Testimonials
One client put it this way: "Advance! creeps under your skin, and develops fully aligned leadership from the inside out, based on a full and profound understanding of our business purpose, our strategic goals, and our culture".
As one of our clients at a major graphic communications company defined it: "The people from Advance! do not just offer pragmatic solutions to our business challenges; they make sure it is our solution, and then they devote all the time and energy necessary to make sure that also our employees accept it as our solution. Advance! doesn't stop until it works!"
A senior manager at one of the world's leading automotive supply companies says about Jan Dirk Geertsema, our founder: "Jan Dirk's advice and support is not just stimulating because he rapidly understands our situation and helps us find the right business direction, it is most of all the personal commitment and excitement he shares with us that makes us willing to change and improve. Jan Dirk makes us enjoy change!"
Read more testimonials below (source: LinkedIn):
“I attended a multi-session leadership course that JD ran for my company over about 9 months, and can honestly say it was the single most beneficial, relevant, and practical program I have had the pleasure of participating in. Not only was the material useful and practical, JD's style and expertise made it easy to understand and apply, as well as to actively practice in a safe and supportive environment. Most courses like this fade from your mind after days if not hours, and have little lasting impact on the attendees. He has the touch to ensure that doesn't happen - I still refer to the materials he provided and methodologies we worked through in my daily work... I can only hope that my skill at applying them continues to grow in the future. The friends and colleagues that I attended the course with absolutely agree too.” August 18, 2009, Kevin Cazabon, Director Current Solutions Commercial and Publishing, Eastman Kodak.
“J.D is a unique trainer in management and leadership skills. His style of presentation and interaction are truly unique and I have never been on a similar course as the ones he ran, ever in my career. He is able to apply theory with examples of real application within the working environment. I certainly got a lot out of his courses and I know a lot of my colleagues did too. I would recommend J.D to anyone who wanted to really change their business for the better.” January 27, 2009, Nigel Penhearow, Business Operations Director, Eastman Kodak.
“I had the opportunity to work with Jan Dirk in the year 2000, during the integration process between Hoechst Schering AgrEvo Kft and Rhone Poulenc Agro Kft to form Aventis CropScience Kft, a subsidiary of Aventis CropScience SA in Hungary. Jan Dirk' profound knowledge of interpersonal skills' management, creativity in conflict solving and focus on getting timely results were instrumental in forming a management team oriented to success, focused on creating a new and unique company culture, avoiding the common pitfalls of merger integration. I would recommend Jan Dirk anytime to handle potential or existing conflict situations at management level, aiming at developing real leadership teams. Furthermore his strong skills in sales and strategic management provide an additional benefit to customers : building on management leadership to create winning strategies.” July 12, 2008, Christophe Dumont, Bayer CropScience GmbH
“Jan Dirk is a great teacher. I was always amazed by the amount of time and effort he puts into preparation of his classes. He is attentive to every participant and every detail. This is the highest level of TEACHING, (not just transferring information from the notes of a speaker onto the notes of a student) I have seen in the world. Jan Dirk really gets into brains and hearts of everybody in the classroom, because he fully commits his brain and heart to it.” May 28, 2008
Pavlo Sheremeta, Dean, Kyiv Mohyla Business School (KMBS)