Throughout my 15+ year career I have focused on helping organizations getting more value out of IT. Often this has not much to do with changing or investing in technology. It is almost always primarily about culture, leadership, and organizational transformation. In my view, in these disruptive times, digital-driven innovation and organizational transformation is urgent and a necessity for organizations to survive.
With my company Rethink Digital, I guide organizations to rethink the way they do digital and help them to transform into High-Performance Digital Organizations. This typically involves challenging the status quo, providing guidance for a new (digital) strategy and organizational future state, and coaching and training of leadership and transformation teams.
I am an international keynote speaker and have delivered many lectures on conferences and (in-company) events. My favorite topics are building high-performance digital organizations, the interplay between digital and organizational transformation, the importance of facilitative and digital leadership, talent management, and DevOps & Agile at scale.
Do you want to book me for a lecture or keynote at your (online) event? Get in touch to discuss the possibilities!
| Link to the video recording of the presentation | Description |
|---|---|
| DevOps Summit Amsterdam 2018: sharing leadership do’s and dont’s | |
| Conlea webinar 2019: building a high-performance digital organization at Transavia |
A lecture or keynote presentation by me usually lasts an hour. However, sometimes there is a need for a longer duration or more intensive interaction. Then a workshop or training is probably a better alternative. Workshops usually last 2 to 3 hours and are designed together with the client to give best results.
I can also be booked for providing a 1 or 2-day training (online or on-premise). Tailor-made in-company variations (e.g. half a day per month for six months in a row) are possible as well. Please get in touch to discuss the possibilities!
Typical subjects I provide workshops and trainings on include digital leadership, creating high-performance organizations, organizational and digital transformation, Agile & DevOps (at scale), and (enterprise) IT architecture. I am also a founding member, courseware developer and, certified master trainer of the DevOps Agile Skills Association (DASA).
I have more than 15 years of experience in the IT domain, and have built a rich leadership, management, consultancy and academic track record. I am open to challenging non-executive & executive board positions or temporary leadership roles to help organizations transform to the new digital normal. I can also be contacted for leadership coaching or advisory, to help leaders and management teams to boost their digital and organizational transformation.
I am currently Directeur Digital at Ordina. I am responsible for Ordina’s digital transformation and consulting business. In addition, I have a leading role in Ordina’s organizational transformation to further improve and integrate our business propositions. Through these propositions we will become an even more premium brand and authority in the Benelux for both our customers and employees.
As CIO of Transavia airlines, I was responsible for the Digital Innovation and IT Run budget and was leading the digital and organization transformation agenda. I put emphasis on the organizational transformation required to turn Transavia into an innovative airline and high-performance digital organization (culture, people, processes, technology) that creates tanglible value for both its passengers and employees. That involved creating end-to-end responsible product teams, getting the right people on the bus, investing in talent management, modernizing strategic portfolio management, changing key governance structures to be compatible with Agile and DevOps principles and practices, improving the application and infrastructure landscapes, and coaching the leadership teams of both IT and business to adjust to the new way of working.
I am currently a supervisory board member of Hotelschool the Hague, a single sector University of Applied Science in the Netherlands offering a Bachelor’s degree and an MBA in Hotel and Hospitality Management. HTH is consistently ranked as one of the top 5 hospitality schools worldwide. To help retain this position, I help HTH with her digital and organizational transformation of both the curricula and the school’s day-to-day operations.
During my board member position of the CIO platform Netherlands (2019-2020), I spearheaded the ‘Transformation, People, & Organization theme’ to promote knowledge sharing among its 130+ member organizations. I helped expand the body of knowledge and create a community of practice on what leaders should do to help their organizations benefit from all digital transformation opportunities.
I am chairman of the Enterprise Leadership Forum of the DevOps Agile Skills Association (DASA). My aim is to inspire and bring together executive leadership peers and professionals on a global scale to help as many organizations as possible to profit from digital and organizational transformation. To this end I organize global and local events, and frequently connects to leaders worldwide to harvest and share valuable success and failure stories from all kinds or organizations and perspectives.
I am well-known for my global leadership in digital and organizational transformation, DevOps, Agile, and Enterprise/IT architecture. I am passionate about shaping and continuously expanding the body of knowledge on these topics by sharing my own experiences, successes and failures. In addition, I am committed to building a community of practice of leaders and experts that focus on sharing stories on digital disruption, transformation, high-performance organizations, and effective leadership in this digital era.
Below you will find some featured articles, interviews, and videos to provide you with pointers for how to best embark on your own digital or organizational transformation journey.
| Introduction to the 6 key DevOps principles | Whiteboard sketch on why DevOps is important |
|---|---|
| Why People are Passionate about DevOps & DASA | Embracing Digital Disruption by Adopting DevOps |
|---|---|
| Rik Farenhorst & Mik Kersten advising digital leaders | Interview CIO magazine, 2019 |
|---|---|
link to interview |
| Podcast Bits vs. Bytes, 2019 |
|---|
link to podcast |
| DevOps: A maturing discipline | Embracing digital disruption by adopting DevOps practices |
|---|---|
download article | download article |