Michael Stump, Welcome to Gladwell Academy!
Michael Stump, welcome. You will take over our operations on March 1, 2021, and at the same time act as ad interim manager DACH.
What can we expect from you?
"As COO at Gladwell Academy I’ll be managing the company’s operational business. I am responsible for the quality and competitiveness of our services. I will make sure we provide highly valuable services with impeccable delivery by our first-class people.
The role is great to combine my years of international experience in lean-agile leadership, market development, leadership, and people development with my consulting expertise in lean-agile and the scaled agile framework. I will make sure that we conduct our operational business with insight and foresight according to lean-agile values and principles."
What long-term goals do you have for shaping the future of the company?
"The transformation consultancy Gladwell / BlinkLane is a powerhouse, known for delivering high added value to its customers. That is and remains our primary goal. We will strengthen our competencies across the organization and continue to develop reliable, smart, and high-value service packages. Due to our holistic consulting approach, we can react very flexibly to changing market and customer requests. We will continue to grow on this foundation."
We, too, have to exemplify resilience, perseverance, continuous learning, and improvement.
"I will also strive for the same change readiness and willingness we expect and support in our customers. We, too, have to exemplify resilience, perseverance, continuous learning, and improvement. I’m also going to work on running our company according to the latest lean-agile management and personnel development principles. It will be another important milestone in our success story and the basis for growth."
What made you join Gladwell Academy?
"I have known the company for a long time and have always admired the drive, holistic approach and customer focus.
We have the training, coaching, and education business, Gladwell Academy, which lays a strong foundation on which the consulting business, BlinkLane Consulting, is built. They work in tandem to offer the customer a high-quality, sustainable service along the entire value chain."
I also like the growth philosophy of the company. It is visible in many ways and offers me, together with a motivated team, the opportunity to expand the business and to bring in my experience and expertise.
We are growing fast. Laurens Bonnema and Marijt Weerts are just two of the seasoned agilists and trainers who recently joined our team. For the time being, you will also act as ad interim manager DACH.
How do you rate the development of agility in the DACH-region?
"DACH has much catching up to do, especially compared to Scandinavian countries, but we are closing the gap. As a Swiss native, I am of course a bit biased, but I clearly see positive signals."
