About

Madeleine and Robbie the dog
Madeleine Boerma, 1966

Heartcore leadership

For me, it’s all about heartcore leadership. Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things. Heartcore leadership is doing the right things from a place of awareness.

Once we all know that I am you and you are me, and that we humans have this incredible opportunity to live out our lives on this magnificantly beautiful planet…

we just might finally understand that we should always aim for that which is to the benefit of the collective.

Who am I?

My final thesis while graduating from the University of Amsterdam in English Language & Literature was on Emily Dickinson’s poetry.

More specifically, I was interested in the poems in which she wrote about about how our souls live in our bodies. Now what if that body dies and the soul lives on? Where does it go?

All my life I have been interested in the questions who am I and who are we?

I moved multiple times and went to 5.5 elementary schools and 2 high schools. As a result, I had to develop the flexibility to hold my own in all kinds of circumstances.

Curiosity landed me an international career. And it made me go on a 2.5 year travelling & working experience in Asia and the Middle East. Followed many years later by another 3 months of travelling through the USA and Canada. All of these experiences contributed to a broadened perspective on the world we inhabit. This world that in and of itself is a true miracle.

I learned that being (close to) myself is the only constant, to thrive in our constantly changing world.

Leadership

Whether it was on the field hockey field or baking 350+ pancakes as a high school graduation stunt, for as long as I can remember, I have naturally gravitated toward roles where I enjoy achieving results together.

After college and my post-grad teaching degree, the teaching profession would have been a logical choice. Fate had it otherwise and I ended up in the magical world of international telecommunications. Moving from process, project and eventually program management to coaching and personal development and team managing larger project teams. I travelled, worked with many different nationalities and learned to appreciate the power of what a group of people can accomplish when they put their attention and energy into it.

My natural fascination with what makes us human means that I have an above-average interest in the difference between management and leadership: doing things right versus doing the right things. Including the question, what is right?

Our shared ecosystem

Regarding a more sustainable way of living to help contribute to the sustainability of our shared ecosystem: that journey began with the purchase of my first house in 2010.

The renovation heralded the beginning of a journey towards a more sustainable way of living which was originally focussed on the material world. But which over time has come to include our entire ecosystem in the widest sense of the word.

It includes:

  • having co-founded an energy cooperative
  • the realisation of local climate agreement
  • trying to live a zero-waste life
  • learning how to grow my own food in a veggie garden
  • being especially keen to facilitate the awakening of us humans to our wonderful selves, healed from trauma, in tune with our unique frequencies and simply present
  • in taking a special interest in living in cooperation with this green lush world through bushcraft trainings
  • and trying to understand how we can go green in a green manner!
Madeleine cutting wood

In addition, I love my dog and hiking, and am the author of two books.

Self-employed

I love to work with independent professionals or SME owners as well as those who manage teams.

Whether you want to make a difference out of intrinsic motivation or because there is a social task that requires time and attention that you don’t really have, I can help you realise heartcore transformations.

As coach and program manager, I help you with heartcore leadership and entrepreneurship. I will always focus on both personal and team leadership development, as well as your company’s system in terms of processes, projects and programs. I like practical solutions that are also good for our shared ecosystem.

Have been self-employed since 2001 and working under the name Het zakelijke hart aka business heart or heartcore.

Logo van Het zakelijke hart voor volhoudbaar ondernemen & leiderschap