Interview with Frank Segers
Frank Segers is a leadership coach, author of the book 'Emotionally Intelligent Leadership', and has been working with leaders and entrepreneurs for over 25 years. In this interview, he shares his vision on the leadership of the future and explains why self-knowledge is the foundation of every strong leader.
From control to ownership
TalentTester: Frank, in your book you talk about "the leadership of the future". What do you mean by that?
"When I talk about the leadership of the future, it comes down to one fundamental shift: moving from control to ownership. In many organisations today, I still see too many leaders carrying everything themselves. They think faster, decide faster, and solve problems faster. That approach has taken them far, but it is now starting to work against them.
The context has changed. Teams today need to think for themselves, make their own decisions, and take on more responsibility. When everything continues to flow through the team leader, you slow down your own organisation.
The leadership of the future means that as a leader you are no longer the answer, but the framework. You teach people to create solutions themselves.
And that is where the misconception often lies: leaders think their team takes too little initiative, when in reality it is often a logical consequence of how the team is being led.
Six core qualities and the most underrated one
Which core qualities form the foundation of emotionally intelligent leadership?
According to Frank, there are six: self-awareness, self-management, motivation, self-confidence, empathy, and social skills. Not theory, but the essence of how you make an impact on your team as a leader.
The quality that is most underrated? Self-awareness.
"Because that is where everything begins. Many leaders have no clear sense of the effect their behaviour has. They think they are helping, but in reality they are taking over. They want speed, but they create dependency. They avoid tension, but they block growth.
Developing self-awareness purely on gut feeling is difficult. You need mirrors. Feedback. Objective insights into your behaviour and your patterns. That is also where I see a strong role for assessments. Not as a label, but as an accelerator. Something that helps you more quickly understand how you function and why your team responds the way it does."
Firefighting or building a team that handles its own fires?
What does "leading from within" mean for a team leader who is firefighting every day?
"Take the team leader who is constantly solving problems and thinks: 'If I don't do it, it won't get done.' That is not a capacity problem. That is a pattern.
Every time you take a problem off someone's hands, you teach your team one thing: 'He'll sort it out anyway.' Leading from within means learning to recognise that reflex and break through it. Instead of stepping in immediately, you ask different questions: 'What do you suggest?' or 'What do you need to handle this yourself?'
Either you remain the firefighter, or you build a team that learns to put out its own fires. And that difference does not lie in what you do, but in what you see. An assessment reveals what you cannot see yourself. Coaching makes it discussable and breaks through your patterns."
The three blind spots almost every leader has
What are the most common blind spots you see after 25 years of coaching?
Frank sees three patterns recurring in almost every leader:
- Giving solutions too quickly. The intention is to help, but the result is that people take less initiative and become dependent.
- Avoiding tension. Difficult conversations are postponed to keep the atmosphere pleasant. The real problems only grow larger.
- Unconsciously creating dependency. Always being available, always providing answers, always stepping in. It looks like strong leadership, but the team does not grow from it.
"The difficult thing is that leaders do not see this themselves. Precisely because it stems from their strengths: commitment, drive, and a sense of responsibility. But when those qualities go too far, they become pitfalls. That is why self-reflection alone is usually not enough. You need mirrors: feedback, confrontation, and objective insights that expose patterns."
That is where Frank, drawing on his 25 years of experience working with people, sees a clear added value in strong assessments. "Not as a label or a judgement, but as a mirror. They make visible how you communicate, how you manage, and what effect you have on different people in your team. And only once that is clear can you consciously choose how you want to lead."
Do you recognise these patterns in yourself? A leadership assessment makes visible what would otherwise stay under the radar, from your preferred style to your blind spots as a leader.
EQ is anything but soft
How do you convince a CEO that emotional intelligence is just as important as results?
"I usually make it very concrete. If your team takes no initiative, you do not have an operational problem. You have a leadership problem. And that rarely comes down to knowledge or strategy. It comes down to behaviour.
How do you give feedback? How do you handle tension? How do you react under pressure? How much space do you genuinely give your people? That is emotional intelligence in practice. It determines whether your people disengage or take ownership. Whether they stay silent or contribute ideas. Whether they just execute or truly take responsibility. Less initiative means slower decisions and missed opportunities. It really is that simple."
Situational leadership: the same approach does not work for everyone
How do you determine which leadership style to use with whom?
"One of the biggest mistakes I see is leaders managing everyone the same way. The foundation is fairly straightforward: you look at two things. Can someone do it, and do they want to do it?
Someone who is motivated but not yet able needs guidance and clear direction. Someone who is capable but not motivated requires a different approach, with more focus on accountability. Situational leadership teaches you to switch between styles. Not on gut feeling, but on the basis of understanding who you have in front of you."
And that is where things often go wrong, according to Frank: "Many leaders think they are flexible, but in reality they manage from their own preferred style. They do what feels most natural to them, not what the employee actually needs."
Flexibility has nothing to do with a lack of clarity, Frank emphasises: "Flexibility is about how you do something, not about what you expect. Goals and expectations must always be clear. Within that framework, you can vary your approach. Strong leadership is precisely the combination of clear boundaries and a flexible approach within those boundaries."
From practice: the top leader who was unconsciously holding his team back
Frank shares a recognisable example: "A managing director I worked with. A strong profile, enormously driven, always present. At first glance, a top leader. But his team took very little initiative. A great deal remained on his plate.
When we looked deeper, it quickly became clear. He immediately provided a solution to every problem. Before anyone else had the chance to think for themselves. His intentions were good, to move quickly, to maintain quality, but the effect was the opposite. His team had learned: 'He'll sort it out anyway.'
It was only when he gained that insight and consciously started to slow down, ask questions, and create space that you saw his team grow step by step. Not because they had changed, but because he had started to lead differently."
Four tips for anyone starting in a leadership role tomorrow
1. Surround yourself with the right people"A lesson that has always stayed with me from my work with Accent Jobs and CEO Conny Vandendriessche: surround yourself with people who not only have the skills, but who also have genuine passion and drive, and who are better than you in certain areas."
2. Stop solving everything yourself"From day one, ask more questions than you give answers. If you do not, you teach your team to remain dependent."
3. Be clear"Many problems in teams do not arise from unwillingness, but from a lack of clarity. What do you expect? Who is responsible? What is good enough? Without that clarity, you cannot expect ownership."
4. Do not shy away from tension"Giving constructive feedback, addressing conflicts, setting boundaries, these are all part of leadership. The sooner you learn to have those conversations in a respectful and direct way, the faster you will grow."
Why assessments accelerate leadership development
How can a leadership assessment contribute to better leadership development?
"Many leaders walk around with good intentions but without a clear understanding of their own behaviour and impact. They sense that something is off, that their team takes too little initiative, that decisions get stuck, but they cannot put their finger on exactly what it is.
A strong assessment makes visible how someone functions as a leader: which style they use, how they communicate, where their strengths lie, and where their pitfalls are. In my experience, the combination works best. An assessment provides the mirror. Coaching ensures that something actually happens with it. When you combine those two, you see leaders grow much more quickly."
Personality certainly plays a role, but is not the deciding factor, according to Frank: "You do not need a 'perfect profile' to be a good leader. A leader is shaped by experience, by feedback, and above all by awareness. Personality assessments and leadership analyses help you gain a faster understanding of your natural preferences, your strengths, and your pitfalls. Not to limit you, but to expand your range of options."
The future calls for conscious leaders
What will leadership look like in five years?
"In five years, leadership will be even less about control and even more about autonomy. The market is changing faster, expectations are higher, and the pressure is increasing. Teams will need to think faster, make their own decisions, and carry more responsibility.
This is also confirmed by the World Economic Forum. In their reports looking towards 2030, they indicate that many jobs will disappear, but that many new ones will also emerge. Those new roles require different skills. And for that you need leaders who do not just direct, but also coach and mentor.
The future does not call for perfect leaders, but for conscious ones."
From insight to action: the RESET-traject
How do you help leaders create more initiative and self-direction, Frank?
"Anyone reading this and thinking: 'There is something in this for me or my organisation' is usually right. That is precisely why I developed the RESET OPLEIDING (RESET programme). Not a conventional training, but a trajectory in which leaders learn over 8 weeks how to create more initiative and ownership in their team, and step by step evolve towards greater self-direction. A combination of group training, online training, and personal coaching sessions with a no-nonsense approach.
We work in a very concrete way on what makes the difference today: better delegation, coaching leadership, clear communication, and activating accountability. No theory, but directly applicable in practice. We always start with an intake, which includes an assessment. That immediately provides a sharp understanding of your current leadership style, your strengths, and your blind spots. From there we build in a focused way.
You can join through an open cohort, with a new group starting in May of this year and a second cohort in the autumn. This can also be arranged as an in-company programme or through personal coaching, for those who want to move faster and with more focus. The goal is always the same: stop solving everything yourself, and build a team that takes initiative and helps build a self-directed organisation."
More information about the RESET-programme : coach.franksegers.be/reset-traject
In 2025, Frank published his second book: Emotionally Intelligent Leadership, which has since sold over 700 copies. He also developed the online course The Six Core Qualities of Emotionally Intelligent Leadership, specifically for those who want to sharpen their emotional intelligence at their own pace.
More information: franksegers.be/e-shop
Discover your leadership style
This interview makes one thing clear: good leadership starts with self-insight. Do you want to know which leadership style you use most often, how flexibly you switch between styles, and how effective your approach is?
The leadership assessments on the TalentTester portal measure your preferred styles, style flexibility, and style effectiveness. You receive a comprehensive report with direct insights, ideal as a starting point for targeted development. View the sample report (PDF)
Questions? Get in touch via nancy.steels@talenttester.be.