize that organizational challenges mirror their own personal growth edges, business becomes a powerful arena for self-actualization.
Jiří Koleňák: What is the role of innovation, and what prevents organizations from innovating?
Dan Müller: Innovation is a natural law of life. In nature and business, systems either flourish and grow or stagnate and decay. Standing still means dying. What blocks innovation? Material comfort and evolutionary psychology. Humans carry an evolutionary instinct from the primitive brain that associates stepping outside the cave with being eaten by predators. Pioneers risk judgment and discomfort. When combined with modern corporate comfort, people naturally default to the status quo unless intentionally challenged.
Jiří Koleňák: How can leaders overcome that stagnation?
Dan Müller: Introduce constructive disruption—shake up comfortable patterns to force engagement. In leadership, systemic management is about "lazy leadership"—not micromanaging or forcing outcomes, but setting intelligent organizational contexts that harness employees' intrinsic motivation.
Jiří Koleňák: How are leadership demands shifting today?
Dan Müller: Generational turnover is accelerating rapidly. Leaders must build and manage multi-generational teams with vastly different values, expectations, and cultural norms. Adapting to that diversity while keeping pace with technological shifts requires continuous learning.
Jiří Koleňák: How can leaders keep pace with relentless technological change without feeling overwhelmed?
Dan Müller: Maintain genuine curiosity rather than treating learning as a stressful obligation. Cultivate curiosity by stepping into unfamiliar environments—whether exploring non-rational experiences like holotropic breathwork or sweat lodges, or simply observing how children explore the world without rigid preconceptions. Approaching technology with playful curiosity keeps your mindset adaptive.
Jiří Koleňák: What excites you most about your current work with leaders?
Dan Müller: Helping executive teams shift their focus from daily firefighting and survival toward building an inspiring vision. Teams have a finite amount of organizational energy. You can exhaust that energy repairing broken internal conflicts, or channel that exact same energy into building something transformative. Shifting a team's focus toward creative building is deeply satisfying.
Jiří Koleňák: What is your final piece of advice for current and future leaders, strategists, and innovators?
Dan Müller: Realize that the stakes are rarely as terrifying as they seem. Embrace courage. Even if a decision falls flat, the world won't end. We are all navigating this journey together—so step up, take risks, and enjoy the ride.
Jiří Koleňák: Dan Müller—thank you very much for joining us and sharing your insights.
Dan Müller: Thank you, Jirko!
Jiří Koleňák: To our viewers, thank you for watching. This concludes the first season of the Úspěšní podcast. I look forward to launching Season 2 after the summer break!
