What I learned

Thirty years.
Twelve dispatches.

Hospital mergers. National banking programs. Machine learning transitions. A methodology built from scratch. A country left behind. Each dispatch is one thing I learned that I could not have learned any other way.

Subscribe to read every dispatch

Available now

Healthcare / Post-merger

What I learned in a hospital merger

Two organisations, one balance sheet, and a compliance gap nobody wanted to own. Here is what actually happened when I walked in.

Haga Hospital. Post-merger. My mandate was financial accountability and medical support harmonisation. What I found was a system that had merged on paper and not at all in practice. The IGJ advisory report was sitting on a desk. Nobody had touched it.

Read on Substack →

Financial sector / National program

What I learned running a national banking program

Reporting to a CEO and a Chairman simultaneously. A national covenant. And a sector that did not believe it had a problem.

The Dutch Banking Association asked me to build a sector-wide capability program on diversity and financial inclusion. I reported directly to the CEO and the Chairman. The 2023–2024 Financial Inclusion Roadmap came out of that room. So did a national covenant for female entrepreneurship. Here is what I learned about moving an entire sector.

Read on Substack →

Real estate / Data transition

What I learned handing over a machine learning roadmap

The goal was not to build the ML capability. The goal was to leave it running without me. Most people get that wrong.

Annexum. Real estate asset management. Azure Cloud migration, Power BI, a machine learning roadmap built from scratch. The hardest part was not the technology. It was designing a handover that would hold after I left. Most transitions fail at that point. This one did not.

Read on Substack →

Infrastructure / Digital transition

What I learned about GDPR in automated security systems

A European rollout. Automated security infrastructure. GDPR protocols that existed on paper and nowhere else.

BouWatch EU. Pre-integration of automated security systems at a European level. GDPR protocols, SIAM services, PIM architectures, GEO-data API integrations with national land registry data. The technical complexity was manageable. The organisational resistance was not.

Read on Substack →

AI methodology / NouSSe

What I learned building a methodology nobody asked for

I spent years building BAEM™ before anyone had a name for what it was. Here is what it cost and what it produced.

NouSSe. BAEM™. Nineteen disciplines integrated into one framework for AI capability in organisations. I built it because I needed it, not because a client commissioned it. Acquisition discussions across the GCC, Europe, and North America followed. Here is what I learned about building IP in a market that does not yet know it needs it.

Read on Substack →

International / Positioning

What I learned selling across three continents

GCC, Europe, North America. Same methodology. Three completely different conversations.

Positioning BAEM™ for acquisition meant translating the same framework into three different market languages simultaneously. What lands in Amsterdam does not land in Dubai. What lands in Dubai does not land in New York. Here is what I learned about the gap between having something real and being understood.

Read on Substack →

AI adoption / Practitioner

What I learned about AI adoption from the inside

I have been using AI tools in serious professional work since 2018. Before the hype. Here is what that actually looked like.

Not a researcher. Not a vendor. A practitioner who needed AI to work in regulated, high-stakes environments and had to figure it out without a playbook. The syllabi on this site come from that period. Here is what I learned that the current wave of AI content still gets wrong.

Read on Substack →

Personal / The move

What I learned leaving a country

Twenty years in the Netherlands. A practice, a network, a life. I left anyway. Here is what that decision actually looked like.

In early 2026 I sold what I could, packed what mattered, and moved to Southeast Asia. The consulting practice travels. The fixed infrastructure did not come with me. Here is what I learned about the difference between a life that works and a life worth keeping.

Read on Substack →

Change management / The human limit

What I learned about the one thing management cannot order

They can order a new system. A new process. A new org chart. They cannot order new people. And that is where every transformation either holds or falls apart.

Management has real authority over structure, budget, technology, and policy. What it does not have authority over is the person sitting in the chair — their willingness, their trust, their capacity to absorb yet another change. You can mandate a new way of working. You cannot mandate the person who does the working. Here is what I learned about designing for that gap, and why the organisations that acknowledge it outperform the ones that pretend it does not exist.

Read on Substack →

AI in the workplace / Practitioner view

What I learned about AI entering the workplace from the inside

Everyone is managing AI adoption. Almost nobody is weighing the factors that actually determine whether it makes or breaks the organisation. Here is what I saw from inside.

I was using AI in serious professional work in 2018. Not experimenting. Working. In healthcare. In banking. In regulated infrastructure. What I watched happen over the following years was not a technology story. It was a management story — and most organisations are still telling it wrong. The weighing factors that determine whether AI strengthens or fractures a company are not technical. They are structural, behavioural, and cultural. You can only manage what you truly understand. And most leadership teams do not yet understand what AI can do — or what it can quietly break — inside their specific organisation. Here is what I learned about the gap between AI adoption as a policy decision and AI adoption as a lived organisational reality.

Read on Substack →

Coming next

Leadership / C-suite advisory

What I learned advising boards on AI they do not understand

C-suite. Board level. Smart people who had decided AI was someone else's problem. Here is how that conversation goes.

Change management / Embedding

What I learned about change that actually sticks

Most change programs end when the consultant leaves. Here is what I did differently and why it is harder than it sounds.

Methodology / Scalable frameworks

What I learned about building frameworks that transfer

A methodology that only works when you are in the room is not a methodology. It is a dependency. Here is how I learned the difference.

Finance transformation / Accountability

What I learned about financial accountability in regulated environments

Financial accountability is not a finance problem. It is a behaviour problem. Here is what thirty years in regulated environments taught me about that distinction.

Subscribe to read every dispatch.

Each piece goes to subscribers first. No archive. No catch-up. You either get it when it lands or you wait for the next one.

Subscribe on Substack

Thirty years.Twelve dispatches.

What I learned in a hospital merger

What I learned running a national banking program

What I learned handing over a machine learning roadmap

What I learned about GDPR in automated security systems

What I learned building a methodology nobody asked for

What I learned selling across three continents

What I learned about AI adoption from the inside

What I learned leaving a country

What I learned advising boards on AI they do not understand

What I learned about change that actually sticks

What I learned about building frameworks that transfer

What I learned about financial accountability in regulated environments

What I learned about the one thing management cannot order

What I learned about AI entering the workplace from the inside

What I learned in a hospital merger

What I learned running a national banking program

What I learned handing over a machine learning roadmap

What I learned about GDPR in automated security systems

What I learned building a methodology nobody asked for

What I learned selling across three continents

What I learned about AI adoption from the inside

What I learned leaving a country

What I learned advising boards on AI they do not understand

What I learned about change that actually sticks

What I learned about building frameworks that transfer

What I learned about financial accountability in regulated environments

What I learned about the one thing management cannot order

What I learned about AI entering the workplace from the inside

Subscribe to read every dispatch.

Thirty years.
Twelve dispatches.