René de Baaij
Trusted advisor to boards and executive teams at the intersection of leadership, culture and organisational transformation.
The world is changing, AI accelerates. But you decide wat has value.
Ik werk met besturen, directies en senior management aan de vraagstukken die er werkelijk toe doen, de vraagstukken die het langst blijven liggen.
Or read my latest article: (also available in English)
Active nationally and internationally, across the public and private sectors, in professional services and industry, and in the financial and healthcare sectors.
Wherever people work and strive to do their best.
Does this sound familiar?
We have set the direction, redesigned the structure and presented the plans. But if I am honest, I am not sure it is really landing. The right conversations are still not happening.
We talk a lot about AI. About opportunities, about risks, about what we need to do. But who is actually deciding, who is accountable when things go wrong, and what it asks of our leadership — that remains unresolved.
I see people who work hard and are genuinely committed. And yet a significant part of our energy is lost to friction, avoidance and meetings that do not lead to decisions. Somewhere there is a pattern we can no longer see clearly ourselves.
How I work
Diagnose
Seeing clearly what is actually at play I start by looking and listening. At what is being said, and at what is not. What is driving behaviour, decision-making, the undercurrent? The diagnosis is the foundation. Without it, no intervention works.
Intervention
Working where it matters I do not work alongside the organisation. I work inside it. In the boardroom, in the management team, where decisions are made and tension arises. Not with programmes and reports, but with interventions that make an immediate difference.
Anchor
Change that lasts Good interventions leave something behind. Clarity about mandate and ownership. A rhythm of constructive conversations. Leaders who are consistent and accountable. Less noise, faster decisions, greater maturity.
What clients say
"Sharp on the content, but above all on what we had been avoiding ourselves."
Executive, public sector
"AI finally became a boardroom topic, not a toy for a project group."
CIO, financial sector
"What had been under the table came onto the table. And suddenly we could make choices."
COO, Industry
Recognizable situations
Public Sector
- Situation An executive team divided on direction, increasingly reluctant to hold each other to account. Meetings ran smoothly. The real conversations were happening elsewhere, or not at all.
- Intervention Diagnosis of decision-making patterns and team dynamics. Guided the executive team through the conversations that had
- Result Less time in meetings, better decisions. A team that once again addresses what is actually at play.
Financial sector
- Situation A board that had put AI governance in place but found the organisation disengaging. Policy existed. Ownership did not. The operational level experienced control, management experienced distance.
- Intervention Connected the visible and the hidden: named the fear beneath "resistance", surfaced the need for autonomy beneath "control." Redesigned governance to manage risk while enabling learning.
- Result Greater ownership at every level. Governance as a workable framework rather than a bureaucratic burden.
Industry
- Situation After a significant reorganisation, the damage was visible in behaviour. Managers had become hesitant, cautious and passive. No one was willing to put their head above the parapet. Energy had turned inward and eyes were cast downward.
- Intervention Placed the personal development of management at the centre. Not as a programme, but as a serious conversation about who they want to be as leaders, what drives them and what they want to give their organisation.
- Result A management team that looks forward again. More initiative, more courage, a shared perspective on the future. The organisation followed.
Professional services
- Situation Self-managing teams were not, in practice, managing themselves. Professionals waited for frameworks that never arrived, managers intervened at every obstacle. The model looked right on paper. The reality was exhausting for everyone.
- Intervention Strengthened the professional identity and self-worth of the teams. Reminded professionals of what makes them capable, what their judgement is worth and what they are entitled to trust without asking for permission.
- Result Teams functioning independently as intended. Less management attention required, higher productivity, greater satisfaction in the work.
Recent thinking
I write regularly on leadership, organisation and the impact of AI on people and work. No newsletter, no noise — only pieces that have something to say.
uātēs the art of leadership
As founder and initiator I participate in Uātēs, a collaborative network of experienced organisational professionals focused on leadership and organisational development. Uātēs operates from the conviction that leadership is a craft that demands continuous deepening — personally, professionally and organisationally. For assignments where a broader team of senior professionals adds the most value, I work through Uātēs alongside like-minded peers.
From within Uātēs we developed Uātēs Lux, an AI-driven conversational partner designed specifically for leaders and organisational professionals. Uātēs Lux combines decades of knowledge and experience in leadership, organisational development and culture with the capabilities of contemporary AI. Not a generic chatbo