Summary: Geert Standaert is the CTO of Belgian telecom company Proximus and the next ECOTY finalist in our Leadership Deep Dive series. In this episode, Geert talks about the ambitious transformation projects he has led at Proximus, but perhaps even more interestingly - about his very open philosophy on learning, teaching, creativity and motivating people. Before his IT career took off, Geert took lessons in acting and played in a rock band. He has also taken up carpentry and he relates that to leadership, management and happiness. Table of contents 01:40 - Transformation project #1: Proximus TV 14:31 - Transformation project #2: Mass market transformation / unifying the customer journey 17:09 - How IT is organised at Proximus 19:21 - Agile transformation at a large organisation 22:23 - The ROI of agile transformation 23:32 - How to attract the best people in IT 24:55 - Geert's management style Book recommendation: Employees first, customers second 27:44 - Diversity in IT at Proximus 30:05 - CTO's role and priorities at Proximus 32:52 - Geert's leadership style 34:02 - Geert's MBTI profile 36:46 - His personal mantra 38:44 - How do you manage stress? 40:02 - The Zen of Carpentry 41:26 - What acting lessons can teach you about leadership 45:07 - Advice to future digital leaders 47:09 - Care-frontation: how to give and get feedback 50:16 - Geert's most important values in life 52:21 - Geert's mentors 57:30 - Trust-based knowledge communities ▶ LEADERSHIP DEEP DIVE In the Leadership Deep Dive series we meet with the top CIOs in Europe. We are exploring what makes great digital leaders tick: how they lead and manage people, how they approach the intersection of business and technology, how they make decisions. What are their personality types and management styles? How do they manage the demands of their complex and challenging role?
