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

Follow me for leadership insights | I've worked with 1300+ leaders to achieve breakthrough results | Together we fuel high-performance in your team | We close the strategy to execution gap | We unlock your full potential

As a leader, you constantly strive for creating a high-performance organisation where people thrive and grow.  Where full engagement, consistent results, and personal fulfilment is the norm.

Through a career spanning over two and a half decades, two continents and multiple industries, I tried to create that environment for every organisation I led. Never easy, but always rewarding and ultimately essential to achieve results.

After leaving my last corporate role end of 2020. I decided to create a company that would focus on helping individuals, teams and organisations leverage untapped potential to drive performance.

At the heart of every organisation are teams.  We developed our HIGH-PERFORMANCE TEAMS program to help leaders and teams create exceptional results by addressing the topics of trust, conflict, and accountability.  We provide the tools and environment for teams to build a rock-solid and authentic foundation together.

When I ask leaders the question "What's your perspective on the strategy to execution gap?" - leaders consistently recognise that there is one.  To help you address this head-on we leverage a proven approach implemented in over 500 organizations, to dramatically enhance your STRATEGY-TO-EXECUTION PERFORMANCE.

Last but not least, I also work with leaders on a 1:1 coaching basis - to help you LEAD AUTHENTICALLY AND WITH CONFIDENCE. Leadership is a journey, and my coaching aims to help you understand yourself, where you want to go, and who you want to be as a leader. It is about aligning your actions with what truly matters to you and those you care for.

Since starting LEADING2RESULTS in 2021, I have had the privilege of working with over a thousand leaders across dozens of companies globally, assisting them, their teams & organisations in unlocking their full potential.

To learn more visit our website at http://www.leading2results.com.

To talk with me about your business' opportunities and challenges - you know what to do.

Feel free to follow me for insights & ideas.

Jakob Bovin

Simple to understand, but hard for many leaders to live up to.

I work with leaders to achieve breakthrough results | 1,800 leaders can’t be wrong | Together, we fuel high performance in your team | We close the strategy to execution gap | We unlock your full potential

Don't underestimate how much your attitude and energy matters!

Are you evaluating yourself, or others...? Something to ponder!

Scary thought: what if invest in my people and they choose to leave? Even scarier thought: what if you don't invest in your people!

No two people have exactly the same perspective…

Very excited about the fact that close to 400 people have registered to attend my IMFAHE masterclass today!  Looking forward to it! Jakob

IMFAH

Success is where motivation and ability meet opportunity!

Jumping from emotion to action can be costly. First take a time out!

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taplio

The Battle

Steven Claes

Jakob Bovin

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