Connector of Talent and Success 💼 | Empowering Businesses to Thrive through People | Culture Growth Strategist | Coach | Writer | HR leader | #1 LinkedIn Belgium | Top #150 LinkedIn 🌍

Who I help: Ambitious introverts and people-first companies

Problems: Visibility without burnout, quiet leadership, culture that enables deep work

Outcomes: Promotions, role transitions, retention, high-trust cultures

STRATEGIC HR LEADER AND COACH WITH HANDS-ON APPROACH AIMING FOR THE BEST EMPLOYEE/BUSINESS EXPERIENCE - INTROVERT ADVOCATE

International HR Executive passionate about the link between employee experience and business dynamics. Combining a strong focus on strategic thinking and planning with a structured and factual hands-on approach. A positive well connected team coach with a natural sense of empowering team members in a spirit of challenge, learning and mutual recognition. Sound decision making capabilities based on critical reflections within companies focusing on innovation, change, digital transformation and learning.

A. Group HR Director Alter Pharma (200 FTE - BE/IRL/US) – private equity backed firm defining & implementing HR strategy (from strategy to operations) including definition of mission/vision/strategy & values.
B. Global HR Business Partner BU Kerley international/Tessenderlo Group (+/-300 employees - 11 countries) developing/transforming key HR processes (talent resource planning, talent acquisition, performance management, competency management, learning, reward,..) - HR project lead new factory Rouen, France. 
C. Global HR Executive SWIFT (+/- 3.000 employees in +25 countries) transforming/coaching business and HR into new ways of (digital) working/thinking to improve the employee and business experience 
D. Global Head of Reward Tessenderlo Group (+/- 5.000 employees in +25 countries) - strategic development/transformation reward strategy
E. Development new holistic performance management framework for Tessenderlo Group, including full implementation recognition stream.
F. HR Project Manager : move of the Chiquita EME Headquarters from Belgium to Switzerland (social plan negotiations, c&b setup, recruitment, mobility, new policy/process design,...)

Professional coaching certification Better Minds at Work               2018 - 2019
Centre for Creative Leadership - senior leadership program           Q1-2 2018
Management Development Programme Vlerick (17 days)		  2010 - 2011
Strategic Compensation & Benefits Management, Vlerick 		  2007      
Master degree in Law&Taxation, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven    1997 - 1998

Steven Claes

This visual stopped me mid-scroll.

Not because it was poetic.
Because it was accurate.

For 20 years as CHRO, I sat across from introverts who apologized for being exactly this.

For needing silence after back-to-back meetings.
For choosing one real conversation over five surface-level ones.
For slipping out before the small talk started.

Last year, a senior director asked me permission to skip the team dinner.

He thought I'd mark him as "not a team player."

I told him I'd been doing the same thing for two decades.

What most people get wrong about us:

They confuse selectivity with coldness.
Solitude with sadness.
Quiet with empty.

All three are dead wrong.

What work actually taught me:

→ Selectivity is a self-management skill
Choosing fewer interactions protects your best thinking. Not coldness.

→ Solitude is a recharge, not a retreat
The best boardroom decisions? Made by someone who sat alone with the problem first.

→ Quiet is not empty. It is focused.
That depth is a career advantage most never develop because they're too busy performing.

The quiet life is not a consolation prize.
It is a chosen one.

And if you are in an introvert's inner circle, know this.
You were not a convenience.
You were a deliberate choice.

That is quiet confidence in action.

Which line on the visual hit you the hardest?

♻️ Repost to help a fellow introvert feel seen

Introversion isn't a bug. It's an operating system. I spent years apologizing for who I am.

Too quiet. Too reserved. Too much "in my head."

I tried to fix myself.
Fake energy. Forced small talk. Endless networking events that drained me by Tuesday.

Then something shifted.

I stopped treating introversion as a bug to fix.
And started seeing it as my operating system.

My quiet? It's deep listening.
My reserved? It's strategic thinking.
My "in my head"? It's where the best ideas live.

20+ years as a CHRO taught me this:
The leaders who know how they're wired outperform those who fight it.

Every time.

So I wrote this on my whiteboard.
As a reminder.
As a declaration.

I'm done apologizing.

And if you've ever felt like you needed to become someone else to succeed, I see you.

♻️ Repost for the introvert in your network who needs to hear this.

📩 These are the daily techniques that helped me stop fighting my wiring:
https://lnkd.in/eSdKpkMs

Deena Priest

Executive Coach | Accelerating Careers Without Burnout & Designing Smarter Exits | ex-PwC & Accenture Leader | Former Lawyer 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇦🇺

Senior leaders often know they want more autonomy but struggle to turn years of experience into a clear, sellable consulting or coaching offer.

I help you turn your experience into a profitable coaching or consulting business – without undercharging or guessing your way through it.

This is for you if you’ve lived inside performance cycles, restructures, steering committees, and “do more with less”… and you want a business built on credibility, outcomes, and a small number of premium clients.

If you’ve left (or are ready to leave) a senior role in a mid to large corporate business, you probably recognize this:

1. You’re brilliant at delivering complex projects… but talking about your own offer feels vague.
2. You want freedom, but you don’t want your income to fall off a cliff.
3. You keep hearing “charge your worth”, yet you have no idea what “premium” actually means.

You didn’t build a 15+ year career to become a $150/hr freelancer.
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A. WHAT WE DO TOGETHER

I work with corporate directors, VPs and senior leaders to:

1. Design a market-relevant, premium coaching/consulting offer that leverages your track record (not generic “life coaching”).

3. Build a de-risked, structured plan to replace – and then exceed – your corporate salary with a small number of well-fit clients.

3. Create a simple, repeatable client acquisition system (often LinkedIn-led) so you’re not relying on random referrals or hope.

4. Navigate the identity shift from employee to business owner, so selling starts to feel natural, not needy.
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B. WHO AM I

I spent two decades in high-pressure environments across law, top-tier consulting and commercial leadership, working with senior stakeholders who expected results, not fluff.

I’ve coached 150+ executives and senior leaders through big transitions – including turning “hidden expertise” into visible, premium offers that real clients pay for.
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C. WHAT YOU CAN ACHIEVE 

1. A sharp, confident vision of what’s next (not just “I’ll be a coach”).

2. A clearly defined, premium offer that you can explain in one or two sentences – and that clients will happily pay for.

3. Pricing, positioning and messaging that reflect your seniority, not junior contractor rates.

4. An authority-led personal brand and simple sales process that consistently creates opportunities and conversations.
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D. HOW TO WORK WITH ME

👉 Learn more / apply for the next Corporate Pivot Accelerator cohort here:
https://deenapriest.org/corporatepivotaccelerator

Or send me a DM with the word SAVVY and a line about where you’re at now.

taplio

The Battle

Steven Claes

Deena Priest

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taplio

The Battle

Steven Claes

Deena Priest

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Steven Claes's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreSteven Claes's LinkedIn Performance