Have you ever asked yourself that question? You should! “Because “Who are you?” is a very powerful question”, says leadership trainer and executive coach Marco Buschman. “Becoming a successful leader starts with knowing yourself and understanding why you behave the way you behave. In the Insight through Insights sessions, we let (future) leaders discover who they are in a serious yet appealing way, teach them how to dare to be vulnerable, have honest and valuable conversations so that the energy in their team starts flowing.”

Marco Buschman is a lively and provocative leadership trainer, best-selling author and public speaker. He facilitates and supports managers, executives, management teams and companies in the Netherlands and abroad on strategic issues and the development of individuals and organisations. Marco is particularly interested in leadership and creating high-performance cultures where the focus on results and productivity are combined with an atmosphere of trust, respect and an appreciation of differences.

Personal leadership

The module Personal Leadership (part of the Responsible Leadership elective), which was developed especially for the Executive MBA programme, is about creating self-knowledge and the ability to reflect as the basis for successful leadership. The first days of this week are devoted to self-examination, writing your own story and sharing your personal story with fellow students. The Insight through Insights sessions, build on this. Buschman hits off with his captivating and highly personal story.

He says: “Leadership is the ability to be authentic and connecting. We are used to steering with our IQ, on strategy and results. However, being a leader is not only about achieving results, but mainly about creating a culture of trust, responsibility and collaboration.” He emphasises that a good leader knows himself well, is open and honest, and has a clear vision that inspires and motivates. Moreover, a leader should show empathy and really listen to the people in the team. In addition, he believes leaders should provide an environment where people feel safe to take responsibility, make mistakes and learn from them. Only then will a positive and effective work culture emerge.

Zombie Walk

Buschman’s session is serious and energetic at the same time, with funny and sometimes confronting exercises that revolve around interaction, having honest conversations and trusting each other. Like addressing each other based on personal characteristics in a gracious, honest and courageous way. During the hilarious ‘Zombie Walk’, communication, cooperation, trust are put to the test. Buschman: “The exercise shows that we quickly fall back on learned patterns, such as immediately taking action without listening carefully to the instructions. Or already thinking of a strategy, without knowing what it is all about. While it is actually about getting to the bottom of yourself. Why do you behave in a certain way?”

Carl Jung

The interactive and hands-on Insight through Insights sessions are based on the work of the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung. Carl Jung’s insights into personality, archetypes, and the collective unconscious offer many valuable perspectives for the business environment. Buschman illustrates this by presenting various thought-provoking thoughts of Jung such as ‘Thinking is difficult, that is why most people judge’, or ‘People will do anything not matter how absurd to avoid facing their own souls. Buschman: “What is your honest story. Forgive yourself for mistakes you have made. Every action brings something, even if you have failed. You are not what happened to you, but who you have chosen to be.”

Tips for valuable interaction

The trainer gives some tips for valuable interaction: accept different perspectives, stay open and curious about the other person, ask questions, listen to understand. He illustrates this using the iceberg. “What you see is behavioural actions and results. Below the waterline are motives, emotions, expectations, values, assumptions and experiences. What you want as a leader is to lower the waterline so that you get to know each other better.”

Getting rich from the interaction

Elias Atweh, International Trainer at Bioventus: ‘A very informative and dynamic session that gives insight into who you are and how you behave in certain situations. For example, I got confirmed that I function well under pressure and stay calm and that is why people like to be led by me. What stays with me from this session is the way Marco presented himself, in a very open and vulnerable way. Very powerful.”

Willfryd de Ruiter, Manager Global Operations & Communication Audit Rabobank | Business Manager to the Chief Audit Executive: ‘This week gives so many new insights. Each session is another deepening of the previous one.  You not only learn to understand yourself better this way, but because of input from others, you also learn to appreciate yourself more in some ways. It is not always important to think something about someone,  you learn to let go of that more easily, which allows you be much more open during a conversation and to hear much better what the other person is saying, without judging. So, you not only get rich from the interaction but you also get better at it.’

This article displays the student insights and experiences of the Personal Leadership module of the Resonsible Leadership elective. The MaastrichtMBA programme has an executive modular part-time format and offers two tracks: On-Campus MBA and Online MBA. The programme has a Triple Crown accreditation and is aimed for professionals with at least 5 years of working experience.