A plan nobody owns will stall.
Resistance rarely sounds like no. It sounds like endless questions. Set the plan aside and build it with the people who must carry it.
Insights
What 25 years of transformation taught me.
See the whole, not the budgets.
Ask every manager to cut separately and you get pieces that don’t fit. A shared picture of the whole creates commitment.
Cash tells the truth.
A P&L gives the broad strokes. Transparent cash flow shows what is really happening, and buys room for long-term choices.
In conflict, look for the shared goal.
Even founders who disagree usually want the same thing for their company. Start there, and make space for the personal.
Companies have life stages.
A scale-up needs a young, creative, data-driven team. A carve-out needs seasoned hands. Build for the stage you’re in.
Know when to leave.
When a new direction no longer fits your values, leave at a natural moment, hand over well, and give the company room to move.
Leading from stillness
Decide from stillness, not from noise.
In every transformation I have led, the biggest risk was never the strategy. It was decisions made from noise: shareholder pressure, fear of failure, the urge to act fast. The leaders who get it right share one thing — stillness and focus inside, whatever happens outside. Five principles I lead and advise by.
Clarity doesn’t come from more input.
In practice
When pressure rises, leaders ask for another report, another opinion, another scenario. The noise grows, and so does the doubt. Clarity comes when the noise settles. Create that space before every major decision — your clearest answer is already there.
The pressure is outside. Your decision is not.
In practice
Shareholders push, markets move, the clock runs. None of that has to enter the place where you decide. Leaders who keep that inner space free stay steady when the situation turns — and the whole room follows that steadiness.
Stillness hears what the room doesn’t say.
In practice
A quiet mind notices what a busy one misses: the doubt in a CFO’s voice, the tension between two board members, the risk nobody names. That is where the decisive insight comes from.
Question the one who is worried.
In practice
Fear of failing, of losing the deal, of losing face: most bad decisions start there. Don’t fight the fear — ask who it belongs to. Look closely and it is a thought about you, not a fact about the business. Seen for what it is, it loses its grip, and you decide on what is real.
Do your part fully. Then let go of the outcome.
In practice
Many leaders carry every possible outcome as a personal weight. It clouds your view and drains the team. Commit fully to what is yours to decide — then release the result. You will see sharper and lead with more energy.
In the press
Interviews.
- CFO.nl Lessons Learned: how I learned to connect On running into a wall at Philips, founder conflict at Bugaboo, and why reflection makes better leaders.
- CFO.nl CFO CarNext: time to accelerate Rapid growth, a new concept and a pandemic — leading finance through all three at once.
- CFO.nl Disruption gives a lot of energy Why a disruptive, fast-moving environment suits the way he leads.
- Het Financieele Dagblad Managers don’t learn everything on the job Three executives on why continuous learning sharpens leadership.