A book by Marc Vanschoenwinkel
Mind Growing
Build thriving companies through personal growth
Mind Growing Leadership
The mind is a thing of beauty. It is home to all of our thoughts, reflections, ideas, values, beliefs and feelings. When the mind grows, people grow. The way we are – our actions, thoughts, and feelings – all improve. And when people grow, companies and communities grow.
Becoming aware of how your mind and other people’s minds can work and grow is a crucial step towards becoming a great person and leader. One can’t happen without the other. Leadership that enhances the growth of individual and collective minds adds value to the lives of others and improves society. In our opinion, that’s exactly what leadership should strive for.
Mind
That what allows us to think, feel and act in a conscious way
Growth
Improving the quality of being, acting, and feeling
Leadership
The courage to create awareness for oneself and others
About the book
Learn how to use insights from brain research to develop your mind, your team and your company!
This book offers a roadmap for leaders to develop the enormous human potential that still exists in all organizations, large and small.
Leadership makes a tremendous difference in the lives of so many people. A good leader can lead a company to success. A great leader will impact the personal growth of all those they lead.
In a world that is rapidly changing, companies need employees to be connected and truly engaged. That is why an understanding of neuro-leadership and personality development becomes invaluable. What does it mean for leading people?
Never before has there been so much research and knowledge available concerning how the brain works. Drawing upon the latest in brain research, Mind Growing delves into how to grow your mind and personality to enhance your leadership and life skills. By explaining how your employees function on a primal and emotional level, it explores how to treat them with empathy and understanding to inspire and motivate. It will allow you to grow into a GREAT leader.
What other people think
Madeline M. Roberts
Customer Experience Manager - IKEA USA
“After reading this inspiring and motivational book, I couldn't agree more with Marc's statement; the mind is a thing of beauty! I enjoyed the writing style of the book, the stories told to illustrate the topics and the tools provided for success.
The book reveals the essence of leadership and the definite possibility of building a successful team. The ABC's of Leadership left me with a deeper understanding of leadership even after 25 years of experience; I realized I'm still growing. Thank you, Marc, for sharing your passion, knowledge, and expertise with the world. FYI - I've already started working with my leadership team implementing what I've learned.”
Ulf Gustavsson
CEO & Founder Gustavum AB
"I use to say that I don’t need to learn something new every time I read or explore something. Sometimes it is enough to just get confirmation or get someone’s else’s words around similar thoughts. That is for sure NOT the case with Mind Growing Leadership. Some parts are confirmation but what Marc is doing and what is really creating an additional and great value is the total offer. The book on one hand and the journal and video clips (Instagram: mind_growing_leadership_abc) on the other hand. With this total offer you will increase your success rate to go from tips, thoughts, case studies, confirmation and great knowledge to actions with a tangible and ”SMART” outcome.
This is a powerful toolkit, for sure mind growing and will support real actions and the wished outcome for a leader.
Thanks a lot Marc for a great contribution to my own development that will give me support to create better teams and outcome were I take a leadership. Well done!"
Carina Priesman
IKEA Systems, Core Business Franchise
"Being a firm believer that the well-being of the people working in an organisation is crucial for business success, I was happy to find this book.
The book Mind Growing is richly sharing theories, tools and many years of wisdom learnt by Marc in his extensive work with many different organisations & people coaching. It is about the challenge towards us leaders to not lead the daily business but to ‘grow our own mind’ and that of others to realise our gigantic human potential. It also deals with the fact that it takes a lot from leaders being vulnerable, great listeners and authentic as well as the importance of giving clear directions and a structured playfield for their people.
I appreciated the mix of theories, reading about real cases connected to the theory and the hands on exercises to deep-dive into. It triggered both sides of my brain as it taught me new things and at the same time I felt challenged to start applying new learnings right away. This book is for sure worth reading!"
Greet Nys
Director Care4Clients Van Lanschot Kempen Wealth Management
“How do I become a real leader instead of a manager in this disruptive world? You can find the answer in the book “Mind growing” by Marc Vanschoenwinkel. Marc, being an outstanding coach himself, combines in this book in a magnificent way, the theory of the brain and his own experience. He draws a roadmap to change yourself into a great leader using theory, cases, videos and a personal development logbook.
Great leaders need their employees to grow with them. It is only by understanding your employees and letting their minds grow you achieve your own goal and that of your company. This book is an eye-opener for every manager of today. I was coached by Marc in the early 2000 and I am still using his approach in my daily life.”
Jimmy Chan
4PL Operations, Senior Manager at Brightstar Malaysia
"It is a book like no other! For new leaders it closes experience gaps and for seasoned leaders it gives a deeper understanding into the psychology and mechanism of leadership.It explores the harsh workplace and people management reality (covering past to present transition and is future proof) while enlightening you on the solution with explanatory examples.
The distinct difference of this book that makes it stands out is that it delves into the psychology of people, giving insights that was once reserved to those who specialize in this skill of who have years of experience in it and we are getting it all “Marc’s 30 years knowledge to us in days”.
You also get a deeper learning as it provides exposure to other authors’ research & discoveries in a clear concise explanation on how it works. Is like reading multiple straight to the point summarized books in one book. And there’s a bonus, it also provides tools/models to solve those challenges for employees and leaders. All-in-all it is simply magnificently practical, easy to read and extremely relevant, I strongly recommend this book for all."
Jean Smets, M.D.
Head of Medical Affairs Astellas Pharma Belgium
“In this book Marc explains how "Mind Growing" can help leaders from the business world to grow, and above all, to become better leaders who create a happy and productive work environment.
The focus is on well-being and personal growth. The book reads fluently and is interspersed with examples and situation outlines. I found the reference to the world of chimpanzees very appealing. It's surprising to see that we are much closer to these distant cousins of ours than we realize or want to admit ourselves.
What I will certainly use from this book is the "evolution of the brain" in which Marc describes in detail how the different parts of our brain influence our actions. This knowledge allows me to better understand people's reactions and actions, including myself, and therefore to guide them more efficiently. The book is highly recommended and every leader will learn something from it, yet I especially recommend it to leaders with some experience, they will certainly recognize and appreciate the situations described.
And I especially recommend it for... everyone, leaders, junior leaders, senior leaders...”
Vijay Lochen
General Manager HR at Hexagon AB
"Written by my favourite Leadership trainer, Marc.
Firstly, I found the title itself very thought-provoking....."Mind Growing". The "Fight", "Flight" and "Freeze" instincts, show an amazing correlation from history of humans to modern day humans.
I liked the "Monkey Trap" reference in the book as well as the "SCARF" and "ABC" principles; they are detailed-out very well. The pictures and diagrams really visualize the concepts. Wishing you a great success as a Leadership writer. It will be a pleasure to associate with you in future and to Grow Mind."
Your personal development logbook
All personal reflection and growth exercises from the book we combined in an interactive downloadable logbook.
Demo Video: Guiding Hossein
The following video refers to chapter eleven in the book. It demonstrates different skills you can use to evoke and guide the energy of people in the desired direction.
Ready to dive in deeper?
Look at our selected services to enhance your personal development as a leader and/or a team and improve the way you are, act, and feel.
Real life training & coaching
Developing authentic leaders and teams with impact
Through personal development, we shape insights and authenticity, developing leaders and teams with impact. In our training and coaching, we work on integrating the essential elements of who you are: the way you perceive your context, behaviour, skills, beliefs, ego, and emotional drivers. This to grow individual and collective minds, improving the way you are, act, and feel, for positive, sustainable results.
Building blocks to create a high value flexible proposition for online leadership development
A flexible, high touch (interactive and engaging), practical, modular approach.
One time tracking session
Online inspirational workshop
“How to…” sessions
Online personal coaching
A seasons ticket
The leadership video drip
Let's talk about Mind Growing
Would you like to discover more about combining personal growth and leadership development? About how to build the leadership competence “getting things done through people” while creating a high level of well-being? Then let’s talk! Free of charge and no strings attached!
Marc Vanschoenwinkel
Marc is a multilingual leadership and organizational development specialist with 30 years of experience in helping leaders around the globe to solve professional challenges.
With a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology, Marc has a profound interest in the human psyche.
He has a passion for the dynamic interplay between personal growth and leadership styles. Throughout his long career, this fascination has driven him to push leaders on their own powerfully human paths of evolution and progress.
Growing up in a blue-collar family, Marc listened carefully while his parents shared stories about the trials of the everyday worker. Those kitchen table conversations deeply informed his attitudes on building an emotionally healthy workplace. Enlightened leadership, with the well-being of its workers as a goal, is fundamental to the future success of businesses, both large and small.
It is Marc’s goal to help people shape a happy, productive workplace, with a focus on well-being, personal excellence, and growth.
Partner Websites
A website regarding a 3-dimensional leadership development tool based on 6 key leadership challenges. Here, you’ll find discussions and tips to help you deal with the challenges.
A boutique consultancy firm that delivers worldwide services related to personal, leadership, and team development. Compassion to Lead is focused on how leaders can unleash passion and show compassion, and gives you a helpful compass to refer to. This site offers plenty of free tools and tips.
A boutique consultancy firm with a global clientele that delivers unique experiences and sustainable results through high-impact business, people, and leadership development solutions.