"Half a Century, Half a Story"

For most of my adult life, I looked the part. Senior leader at one of the world's largest chemical companies. a path towards becoming VP, leading up to two VP promotions waiting. A badge that opened every door — and, without me realising it, quietly closed others.

From the outside, it looked like a full life. From the inside, it felt like the Ghent Altarpiece with the panels shut. If you have ever stood in front of Jan van Eyck's masterpiece in the cathedral in Ghent, you know what I mean. Closed, it shows a world in grey — solemn, dutiful, correct. Beautiful, even. But flat. It was only when I finally walked away — from the title, the certainty, the golden cage I had spent twenty years building around myself — that the panels opened. And the colour underneath was almost overwhelming.

I am not the persons who read about transition and change. I lived it. I gave up a VP role, walked into the unknown close before turning fifty with no roadmap and more doubts than I have ever admitted publicly, and built something new from everything I had accumulated — every skill, every scar, every lesson from a career spent leading transformation in places where failure had real consequences. That experience became a book. It became a method. And it became the reason I now can work with people who are standing exactly where I once stood — panels still closed, wondering what is painted on the other side. The Van Eycks had twelve panels. So do you. Some are already painted. Now finish them in full colour.