How Do You Practice Leadership? Maintaining Resilience

Jeroen de Lange founded 100WEEKS.ORG to deliver cash, training, and coaching support to anyone determined to escape poverty. He and his team have worked with over 3000 families across 4 countries to build a better future.  

“To me, resilience is the ability to bounce back. Last week, I was working in Ivory Coast. Things don’t always work the way you want. There are setbacks. Things take longer. I need resilience to stay the course, to maintain my energy and my audacious attitude, haha.”  

To build his resilience, Jeroen developed crucial daily habits. “When you have habits, you just do it, you don’t have to think about it. I wake up every morning at six and I swim outside, the whole year-round. I live in the Netherlands. It’s super cold. I really love it. You get all this serotonin flowing! This practice also represents who I am as a leader. I just jump straight in, just try things. The shock from the cold water stays with me the whole day.” 

“After that, I do half an hour of zen meditation. This practice anchors me in the here and now, helps me see that I’m here on this planet, this is my life. I was born, I will die. This puts things in a bit of a broader perspective. After that, I can focus on what’s important.” 

And the pink swimming cap? “Haha, yeah I’m that guy, with the pink cap in the cold dark water. I wear it so that the boats don’t run over me.” 

Jeroen de Lange is an alumni of THNK’s Executive leadership program. Learn more about the Executive Leadership Program here.