"The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant". - Max De Pree (Former CEO of Herman Miller)

Let's call a spade a spade, shall we?

You know that you are meant to do so much more, to be so much more.

So when will you stop telling yourself the bullshit that you've been telling yourself?

Leadership is in a bad state.

I just spoke to someone who accepted a job as a leader and is basically asking AI how to be a manager because he doesn't want to actually be a leader but he wants to have a better job.

This is the reality of leadership today.

Gallup's 2024 global report said it's only around 31% who are engaged, everyone else is not.

Why?

Lack of leadership, bad management, incompetency.

How can you be a leader if you don't want to talk to people?

Or how can you be a leader if you don't even want to really develop your employees, the ones you are supposed to lead?

When we talk about servant leadership, people don't understand what it really means. It's not that you're serving people, it's that your focus is on helping them develop, not on you getting ahead.

And now, hard truth moment: if you are a CEO or a top leader, you are hiring these people.

You are hiring people who want a better job, a better salary, and they don't care about your people.

They care about themselves. And there is nothing wrong with that. It's just that this is the reality.

You are hiring people like that to lead your people.

Why?

Because you are probably avoiding leading your people as well. You want them to be managed by someone else, and you are hiring someone who has no clue what they are going to do.

This is how you create a culture of bad management and low leadership.

And when Gallup releases another result and there is another very big crisis of disengagement, you will wonder who it is because it's not you.

But it is you. That's the problem. Everyone I talk to thinks it's someone else, but it's not someone else.

Think about it. It's one in three who is engaged.

Most people are not engaged. When you have more than three people, maybe one person is engaged in those three.

And the rest, statistically, two people are not engaged.

So even if you think that you have the most engaged people, you are also having disengaged people.

There is no way that if you run a company of 100 people or more that you won't have disengaged people.

You will have a lot of disengaged people.

Why?

Because of bad leadership.

But leadership starts with you. It starts with you loving your people. You wanting your people to elevate, and not you just making the money.

It's about you helping your clients and loving your clients, elevating their success, and not you making the money.

It's about making people happy when they come to work, and the culture thrives, and not that you are responding to the board and telling them that you are going to make more money.

It's not about: Your newly renovated house Your wife's trip of a lifetime and you want to support that Your husband's desire to play golf Your children's desire to go to American schools, international schools, or some other schools

It's not about that. It's about you being a leader that loves your clients, loves your people, and wants to create something bigger in the world.

It's about you creating something that will actually change the world for a better place. Not the same place, not more of the same, not more disengaged employees.

And then you will feel fulfilled. And then you will feel amazing.

And then, when someone asks you about leadership, you will not cringe.

And then you will feel like you are doing what you are meant to do on this planet.

This is what genuine leadership is like.

On November 27th, I’m hosting the Design Your Power Year: 2026 Edition workshop. This isn't just motivation—it's a 2-hour strategic sprint to:

• Extract the core lessons of 2025.

• Redefine your positioning and design your first 90-day execution rhythm.

Power comes from clarity, not pressure. Get strategically equipped.

📅 November 27, 16:00–18:00 CET. Secure your live spot for only €11!

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