Author | Leadership Advisor
Michiel Kruyt is CEO of IMAGINE, an advisory boutique helping executive teams develop future fit leadership and company vision. He had a fifteen-year career at McKinsey and Co, where he was a partner focusing on top team effectiveness, large-scale transformations and culture change. He helped many top teams around the world increase their ability to lead with impact. Michiel has co-founded and led Aberkyn, a change-facilitation firm, now owned by McKinsey. Before joining McKinsey & Co, he had a 15-year career at Unilever.
Michiel, along with Aaron De Smet and Jacqueline Brassey of McKinsey has Co-Authored the book - Deliberate Calm, a tangible guide that combines cutting-edge neuroscience, psychology, and consciousness practices, along with the authors’ decades of experience working with leaders around the globe.
In the podcast conversation, we speak about what it takes to be an adaptive leader given the changing world we live in. More specifically, we speak about being the Learning Zone versus Protective zone, climbing up the ladder of self-awareness, avoiding a triggering “nuclear” reaction and more. A very valuable guide to be effective in the times we are in.
Published in Feb 2023.
Nuggets from the
//=$title_name?> Conversation
HUL to McKinsey to Transformation Work
Michiel speaks about the arc of his journey and how he shifted trajectories over time and over time his interests and passions shifted from Sales, Marketing and General Management at Unilever to driving Personal Transformation at McKinsey and beyond.
Pausing to Reinvent
Michiel speaks about how he takes various retreats (3 days, 10 days, 6 months etc) at various points in time and how that often creates the space for new things to emerge.
Learning Zone vs Protective Zone
Michiel speaks about how our behaviour comes in the way of our learning when the stakes become higher. He speaks about the link between how team members listen and the link with learning.
Accessing your Skylight
Michiel speaks about how leaders can access their skylight and what rituals they can build before, during and after an event.
Ladder of Self-Awareness
Michiel speaks about the different levels of Self-Awareness and speaks about how we can slowly move up the ladder. 1) Bliss or Ignorance 2) Delayed Awareness. 3) Perceptive 4) Resilient 5) Adaptive. He speaks about the timing of when things come to our attention and our ability to regulate ourselves.
The infiniteness of Purpose
Michiel speaks about how Ambition can be a finite resource which could empty at some point in time but Purpose can be a perennially replenishing driving force if we tune into it.
Criticality of recovery
Michiel speaks about the criticality of rest and recovery for a leader to be effective. He speaks about how the recovery period could actually spark some creativity and new possibilities.
Collective Icebergs and Team Dominos
Michiel speaks about how in a team, we can have a chain reaction where people end up triggering each other and that could really be counter-productive. He speaks about how teams can collectively access “mini – balcony moments” to deal with these situations.