Rob IJsseldijk

Being entrepreneur, coach and consultant, Rob has a continuous drive to contribute to people’s success, both individually and in teams. Rob (1980) was educated at the Royal Netherlands Naval Academy. He studied business administration at the Royal Military Academy and the Open University. 

His military career of 16 years consisted mainly of leading units as an officer on operations. At the age of 23, Rob led his first unit of 32 men in Iraq. He later went on operations in northern and southern Afghanistan. Rob learned that being a leader is not (only) a role or a position you hold, it is a responsibility granted to you by the people you lead and thus a privilege. Being granted a leader is not a given. You will have to provide Respect, Safety and Trust to earn your role.

When Rob was responsible for the recruitment & selection of officer candidates for the Dutch armed forces, he learned about coaching and assessments for the first time, and also about business life. He attended training at the Defence Expertise Centre for Leadership (ECLD) to become a coach for individuals and teams. Shortly after, Rob chose to become an entrepreneur in coaching and training. He is co-founder of a leadership consultancy company that he left to his co-founder after five years.

Rob then became an associate partner at a management consulting firm. In this role, Rob led teams of business consultants on large transformation projects. The transformations were a combination of change in IT, Processes and/or the Organization of the clients. Rob’s strength lies in the latter, whilst being interested in and knowledgeable about IT and Processes. In these years Rob noticed that leadership is the key to successful transitions and that there still is a need for many leaders to develop. This made Rob decide to dedicate his further career to leadership development.

Being a Leadership consultant, Rob strongly feels the needs of the individuals and teams he works with. Because of this he knows how to bring out the best in people and did so during the past 8 years as a leadership & business consultant. His ability to translate his military experience into business helps him do this. This makes him a valuable business partner at Jonathan Warner.

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