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As an executive coach but also as a board room consultant, he assumes a role that gives leaders space to be candid. His talent: connecting and maintaining relations. His trademark: trust and discretion. The market in which he operates is so small and exclusive that you cannot afford any Jos Hessels | Partner at TheLeadershipAdvisoryTheLeadershipAdvisory; providing executive trust. Specialised in Executive and Interim Leadership and Leadership consultancy. ‘I’m interested in real connections with people. It is a very conscious pursuit of mine’

errors. But Jos Hessels understands the figure of the leader, the dilemmas they face, the processes and dynamics of the boardroom. His favourite interactions: having shared aha-moments and providing key input as a means of supporting leaders and organisations. Status As a Rotterdam-based business economist from a Wassenaar family, Jos Hessels was destined to become the director of a large company. Preferably international. Hessels: ‘That was a matter of status in the world I grew up in.’ And he travelled that road: Shell, Pakhoed (now Vopak) and Ryder Logistics (USA). Car with driver and the whole shebang. But after a sabbatical with his family in 2002 at the age of 46, and an experience at the top of a high mountain, he chose a road less travelled that became ‘totally his thing’. That road led via Boer & Croon to TheLeadershipAdvisory. Fingerspitzengefühl In groups, Hessels is in his element. He spent four years at a boarding school in Zeist. So without parents. That was where he first discovered his Fingerspitzengefühl for what is happening in a group. Jos: ‘If there was anything fishy going on, the school team knew they could look to me to find out exactly what was going on.’ !He discovered his talent for networking at the Rotterdam student association and the Erasmus University. Jos: ‘The student life in Rotterdam and at the university there is very hands-on. The people there were ambitious, wanted to score big and go far. That was very much my cup of tea. I’m not a bookworm, I’m a people person. I’m interested in real connections with people. It is a very conscious pursuit of mine.’ Organizing During his student days he was very active at an administrative and organizational level, but also often involved with projects. For example, he was president of AIESEC Rotterdam, organized the student association’s lustrum anniversary, and was the praeses of his student society. Hessels: ‘There were enough guys who were popular, but you couldn’t ask them to organize the anniversary. I was in the ‘great guy’ category and if we ask him, things will also actually get done.’ Hooks You also have to be able to engage with people in the corporate world. That came naturally to him and he steadily climbed the corporate ladder at Shell, Vopak, and Ryder. But the powerplay needed to push to the absolute top wasn’t his forte. To get there, you have to be able to command influence. Hessels: ‘In my coaching, we call that power. That sounds negative but it is a positive form of strategizing.’ As an executive coach and board room consultant he plays to his strengths; he is a very good listener and can reflect on what he hears from his own experience and from what he’s seen in companies in the Netherlands and abroad. In a pleasant way: ‘I’m non-threatening and create a safe and positive atmosphere.’ He isn’t bent on formulating a ‘I create a safe and positive atmosphere’

sales pitch and doesn’t seek to please. Hessels: ‘What I’m mostly doing is looking for hooks. When I find one I expand on it and then my conversation partner has to think about what he or she is going to do with my advice. And in nine out of ten cases I receive a call.’ Emotions For Hessels, positive emotions come from scoring, sharing aha-moments and from the enthusiasm he feels for lecturing about his profession at Nyenrode, among others. The negatives are his annoyance with bureaucracy, with endless meetings but especially with substandard quality. It matters deeply to him: ‘It is precisely in the top segment that the processes in my work must be 100% correct and must also be followed completely. Otherwise, so much value is destroyed!’!Hessels takes the work he does and the quality he delivers very seriously. The emotional component of his daily work is that he is often dealing with crisis situations. Hessels: ‘That is always accompanied by a lot of emotion. So I come across it regularly and it’s up to me to manage those emotions. My response is to become very calm.’ Mountain He gets energy from the people he works with and from spending time with them on a mountain summit. Hessels: ‘I never would have thought that. When I first went on a leadership trail during my sabbatical in 2002, I didn’t feel like going at all. What am I going to do there, I thought, up on the mountain with this spiritual group. Before the trip, everyone had to give the reason why he went. One was in the middle of a divorce, the other had reached a dead end in his career. I said: My wife sent me.’ !It was to be a turning point in his life. Since then he has gone every year. Hessels: ‘It’s such an enriching adventure. Within the Leadership Academy I am now the one who guides leaders up the mountain.’ ‘What I’m mostly doing is looking for hooks. When I find one I expand on it and then my conversation partner has to think about what he or she is going to do with my advice. And in nine out of ten cases I receive a call.’

Hessels is a partner at The LeadershipAdvisory. He studied Business Economics inRotterdam with a specialisation inCommercial Policies and attended the MBAprogramme at Michigan State University(USA).Hessels subsequently held variouscommercial and general managementpositions at the Royal Shell Group in theMetals and Chemicals sectors. He nextworked in executive positions at KoninklijkePakhoed N.V. Since 1999, vice-president andmanaging director of Ryder Europe (truckleasing and logistic services).Previously on the Advisory Board of NewVenture, an initiative of, among others, theMinistry of Economic Affairs to stimulateinnovative entrepreneurship. Also formerly anadvisor to Barcode for Life (cancer research)and member of the Board of ExecutiveInterim Management (EIM) in Switzerland.Member of the Supervisory Board of RoyalSmit Transformers until 1 July 2019.A seasoned veteran in catching the essence ofcomplicated issues in a pleasant yet astutemanner. Always thinks in terms of solutionswith a pragmatic and people-orientedapproach.About Jos HesselsContactWhat TheLeadershipAdvisory !can help you with:   jos@theleadershipadvisory.com !+ 31 621 577 236www.linkedin.com/in/jhesselswww.theleadershipadvisory.comAmstelveen:The Garden   Stroombaan 10.                1181VX AmstelveenWassenaar:Kasteel de WittenburgLandgoed de Wittenburg 12244 BV Wassenaar-Fill both permanent and temporaryexecutive or supervisory positions andcoach candidates in those positions;!-Independant board room consultancyregarding change managementandstrategic issues;!-Executive or Supervisory Board Self-assessment programmes;!-Individual or team coaching;!-Peer support;!-Individual or team leadership assessment.!!!Our team of 20 senior (interim)managers, consultants and coachesoperating from our offices in Amstelveenand Wassenaar is at your disposal.