Digital Transformation & AI for Humans

Transformational Leadership & Success Mindset: Driving Growth and Innovation

• Stijn Ceelen • Season 1 • Episode 39

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In this insightful episode, we explore Transformational Leadership and the Success Mindset essential for fostering growth, innovation, and sustainable success in today's dynamic business landscape. My guest is Stijn Ceelen from Belgium, a seasoned and results-driven C-level leader in Banking and WealthTech. Stijn is the Managing Director and CEO of Alkiemist Advisors, an Advisory Board Member at Banque Thaler (Geneva, Switzerland) and COHERRA (Copenhagen, Denmark), and Chief Investment Officer of a single family office.

Key Topics Cover:

  • Stijn’s inspiring journey transitioning from the corporate world
  • The definition and key qualities of a transformational leader
  • Insights into the similarities and differences between corporate leaders and business owners
  • The critical role of mindset in achieving success and overcoming barriers
  • The impact of soft skills and emotional intelligence (EQ) on leadership and business outcomes
  • Strategies to balance immediate results with long-term vision for growth
  • Actionable advice for aspiring leaders aiming to drive innovation and expansion

Whether you’re a corporate leader or a business owner, this episode is packed with actionable insights and strategies to help you transform your leadership approach and achieve exponential growth.

Connect with Stijn Ceelen on LinkedIn
Learn more about the CxO Section (Brand Leadership Community, Denmark)


About the host, Emi Olausson Fourounjieva
With over 20 years in IT, digital transformation, business growth & leadership, Emi specializes in turning challenges into opportunities for business expansion and personal well-being.
Her contributions have shaped success stories across the corporations and individuals, from driving digital growth, managing resources and leading teams in big companies to empowering leaders to unlock their inner power and succeed in this era of transformation.

📚 Get your AI Leadership Compass: Unlocking Business Growth & Innovation 🧭 The Definitive Guide for Leaders & Business Owners to Adapt & Thrive in the Age of AI & Digital Transformation: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DNBJ92RP

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Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to Digital Transformation for Humans with your host, amy. In this podcast, we delve into how technology intersects with leadership, innovation and, most importantly, the human spirit. Each episode features visionary leaders who understand that at the heart of success is the human touch nurturing a winning mindset, fostering emotional intelligence and building resilient teams. In emotional intelligence and building resilient teams, today we will delve into the topic of transformational leadership and success mindset to drive growth and innovation. Sten Seelen, a seasoned and result-driven C-level leader in banking and wealth tech, managing director, ceo and advisory board member from Belgium, is our fantastic guest today. Welcome, stine.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, Emi.

Speaker 1:

Let's start the conversation and transform not just our technologies but our ways of thinking and leading. And if you are interested in connecting or collaborating, find more information in the description below, subscribe and stay tuned for more episodes. Stan, it's so amazing to have you here today. I am so excited over all the questions we are going to discuss and share that value and just dive deeper into this exciting topic. And just dive deeper into this exciting topic. So to start with, I would like you to share a few words about your journey what inspired you to move away from the corporate space and how you see that transition from your perspective.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, thank you, Emi. It's very nice to be here, so it's a likewise feeling to be here. It was. Yeah, it's a great question. I started my professional career in 2001 in the asset management industry at the local Belgian player.

Speaker 2:

First, I did some very specific roles in risk management, institutional sales and many others, and in 2017, in fact, I moved to Bing Bank, which was an online broker in the Netherlands, belgium, italy and France, and I became the local CEO for the Belgian activities. So basically it was my first leadership role in my professional career and basically in recent years, I moved from Bing Bank to Saxo Bank, as Bing Bank was acquired by Saxo Bank in 2019. So I moved to Copenhagen for four years, also had a leadership role in asset management to build a new digital wealth management proposition in those years, but basically I think it was end of 2023, so last year, basically I decided to move back to Belgium and to become the chief investment officer of a single family office in Belgium. So basically going back to the roots, trading and investing. No leadership anymore, so really focusing on the things that I really love to do.

Speaker 2:

And basically it was also the main reason to move away from the corporate sphere, because I had the feeling that I was no longer connected with my passion. There was one thing, and the second thing is I really want to make an impact again. And the second thing is I really want to make an impact again. So over the years in those many corporates I worked for, I found myself a little bit entangled in the web of corporate politics. So basically a lot of time went to meetings, strategic alignments, managing stakeholders etc. And that's something I didn't want to do anymore.

Speaker 2:

I really wanted to reconnect with my passion, and my passion is trading and investing. But I also mentioned that I really want to make an impact again. I know it is important as a corporate leader to play those corporate politics, but in the end you're not really making an impact anymore. And by just starting my own business and then afterwards and that's also my main assignment to become the chief investment officer of a single family office, so basically I can make an impact again. So I have a direct influence on everything I do, while in the corporate sphere that was not possible anymore, and those are the two main reasons that I moved away from the corporate world.

Speaker 1:

What an inspiring transition and story behind all that. I really love it, and even if you mentioned that you don't want to be so close to leadership anymore. But for me, in my eyes, you are that reference leader of the future, and I wish there were more leaders in the world with similar values and ways of navigating the space, the business space.

Speaker 2:

Thank you.

Speaker 1:

And speaking about transformational leadership, I would like to hear more. How would you define a transformational leader and what are the key qualities? What are the main commonalities and differences between corporate leaders and business owners? As you have been on both sides, you know a lot about it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, for me, a transformational leader in the first place, is someone who can inspire and motivate. When I was a leader, I always told people working for me that in the first place, my job was to create an environment where other people could excel. You hire people because of their skills, their knowledge and basically then it's up to you to trust them to do their job. It's not about micromanaging people, controlling people's work. No, also those people, they have a passion and they really love to do what they're doing, and basically the only thing you need to do is to inspire those people and create an environment where they really can excel and where they can do what they love to do. For me, that is crucial and where they can do what they love to do. For me, that is crucial. If you can't do that, then in my honest opinion, it's going to be hard to introduce some kind of growth mindset in a company.

Speaker 2:

For me, the second important quality is, in fact, communication.

Speaker 2:

You should be an effective communicator, but it also means that you need to be an active listener. First of all, if I'm talking about communication, it is very important to articulate the vision you have. A lot of people they are not even able to articulate their vision and what they really want to achieve in a company. So if you're not able to communicate effectively your vision to people working for you, then basically it's going to be really, really hard for people to see why you took certain decisions. If they know what is the vision, what is the ultimate goal of the company, including the purpose, then basically it becomes for people much, much easier to understand what you really want to achieve. That's a second important thing. And, lastly, what I said is you should show a lot of empathy. You're working with people, you're working with people and in order to understand people, and also, what I said is like, if you want to create an environment where people can excel, you should actively listen to people to understand what are their concerns, what are their needs.

Speaker 2:

And if you can understand those needs and concerns and create an environment where they can excel, then basically people will do everything for you what you ask them to do Because you care about people. And if you care about people, they will care about you as well. Then the second part of your question. If you talk about, okay, what is now the difference between corporate leaders and business owners, in fact they should share basically the same qualities, right, but the environment is completely different. Also, the level of risk-taking is completely different, the availability of resources might be different, but also your influence might differ. So if we start talking about the environment in the corporate world, basically as a leader, you end up in a position where they're already. There is a framework, there are formal responsibilities, there's already an established corporate culture, while as a business owner, that's what you need to create yourself. So basically, you can have a much higher impact because it's up to you to decide what kind of culture you want, what kind of organization you want, and basically to transform that into yeah, let's call it a corporate framework.

Speaker 2:

If we talk about resources, of course corporate resources, I don't say they're going to be unlimited, but as a business owner, your resources are much more limited.

Speaker 2:

So the consequence is that you need somehow to be a little bit more creative, because you not always have the money, you don't always have the people to basically achieve what you really want to achieve. So that's also a big difference. And then if we talk about levels of risk, then basically as a corporate leader, you're part of a bigger corporation and the only risk that you face is some kind of financial risk of the corporation, not yourself as a business owner. That's completely different, because the risk that you take it can also be extended to your personal wealth, but also your personal finances. So you have to be much more careful in taking the decisions and their consequences. Careful in taking the decisions and their consequences. So for me those are the big differences between business owners and corporate leaders. But in fact, if you want to be transformational, then basically you have to have the same characteristics, and that's effective communication, a clear vision, but definitely an inspirator and motivator vision, but definitely an inspirator and motivator.

Speaker 1:

I absolutely love everything you just mentioned because I would like to talk about each part of those. You know it's just so inspiring and so important and so many leaders and those who are working around those leaders really need to hear, and this is such a kind reminder and an inspiration to help them moving forward and develop certain skills. And you also mentioned that those qualities they are basically the universal qualities which are applicable in both worlds, and still the mindset is something what is in the core of their development and in today's rapidly changing business environment, I think it is really important to have that success mindset. Somebody is calling the growth mindset, I call it the winning mindset, and I would like to hear from you what are some common mindset barriers that leaders face and how can they overcome them in order to achieve success yeah, and I think you already mentioned the right words it's a growth mindset.

Speaker 2:

So if you don't have a growth mindset, it's gonna be really, really hard to succeed in the in the long term. And in order to create this growth mindset, we should stop using words like failure, mistakes, etc. Basically, if you want to grow, you should embrace change, you should should stop calling this failures, but it's more like learning experiences. You should learn from, yeah, the things that didn't go as hoped, and basically the most important thing is learn from those experiences, try to change, try to do something different. So you need to incorporate some kind of culture of innovation and resilience. That's, for me, the most important thing. It's like it's all about learning and if you want to learn something, even as a child, it's not that after 12 months, everyone stands up and starts walking. Of course, once in a while you fall and basically what you're doing is okay. You try to learn what you did wrong before and that, of course, is that learning experience that will make you better and better. It's the same. I was watching the basketball final of the olympics and it's the same thing it's like if you want to be successful in taking all those shots. First of all, it's not that you woke up, went to a basketball court and you succeeded every single time when you took the shots. No, it's by practicing is by learning from your mistakes, learning from those experiences, that you can create that growth mindset.

Speaker 2:

Another thing, and it's also related to it, it's the fear of failure, and it's because people believe, especially as a corporate leader, that there's some kind of superman or superwoman and that they're not allowed to make mistakes. No, I think that's completely, completely. It's like even corporate leaders can make mistakes. They also fail, and the best thing to do is to show this vulnerability and show people look, I also made a mistake. I allow you to make mistakes, but the most important thing that we need to do is to learn from these mistakes and to become better in order to grow and to achieve our long-term goals.

Speaker 2:

It's also yeah, it's the opposite of growth thinking. It's fixed thinking, and it's especially people that believe that their current knowledge and skills are sufficient and that they somehow resist to new ideas, new methods. That's also the wrong mindset. It's like the world is always evolving and every day is a day where you can learn something. If I wake up in the morning and I look myself in the mirror and I see okay, I didn't learn anything yesterday. It's a bad day. It's like you can always learn something. It can be some stupid fact that you heard from someone else, but learning and embracing to learn is, in my humble opinion, the most important thing that you need to do.

Speaker 2:

But if you start looking at failures, then there's also another risk that you start doubting yourself, that you see all those failures, especially if it is one failure after the other and people start doubting themselves. They have a tendency to go back to the old way of working. So don't focus on the failures. The failures are just learning points. Also, focus on the successes, the things that you did well, focus on that one. And if you want to just talk, talk to people. Go to your mentors, go to your peers, ask their feedback, what you could do to avoid these kinds of failures. But it's these kind of things, showing this kind of vulnerability, that is, in my humble opinion, very, very essential to become a transformational leader.

Speaker 1:

I couldn't agree more. Everything you are describing is so spot on and, from what I could see, there is also a fear of success sometimes, and that is something what is restricting the person who has an incredible potential and incredible ambition to grow and move forward faster from just unpacking and unfolding all those gifts and sharing them with the world. So all that is really so important and unfortunately in the corporate world it is considered to be something self-evident. Nobody's talking about it, nobody's highlighting it and probably that is the reason why some corporate players are just forgetting or down-prioritizing all those crucial, important ingredients which are standing behind big success stories. Which are standing behind big success stories and speaking about the role of soft skills and emotional intelligence, both for corporate leaders and business owners. How do they influence those business outcomes? Could you tell a little bit more and share your experience from SaxoBank, probably from your previous journey? Could you see that if there would be more accent on what really matters in the world of soft skills and emotional intelligence, it would impact the hard business results?

Speaker 2:

yeah, I think. Think soft skills, empathy, emotional intelligence they're pivotal in the success of a company, to achieve long-term goals. If you're not able to listen to people, to understand what they need, what their concerns are even your own people how on earth are you going to understand your own clients? So if you're not able to listen to employees, to clients, how can you build a sustainable business? So basically, they're pivotal a sustainable business. So basically they're pivotal.

Speaker 2:

It is so important that you have the empathy to understand what people need, what their concerns are, to build a resilient business in the long term. For me, for business owners, it's even more important Because as a corporate leader, most of the time you don't have direct access to your clients, so you really depend on the people reporting to you. So the effect is a little bit smaller. But as a business owner, you not only need to listen to your people, but you also need to listen to your clients. Not only need to listen to your people, but you also need to listen to your clients, because you have a direct impact on your relationship with clients. And that's also another thing that is really important. That's the relationship.

Speaker 2:

If you show empathy, if you have enough emotional intelligence, you can create relationships of trust, and if you have a relationship of trust with your employees, you'll see that the retention will skyrocket. But it's the same with clients. If you build a relationship of trust with your clients, then of course they will stick to you. They will even become ambassadors, but they because they have the feeling look, I have a problem, this company or this guy or woman is listening to me, they understood my problem, they came with a solution to my problem and basically I'm really happy with the outcome because they solved my problem. So if you can do that by actively listening, by showing empathy, by indeed building this relationship of trust with your employees and with your clients, in my humble opinion that's indeed these are the two most important ingredients to become successful.

Speaker 1:

I totally agree and from my experience I could see exactly the same, and I still wonder how such an obvious thing is still so not obvious in many cases, because it's something really.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think sometimes it's also a conflict between the company and yourself, especially in the corporate world. They're all sharks. You always have the feeling that someone wants to stab you in the back, and basically it's more about thinking about yourself instead of the greater good of the company, and that's one of the things that also plays a major role. But, as I mentioned before, if you create this innovative culture, resilience in your company, where people are allowed to make mistakes, where mistakes are accepted as long as you learn from them, then I don't believe that you will still have the same level of corporate politics, so then you don't have to think about yourself anymore or fear that someone is stabbing you in the back I agree, the heart, the heart to heart connection is so important.

Speaker 1:

And when you just described all that, I've been thinking about the pressure many leaders are feeling today, because before it was so easy to extrapolate the future and look forward five years from now, 10 years from now. Now it became much more difficult, and we've been through so many years of stress, struggles, difficulties in predicting what's going to happen tomorrow recession and conflicts in the world, without even mentioning the development of artificial intelligence and all those technologies which are impacting the decision-making as well. So I wanted to hear how leaders can balance the need for immediate results with the long-term vision and strategy of their business to drive expansion and growth. It's not an easy thing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So for me, let's call it a C-level mistake that some companies make. First of all, people don't always understand what a strategy is. For me, a strategy is very clear. It's like you have an ultimate goal that you want to achieve. Some companies they go for operational excellence, some others go for customer intimacy and some others for product leadership. You can combine two of them, but you won't see any companies combining the three of them. So you need a very clear goal in the future with some metrics. Um, then of course, it's a long-term path. So, and there are different paths to the goal. And then we talk about tacticals. So once in a while and that's also what you see it's in the short term that companies they deviate from the original plan. The end goal didn't change, but the steps in between could change, because when you made a plan of, of course, the future is always uncertain, um, suddenly there is a war or there's a recession, and then you have to see okay, maybe I should change my plan and take a different route to the end goal instead of sticking to the old one. So it is possible that you can change your short-term goals let's call it milestones in order to achieve the long-term goal.

Speaker 2:

The mistake that a lot of companies make is that they communicate a certain goal, especially in the banking sector. A lot of banks they claim that they want to be client-centric. Lot of banks they claim that they want to be client-centric, but in the end, if you look at all those actions they take, they don't care about customer centricity. The only thing they care about is operational efficiency. And that's really really confusing, because if you communicate that your long-term goal is customer centricity, but the short-term decisions that you take are driven by operational excellence For instance, you want to lower the cost-income ratio. That's why you lay off a lot of people, or you're going to replace people by artificial intelligence, things like that.

Speaker 2:

That's where there is a lot of confusion with the people within a company, because then they say, okay, but you said, the ultimate goal is customer centricity, but that's not what I see in the short-term decisions, because the short-term decisions are not driven by customer centricity. They're driven by other metrics, especially operational efficiency. So then, in fact, maybe it's better to change your strategy and say, okay, I want to be the most operationally efficient company in 20 years, measured by this metric, and in order to do so, I'm going to take those measures uh, all measures along the roads. And that's what companies should do, and that's the biggest mistake they make is that there's a misalignment between the ultimate goal and the decisions they take in the short term.

Speaker 1:

This is powerful. I would love to dive deeper into this and talk about it for so much longer, but it's time to wrap up today's conversation. So I'm really impressed by all your insights and gold nuggets of advice you would like to give to aspiring leaders and business owners aiming to drive growth and innovation in their business, in the corporate world and outside, in the both worlds just in um, in daily life in general.

Speaker 2:

Um, I would say one of the most important things I learned is basically continuous learning. It's like you have this, you need to have this mindset that you want to learn every single day, and you can do that in different ways by watching your podcast, for instance, by reading books I don't know by listening to other people but also in deeds, and be open to change. It's like flexibility, adaptability are also key, but basically, if you have this kind of continuous learning modes in your heads, then, as a consequence, you will also be open to adapt, to be flexible if there is indeed some kind of change in the world. So instead, for instance, of fighting against AI, try to embrace it, see how it can help you to achieve your long-term goal, how it can help you to define your purpose, etc. So, continuous learning, adaptability, flexibility for me, those are the two most important lessons if you want to grow or if you want to create a growth mindset.

Speaker 1:

Your advice and your life lessons are warming up my heart. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us today. Your advice and your life lessons are warming up my heart. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us today. I'm honored to have you in the studio and it was such a great pleasure to have this conversation.

Speaker 2:

Thank you.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for joining us on Digital Transformation for Humans. I'm Emi and it was enriching to share this time with you. Remember, the core of any transformation lies in our human nature how we think, how we feel and connect with others. It is about enhancing our emotional intelligence, embracing a winning mindset and leading with empathy and insight. Subscribe and stay tuned for more episodes where we uncover the latest trends in digital business and explore the human side of technology and leadership. Until next time, keep nurturing your mind, fostering your connections and leading with heart.

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Emi Olausson Fourounjieva

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