Why I Sit Down With Change Agents and Impact Makers
Every now and then someone asks me why I started doing interviews. Why spend time sitting down with people, recording long conversations, and putting them out into the world? The honest answer is that I kept meeting people who were doing brave, meaningful work, and almost no one was really listening to how they were […]
How Healthy Is Your Leadership? ( and why the end of the year is the moment to check in)
As the year draws to a close, most mission-driven leaders start thinking about strategy, goals, budgets, and planning. We rush to map the next steps, set new targets, or reorganize priorities. But here’s a simple truth that often goes unnoticed: You cannot lead your team into clarity if you aren’t clear yourself.And you can’t build […]
Scaling Without Losing Your Soul
Every leader wants to grow — the team, the impact, the numbers.But here’s the thing: if growth costs you your peace, your purpose, or your people… is it really worth it? I’ve seen leaders scale fast… only to lose the heartbeat that started it all. They hit their KPIs but felt empty inside. They built […]
Dialogue or Destruction?
My heart is heavy with the news of the passing of Charlie Kirk. At first I couldn’t believe it. I found myself checking multiple news pages, hoping it wasn’t true. We never met in person on this side of eternity.Had we met, we would have found strong disagreements, and agreements alike.And we would have been OK […]
What are you doing to slow down this summer?
This morning I left at 4AM to drive to Düsseldorf (Germany) and drop off the oldest three of our four kids at the train station for quite the adventure! This is their first time traveling internationally with just the 3 of them as siblings! They are traveling back to the place we used to live for […]
You’re Not a Fraud
Allow me to start with an apology. It’s been a bit quiet here recently. Too quiet. Time to break the silence I can come up with all kinds of excuses, but here’s the honest approach. First of all: why would I want to spend time on screens and keyboards, while I can also spend time […]
Lifted to Life: The Unfinished Work of Ascension Day
In The Netherlands we celebrate Ascension Day as a national holiday. May 29 this year. We all get an extra day off, but I don’t think many people stop to contemplate what we’re actually celebrating. If we allow ourselves to think about it for a moment, the implications are vast, whether you consider yourself a […]
Risk It for the Kickflip
If you follow me on Instagram you may have noticed a hospital run on my stories over the weekend. You would also know that our son, Luan (13), is pretty crazy about skateboarding. He just started a series of training lessons at an indoor skatepark at about a 35-minute drive from our house. If you’re […]
Measure of Success
It’s not every day you get to talk to the parents of people you’re hiring or interviewing for job openings. We believe so strongly in the phrase ‘people over projects,’ that we always make it a priority to get on the phone with friends, previous leaders, colleagues or family members of our new team members. […]
Made For This
Ever heard of the Dutch kickboxer Rico Verhoeven? You should look up his name. What an absolute legend. I’m not necessarily a big fan of kickboxing, but as a Dutch person myself I couldn’t avoid hearing about this true fighter in every sense of the word. Rico defended his world title in heavyweight kickboxing last […]