A few years ago a research company tried to find out what made a CEO successful or not. They interviewed a lot of CEO’s, young matured and just retired. The outcomes from the matured and just retired top-leaders was a bit of a surprise. One of the questions in the questionnaire was: when you could do it over, what would you do differently? The outcome for the mature and just retired CEO’s was in 80%: rely more on my intuition. When they had important decisions to make they had all kind of data available. But when they looked back they realized that they often were not satisfied with the decisions they made only based on facts and figures. Mainly because their intuition told them something different. And that intuition couldn’t be made factual. It was more a feeling they had. And in businesses feelings don’t count that much. A decision has to be made rational, not based on feelings. But when you look closer, that rational is not so rational anymore.

A customer asked me to think together with her on what it would mean for her company to implement ‘Employer Branding’. The coincidence (if that exists) was that shortly before her request I attended a masterclass Employer Branding from Brett Minchington. Brett travels all over the world to spread the ideas and importance of Employer Branding. His definition of employer branding is: “The image of your organization as ‘a great place to work’ in the mind of current employees and key stakeholders in the external market (e.g. active and passive candidates, clients)”. Quite some companies saw the importance of Employer Branding and started to work on it.
The article was published on the website www.cariereonline.ro, on the 26th September 2017.

Leadership is all about relationships. As a leader, you don’t need to ask if you have relationships with employees, the question is what the quality of the relationships are. And, also generally speaking, women are better in managing the relationships than men. Men are better in the content of the subject. Off course also very important, but in leadership less nowadays. And, also, research shows this.

How do we recognize the dictatorial leadership style? Actually, this is quite simple to determine. A dictator doesn't ask questions. Because a dictator isn't interested in other people's opinions. The dictator expects that the people in his or her team are following without questions and without questioning his or her authority. The dictator doesn't allow mistakes. They expect a high performance with the highest quality all the time.
​This article was published in Cariere Magazine on the 25th April 2017.

In successful companies, assertive employees and leaders go hand in hand. Shanon Anthony Bower describes the difference between assertive and aggressive people as follows: “The basic difference between assertive and being aggressive is how our words and behavior affect the rights and well-being of others”. You can read more on this subject in the article published in BIZ Magazine on 7th April, 2017.

When I was asked to write an article special for the 8^th of March, I had some options. I could write about a trending topic in business: Gender diversity. But I would like that firms are busier with the Diversity of the Mind.

When I see that in a management team there is a discussion about a decision I suggest almost every time to look for a third possibility, that is not a merge of the other 2 possibilities. Background: if people are not agreeing on the decisions there is a realistic chance that both are not the best. Go to look for the alternative third.

According to Socrates, democracy is all about freedom. Most jobs are available for everyone and everyone can do, or not do, or proclaim what he wants. Almost all people in types and philosophies can live together. They are ‘a dappled fur rug with all kinds of colors’. By the emphasis on freedom nobody needs to obey others. Nobody is forced to follow what they don’t want to follow. Principles are not important anymore. Off course a democracy doesn’t look like this. Socrates only describes the tendency when it is about freedom as ideal. He doesn’t see the democracy as a problem in pursuing the quality, but in her own logic that destroys democracy. It is a Trojan horse. Why??
This article was published on the website www.cariereonline.ro, on the 31st January 2017.

The whole world is, more than other times, interested in the presidency of Donald Trump. It is clear that Donald Trump’s campaign was unconventional and the hardest and roughest since decades. Despite the scandals, rumors and opportunistic actions he won the elections, against all predictions. But especially his behavior adds question marks to the way he will lead the United States in the coming four years.
​This article also appeared in Forbes Romania magazine on 16 December 2016 (in Romanian language) 

Conforming and copying of the behavior of others leads often to strange and irrational behavior. And we see that often in the world of business. Copying or automatically doing what the competitor also is doing. Every existing player in the business is afraid to take a risk and take a deep dive. Most businesses have examples of this type of management but nobody remembers why they are doing it that way. But hardly anybody dares to challenge it. And that is where the business opportunity lies. If you’re the first to do it differently, it might just bring you a lot of money.

65% of the people are dissatisfied with their work and only 13% is engaged. This often due to the fact that we don't have good leaders on their positions. But how can we recognize good leaders ? This article is published on 22-09-2016 in Biz magazine

It is amazing how managers can demotivate employees