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

Executive Coach | Leadership Trainer | Fractional CHRO | Strategic HR Advisor

I don’t run HR playbooks or coaching programs.
I create alignment where people and org goals move in the same direction.

I’m a CA who has lived through the real challenges of service delivery, client pressure, and leadership in motion across finance, consulting, and HR.

I’ve seen that business problems rarely start in the balance sheet.
They start in behaviour, in how leaders think, communicate, and drive performance.

I work with founders and CXOs to turn leadership behaviour into business advantage.
My work bridges the language of numbers with the pulse of people.

1-on-1 EXECUTIVE COACHING

For CXOs and founders who don’t need motivation, they need momentum.

I’ve been in the rooms where decisions are heavy, expectations are high, and silence is loud.
I know it can be lonely at the top, when everyone looks to you but no one looks out for you.

You don’t need another coach. You need a strategic sounding board who understands both people and pressure.

I help you:
📌 Reboot your leadership operating system for sharper thinking and calmer execution.
📌 Navigate power, people, and pace without burning out.
📌 Build conviction that inspires trust, not compliance.

At your level, leadership isn’t about doing more. It’s about leading with clarity.

LEADERSHIP TRAINING FOR MANAGERS

For organizations ready to turn managers into multipliers.

My group programs are not lectures. They are labs where managers learn to communicate with impact, build trust velocity, and drive accountability across generations.

📌 Flagship offerings:
• Leadership Coaching for First-Time Managers
• Gen Z Leadership Readiness
• Multigenerational Productivity Strategy

FRACTIONAL CHRO & STRATEGIC ADVISORY

For founders who want senior HR leadership without the overhead.

You should consider a Fractional CHRO when:
📌 You’re scaling fast but people decisions lag behind growth.
📌 Culture feels inconsistent across teams.
📌 You need strategic HR that links performance, cost, and capability.

I design people systems that pay for themselves through cost-smart org design, productivity frameworks, and leadership pipelines that hold under pressure.

HR isn’t a department. It’s your performance infrastructure.
When it’s designed right, it scales both people and profit.

Leadership and HR are not separate functions.
They are the twin engines of growth.
When one slows, the other stalls.
I make sure both run together.

📍 Founder, NextAxis – Your People & Performance Pivot.

Richa Shailesh

Too many opinions don’t create wisdom. 
I proved this in a recent leadership training.

I ran a simple exercise.

Same case. Same data.

Round 1
Only people with direct knowledge could speak.
Decision in 2 minutes.

Round 2
Everyone had to give an opinion.
Decision took 12 minutes.
Clarity dropped.
Energy dropped.

Nothing changed except the number of opinions.

Here’s the clear takeaway:

📌 Relevant opinions add value.
📌 Unfiltered opinions add volume.
📌 Volume feels productive. It is not.

Leadership is not about how many people speak.
It is about who should speak.

This is what I train leaders on.
Structured consultation.
Sharp decision rights.
Clean thinking.

𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤, 𝐃𝐌 𝐦𝐞.

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Steven Claes

Richa Shailesh

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taplio

The Battle

Steven Claes

Richa Shailesh

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