You think you know me
You think you know me? To be fair, so did I. A year of reflection taught me otherwise.
The cement person. CCS. Decarbonisation. Carbon markets. Sustainability. Standards. Advocacy. Innovation.
Over 30 years spent helping industries navigate some of the hardest transitions of our time. And yes, I can still tell you why a new industry initiative will succeed, why it will fail, or why a perfectly logical proposal won't survive its first pass with a industry association boardroom. That's all real.
But somewhere along the way, I realised something else. The strategy was rarely the hardest part. The harder part was always the people...
- The pressure that comes with senior leadership roles when there is nowhere safe to put it down.
- The industry politics that shape decisions long before the meeting starts,
- The delicate balance between influence and integrity,
- The loneliness that so often comes with responsibility,
- The experience of being a woman in those industries,
- The values conflicts that arise when your beliefs are not fully shared by others
- The grief, family history, and personal experiences that quietly shape who we are without even realising it.
- The cost of being seen as the strong one.
- And the challenge of holding complexity without being overwhelmed by it.
I've lived versions of most of these. Not as theories. As realities.
That is what led me to train formally as a coach and systems practitioner alongside my industry work: EMCC Belgium Practitioner, AoEC - The Academy of Executive Coaching, ORSC with CRR Global, with which I am now undertaking a journey that some jokingly describe as the equivalent of a PhD in systemic coaching.
Today, I still work on sustainability transitions, public affairs, advocacy and industry transformation. But I also accompany the people carrying that transformation.
What started as professional development became something more personal: a recognition that supporting change means supporting both the initiatives and the people trying to make them happen.
Because organisations change through people.
And people do not change in isolation.
They change in relationship, within the systems they are part of, and by learning to see what is emerging around them.
That's CL4Change.
The same commitment to transformation.
A wider lens.
And if any part of this resonates with your own journey, I'd be delighted to connect.