ABOUT ME
I was in the
Hidden Stress Zone myself.
And I didn't see it.
For 25 years I led in corporate organisations. I was functioning, I was performing — while my nervous system had been overloaded for years. I had signals. But I had no data.
That is precisely why I now measure what I couldn't see back then.
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25 years of leadership and management in corporate organisations
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Former Agile Transformation Director — Heineken
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Biofeedback & Neurofeedback Specialist
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Certified EFT Practitioner
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Certified Firstbeat Life user
"The signals were always there. I just didn't know how to read them
— until the data showed me."
MY CAREER
From business graduate to leader of complex transformation programmes
After completing my business administration degree, I worked for over 25 years as a leader and manager in large corporate organisations. With pleasure, with dedication — and with an approach that worked. I was someone with vision, who maintained overview, pushed through when things got complicated and took responsibility where others hesitated.
Those qualities took me far. To Agile Transformation Director at Heineken. To large, complex transformation programmes in which my department helped organisations work in fundamentally different ways. I did what I was good at, and I did it with pleasure and conviction.
And all the while I was doing exactly what I now measure in others: I was performing on willpower, while my nervous system had long since fallen out of balance.
THE HIDDEN STRESS ZONE -FROM WITHIN
I was functioning fine.
But my nervous system hadn't been for a long time.
When I look back at those years and map them onto the Employee Stress Curve™, I can see the pattern clearly now. I was in phase 3, possibly already heading towards phase 4. Functioning. Productive. Visibly effective.
But the signals were very much there. A head full of thoughts that never seemed to clear. Chronically tense shoulders and neck. A sense of being rushed that was there even when there was no reason for it. Poor sleep — waking at 3am, mind already racing. Relaxation becoming increasingly effortless — even at weekends and during holidays.
"I recognised the signals. And I did what most leaders and employees do: I normalised them. They fitted with a busy, responsible job and a family life. With who I was. With what I demanded of myself."
None of those signals were reason to actually change something structurally. Also because I genuinely didn't know how I would do that. Each of them had a logical explanation. And I kept performing — so what was the problem?
That is exactly how the Hidden Stress Zone works. Your nervous system compensates. Until it can no longer do so.
WHAT I NOW KNOW
If I had measured myself at the time with Firstbeat Life, the data would have shown what I couldn't see myself: structurally insufficient recovery, chronically elevated stress levels, sleep that was no longer restorative. And I would have seen which simple changes to my daily life could have improved this.
The measurement would have raised the alarm years earlier — so that I could have taken targeted action much sooner to return to sustainable performance.
WHAT I DISCOVERED
Stress turned out to be measurable.
And therefore changeable.
I immersed myself in the psychology and physiology of stress. Through neuro- and biofeedback, something became visible that I had not understood for years: the true state of my nervous system, in concrete data.
For the first time I had an objective picture of what was really happening, rather than what I thought was happening.
For the first time I understood why simply resting wasn't enough. Why my head stayed switched on. Why relaxing doesn't work by trying harder. And why all those years of pushing through had not made me strong — but actually vulnerable.
→ My nervous system was structurally overloaded — not through weakness, but through years of functioning on perseverance and control without sufficient recovery
→ Biofeedback made the overload concrete and measurable — that was the key that conversations, self-reflection and intuition had not provided
→ Nervous system regulation is a skill — one that can be learned, even under pressure, even in the middle of a leadership reality
I completed training in biofeedback, neurofeedback, meditation, mindfulness, breathing regulation and EFT tapping. I experimented. Adjusted my patterns based on what the data showed. Step by step I learned to regulate my system — not on feeling alone, but with measurable progress.
THE TURNING POINT
In 2021, the last reserve ran out.
During the pandemic, I was diagnosed with cancer.
And here lies the physiological reality I now understand: my nervous system had no reserves left. The years of high performance on willpower had depleted them. And when an acute, serious stressor arrived — the diagnosis, the chemotherapy, the operation — there was nothing left to fall back on.
I now finally had time to recover. But I could no longer relax, even now that I had all the time in the world to do so. My head remained busy. My system stayed switched on, even without work pressure.
That is not weakness. That is what happens physiologically when a nervous system has had too little recovery for too long — and is then hit by extreme stress on top of that. The system can no longer flick the switch. Resting doesn't help, because relaxation is a skill that the nervous system has to execute. And that was exhausted.
During my rehabilitation I resigned from my job to make space for recovery. Not as an admission of defeat — as the only logical step. That decision changed everything. Not only for myself, but for what I would go on to understand and do for others.
WHAT I DO NOW
If I couldn't see myself realistic without data
— what does that say about your team?
That is the question I bring to every organisation. I had 25 years of leadership experience. I knew myself well. I knew the signals. And yet I missed what was physiologically really happening — because I had no objective data to hold up a mirror to me.
Your employees are no different. The people in your team who work the hardest, perform the most and complain the least are often precisely the people who are deep in the Hidden Stress Zone. Functioning. Visibly effective. And internally already far beyond their limits.
That is what I do: objectively measuring what would otherwise remain invisible. And giving leaders and organisations the tools to act on the basis of facts — before performance declines or someone burns out.
WHAT I BELIEVE IN
Four principles that guide my work
High performance and wellbeing go perfectly well together — but they require a different approach than willpower, pushing through and hoping for the best. Sustainable performance starts with a nervous system that is capable of healthy recovery.
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Objective data changes the conversation -Both for you in discussions with your leadership, and for the people in your team in relation to themselves. Assumptions become facts. Facts become action. That is the starting point for improvement.
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Long-term absence is almost always avoidable — if you intervene early enough. The signals have always been there. They just weren't measurable.
Now they are. So you know in time what you need to do.
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Nervous system regulation is not a luxury for when you have enough time -It is a skill for those who are genuinely busy and want to keep performing sustainably — without burning themselves out.
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