Bridging the Gap — From Knowing to Doing Series: Decision-Making
The OTR Academy Club
Most of us weren't taught how to make decisions. We were taught to weigh pros and cons, wait until things became clearer, or simply avoid the choice until it made itself. And yet here we are — overthinking, second-guessing, postponing — wondering why the clarity never quite arrives.
What gets overlooked is that the best decisions rarely come from lists. They come from a deeper sense of knowing — one that can be developed, trained, and trusted. This four-week programme is about building exactly that: a clearer relationship with how you actually decide, what gets in the way, and what it takes to move anyway.
Working with a real decision from your own life, you'll explore the interplay of logic, intuition, values, and risk — not as theory, but as lived practice.
By the end, you won't just have thought about your decision. You'll have taken a meaningful step on it.
Small group. Four sessions. One facilitator who has spent decades at the sharp end of high-stakes decision-making — and is now more interested in yours.
Places are limited to 10–12 participants.
Dieter Kahlmann
Dieter Kahlmann spent decades at the sharp end of financial decision-making — the kind where hesitation costs money and overconfidence costs more. His career took him from senior roles at Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank to five years on the Tokyo markets, and early on he co-founded BullBear System Trading, advising professional financial institutions on trading systems and risk management strategies.
What runs through all of it is a question he has returned to again and again: how do people actually make good decisions— under pressure, with incomplete information, when the stakes are real?
After banking, he spent more than fifteen years as an independent consultant and coach in Spain — building that practice online before remote consulting was normal. He is a former certified paragliding instructor, a Focusing practitioner, and now lives in the Canary Islands. Someone, in other words, who understands risk, reads inner signals, and knows when to take off, when to land, and where.
About the OTR Academy Club
The OTR Academy Club is a branded community space of the OTR Academy where wellbeing practitioners, volunteers and the public can continue personal and professional growth with holistic wellbeing as the overarching theme — through ongoing events, peer support circles, and workshops. The structure is flexible, allowing for multiple thematic circles (e.g., for parents, teachers, career, decision-making, etc), and emphasizes shared learning, applications, and the development of practical wellbeing skills.
This is a space where a community is forged – together we co-create solutions and celebrate positive change, no matter how small. Each participant is responsible for their own learning through active participation and sharing: to explore solutions together and help each other deal with decision-making challenges in the digital age – supporting each other to better prepare ourselves to meet an increasingly uncertain New Future.
Our circles revolve around four main themes:
DEVELOP: Personal development through understanding ourselves — our strengths and blind spots — in order to continue growing with clarity and purpose.
CONNECT: Mastering the science and art of communicating with compassion so that we thrive in the relationships that matter.
LEAD: Level up leadership skill sets with focus on leading with purpose and connection in the age of AI.
BELONG: Bringing community and collaboration to the forefront by sharing access to a large network of professional mentors, social impact leaders, mental health practitioners and experts.
Our purpose is to inspire individuals in their personal and professional development journeys and foster deeper connections. Through deep sharing and guided reflections, attendees will learn how to thrive through stories, tools and strategies, as we work together and support each other as a community in our move towards a holistic transformation.