With over 20 years of corporate experience, Christine has honed her skills as a leader, guiding hundreds of individuals, managing large teams and climbing the corporate ladder. Along her journey, she encountered the limitations of traditional leadership approaches and sought a new path—one rooted in self-awareness, consciousness and growth. Driven by her own transformation, Christine is dedicated to helping corporate talent to become the Leaders they wish they had. Her Vision is to transform the corporate workplace into a safe space where everyone can thrive, grow and fully expand.
Christine Exelmans, Conscious Leadership Development Coach
Introduce yourself! Please tell us about you and your life, so we can get to know you better.
My name is Christine Exelmans and I’m a Core Energy Coach focusing on Leadership Development. I have been living the expat life for more than 15 years, living in Germany, Switzerland, Russia and the Netherlands. During my last assignment here in the Netherlands, I met my husband Borg (a Belgium-born, travelling expat himself). We have made the Noord-Holland our home for now and we live as a blended family by the beach in Noord-Holland together with my daughter Lily (10), my son Albert (who studies in Germany) and our 2 dogs Teddy & Lola.
We love the village life and the abundant access to nature. Taking our dogs for a stroll in the forest is wonderful and spending an afternoon at the beach is something we enjoy very much as a family. Next to loving the outdoors I’m an avid student of yoga and the yoga teachings. I’m also a certified yoga teacher.
I’m enjoying the current phase of my life and staying in one place for now allows me to actively invest in finding my tribe: finding like-minded women, learning how to rest & relax together, while sharing an innate curiosity for the mysteries of life and having a good laugh together.
Can you provide an overview of your business and the primary services or products offered?
My services are all awareness-raising at their heart. I work with the Energy Leadership™ framework. By understanding the energetic quality of ones thought, feelings and actions, we can become more and more conscious of our perception and response towards any situation, person, or problem.
Most of us are completely unaware how much we limit ourselves through our way of thinking and how much subtle stress is created by it. This thick layer of thoughts is covering up who we truly are, limiting ourselves. The constant subtle stress we create for ourselves is having devastating effects on our well-being, life satisfaction and success. You see, I believe that life is meant to be fun and easy. And that if we live our lives as closely as possible to who we truly are, we can’t help it but being successful in whatever success means for us.
When I work with a team or an individual, we always start with an assessment to measure their unique energetic make-up. The Energy leadership Index Assessment (the ELI, an attitudinal assessment recommended by Forbes magazine as 3 of ‘10 assessments every executive should take’) gives metrics and language to something very difficult to talk about otherwise: attitude and perception.
Based on the results of the assessment we start to peel back the ‘thought-layer’ as much as possible by going deep into underlying beliefs and values. This inside-out approach is truly transformative and life-changing for most of my clients. We are each a product of our own belief system. If we want to change our life, we need to start there.
What sets your business apart from others in your industry, and what do you believe is your unique selling proposition?
What sets me apart from many other Leadership coaches is, that I have walked the same path my clients are on. I have lived and breathed the corporate culture and I have experienced many of the same struggles my clients have.
Another thing that sets me apart is my holistic approach to coaching. As a professional coach who is also a yoga-teacher and certified somatic practitioner I believe in and practice whole-person-wellbeing, encompassing all aspects of self; mind, body, heart and soul/spirit.
Achieving your best life requires moving towards your full human potential, through expansion, healing and growths in all areas of self. It is a call for complete transformation of mindset and the thoughts, feelings and actions that stem from it. A transformation that begins with shifting your beliefs and moving into a place of empowerment.
What is the underlying vision or philosophy that guides your business, and how do you ensure that your values are reflected in your offerings?
Having spent a big part of my career as a Leader in the corporate world, I have always tried to make a positive impact for and with the people I work with.
As a college drop-out and young single mom, I have experienced first-hand that extraordinary success in the corporate world is possible, even without the perfect cv. I have also witnessed the devastating effects poor leadership can have on people’s lives and well-being. It has become my mission to support a new generation of leaders who want to lead from consciousness and awareness, putting the human being at the center. A new generation that is ready to shake up and replace some of the bureaucratic, hierarchical, and outdated structures of the corporate world. How do you leverage your online presence to reach and connect with your target audience, and what marketing strategies have proven effective for your business?
My clients are very active on Linkedin and this is for me the best way to connect with them. I also use other social media channels (Instagram and Facebook) to share content and to bring people together.
Many people are curious about the ELI assessment (Energy Leadership Index assessment) that I offer. They want to understand their unique energetic make-up and what it says about them and their Leadership. Most of them decide for coaching after they had the debrief and have become more aware where their default patterns might be blocking them from achieving their goals. If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be and why?
The world of business has experienced an unbelievable acceleration over the past 10 years. Digital transformation has changed all our lives completely. AI is at our doorstep, and we feel equally threatened and excited by it.
Companies demand more and more innovation and proactiveness from their teams, yet data is showing us: we lack employee engagement across the board (last Gallup ‘state of the global workforce report’).
We need a new way of leading to maximize human contribution. If human beings are experiencing freedom and safety, they can do unbelievable things.
Too much energy goes towards managing perception and dealing with perceived threats at the workplace.
I believe it is a leaders core responsible to create that safety and freedom for their teams. This will not only result in the employee engagement we all want, reduce burn-out and increase overall satisfaction; it will also unleash the full potential of the human mind and it’s unbelievable capacity to invent: in short it is also paramount for business.
Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today.
I have had many pivotal moments in my life that changed the course of it.
Most of them presented themselves as difficult life events at the time (early and unplanned pregnancy and motherhood when I was still in school, dropping out of college, divorce, single motherhood, multiple international assignments, multiple career changes, burnout, the blended family experience from all sides and so forth), but were always followed by incredible and unforeseen opportunities (great professional opportunities & a stellar career in the corporate world, 2 amazing children I’m very proud of, a wonderful husband…)
All experiences we have (the good and the bad) are opportunities for growths and to learn about ourselves in a new and different way. And that is exciting. Life is a perfect adventure that cannot be won or lost; only played.
