Nicole Schmitz is the founder of Leadership X‑Factor, a leadership coach, speaker and entrepreneur working at the intersection of people, leadership and technology.
With academic backgrounds in Psychology and Law, Nicole has built her work around a recurring observation: intelligent and technically capable people are not always limited by expertise. Often, the real barrier is how they see themselves, communicate what they know, navigate people and translate value into influence.
Those observations became the foundation of Leadership X‑Factor — a psychology-informed, science-backed and human-centred approach that helps people think, speak and connect with greater influence.
Leadership X‑Factor began after Nicole Schmitz was made redundant during the COVID-19 pandemic. Offered another role in an industry she knew well, she chose instead to build the business she had been thinking about for years.
That decision became a key turning point, growing into an international leadership development business supporting professionals across technology, finance, government, entrepreneurship and specialist professions.
With backgrounds in Psychology and Law, Nicole’s work sits at the intersection of people, leadership and technology — helping highly capable professionals turn subject-matter expertise into influence through the way they think, speak and connect.
Nicole’s work draws on psychology, law, leadership development, cross-cultural insight and real-world business experience. The result is a broader lens on the behaviour, communication, judgement, relationships and systems that shape leadership.
Part of its advisor ecosystem alongside senior technology, business and transformation leaders.
2024 & 2025
Back-to-back Silver Stevie® recognition for Best Female Entrepreneur — 2025 & 2026.
Read the 2026 IT Brief feature
“A compelling entrepreneurial journey supported by strong commercial performance, measurable client outcomes, and a credible strategy for scaling leadership development through AI.”
Nicole is currently developing an AI-powered Leadership X‑Factor platform, designed to scale personalised leadership development while preserving the human judgement, connection and nuance at the heart of her work.
Read the SMBtech feature
Explore the methodology, framework and how Leadership X‑Factor is applied in practice.