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ARTICLES ABOUT LEADERSHIP
Discover the art of leadership and learn how to become a damn good leader that inspires and empowers those around you.
Immerse yourself in the stories of remarkable people who have made a lasting impact on the world, and discover their secrets to success. Explore their unique visions for life, business, and leadership, and be inspired to craft your own vision for the future. Unlock your full potential and unleash your leadership skills, as you embark on a journey of self-discovery and transformation.
Business Coaching Only Works When Coaching and Entrepreneurship Come Together
A young entrepreneur once told me during a conversation that he was still the central hub of his business. Almost every important decision ended up on his desk. Employees asked for his approval, clients wanted to speak to him and whenever uncertainty arose, everyone automatically looked in his direction. You could interpret that as an inability to delegate. But that would not have done justice to his situation. In just three years, he had grown from a one-person business into
8 min read
When Did You Go from Entrepreneur to Guardian of Your Own Success?
An entrepreneur I coached had a successful business. He had once been a highly successful sales manager who could sell almost anything to anyone. Impeccably dressed, a sleek Audi outside and a career that appeared to be heading in exactly the right direction. The future looked bright. Yet he had been carrying an idea around with him. I cannot reveal what that idea was. The market is distinctive enough that it would probably be quite easy to identify him. What I can say is tha
16 min read
How a Radical Retail Transformation Failed: The Inside Story of Kijkshop
How an outdated business model, legacy debt and millions in agreed funding that largely never became available brought down an ambitious retail transformation. Most readers outside the Netherlands will never have heard of Kijkshop. For decades, however, it was one of the most recognisable names on the Dutch high street. Customers browsed products displayed behind glass, wrote down an item number and collected their purchase at the counter. Long before ecommerce existed, it fu
20 min read
Natural Authority: Why Some People Change a Room Before They Say a Word
On charisma, energy and Silent Authority Thought Leadership. Years ago, I met Satyanarayana Dasa Babaji in Faridabad, India. He was a spiritual teacher with followers around the world. During our meeting, he asked whether he could stay with me whenever he visited the Netherlands. What stayed with me most was not only what he said. It was the calm he radiated. There was something mystical about his presence, yet at the same time something remarkably grounded. He seemed to have
14 min read
Why Leadership Problems Are Often Personal: What 120 Hours of AI Coaching Revealed
An analysis of 63 AI Ben users confirms what I have seen throughout my years as an executive coach: business problems often have a personal layer AI Ben was developed to help people with questions about entrepreneurship, strategy, leadership, difficult conversations and personal development. Users were free to ask virtually anything. That is precisely why one thing stood out. When CEOs and leaders were given the freedom to discuss any subject, most did not begin with their st
7 min read
Curiosity: Why We Would Rather Be Right Than Ask Questions
As a child, you wanted to know everything. Now you mostly tell people what you already know. How curiosity gets buried beneath experience, ego and shame, and why we need to become über-curious again. In 1992, I wondered whether it was possible to create panoramic photographs that would allow people to walk digitally through a city. That does not sound particularly revolutionary today. We have Google Street View, three-dimensional maps and phones that take better pictures than
13 min read
Executive Coaching Reddit: What Do Leaders Actually Use a Coach For?
People searching for executive coaching Reddit are rarely looking for another coach explaining why coaching is valuable. They want to hear from executives who have actually worked with one. What did they use the coach for? Did it improve their decisions or merely give them an expensive person to talk to? And how do you know whether you are using an executive coach properly? Those are fair questions. Anyone can call themselves an executive coach. The internet is full of impres
10 min read
Executive Coach Amsterdam for entrepreneurs, founders and leaders
The search for a good coach, or perhaps better said, the right coach, can be quite difficult. Often it already starts with the question whether you even need a coach at all. I can speak from experience, because I once stood in those same shoes. I wondered how someone who knew nothing about my business, my life and my situation could possibly tell me anything useful. Looking back, that was exactly my mistake. I did not distinguish between a mentor and a coach. A mentor needs s
10 min read
Silent Authority Thought Leadership becomes more important in a world full of AI content
I still remember typing the final words of the manuscript for my first book on a Thai beach almost twenty years ago. In the weeks before, the words about how I looked at entrepreneurship, business and companies had poured onto the screen like a waterfall. AI as we know it today did not exist. Making spelling mistakes did. So I knew a good editor would still have to go through it, but that was not my main problem. The real problem was whether I dared to let anyone read it. Bec
6 min read
Business Strategy Builder reaches #2 worldwide in the ChatGPT App Directory
My Business Strategy Builder has reached the number 2 position worldwide in the Business category of the ChatGPT App Directory. A special moment. Not only because of the ranking itself, but especially because of what it represents. For more than 30 years, I have guided entrepreneurs, leadership teams, and C-level executives in strategy, growth, and business development. Sessions that normally take several hours, and sometimes even days when working with teams, have now been t
1 min read
Silent Authority Leadership: The “Why” Your Six-Year-Old Still Needs
Why some people sound like noise, and others sound like a future you want to join. As a kid you asked it all the time. “Why, mom?” Why are we doing this, why are we going there, why does it matter, and why now. You were not being dramatic. You just wanted a map, because without a map everything feels random, and random feels unsafe. Then you grow up and you stop asking it out loud. You still think it, though. You sit in a meeting while someone announces, “We need to change th
7 min read
Silent Authority Leadership | The 3 Silences That Say More Than Words
I once said “yes” to something I should never have said “yes” to. A friend (and client) asked me to give a short awards speech in his place. Ten minutes. “No problem,” I thought. I coach people who speak for a large audience. I’ll just improvise. Spoiler: I improvised myself straight into the abyss. After four painful minutes, I put the microphone down and walked off the stage. Behind me, an entire room was left in silence. Not the good kind of silence, but the empty kind. Th
8 min read
Dare to Ask: Why Yes Often Waits Behind One Simple Move
I have believed this for a very long time: in many cases, you already have the no. A no is easy to collect. You get it from silence, from hesitation, from the wrong inbox, from someone who does not have the authority, the budget or the courage to decide. Yes is different. Yes is usually hidden behind the one thing most people refuse to do: ask clearly. Not asking around a little. Not hinting. Not carefully dropping the question somewhere to see if someone might respond positi
8 min read
How SEO Makes Silent Authority Thought Leadership Discoverable
Silent Authority Thought Leadership does not mean staying invisible. That is a misunderstanding. If your ideas cannot be found, they cannot create influence. If your vision never reaches the people who are already searching for answers, it remains private conviction instead of public authority. That is where SEO becomes interesting. Not as a trick. Not as a way to shout louder. Not as a set of technical hacks to manipulate Google. But as one of the quietest ways to build auth
11 min read
Unjust Arrest: Telegram Founder Pavel Durov Detained in France on False Charges
On August 24, 2024, Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, was unjustly arrested upon his arrival at Le Bourget Airport in France. The arrest came as a shock to many, as Durov appears to be targeted by European authorities solely for his steadfast commitment to privacy and freedom of speech. Under the guise of alleged criminal activities such as drug trafficking, fraud, and even child pornography, this courageous and purposeful entrepreneur is now being held, with a potential
5 min read
Assertiveness vs. Aggression: The Leadership Balance Between Clarity and Ego
Last week I was sitting with a very pleasant designer who, almost out of nowhere, stated with great confidence that everyone who starts their own business does so to prove themselves. That is quite a statement. As someone who has worked with entrepreneurs for years, both as an advisor and executive coach, and as someone who reads, writes and speaks extensively about entrepreneurship, I could not simply let that pass. Not because I wanted to win a discussion, but because the s
12 min read
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