05 — Leading from Essence
Stop conducting, start leading.
Mens-zijn in organisaties — the book in which twelve authors from education, healthcare and government describe how they bring leading from essence into practice.

€ 29.90
Incl. VAT, ordered through the webshop
Hardcover
Full colour, sewn and bound
23 × 23 cm
Square format, 1.9 cm thick
12 authors
Thirteen chapters from education, healthcare and government
What the book is about
Doing justice to the unique contribution of every individual.
Leading in an organisation is not always straightforward. As a leader you are faced with dilemmas, ambivalence and situations that feel uncomfortable. But by freeing yourself from thinking in constricting systems or problems, and moving towards what is essentially there to be done, new perspectives open up.
This movement is what we call leading from essence. It lets you see people in their own distinctiveness again, and a community emerges within the organisation. As a leader you take responsibility in such a way that others are able to take responsibility too. It takes courage to walk this path.
Leading from essence asks for new ways of looking and organising, and it comes with a language of its own. This book therefore reads as both familiar and slightly strange, and offers a boundary-shifting view of the power of being human in the organisation.
The contents
Thirteen chapters, twelve practices.
Each chapter is written by a leader who brings this thinking into their own practice. With a foreword, introduction, index and author register. The book itself is published in Dutch; the chapter titles below are given in English translation.
A look inside the book

Chapter 07 — Values-full reflection, Pauline Kamphorst

Chapter 10 — Is everything in order(ing)?, Marc Franzen’s own chapter
The authors
Twelve leaders, each with their own way in.
Vivianne Ceelen
Chapter 08
“Free yourself from the patterns that events press upon you.”
Bram Esselink
Chapter 03
“Every person wants to be seen, to be heard, to belong and to matter.”
Marc Franzen
Chapter 10
“In organisations it seems safer to think in procedures than in personal development, team development or organisational development.”
Dionne Geurts
Chapter 05
“Whoever works from inner free space works close to essence.”
Patrick van Haren
Chapter 12
“Contributing to the development of everyone in the organisation, and through that to the organisation as a whole. That is what leadership is about.”
Pauline Kamphorst
Chapter 07
“Essence lies hidden inside the event. Seeking and finding essence begins with reflecting on the event.”
Bart Smeets
Chapter 11
“Systemic questions are open questions that work differently on the person receiving them. They are often about direction, intention and essence.”
Natascha Smits-Peeters
Chapter 04
“As a leader you face challenges comparable to the stages of power development you pass through in the course of your life.”
Jeroen Steeman
Chapter 09
“Moments of discomfort are opportunities. They are precisely the moments in which an organisation can develop.”
Louis Steeman
Chapter 01 & 13
“How do we arrange formal structures so that they serve the free space to play and develop, in which essence can be realised?”
Marije van der Vlis
Chapter 02
“Descend into your inner free space, where ‘being true to yourself’ resides. From there new ways of seeing can arise.”
Igor Vollebergh
Chapter 06
“The art of doing what needs to be done.”
Ordering
Mens-zijn in organisaties
The book can be ordered individually through the leidinggevenvanuitessentie.nl webshop. Would you like several copies, for a team or a training programme for example? An attractive discount applies, and requests for it go through the same webshop.
€ 29.90
Incl. VAT · hardcover, full colour, 23 × 23 cm
Putting this thinking to work in your organisation?
We are glad to think with you about a trajectory, a team session or a course around leading from essence.
