Twenty years of supporting change have taught me one thing: what shifts on the outside often reveals what needs to grow on the inside.
As a consultant, a manager and an HR professional, I’ve supported transformation projects, reorganisations, changes of direction, collective tensions and individual repositioning.
Change was my field of work.
And I watched what it did to people.
I saw some people tense up.
Others try to regain control.
And others still use those moments to step more fully into their place.
They got clearer about where they stood.
They dared to speak up differently.
They made different decisions.
That’s when I started to understand.
Change doesn’t just transform organisations.
It can also reveal leadership.
And I didn’t only see this in others.
I’ve moved abroad three times.
Three departures. Three homecomings.
Six moments in my life when I had to reposition myself, find my bearings again, redefine my place.
Each time, something shifted.
A limit, a fear, a certainty.
A way of standing my ground, of existing professionally.
That dual experience gave birth to a deep conviction.
Every change is a unique opportunity to grow your leadership.
No, change isn’t comfortable.
There’s nothing to be naively happy about when you’re shaken up.
But change puts our stance to the test.
And I see it confirmed today in every engagement I take on, with individuals and with teams.
Behind a new role, a reorganisation, a conflict, rapid growth, a team transformation… there is often the same question.
What kind of leadership is this situation calling me to develop?
Change doesn’t develop leadership automatically.
It can also exhaust people, make them rigid and erode their confidence.
But when it is supported, worked through and turned into learning, it becomes a remarkable training ground.
What about you? What change pushed you to develop a different way of showing up?