Raised by anti-capitalist, academia-loving and socially-minded parents, Paul has made quite a personal and professional journey that has brought him, among others, at the head of a decidedly capitalist undertaking, an international car leasing business. Today, returned to the professional service world in which he spent most of his career, Paul has found his professional destiny as a specialist in behavioral change and learning.
Paul describes himself as a “fierce learner” who seeks and finds opportunities for personal and professional growth in any environment and situation, approaching these with a mixture of curiosity, confrontation, courage and compassion. This “fierce learning” attitude that Paul applies to himself also defines his signature presence with clients. He seeks to understand, is clear in sharing observations, will rather experiment than theorize, and takes care to provide a safe environment for reflection and learning.
With a common theme in behavioral change and learning, Paul takes diverse roles in serving Sokrates clients. He consults to senior leaders to help them in their roles of shapers and pathfinders of large-scale organizational change; he facilitates teams that are in search of more productive ways of collaboration; and he coaches individuals looking to achieve breakthroughs in their personal or professional lives. And while he may from time to time nudge his clients on with a helpful insight, framework or idea, he always works from the realization that ultimately his clients, and not he, will need to shape and own whatever actions follow from his presence and contribution.
Paul lives in Amsterdam. When he is neither working nor spending time with his family, Paul might be in an Aikido dojo, in the sky training for his private pilot license, in the countryside hiking and making landscape photos, or tucked away somewhere with a history book.
