In 2007 we moved to the United States from Belgium. I had accepted a role at our local business in North Carolina.
While discussing the opportunity, one of the arguments to convince me was that I would be an officer in the company and get the title of Vice President.
The only Vice President I knew at that time was Dick Cheney, and I was not impressed.… Read the rest
Let me start with a bit of a disclaimer. I only do this when I believe it’s necessary to warn you that you may be exposed to some opinions that may provoke you.
Overall, I think my insight today is a balanced rant.
You may think that a rant, by definition, is not balanced, but I disagree.… Read the rest
Yesterday the health minister in the Czech Republic got fired.
The official message was that he resigned, but everyone knows he was not aligned with the prime minister on the Covid vaccination strategy.
Up to the next health minister. Number four in one year’s time.
Number one ‘resigned’ because he didn’t handle the first wave well (lowest numbers in the EU).… Read the rest
Did you ever walk into a meeting with people you never met before, and you felt immediately something was off?
Nobody had said a word yet, and still, you knew what you were experiencing wasn’t right.
Then, well into the meeting, you suddenly realize what’s going on.
People are afraid to say what they’re thinking.… Read the rest
I typically read two to three books at a time. One book lies on my bedside table and is for relaxation before I go to sleep. One business book is lying around in the house for educational reading during the day, and then one audiobook for the car.
The bedside book is written by Rutger Bregman and titled Humankind: a Hopeful History.… Read the rest
What do the leaders you want to follow do well?
Notice the word, want.
There are many leaders in our lives we ‘follow’. After all, we would make our lives hard if we didn’t. But that does not mean we like the way they lead.
Of course, we can choose to leave the companies we work for or the countries we live in (it’s election time), but that’s simply not always an option. … Read the rest
The past blogs I wrote primarily about self-development and awareness. Understanding self is the critical foundation for building better relationships at work and in our personal lives.
Those relationships only thrive when there’s trust between people. Without trust, no relationship, team, or business performs according to its potential. Billions (pick your currency) are wasted every year because there’s no trust between people.… Read the rest
Do we need more rebels? Or are we looking for something else?
If you read about leadership regularly, you must have seen the word rebel passing by. We are exposed to ‘corporate rebels,’ we learn about rebel leaders, and I’ve read the term authentic rebel on more than one occasion. Apparently, it’s refreshing to be a rebel these days.… Read the rest
Why silence is such a powerful leadership tool
When Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, paused for 21 seconds (check it out here) before answering a question about the racial tensions in the United States, everybody talked about the pause, not the content of his answer. The pause made most people so uncomfortable that it became the focus of attention during the news reports following the press conference.… Read the rest
What will your future look like?
“Never waste a good crisis”, Winston Churchill once famously said. If COVID-19 has proven one thing to all of us, we need to be prepared for change at any point in time. Change always presents opportunities. The question is whether we’re open to it and ready to embrace and act on it.… Read the rest
Most of us have not seen anything like the impact the Coronavirus is having on the business we work at, or we may own. Not knowing whether what we’ve built up over so many years will survive, we need to come up with the right behaviors and actions to weather the storm and not drown.… Read the rest
