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?