Founder · Philosopher · Author · Coach
I spent twenty years giving people answers.The answer was almost never what was stopping them.
What I'm working on
Now I'm much more interested in what happens after people know the answer.
That's what connects most of what I'm building: the work I do with a small number of companies, the Commercial Excellence Consortium™, the book I'm writing, and the conversations I'm having with people responsible for getting a lot of other people to work differently.
I'm trying to understand what helps people move when information, expertise and another set of instructions aren't the missing pieces. I don't have the whole answer yet. Most of what I'm learning comes from the people I meet.
My main body of work
TransformationOS™
The operating system behind the work, written down so a company's own team can run it without outside help.
See TransformationOSPrivate dinners · Europe 2026
Ten executive roundtable dinners across Europe, 14–28 October.
I'm hosting one table in each city, for chief commercial officers and senior leaders in Commercial Excellence, strategy and transformation. Over dinner, the guests take one question: How can commercial leaders turn transformation into measurable growth — faster?
Frankfurt
The Garden
Cologne
taku
Brussels
La Villa Lorraine
Amsterdam
Bougainville
Paris
Madame Rêve
Rotterdam
Joelia
Barcelona
Via Veneto
Zurich
Orsini
Vienna
Prunkräume
Madrid
Deessa
The reframe
Adoption and adaptation are different jobs.
Change management works well for what it was built for: rolling out an answer that's already known, like a new system or a compliance standard. That's adoption.
Adaptation is getting good enough to find an answer when nobody has one. Most big changes need both. The mistake I see most is an adoption playbook aimed at a challenge that needs adaptation.
So I stopped trying to manage change. The work now is engineering the conditions for adaptation to happen naturally, without triggering resistance.
I built this with Roy van Griensven at LANXESS. Early on, we had to push the program at business units. Later, business units were asking when it was coming to them.
Read the ideaThe book · second draft in progress
The Transformation Architect
Why do some leaders make change stick, while others leave behind another program?
It draws on about two years of field work at LANXESS and on conversations with hundreds of commercial leaders.
Knowing isn't doing
People understand exactly what's expected and still don't do it consistently. The gap isn't information.
What makes it stick
People nod and agree in the meeting, then go back to what they were doing the next day. The book separates what makes change last from what only makes it look finished.
Why ownership matters
People defend what they built. They tolerate what they were handed. The difference shows up months later, once the attention has moved on.
The Lasting Impact Trifecta
Three things it takes to make change stick.
Where I've watched change stick, all three were there at once.
Winning mindset
How your people respond when the quarter goes sideways. Dr. Paul Stoltz's research shows it can be measured and built.
Fast adaptation
How quickly the organization reshapes itself around a new challenge, and then does it again.
Lean performance
More output from the same headcount and budget, with less need for outside help.
Most transformation budgets fund the systems. Very little funds the capacity to use them. Explore the model
Selected ideas
A few pieces to start with.
BriefEnterprise Adaptation Is Not a Change Management Problem
The difference the rest of the work rests on, in nine pages.
Read the brief
ConversationEliminating Resistance with Roy van Griensven
Roy on refusing to run the plan he inherited, and what he did instead.
Listen
ConversationHarnessing Adversity with Dr. Paul Stoltz
Paul on why bouncing back is the wrong goal, and what responding well in the moment does instead.
Watch
MasterclassHow to accelerate enterprise transformation
Fifty-three minutes on screen. The closest thing to sitting down with me.
Watch
Things I've built
What I've built since 2006.
Demand Metric
2006
Demand MetricA DIY consulting library of research, playbooks and tools, so commercial leaders could do their own thinking.
Commercial Excellence Consortium™
2026
Visit the ConsortiumAn invite-only group of 350+ senior leaders who run commercial excellence, strategy and transformation. No vendors.
TransformationOS™
in progress
See TransformationOSThe operating system behind the work, written down so a company's own team can run it without outside help.
Who I work with
You own a number you can't hit alone.
You run commercial excellence, strategy or transformation at a large company. The target is yours, and most of the people who have to deliver it report to someone else. You don't need another program. You need something that's still running a year from now.
- Behavior changes in the field, where the revenue is.
- It keeps running after the outside help is gone.
- Results the CFO can see and believe.
- A company that handles the next change faster.
If something here got you thinking, I'd like to hear about it.
Tell me what you'd push back on, or what it reminded you of. If you're working on a change of your own and want to talk it through, that's welcome too — and if I'm not the right person for it, I'll tell you who is.