Home · René de Baaij

The world is accelerating. AI is redrawing what work is, what leadership asks, what organisations can be. Yet amid all the change one question remains just as urgent: who are you in all this, as a person, as a leader, as a carrier of what your organisation truly is?

I work with boards, executive teams and senior teams on the questions that linger longest. Not because they are too complex, but because they are too essential to answer superficially.

Those questions do not live in reports. They live in people. And they only come to speech in real encounter.

I am there. In trust. In connection. In the encounter that counts.

Active nationally and internationally, in the public and private sectors, in professional services and industry, in finance and healthcare.

Everywhere people work on something that matters to them.

Do you recognise this?

You have set the course, arranged the structure, presented the plans. But if you are honest: you are not sure it truly lands. The conversations that matter still do not take place.

You talk a lot about AI, about acceleration, about the future. And yet the silence grows where it matters most.

You see people who work hard and are loyal. And yet energy is lost to friction and avoidance. Sometimes you need someone to name from the outside what has become invisible from within.

How I work

All work is personal work

Every organisational question is ultimately a human question. I do not work on organisations. I work with people. Because change that is not personally felt does not last.

All work is collaboration

Nothing of value comes about alone. What counts is what happens in the space between people. I stand beside you and together we take on the questions that matter most.

The organisation as a working community

An organisation is more than a structure. I work with organisations as living systems, not to optimise them, but to bring them to themselves.

What clients say

"Sharp on the substance, but above all on what we ourselves were avoiding."

Director, public sector

"He is present at the moments that count. Not with advice, but with the question you did not dare to ask yourself."

CIO, financial sector

"What sat under the table came onto the table. And suddenly we could choose."

COO, industry

What I can offer

Personal coaching and counselling

You function at a high level. And yet you run more on autopilot than you would like. In confidence I work with you on who you are behind the role.

Team development and collaboration

Your team is made of capable people. What is missing is not competence, it is connection. I restore the encounter from which real collaboration arises.

Organisational development, leadership and culture

Strategy is there. Structure too. But the organisation does not move as you envisioned. I work with organisations as a whole.

Situations you may recognise

Public sector

Situatie An executive team divided on course that increasingly held back from challenging one another.
Interventie Guidance in the avoided conversations. Clear mandate, explicit ground rules.
Resultaat Fewer meetings, better decisions. A team that challenges one another again.

Financial sector

Situatie A board that had set up AI governance but found the organisation disengaging.
Interventie Surface and undercurrent connected. Governance design adjusted so that learning becomes possible.
Resultaat More ownership at every level. Governance as a workable framework.

Industry

Situatie After a reorganisation, managers were hesitant and waiting.
Interventie The managers' own development placed at the centre.
Resultaat A management team that looks ahead again. The organisation followed.

Professional services

Situatie Self-managing teams turned out not to be self-managing in practice.
Interventie Professional identity and self-worth strengthened.
Resultaat Teams that function independently as intended. More enjoyment in the work.

Recent thinking

I write regularly about leadership, organisation and the impact of AI on people and work. No newsletter, no noise, only pieces that are about something.

uātēs the art of leadership

As initiator and founder I take part in uātēs, a collaboration of experienced organisational professionals focused on leadership and organisational development. uātēs works from the conviction that leadership is a craft that calls for continual deepening.

The name uātēs refers to the ancient poet-seer: the one who speaks what others see but do not say. That is the heart of leadership, and the heart of our collaboration.

From uātēs we developed uātēs Lux, an AI-driven conversation partner for leaders and organisational professionals. Not a generic chatbot, but a considered partner that thinks from the complexity of real work.

An encounter begins here

A first conversation is without obligation. Together we explore whether your question and my approach fit. No presentation, no proposal, an honest conversation about what is at play and what is needed.