Fear can quietly take over organizations — through silence, control, and pressure — until trust disappears and performance collapses. In this article, Jan Salomons explores how fear-based leadership emerges and what leaders can do to reverse it. He shares five practical ways to rebuild trust, including how to reframe control, invite openness, and restore team rhythm. In a VUCA...
Culture change is often misunderstood as mere slogans or posters, but true transformation begins with leadership behavior and systemic redesign. At TransLog, a European logistics organization, leaders discovered that their performance issues stemmed not from broken processes, but from a flawed behavioral system. By mapping leadership routines and co-creating a new behavior system, they shifted from siloed thinking to...
Why do visionary leaders sometimes abandon their principles when the pressure mounts? Decisions like Meta ceasing fact-checking or Elon Musk supporting divisive figures highlight the complex interplay of fear, short-term thinking, and herd mentality in leadership. This blog explores the psychological and organizational dynamics behind these behaviors and offers actionable strategies to help leaders stay authentic, aligned with their...
Do your performance appraisals feel routine? Year-end reviews often become dreaded events that yield little benefit. What if these sessions were opportunities to strengthen relationships and boost performance? Picture a shift from evaluation to teamwork, where you set goals together and motivate your team. By fostering open conversations, you can enhance performance and build trust. Learn to make these...
Miscommunication is a leading cause of workplace inefficiency and conflict, often resulting in misunderstandings, reduced productivity, and increased tension. Studies highlight how poor communication impacts team dynamics, leading to incorrect assumptions and diminished morale. Addressing these challenges requires fostering clarity, active listening, and emotional intelligence to create stronger connections and avoid conflict. Effective communication not only resolves workplace issues...
How Wolves Can Teach Us About Leadership and Change
Did you know that reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone National Park transformed not just the ecosystem but also the rivers themselves? This powerful example of systems thinking reveals how small, strategic changes can cascade through an interconnected system, creating profound and lasting impacts.
In leadership, the same principle applies. Addressing one key area—like...
"Leading Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DI&B) effectively requires balancing empathy with strategy. In today’s VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) world, DI&B leadership isn’t just ethical—it’s essential for team resilience and innovation. This article explores my experiences and the top challenges leaders face: unconscious bias, resistance to change, and measuring impact. Offering practical guidelines, do’s and don’ts, and the role...






