Image: Giammarco Boscaro via Unsplash
After more than 20 years leading digital transformation at companies like XING, Nokia, and DERTOUR Group, I’ve made an unusual career pivot. This October, I’m embarking on an Executive PhD journey at Antwerp Management School, investigating something that has quietly shaped my entire leadership approach: how cognitive processes developed through classical music training transfer to strategic decision-making in complex business environments.
What You’ll Find in Academia
This category documents the intersection of rigorous academic research with practical leadership experience. Unlike traditional business school case studies or theoretical frameworks developed in isolation, these insights emerge from someone who has actually sat in boardrooms, navigated digital transformations, and made strategic decisions under pressure.
The Academia section will explore:
– Methodological insights from conducting the first systematic study examining cognitive transfer between classical music performance and executive leadership effectiveness
– Literature discoveries that bridge artistic disciplines with strategic management theory
– Research updates from my ongoing PhD work, including early findings and breakthrough moments
– Academic networking experiences and collaborations with fellow researcher-practitioners
– Publishing journey from executive blog posts to peer-reviewed academic journals
The Unique Perspective
What makes this academic journey distinctive is the practitioner lens. Rather than studying leadership from the outside, I’m investigating patterns I’ve lived and applied throughout my executive career. This creates opportunities for insights that pure academics might miss—and validation of approaches that executives use intuitively but cannot systematically explain.
What’s Coming
Expect regular updates on research progress, fascinating discoveries about how musical pattern recognition enhances strategic thinking, and practical applications emerging from academic rigour. You’ll get behind-the-scenes glimpses of conducting PhD-level research while launching a consultancy, plus insights on bridging the often disconnected worlds of academia and executive practice.
Whether you’re an executive curious about evidence-based leadership development, an academic interested in arts-management connections, or simply fascinated by interdisciplinary approaches to complex problems, the Academia category offers a unique window into research that matters for real-world leadership challenges.
The journey from C-suite to lecture halls has only just begun. Let’s explore where rigorous academic inquiry leads when guided by decades of strategic leadership experience.
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