This article was written by Laura Galante. Laura is an executive coach, leadership advisor, and founder of CoachIIN. She supports leaders, entrepreneurs, and organisations in developing intentional, embodied leadership and sustainable performance. Laura holds an Executive MBA in Leadership & Sustainability from UMIO’s MaastrichtMBA and has nearly 20 years of experience in consultancy, talent development, and international business. She works in Belgium and internationally, in French and English.
You don’t change countries. You change posture. And behind every posture lies an intention.
A few weeks ago, I had a (online) kopje koffie with Ronnie, a Dutch entrepreneur who graduated from UMIO in September and had just moved to Shanghai with his family. On paper, his decision looked perfectly strategic: new market, new opportunities, new chapter. Everything made sense. And yet, as he was telling me about his first weeks there, it became obvious that what was really happening had very little to do with geography.
He wasn’t just changing countries. He was changing something much deeper: the way he was standing in his life and in his leadership. His posture. And behind that posture, as always, there was an intention.
In a world where careers are increasingly non-linear and leadership journeys more complex than ever, we tend to overestimate strategy and underestimate the invisible inner drivers that shape our decisions – and their impact.
The story we tell ourselves about “good decisions” What really drives big decisions
We like to believe that big professional moves are rational. Strategic. Well thought through. We build business cases, compare scenarios, weigh risks, and convince ourselves that we are making “the right decision”.
In my work as a coach, I see something very different. The same move can be liberating for one person and exhausting for another. The same role can feel like a playground or like a prison. The difference is rarely the context. It is almost always the inner posture.
Many transformations fail not because the strategy is wrong, but because the intention behind the move is unclear, unconscious, or misaligned.
Same person, new mirror
Ronnie’s move to China is a beautiful illustration of this. Very quickly, what struck him was not just the business energy or the pace of life, but the way he was seen – and how that changed him. In the Netherlands, he described himself as “average Joe”. In China, he is a foreigner. Different. Visible. Unique. And that difference, paradoxically, feels like a strength.
Same person. New mirror.
That shift in how others see you subtly changes how you see yourself. How you dare. How you decide. How you lead.
The move also had a strong symbolic dimension. They arrived with only ten suitcases. Everything else was sold, stored, or left behind. A physical clean-up that reflected an inner one: letting go of old objects, old habits, old certainties and creating space.
And then there is the deeper professional shift. Ronnie used to think in classic career terms: specialise, climb, secure one strong position. Today, he thinks in portfolios: several businesses, several income streams, more freedom, more creativity, more play. Less safety-through-position. More freedom-through-creation.
Posture: the invisible driver of leadership
What really changed for Ronnie was not the country. It was the place from which he acts.
This is a core insight in my work: It’s not what you do that changes everything. It’s from where you do it.
I often call this the Intention Gap:
• What we want
• What we do
• And the inner place from which we do it
Two leaders can take the same decision, use the same words, apply the same strategy –and get completely different results. Why? Because teams don’t react to strategies. They react to postures. And every posture is driven by an intention – conscious or not.
Becoming less “nice” and more grounded
One of the most human parts of Ronnie’s story is what he says he learned from his wife during this transition: learning to be a bit tougher. Less “always nice guy”. Less over-forgiving. More boundaries.
Not out of hardness. But out of clarity and self-respect.
This is what leadership maturity often looks like: not becoming more aggressive, but becoming more aligned and grounded. More present. More true.
Again: posture.
Four questions before any big move
Whether you are changing country, company, role, or strategy, I believe every leader should pause and ask:
- What am I really trying to build?
- What am I trying to prove?
- What am I trying to escape?
- From where am I making this decision?
Because the same move made from fear, ego, or exhaustion will not create the same life as the same move made from clarity, desire, or purpose.
Leadership as an inner practice
Leadership is not a status. It is a practice.And intention is not a one-time insight. It is a discipline.
In a world of uncertainty, complexity, and constant change, self-awareness, inner alignment, and reflective capacity are not “soft skills”. They are strategic skills.
This is also why lifelong learning is not just about acquiring new tools or knowledge. It is about updating the inner operating system from which we lead.
Enjoying the journey
When I asked Ronnie about his intention for the coming years, he spoke about developing his businesses, structuring what exists, and growing what is emerging.
And then he added something much simpler. And much deeper.
A promise to himself: “Enjoy the journey.”
Maybe that is the most beautiful definition of success.
Because in the end, we never just change countries, companies, or roles. We change posture. And behind every posture lies an intention.
