GLOBAL EXECUTIVE COACH. AUTHOR. TRUSTED ADVISOR. FORBES.COM CONTRIBUTOR.

Liesbeth van der Linden is an executive coach, author, speaker, and authority on Leadership issues. Her Amazon-bestselling book, Connect, Inspire, Grow – The Executive Framework for the First 100 Days, is a guide for senior leaders in global companies who step into a new role and helps them build the trust that’s required to make the changes necessary to create success.

Liesbeth is the owner of Leadership Coaching Company GLTD Ltd. She worked with multinationals such as The Coca-Cola Company, PwC, Danone, The Bottling Investment Group, Vanderlande, and Oliver Wyman Her executive coaching work and transformative workshops help global companies and leaders be effective in leading, engaging, and retaining their multicultural and distributed teams. Liesbeth’s mission is to empower senior leaders to lead successful, fulfilling, and joyful lives while fostering connections with those around them in a way that causes ripple effects that extend beyond individuals, elevating entire organizations and communities.

Before starting her Coaching Company in Hong Kong and Dubai, she led the leisure consultancy firm M2Leisure in Shanghai, advising Asian investors and local Chinese governments on tourism and leisure development.

Before her adventure in Asia, she worked in Germany, conducting leadership & management training with clients like Nokia and CSL Behring. She has been a business consultant in the Netherlands and has led process improvement teams with multinational corporations NXP and ASML. Initially, she started her career in sales and marketing for American companies Armstrong Building Products and MacDermid in the Netherlands and Germany.

About her Journey:

I have moved around the world and started a new life in a new country numerous times. I completed an MBA, I know what it is like to build businesses and teams from scratch, and I know what it feels like to perform in situations entirely out of my comfort zone in countries where I do not speak the language. I have been in roles that suited me perfectly, and I have also done projects that left me completely drained, overwhelmed, and unfulfilled. I have been both an entrepreneur and worked in the corporate world.

At business school, we have only been taught the ‘hard’ skills: building strategies, understanding finance, and optimizing operating processes. Leading in uncertain circumstances means accepting that you are never in control. Leadership in unfamiliar high-pressure environments has taught me ONE thing: we can only be truly successful if we are fully conscious of WHO we are as a leader and understand HOW to build relationships based on trust, which will give us the influence to get things done.

I have coached leaders in over 25 countries and created insights that changed their minds for good and expanded them as leaders so they could make a real impact.

I’m also married, a mother of 2 sons, passionate about learning, spending time in nature, and curious about life and people in foreign countries.”

“We can only be truly successful if we are fully conscious of WHO we are as a leader and understand HOW to build relationships based on TRUST, which will give us the influence to get things done.”