I coach leaders to free up 20+ hours a month and implement systems that boost team performance by 20%

I help leaders and organizations scale effectively by turning strategy into results.With 7+ years as a founder and growth leader, I’ve led transformations that:	•	Increased change adoption by 30% during a digital strategy rollout	•	Redesigned customer operations for a 45-member team under high pressure	•	Consistently improved team performance by 20–50% across B2B clientsMy focus:	•	Building high-performing leadership teams	•	Increasing Revenue (Targeting precisely, Demonstrating Value, Fair Pricing, High Performance)	•	Streamlining operations to cut costs and boost efficiency	•	Guiding organizations through growth, restructuring, and changeAt ANIMA, I partner with leadership teams to create clarity, structure, and accountability — so strategy isn’t just designed, it’s executed.👉 For leaders who want a place to connect, share, and grow, I’ve built the Growth Leaders Community. Inside you’ll find the Growth Leadership Program (v1), workbooks, and peers to help you boost team performance, cut costs, and grow your business.Join here: https://www.skool.com/growth-leadership-7027Open to advisory, interim leadership, and collaborations that enable impactful transformation.

Soufiane Hamdaoui

Tobias de Bont

C-Level Executive | Permanent | Interim | General Manager | Marketing | Sales | Digital | FMCG | Finance | Telecommunications

I don’t do average. I build, scale, and transform companies — fast.

From broadband start-ups to national telcos, I’ve led teams, turned chaos into clarity, and delivered growth where others stalled. My work lives at the intersection of commercial grit, digital intelligence, and human leadership — because strategy means nothing without execution that bites.

As a C-level consultant and board advisor, I don’t “advise” from the sidelines — I step in, take ownership, and drive results. Whether it’s rebuilding go-to-market, tightening governance, or reigniting sales performance, my focus is always the same: measurable impact, not corporate theatre.

🧭 Currently driving transformation across Europe and Central Asia.
💡 Trusted by boards, investors, and founders to fix what matters.
⚙️ Obsessed with performance, culture, and the art of turning strategy into motion.

Let’s be clear — I’m not here to blend in. I’m here to build what lasts.

Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)

Interims role, leading 180 branches & 15k+ people at work.

🚀 82. That number made my day.

Last year my clients gave me a Net Promoter Score of 82.

For context:
Most companies are happy with 30–40.
Anything above 70 is considered world-class.

So seeing 82 is more than a metric — it’s a reflection of the impact we create together.

When I looked at the word cloud from the feedback, a few words kept coming back:

💥 Sales acceleration
🤝 Trust
💰 Savings
🛠 Reliability
👥 Team player

And that last one matters a lot.

Because real transformation never happens from the sidelines.
You need to roll up your sleeves, join the team, and build momentum together.

Companies don’t need more PowerPoints.
They need focus, energy and execution.

Helping organizations accelerate sales, simplify complexity and unlock hidden value — that’s what drives me every day.

A big thank you to all the teams and leaders who trusted me last year.

Let’s go for even bigger results this year. 🚀

#leadership #consulting #salesgrowth #teamwork #trust #NPS #business

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Last week my 4-year-old son taught me a powerful leadership lesson.

The lesson of three simple words:

“I don’t know.”

We were building something together and I asked him a question.

He looked at it for a moment…
shrugged his shoulders… and simply said:

👉 “Papa, I don’t know.”

No story.
No excuses.
No pretending.

Just honesty.

And it struck me how rare that is in business.

In boardrooms, meetings, and strategy sessions I often hear the opposite.
People who don’t know… but talk anyway.

They create theories.
Complex explanations.
Sometimes even complete bullshit stories to hide the fact they simply don’t know.

But here is the paradox:

The most powerful sentence in business is often:

➡️ “I don’t know.”

Because the moment you say it, something magical happens:

• The ego leaves the room
• Curiosity enters
• Exploration starts
• Teams begin to think together

“I don’t know” is not weakness.

It is the starting point of discovery.

The best leaders I’ve worked with — in telecom, banking and scale-ups — are not the ones with all the answers.

They are the ones comfortable enough to admit they don’t have them yet.

So thank you to my 4-year-old teacher for the reminder.

Sometimes the smartest person in the room
is the one who simply says:

“I don’t know… let’s find out.”

#Leadership #Learning #Parenthood #BusinessLessons #Curiosity

🐘 Elephants love elephants.

In business the same rule often applies.

Big companies love working with big companies.

Big agencies.
Big consultancies.
Big system integrators.

It feels safe.

✔ Big brand name
✔ Big team
✔ Big references
✔ Big invoices

But here is the uncomfortable truth:

Some of the best ideas, fastest execution and most entrepreneurial thinking often come from smaller, specialized companies.

Yet they are frequently overlooked in procurement and selection processes.

Not because they are worse.

But because they look smaller.

From my career coaching and advisory practice I often tell founders and boutique consultancies this:

You rarely win by saying “we are just as good as the big firms.”

You win by showing why being smaller is actually an advantage.

💡 Three ways to overcome the “elephant effect”:

1️⃣ Sell expertise, not size
Big firms sell capacity.
Small firms must sell unique expertise.

2️⃣ Show senior involvement
Clients often buy a partner and get a junior team.
Small firms can offer direct access to the expert.

3️⃣ Be sharper and faster
Large organisations move like… well… elephants.
Smaller firms can move like a panther.

In the end clients don’t pay for size.

They pay for results.

And sometimes the best partner is not the biggest elephant in the room…
but the smartest hunter in the jungle.

#leadership #entrepreneurship #consulting #procurement #businessstrategy

🔥 Winning doesn’t happen inside.
Inside people plan. Outside the market gets conquered.

🔥 Gewinnen passiert nicht drinnen.
Drinnen werden Pläne gemacht. Draußen wird der Markt erobert.

🔥 Winnen doe je niet binnen.
Binnen worden plannen gemaakt. Buiten wordt de markt veroverd. 🚀

Always stay in the driving seat. 🚗

In business, there will be moments where it feels like things are happening to you…
Instead of because of you.

Budgets get cut.
Strategies change.
New leadership walks in.
Decisions are made without you.

And suddenly… you’re reacting instead of leading.

That’s the danger zone.

Because the moment you give up control of your own narrative,
you become replaceable.

⚠️ Overwhelmed → you drift
⚠️ Reactive → you follow
⚠️ Silent → you disappear

Top performers do the opposite.

They step forward when it’s uncomfortable.
They create clarity when things get messy.
They take ownership when others hesitate.

👉 They stay in the driving seat.

Not because they control everything —
but because they take control of what matters.

Your career.
Your visibility.
Your impact.

No one will manage that for you.

And here’s the truth:

If you don’t drive your own destiny,
someone else will.

And they won’t ask for permission.

#Leadership #Ownership #CareerGrowth #Boardroom #Execution #StayInControl

🚨 “Ungrateful” for knowing your market value? 🚨

You get an offer.
Great company. Interesting role.

But…
💸 Salary = below market

So you do what any professional should do:
✔️ Check benchmarks (Glassdoor, network, peers)
✔️ Ask—politely—if there’s room

And then it hits…

👉 “That’s not possible, company rules.”
👉 “It wouldn’t be fair to others.”
👉 Subtle jab: “Feels a bit opportunistic…”

Seriously?


💡 Reality check:

• Companies benchmark you all the time
• They want top talent at controlled cost
• But the moment you do the same → problem

That’s not fairness.
That’s control.


🎯 How to handle it:
	1.	Stay calm and professional
Emotion = loss of leverage
	2.	Reinforce value, not need
Not: “I want more”
But: “Based on market data and expected impact, this level is appropriate”
	3.	Read the signal
Zero flexibility + defensive reaction = culture indicator
	4.	Be willing to walk away
The right place pays not just salary, but respect


🔥 Bottom line:
If a company gets uncomfortable because you know your worth…
👉 You’re not the problem.


💬 From coaching & boardroom experience:
Top professionals don’t negotiate aggressively…
they normalize conversations about value.


#leadership #careeradvice #salarynegotiation #executive #careergrowth #knowyourworth

The 9-Month Reality After a Merger or Acquisition.

In almost every integration I’ve seen, the pattern is the same:

Month 1–3: Grace period.
Everyone is polite. Listening. Observing. No sudden moves.

Month 4–6: “Let’s have a look.”
The new owners start asking questions.
Numbers. People. Structure. Culture.

Month 7–9: “Let me help you.”
Advice becomes direction.
Direction becomes intervention.

And then… business as usual begins.

A fly-in executive arrives.
New reporting lines appear.
Decisions suddenly move faster.

Especially when relatively new leaders inherit a business from very senior management, one thing becomes critical:

👉 Know what you want.

If you don’t define the strategy,
someone flying in for 48 hours will.

Clarity beats hierarchy.
Preparation beats tenure.

In post-merger integrations, the future rarely belongs to the most senior person in the room — but to the one with the clearest plan.

#leadership #mergersandacquisitions #boardroom #strategy #integration #corporategovernance

The fastest way to gain respect in business?
Admit your mistake.

Sounds simple.
Almost nobody does it.

Instead we see the usual corporate gymnastics:
	•	“The market shifted.”
	•	“The brief wasn’t clear.”
	•	“The team misunderstood.”
	•	“We need more data.”

Translation: no one owns it.

But here’s the paradox:

Owning a mistake is one of the most powerful career moves you can make.

Why?

Because the moment you say:

👉 “This one is on me.”

Three things happen instantly:

1️⃣ Trust goes up. People know you’re honest.
2️⃣ Speed goes up. No time wasted on blame games.
3️⃣ Authority goes up. Leaders take responsibility.

The best operators I know follow a simple formula:

Admit fast → Fix faster → Learn publicly.

Mistakes are expensive.

But covering them up is always more expensive.

The real professionals understand something many companies still don’t:

Accountability is not weakness.
It’s leverage.

Curious:

What’s a mistake you made that actually improved your business or career?

#leadership #accountability #business #management #growth 🚀

🚀 Entrepreneurship is not a sprint. It’s a stamina game.

From my career coaching and consulting practice I see it all the time:

Someone starts a company with huge energy…
…and expects success within 12 months.

Reality check:
That’s rarely how it works.

Most businesses need 2–3 years to really find their rhythm:
	•	the right product
	•	the right customers
	•	the right pricing
	•	the right team

Only then does the flywheel start spinning.
And when it spins… it can become massively profitable.

The problem?
Many people quit too early.

Not because the idea is bad.
But because their stamina runs out before the business takes off.

When you’re young, it’s easier:
	•	You can live in a tiny room
	•	Eat cheap
	•	Take risks
	•	Wait for success to bloom 🌱

When you’re older, reality changes:
	•	mortgage
	•	family
	•	responsibilities
	•	lifestyle expectations

And suddenly the runway becomes shorter.

💡 The lesson:

Entrepreneurship is less about brilliance
and more about endurance.

Not the fastest founders win.
The ones who stay in the game long enough do.

So before starting your venture, ask yourself one honest question:

👉 Do I have the stamina for 3 years… not 3 months?

Because if you do, your chances of success increase dramatically.

#entrepreneurship #startups #leadership #founders #businessgrowth #careers #resilience 💪

Most companies can reduce costs by 5–15%.
Without destroying the business.

Yet almost none of them do.

Why?

Because the real problem is not the costs.
The problem is organizational blindness.

Over time companies accumulate:

• projects nobody kills
• suppliers nobody renegotiates
• layers nobody questions
• tools nobody really uses
• processes nobody owns

And suddenly your cost base becomes “the way we do things here.”

But here is the uncomfortable truth:

👉 5–15% structural cost reduction is often possible without major operational risk.

Not through brutal cuts.
Not through panic layoffs.

But through:

• simplification
• accountability
• killing zombie projects
• renegotiating contracts
• focusing on what actually creates revenue

The difficulty?

Internal teams are often too close to the problem.

Politics. History. Internal loyalties.
Sacred cows.

That’s why sometimes you need an external pair of eyes.

Someone who can ask the uncomfortable questions:

“Why are we doing this?”
“Who owns this?”
“What would happen if we stopped?”

And suddenly the organization remembers something powerful:

Focus creates profitability.

Not complexity.

#leadership #strategy #costmanagement #businesstransformation #focus

The silence after an interview… ⏳

You nailed the conversation.
Strong chemistry. Clear value. Good signals.

And then… nothing.

Days turn into weeks.
Energy turns into doubt.

Let me be very clear:

⛔ The waiting time is NOT a reflection of your value.

From my experience (both as candidate and decision-maker), delays are rarely about you.

They are about this messy thing called organisations.

What’s really happening behind the scenes?

👉 Budget approvals get frozen or re-opened
👉 Internal candidates suddenly appear
👉 Hiring managers go on holiday / get pulled into crises
👉 Role scope changes halfway through the process
👉 Another stakeholder wants to “have a say”
👉 Headcount gets challenged by finance
👉 M&A, restructuring, or strategy shifts hit overnight
👉 Someone more senior steps in and resets the process
👉 Decision-makers simply… procrastinate

None of that has anything to do with your capability.

Yet candidates often conclude:
❌ “I wasn’t good enough”
❌ “I must have said something wrong”

Wrong conclusion.

Even the eventual “no” after weeks of silence?

➡️ In most cases: context changed, not your quality.

⸻

Practical mindset shift

✔️ Treat interviews as pipeline, not destiny
✔️ Never emotionally attach to one opportunity
✔️ Keep momentum—always have multiple processes running
✔️ Follow up once or twice, then move on with confidence
✔️ Protect your energy like it’s your most valuable asset (it is)

⸻

Reality of the game:

Hiring is not a clean, rational process.
It’s political, dynamic, and often inefficient.

Your job is not to wait.
Your job is to keep moving. 🚀

⸻

#careers #leadership #hiring #jobsearch #mindset #executive #boardroom #careeradvice

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Tobias de Bont

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Tobias de Bont

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