26 Sep

What Gets Seen, Gets Repeated – Firefighters vs Preventers

Infographic titled 'What gets seen, gets repeated' showing two columns: left red section 'Visible. Immediate. Reactive.' with a red alert siren, a worker on the phone, factory silhouettes, and a '22:00' breakdown; caption 'IS A HERO.' Right green section 'Invisible. Deliberate. Proactive.' with a worker at a laptop displaying a rising graph and icons labeled 'Identify risk', 'Address causes', 'Prevent failure'; caption 'WEEKS EARLIER – PREVENTION' and 'IS ALMOST INVISIBLE.' Bottom banner reads 'Shift recognition. Reward prevention. Build resilient operations.' and shows salomons.coach.
A manager who fixes a breakdown at 22:00 is a hero. The manager whose work prevented it six weeks earlier is almost invisible. Drawing on a coaching case with an Operations Director, this post shows what preventive leaders actually do, why organisations overlook them, and the routines a senior leader needs to put in place so prevention gets seen, rewarded and repeated.
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11 Jun

You Don’t Have a People Problem. You Have a System.

Systems-thinking infographic: scattered people icons, curved arrows around a glowing central circle on a dark blue gradient with the phrase 'You don't have a people problem. You have a system.'
Your team won't take ownership. The same crisis keeps returning. You replaced the problem person and nothing changed. These aren't character flaws — they're the shape of the system you're standing inside. Drawing on three decades in the leadership chair, Jan Salomons on why so much competence produces so little change, and where the shift actually begins.
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08 Feb

From Firefighting to Learning: The Leadership Shift Operations Need

Firefighting is rational, but it traps organizations. Under pressure, leaders act on what is visible and urgent, fixing problems to keep operations moving. Yet this behavior prevents learning, reinforces firefighting, and consumes leadership capacity. Sustainable performance requires shifting from solving today’s issues to redesigning the system that creates them.
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02 Jan

Results are never the problem. They are the mirror.

Leadership is not revealed in intentions, values, or language. It is revealed in results. In my work with leaders and teams, I always start with outcomes — and then work backwards to what leadership truly demands under pressure. Not to judge, but to understand which patterns, decisions, and behaviors are quietly shaping performance. Results are never the problem. They are the mirror.
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24 Oct

PDSA and VUCA: Why Leaders Need Both to Navigate Today’s Reality

In a world defined by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, leaders can no longer rely on fixed plans or past experience. VUCA describes the challenge — but PDSA provides a practical way to respond through fast learning cycles. My early years as a teacher, working with Kolb’s experiential learning model, taught me that people grow through experimentation, reflection, and adaptation. Decades later, the same learning loop has become essential for leaders: the ability to test, adjust, and learn faster than the environment changes.
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04 Apr

Innovation: Aerodynamic Trucks

Between 2010 and 2013, I worked with TU Delft and PhD researcher Gandert van Raemsdonck on pioneering aerodynamic innovations for TNT’s European Road Network. As head of business, process, fleet, and environmental development, I joined a unique coalition of engineers, researchers, and industry partners exploring how airflow, drag, and turbulence could be reduced to make transport cleaner and more efficient. Our side-wings and rear-flow experiments were ahead of their time, and even featured on RTL Nieuws. It was an early lesson in how powerful innovation becomes when diverse minds join forces to shape the future of logistics.
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