From Control to Clarity: A new paradigm for founders and CEOs
What if leadership isn’t about adding more…
But about becoming more of who you already are?
For decades, leadership was defined by drive, output, and relentless performance. Founders and executives were taught to lead from the mind — with logic, pressure, and control as the main currencies of success.
And many did. They built businesses, managed teams, and chased growth. From the outside, it looked impressive. But inside? It often felt exhausting.
Behind closed doors, many successful leaders are running on empty. They experience mental noise, emotional depletion, and decision fatigue. Burn-out, imposter syndrome, and a creeping sense of misalignment are no longer exceptions. They’re common.
The truth is: the old leadership model — built on pushing, proving, and performing — is breaking down.
And something new is rising.
There is a growing movement among visionary founders: a shift from control to intuition, from pressure to alignment, from forcing to flow. This new paradigm isn’t built on doing more. It’s built on understanding your energy, trusting your inner guidance, and leading from a deeper truth.
It’s not about ditching ambition. It’s about anchoring it.
This is what Human Design Leadership™ unlocks. It invites leaders to lead not from what they’ve been taught — but from who they are at the core. When energy becomes your compass, decisions get clearer, impact gets deeper, and growth becomes sustainable.
This is not theory. It’s what’s actually working for the next generation of conscious, high-performing leaders. Leaders who choose depth over speed. Integrity over image. Truth over trends.
And to illustrate what this looks like in practice, we’ll explore the journey of Johan van Gool, founder of Kickso. His story is one of clarity, alignment, and leading from within. Through the Human Design Leadership™ approach, he discovered a whole new way of operating — one that didn’t just elevate his business, but reconnected him to himself.
Because the question isn’t whether leadership is evolving. It’s whether you’re evolving with it.
Four Key Insights from Johan van Gool’s Human Design Leadership™ Journey
Human Design Leadership™ is not about surface-level tips or generic strategies. It’s a deep, personal dive into how your energy truly works — and how that energy translates into real-world leadership.
When Johan van Gool, founder of Kickso, stepped into this journey, he didn’t just gain knowledge — he experienced a shift. A shift in how he thinks, leads, and decides. His process revealed four powerful insights that other founders will immediately recognise.
Insight #1 — Reclaiming the Inner Compass: Decision-Making Redefined
The first layer we worked on was decision-making. In the world of founders and CEOs, decisions are everything. Yet most leaders make them from the mind — weighing pros and cons, looping in logic, looking externally for certainty.
But Johan discovered that his true clarity didn’t come from overthinking. It came from understanding how his inner system is designed to decide.
Human Design teaches that every person has a unique decision-making authority — a somatic, intuitive, and reliable process built into their body. Johan’s authority allowed him to feel when something was right — not prove it.
“I now understand how I make decisions, and more importantly — how I can help others better too.”
— Johan van Gool, Founder of Kickso
This gave him instant clarity. He no longer had to debate endlessly or analyse scenarios to death. With this insight, decision fatigue vanished. He became faster, bolder, and calmer — not because he pushed harder, but because he trusted deeper.
Insight #2 — From Generic Strategy to Energetic Precision
Strategy is essential. But strategy that ignores your energetic blueprint is often counterproductive.
Before this work, Johan had tried several business strategies — some successful, others less so. But none felt completely right. There was always some friction, something that didn’t flow.
When we matched his energetic blueprint to his business vision, everything shifted. He began to see that certain strategies failed not because they were bad — but because they weren’t his.
“The professionalism of the service combined with the human aspect gave me insights I could apply immediately.”
— Johan van Gool, Founder of Kickso
With Human Design, Johan learned to craft his growth strategy around his natural rhythm — not in spite of it. He started focusing on what felt energising instead of what looked impressive. That one shift created more momentum than months of pushing ever had.
When your energy and strategy align, your business starts to run like it’s built for you. Because it finally is.
Insight #3 — Alignment Over Effort: Letting Energy Lead Growth
One of the most surprising insights for Johan was how much time and energy he’d been spending fighting against himself. Like many driven founders, he was used to pushing through: showing up, grinding, holding it all together.
But Human Design Leadership™ showed him a different way — one that wasn’t about giving up control, but about aligning with his true role.
“I discovered deeper layers within myself and better understand how I function as an entrepreneur.”
— Johan van Gool, Founder of Kickso
He began noticing where he was forcing growth — trying to lead from places that weren’t natural to him. And he stopped. Instead, he focused on creating from his zone of genius — that sweet spot where energy flows, ideas land, and results compound.
This kind of alignment doesn’t just create ease. It multiplies effectiveness. Because when you operate from your core energy, your presence becomes magnetic. Things start clicking. People respond. Teams sync.
You stop managing everything — and start leading with clarity.
Insight #4 — Growth Starts Within: From Business Strategy to Personal Evolution
At some point in our journey, Johan paused and said something powerful:
“Some insights don’t just change your business — they change your life. This was one of those moments.”
— Johan van Gool, Founder of Kickso
This is the deepest layer of Human Design Leadership™: the moment a leader realises that their inner growth is the ceiling of their company’s growth.
Yes, we worked on business goals, client dynamics, team decisions. But the biggest transformation came from the inside. Johan connected with a version of himself he hadn’t been leading from — a wiser, lighter, and more intuitive self.
He saw how his company reflected his energy. And as his energy became clearer, more focused, more trusting — so did his results.
That’s the hidden secret of modern leadership: It’s not about doing more. It’s about becoming more yourself.
Human Design Leadership™ vs Human Design for Leaders
Why leadership only transforms when energy is embodied
Human Design has gained significant traction in recent years as a tool for personal insight. Many entrepreneurs and leaders have already had their charts read. They know their Type, Profile, Strategy, and Authority. And that knowledge is meaningful.
But there is a profound difference between Human Design for leaders and Human Design Leadership™.
Human Design for leaders: self-awareness as the starting point
Human Design for leaders focuses on the individual. It helps you understand how you’re energetically wired — how you make decisions, where your gifts lie, and which patterns may be conditioning you.
It gives language to what you’ve often felt but couldn’t quite explain.
You gain clarity on:
- Why you sometimes feel overwhelmed or off-track
- Why certain people or partnerships feel effortless — and others don’t
- Why some choices seem logical on paper, but feel misaligned in the body
In short: you learn who you are, and how you function.
But then what?
Human Design Leadership™: embodiment as the turning point
Human Design Leadership™ begins where self-awareness ends. It’s not just about understanding — it’s about embodying. It’s not just reflection — it’s transformation.
Where traditional Human Design ends with insight, Human Design Leadership™ translates that insight into action:
- How do you use your energy as a strategic compass?
- How do you align your team and business model with your natural rhythm?
- How do you lead from your design — instead of against your nature?
This approach is not about the individual in isolation. It’s about the individual as an energetic field. Because if you’re a founder or C-level leader, your energy is not just personal — it’s organisational.
The way you speak, decide, lead, and take up space affects everything: your team’s performance, your culture, your brand, and ultimately your impact.
“The professionalism of the service combined with the human aspect gave me insights that were immediately applicable.”
— Johan van Gool, Founder of Kickso
This isn’t just about Human Design. It’s about how it’s delivered — and by whom. Human Design Leadership™ is a living, tailored process that blends structure with intuition, depth with direction, and insight with action.
Human Design Leadership™ is not “more insight.”
It’s: more impact through alignment.
Why this matters for founders and executives
At the top of an organisation, energy is not a side-note — it’s the core. If you’re misaligned as a founder or CEO, your team will feel it. Your clients will sense it. Strategy becomes cloudy, culture becomes fragmented, and growth feels forced.
But when you are aligned?
- You make clean, confident decisions
- You move with clarity instead of pressure
- You attract the right people, naturally
- You scale in a way that feels sustainable and true
That’s the difference between being a leader — and being in leadership.
Human Design for leaders tells you who you are.
Human Design Leadership™ shows you how to lead from it.
The Shift: From Old Leadership to a New Energetic Paradigm
Why founders are no longer willing to lead against themselves
We are living through one of the most profound shifts in leadership we’ve seen in decades.
For years, founders and executives were praised for their ability to perform under pressure. The ideal leader was rational, fast, efficient, and always ‘on’. Strategy was king. Control was a badge of honour. And pushing through discomfort was a celebrated skill.
But that model is crumbling.
Not because it didn’t work — but because it no longer works for us.
Modern leaders are waking up to the cost of leading through constant performance. They’re recognising the toll of disconnecting from their intuition. They’re seeing how leadership built on pressure eventually leads to friction, fatigue, and fragmentation.
The old paradigm rewarded over-functioning.
The new paradigm invites energetic alignment.
It’s a shift from:
- Mind to body
- Forcing to trusting
- Hustle to resonance
- External image to internal clarity
This transition is not theoretical. It’s already happening — in boardrooms, investor calls, team culture audits, and founder events. More and more CEOs are openly choosing to lead from truth, not tension.
Because the truth is: leadership is not sustainable when it fights the very system it depends on — your energy.
And that’s where Human Design Leadership™ comes in.
It doesn’t offer a new tactic. It offers a new foundation. One that replaces performative leadership with embodied leadership. One that shifts the core question from “What should I do?” to “What is aligned with who I am?”
This is why so many leaders who once felt stuck, overextended, or disconnected suddenly feel lighter and more focused when they begin working from their design. They’re no longer chasing clarity. They’re operating from it.
This isn’t soft leadership. It’s smart and natural leadership — the kind that moves from within and inspires trust without effort.
“Especially if you’re curious and want to grow, I highly recommend Marloes. I now have a way of understanding how energy works for me — and that changes everything.”
— Johan van Gool, Founder of Kickso
We are not going back to the old ways. The shift is here.
The only question is: are you willing to lead in a way that honours who you really are?
What is Human Design Leadership™?
A strategic recalibration for founders ready to lead from alignment
If you’re a founder, CEO, or visionary leader, you’ve probably already invested in growth. Business coaching. Strategic sessions and events. Frameworks. Models. You’ve built, led, scaled. You’ve ticked the boxes.
But somewhere along the way, something begins to shift.
The methods that once worked begin to feel flat. Strategy without energy leads to resistance. You start asking deeper questions:
“Where do I thrive naturally?”
“Why does success still feel heavy?”
“What if I could lead without losing myself?”
This is exactly where Human Design Leadership™ comes in.
This is not another coaching programme.
It is an energetic recalibration of how you lead, build, and make decisions.
It combines the strategic precision of Human Design with deep energetic awareness, tailored specifically to founders and executives who want to grow — but only if it’s aligned with who they really are.
What to expect from the programme
- Energetic Blueprint Mapping
We begin with your personal Human Design chart. This isn’t a generic reading. It’s a strategic decoding of how your energy is designed to operate — in business, in decisions, in leadership.
You’ll discover:
- Your natural decision-making style
- Where you’re conditioned to overcompensate
- How you impact teams and environments energetically
- What roles energise you — and which deplete you
- Private Deep-Dive Sessions
We don’t just analyse your chart — we bring it into action. Through 1:1 coaching sessions, we connect your design to your actual business goals. Whether you’re navigating a leadership transition, scaling your team, or rethinking your positioning — we use your energetic compass to lead the way. - Integration Tools & Practices
Between sessions, you’ll experiment, reflect and gain practical tools to help you integrate insights into your daily work and communication. Insight is nothing without embodiment. - Business & Culture Alignment
We take your Human Design and map it onto your organisation. How does your energy shape your team’s culture? What kind of leadership tone fits you — and what doesn’t? We explore where your brand, strategy, and leadership can realign to become both more effective and more you.
What changes when you lead from alignment?
Most founders come into this work with the same desire: they want to grow — but not at the cost of themselves. They want success that feels energising, not draining. Meaningful, not performative.
After working together, what they leave with is not just clarity — but permission.
Permission to:
- Lead in a way that feels natural
- Say no to what drains
- Trust their internal timing
- Create without proving
- Scale without self-sacrifice
This is how real transformation happens.
You don’t become someone else. You become more you — strategically, energetically, unapologetically.
“Marloes is an extraordinary person. The insights she gave me were not just powerful — they were directly applicable to my goals, both in business and personally.”
— Johan van Gool, Founder of Kickso
If you’re ready to lead from alignment, not expectation — this work is for you.
The Science Behind It: Energetic Intelligence as a Competitive Advantage
Validated by research from Oxford Business School
Energetic alignment might sound intuitive. Embodied decision-making may feel subtle. But make no mistake — this is not soft leadership.
It’s smart leadership. And it’s increasingly supported by science.
A 2021 study from the prestigious Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford explored how embodied awareness and energetic self-leadership affect performance in high-stakes entrepreneurial environments.
The findings were striking.
Leaders with energetic self-awareness demonstrated:
- Faster and more accurate decision-making under pressure
- Higher emotional resilience and lower rates of burnout
- Increased team trust, cohesion, and psychological safety
- Greater long-term business success
The study, titled Embodied Leadership and Energetic Intelligence in Entrepreneurial Contexts, concluded:
“Energetic literacy — the ability to perceive, interpret, and manage one’s internal energetic states — is as vital to effective leadership as strategic thinking or emotional intelligence.”
— University of Oxford, Saïd Business School, 2021
What this confirms is what Human Design Leadership™ makes practical:
When leaders understand their energetic blueprint — and learn how to lead from it — they gain a measurable edge in clarity, sustainability, and relational power.
This is not about abstract theory. It’s about real results, grounded in how your energy interacts with your people, your purpose, and your performance.
As more forward-thinking CEOs move away from outdated models of leadership, this research gives weight to what many are already experiencing:
Leading from alignment isn’t a trend. It’s the next standard.
Final Thoughts: From Insight to Embodiment
True leadership doesn’t begin with knowing. It begins with aligning.
Johan’s story isn’t just inspiring — it’s a reflection of what’s becoming possible for a new generation of leaders. Leaders who are done performing. Who are ready to grow without sacrificing themselves. Who want to lead businesses that are not only successful, but deeply true to who they are.
What Johan discovered — and what many others are now experiencing — is that leadership becomes radically more powerful the moment it becomes more personal. More embodied. More energetically aligned.
Because when your energy is aligned, your business flows.
And when you lead from your design, growth becomes inevitable.
If you’re a founder, CEO or entrepreneurial leader, and you feel that pull — that whisper of “this could be easier, clearer, more me” — then trust it.
Human Design Leadership™ is not for everyone. It’s for those who are ready to lead differently — from depth, not noise. From clarity, not compliance. From energy, not ego.
Johan van Gool’s Full Review (English Translation)
“Marloes is an extraordinary person! First of all, the professionalism of the service combined with the human aspect gave me insights that were immediately applicable. I now understand how energy works for me in a way that’s easy to grasp — thanks to Human Design. I gained many useful insights based on my business goals and on a personal level. This allowed me to discover deeper layers of the various systems within myself as a person. I now better understand how I make decisions and — even more importantly — how I can help others more effectively! It was super fun to do, and I recommend Marloes to anyone who wants to get more out of themselves as an entrepreneur. Especially if you’re curious about this and want to grow!”
— Johan van Gool, Founder of Kickso
Your Invitation — Let’s Begin
📌 Book a conversation
Want to explore whether this is for you?
You can book a personal call directly via:
👉 www.marloesoosterveen.com/plan-gesprek
📌 Claim your Executive Energy Scan
Each month, I offer a maximum of three free Executive Energy Scans for CEOs and founders who are ready to step into a new level of aligned leadership.
In this private 1:1 session, we’ll explore:
- Where friction currently exists in your leadership
- How your energy flows — and where it may be blocked
- What aligned, effortless leadership could look like for you
Using your Human Design as a strategic compass, you’ll walk away with clarity, intuitive insight, and a renewed sense of direction.
⚠️ Only 3 spots available per month.
Requests are reviewed personally — we’ll confirm by email if your session is selected.
📩 Interested? Claim your session here or email us at info@marloesoosterveen.com.
📌 Upcoming Events — Register Your Interest
We’re currently planning new Human Design Leadership™ live events in Utrecht and London.
No dates yet — we plan based on energy and momentum.
If you’d like to be the first to hear when doors open:
📩 Email us at info@marloesoosterveen.com to register your interest.
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