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My narrative profile · Sanne

You creatively solve complex problems guided by solidarity, but now grow toward strategic leadership, learning to give others space and value progress over perfection.

Updated after 5 flows · last on 22 Sep 2026
Profile strength
based on 5 flows · 79 messages · 28 elements recognised
Flows5/5
01

Who you are

Identity

The through-line of your story — not a measurement, but what consistently returns.

You are rooted in the warmth of a small Brabant village, where Sunday afternoons at your grandparents' gave you a deep sense of connection that you still carry with you today. That value of togetherness forms a thread through your life, even though you have since entered a very different professional world.

As director in the ICT sector, you are someone who radiates calm when others panic. That resilience, learned from your father who would first calmly look at what was still possible when faced with problems, you see reflected in how you deal with setbacks. Your analytical ability enables you to break down complex problems into manageable parts, a skill that was already visible as a child when you took apart devices and puzzles to understand how everything connected.

But your greatest strength lies in finding alternative solutions when the obvious approach gets stuck. You then switch to creative thinking and look for other paths. With that connection between two systems that kept failing, you didn't look at the connection itself but at the moment when the data was supplied, and found the solution there. That combination of analytical and creative thinking makes you effective in complex situations.

Yet there is a shadow side to that problem-solving nature. Your perfectionism sometimes prevents you from sharing ideas before you have fully thought them through. That tendency to want to control and solve everything yourself limits not only your own space, but also that of others. When you step in at every problem, you take away colleagues' chance to grow. Increasingly, you learn that giving trust not only creates space for you, but also gives others the opportunity to come up with solutions you wouldn't have thought of yourself.

Narrative identity elements

Ordered by intensity. Each element is explicitly and demonstrably observable in the conversations — with quote and context.

  1. 01Dominant

    Creative problem solver

    Ik ben goed in het bedenken van alternatieve oplossingen wanneer de voor de hand liggende aanpak vastloopt.

    This is your core strength that runs through your entire story: from taking apart devices as a child to finding unexpected solutions like with that system connection. You naturally switch to creative thinking when the standard route gets stuck.

    In your work as ICT director this manifests daily, for example when you didn't look at the technology itself with a stuck connection but at the data format upon delivery. Also in your personal development you look for alternative paths, like that project where you consciously made a colleague fully responsible.
  2. 02Dominant

    Calm under pressure

    Bij een belangrijk ICT-project liep een technische oplossing volledig vast, terwijl de deadline steeds dichterbij kwam; juist toen merkte ik dat ik onder druk rustig bleef en op zoek ging naar een andere route.

    This resilience, learned from your father, is fundamental to who you are. You respond to crisis not with panic but with calm and focus on what is still possible. This makes you effective as a leader in difficult situations.

    With that stuck project under deadline, when stopping the team project where you gave personal explanation, and in your daily dealing with unexpected problems. Your father showed you this: 'I remember that my father rarely panicked immediately when faced with problems, but first calmly looked at what was still possible.'
  3. 03Sterk

    Analytical decomposer

    Analytisch denken en problemen ontleden is iets wat me altijd vrij natuurlijk is afgegaan. Als kind kon ik bijvoorbeeld lang bezig zijn met het uit elkaar halen van apparaten of puzzels, omdat ik wilde begrijpen hoe alles met elkaar samenhing.

    Your ability to reduce complex problems to smaller, manageable parts is a natural talent you've had since childhood. It enables you to reorder chaos into digestible pieces.

    In your approach to technical projects you divide big problems into smaller pieces that you can tackle separately. 'As soon as I have overview again and can take a first concrete step, the feeling that a problem is insurmountable usually disappears for me.'
  4. 04Sterk

    Connected to roots

    Ik herinner me vooral de zondagmiddagen bij mijn opa en oma, met iedereen rond dezelfde tafel. Het gevoel van verbondenheid draag ik nog steeds met me mee.

    Your Brabant roots and the value of togetherness form a fundamental part of your identity. This connection determines not only what you value in your private life, but also how you want to lead: with an eye for the human side.

    In your desire for balance between work and private life, in how you experience long evenings with family and friends as essential to recharge, and in your leadership style where you keep an eye on disappointing people with difficult decisions.
  5. 05Sterk

    Perfectionistically controlling

    Mijn eigen perfectionisme houdt me soms tegen, omdat ik de neiging heb om een idee eerst helemaal uit te denken voordat ik ermee naar buiten kom.

    This is your shadow side: the tendency to want everything perfect and fully thought out before you share or delegate it. It holds you back in your growth and limits the development of others. You are aware of this and working on it.

    With that proposal you kept improving for weeks while an earlier version was already good enough. Also in your difficulty to completely let go and trust that colleagues can do it, even when you get feedback: 'Colleagues regularly tell me that I don't have to step in at every problem myself.'
  6. 06Aanwezig

    Responsible to burdened

    Ik kan wakker liggen van beslissingen waarvan ik weet dat ze niet alleen gevolgen hebben voor mij, maar ook voor de mensen met wie ik werk.

    You feel a deep responsibility for the impact of your decisions on others. This makes you a careful leader, but can also become a burden that keeps you awake at night. You struggle with accepting that you never have complete certainty beforehand.

    When stopping that project the team had worked on for months: 'Especially disappointing the people who had put a lot of energy into it made that decision heavy and made me doubt afterwards.' You alleviate this by explaining personally and looking together for what can be taken forward.
02

What you want

Core desire

What pulls you forward — future dreams, picture of success, role models.

Narrative ambition elements

Ordered by intensity. Quotes and context show where the desire became visible in the conversations.

  1. 01Dominant

    From executing to giving direction

    Ik streef naar een rol waarin ik minder bezig ben met de dagelijkse uitvoering en juist meer richting kan geven aan waar we als organisatie naartoe willen.

    This is your core desire: a fundamental shift from operational problem solver to strategic leader. You have experienced that you get more energy from determining the course and guiding others than from solving every problem yourself.

    In your concrete step to reorganize your agenda and not automatically pull every operational problem towards you. You noticed that a week full of ad-hoc matters had passed without time for an important future plan. Strategy sessions give you more energy than a week full of small operational problems.
  2. 02Dominant

    Letting others excel

    De momenten waarop ik samen met anderen een idee uitwerk en zie dat zij daar enthousiast van worden, geven mij meer energie dan het oplossen van het zoveelste operationele probleem.

    Your definition of success has fundamentally changed: from finding solutions yourself to enabling others to grow. That colleague who came up with a solution you hadn't thought of yourself embodies what success means to you.

    In your conscious choice to leave an important part completely to a colleague: 'In the end he came up with a solution I hadn't thought of myself. That made me experience that giving trust not only creates space for me, but also gives others the chance to grow.' This is a core ambition still in development.
  3. 03Sterk

    Balance with connection

    Mijn uitdaging is om die knop bewuster om te zetten en echt aanwezig te zijn op de momenten die uiteindelijk het meest waardevol zijn.

    You want to be successful without this coming at the expense of time and attention for the people around you. Those long evenings with family and friends are essential to recharge, but you notice that after busy work days at home you're often still mentally occupied with problems.

    In your awareness that long evenings eating together, talking and laughing help you disconnect from work: 'That connection helps me to distance myself from work and recharge.' At the same time this is your biggest challenge because you have difficulty switching that button.
  4. 04Sterk

    Impact by helping people

    Het oplossen van complexe problemen en daar iets mee creëren dat mensen daadwerkelijk helpt, geeft mij de meeste energie.

    Your drive is not technology for technology's sake, but the human impact. That moment when you automated a process and saw how much time and frustration it took away from colleagues, showed you the real value of what you do.

    In that experience of automating manual work: 'When I saw how much time and frustration that took away from colleagues, I felt how much impact technology can have.' This motivates you to keep seeking new challenges. You now want to realize this impact more broadly by giving strategic direction.
  5. 05Aanwezig

    Trust in process

    Ik heb geleerd dat iets niet perfect hoeft te zijn om waardevol te zijn.

    You want to let go that everything has to be perfect beforehand and accept that progress is more important than perfection. That experience with the proposal you polished for weeks while feedback on an earlier version had given the biggest improvement, taught you this.

    In your pursuit to share earlier and accept that the best solutions often emerge along the way. You try to trust more on your feeling and experience instead of wanting to think everything through rationally: 'I sometimes doubt whether I'm making the right choices for the future, especially when multiple directions seem attractive.'
  6. 06Aanwezig

    Space through letting go

    Ik probeer steeds meer los te laten dat ik alles zelf moet oplossen of controleren.

    You want to consciously place more responsibility with others, not only because it gives you space for strategic work, but also because it gives others the chance to grow. You learn that your involvement can sometimes unintentionally limit the space of others.

    In the feedback from colleagues that you may trust more in their expertise: 'A colleague once said after a busy project that he would have actually preferred if I had made him fully responsible for his part earlier.' You consciously try to block space for strategy and not automatically step in at every problem.
03

What you can do

Capabilities

Here there is a real score — 1 to 10, based on behaviour that became visible across multiple flows.

Capability profile10 capabilitiesdominant → latent
Bands
Dominant5
  • Creative problem-solving10
  • Analytical capability9
  • Resilience9
  • Impact-drivenness9
  • Pragmatic building9
Strong5
  • Strategic thinking8
  • Systems thinking8
  • Enabling others8
  • Self-reflection8
  • Empathetic leadership7

Creative problem-solving

10/10
Dominant

You have an exceptional talent for finding alternative routes when the obvious path gets stuck. With that connection between two systems, you didn't look at the technology itself, but at the moment data was delivered, discovering the real cause. You explore problems from the entire process rather than thinking inside one framework.

Flip sideYou risk thinking too far outside existing frameworks and thereby overlooking simple, proven solutions.

Analytical capability

9/10
Dominant

Ever since you took devices apart as a child to understand how everything connected, you've used this ability to break down complex problems into smaller, manageable parts. When a problem feels large or complicated, you systematically divide it and test all components one by one. This gives you both insight and overview, even in chaos.

Flip sideYou may spend too much time analyzing details when quick action is sometimes more important than complete understanding.

Resilience

9/10
Dominant

Under pressure you stay calm and look for what is possible, just like your father did. With that stalled ICT project, you remained calm and found another route. You've learned that not the setback itself, but how you deal with it determines how you grow. This resilience comes from previous experiences where seemingly unsolvable situations turned out well.

Flip sideYou may move forward too quickly without processing the emotional impact of setbacks on yourself or others.

Impact-drivenness

9/10
Dominant

You're primarily driven by solutions that actually help people. When you saw how much time and frustration that automated process removed for colleagues, you understood technology's real power. The moment when a seemingly impossible solution works and you directly see others benefit gives you the most satisfaction.

Flip sideYou may become impatient with work that doesn't deliver direct, visible impact, even when it's strategically valuable.

Pragmatic building

9/10
Dominant

You work best by starting with a small, concrete component that shows immediate value. With that internal system, you started with one simple process, made a prototype, and expanded it when colleagues responded enthusiastically. You've learned that progress is more important than wanting everything perfect upfront.

Flip sideYou may start too quickly without thinking enough about long-term architecture or strategic direction.

Strategic thinking

8/10
Strong

You get energy from looking ahead, developing ideas, and determining direction together. That strategy session where you worked out a new concept from scratch gave you more energy than a week full of operational problems. You want to shift from daily execution to the question of where you want to be as an organization in a few years.

Flip sideYou may be too focused on the future while underestimating today's urgent, operational reality.

Systems thinking

8/10
Strong

You have the ability to zoom out and look at the whole instead of getting stuck in one component. With that stalled connection, you looked at the entire process instead of just the technical link. You make connections between technology and people, between theory and practice, between vision and execution.

Flip sideYou may spend too much time understanding the entire system when quick action on one point would be more effective.

Enabling others

8/10
Strong

You're increasingly learning to give trust and delegate responsibility. When you made a colleague fully responsible for a component, he came up with a solution you hadn't thought of yourself. You realize your involvement sometimes unintentionally limits others' space, and you're consciously working on letting go of control.

Flip sideYou may withdraw responsibility too quickly when others approach things differently than you would.

Self-reflection

8/10
Strong

You're aware of your own patterns and learn from them. You recognize that your perfectionism sometimes holds you back, that you can overthink before taking action, and that you struggle with letting go. This awareness helps you make more conscious choices and adjust your behavior.

Flip sideYou may spend too much time on self-reflection and thereby postpone actually taking action.

Empathetic leadership

7/10
Strong

You consider the human side of decisions and try to maintain connection even in disappointment. When you had to stop that project, you explained it personally and looked together for what could be salvaged. That value of connection from your Brabant youth translates into how you lead.

Flip sideYou may show indecisiveness out of concern for others' reactions, even when a difficult choice is necessary.
Leadership archetype

The Direction Setter

Your leadership archetype is evolving from the pragmatic problem solver who executes personally to the strategic direction setter who helps others navigate. You're like a compass that not only points the way, but teaches others to find their own route. Your greatest strength lies in combining analytical overview with creative solutions, while consciously wanting to make more room for looking ahead instead of solving every problem yourself.

04

What holds you back

Pitfalls

The shadow sides of your strengths — not to erase, but to learn to recognise when they flare up.

Shadow profile6 pitfallsacute → latent
Bands
Acute2
  • Operational addiction9
  • Need for control8
Smouldering4
  • Perfectionism7
  • Work-life blurring7
  • Over-responsibility6
  • Lack of self-compassion5

Operational addiction

9/10
Acute

You are drawn like a magnet to concrete problems that need solving. That weeks-long stream of ad-hoc issues gives you satisfaction through immediate impact, but simultaneously blocks space for the strategic work that actually energizes you more. You reserve time for future thinking, but then sacrifice it to urgent team matters.

How you recognise itYou notice it when a week passes without working on that important future plan, or when your evening reserved for strategic thinking has been filled with solving daily problems instead.

Need for control

8/10
Acute

You automatically jump in for every problem because you know you can solve it. That involvement feels like care, but can unintentionally be stifling: colleagues experience that you limit their space to grow themselves and come up with solutions you hadn't thought of. You struggle to fully trust that others can handle it too, especially with important matters.

How you recognise itYou recognize this when a colleague says he would have appreciated being made fully responsible earlier, or when you notice yourself regularly 'checking in' on a project when you don't actually need to.

Perfectionism

7/10
Smouldering

You want to fully think through an idea before sharing it. Those weeks you kept refining that proposal felt necessary, but in retrospect an earlier version was already good enough to develop together. Your high standards for yourself cause you to sometimes miss opportunities because you keep weighing options too long instead of acting on your feeling and experience.

How you recognise itIt plays when you adjust a presentation or proposal for the third time while nobody asked for it, or when you realize afterward that you let an opportunity pass because you weren't 'ready' enough.

Work-life blurring

7/10
Smouldering

After a busy workday, you're still mentally occupied at home with problems you want to solve. Switching that button to being truly present with family and friends requires conscious effort from you. You know that precisely those long evenings together recharge you most, but still you notice part of your attention stays with work during moments that should actually be most valuable.

How you recognise itYou notice it when someone at home has to repeat something because your mind wasn't there, or when during a pleasant evening you suddenly think about a work problem that needs solving.

Over-responsibility

6/10
Smouldering

You feel the impact of your decisions on others so strongly that it can literally keep you awake. That responsibility keeps you sharp, but also makes you struggle with uncertainty about whether you've weighed everything properly and included everyone well. You sometimes take on others' disappointment or frustration too much, as if their emotions are your problem to solve.

How you recognise itIt plays when after an important decision you keep doubting afterward whether you did it right, or when you keep personally feeling team members' disappointment days after making a difficult choice.

Lack of self-compassion

5/10
Smouldering

You are stricter with yourself than you would be with others. Where you grant others kindness and understanding for imperfection, you demand from yourself that things must be excellent. That inner critic means you don't sufficiently allow yourself to learn from mistakes or accept that you can't always have complete certainty beforehand about the right choice.

How you recognise itYou recognize this when you blame yourself for a decision that turned out less than ideal in hindsight, while you would tell someone else they acted reasonably and carefully with the information available at the time.
Read this as a mirror — not a judgment

Pitfalls are the shadow side of your strengths. They surface when a capability is overused or applied outside its context. The goal isn't to remove them, but to learn when they flare up.

05

How it plays together

Correlations & tensions

Connections between who you are, what you want and what you can do — what reinforces, and where it grinds.

Growth correlations

What reinforces each other

Analytical capacity and creative problem-solvingPragmatism and focus on concrete steps

Your ability to break down complex problems strengthens your talent for finding alternative routes when the obvious approach stalls. This combination comes together in your pragmatic approach where you start with small, concrete steps that show immediate value, like with that internal system where you started with one simple prototype.

Brabantine roots of solidarityAmbition to help others grow as a leader

Those Sunday afternoons at your grandparents' gave you a deep sense of connection that now translates into modern leadership. Your empathy and desire to give others space come directly from that Brabantine value of solidarity, making your definition of success revolve around helping others excel rather than solving everything yourself.

Resilience and calm under pressureConfidence from previous successes

Your resilience, learned from your father who calmly looked at what was possible when facing problems, is fed by concrete experiences where seemingly unsolvable situations turned out well. This confidence that you don't always need to know the solution beforehand gives you the calm to focus on what's still possible instead of getting stuck in what's going wrong.

Strategic orientation and long-term focusEnergy from looking ahead and setting direction

Your ambition toward strategic leadership aligns seamlessly with what actually gives you energy. That strategy session where you developed a new concept from scratch gave you more energy than a whole week of ad-hoc issues, providing a clear compass for your transition from operational to strategic leadership.

Learned lesson that progress matters more than perfectionAbility to let go of control and delegate

Your insight that something doesn't need to be perfect to be valuable, especially learned with that proposal where feedback on an earlier version brought the biggest improvement, supports your development in trusting others more. That experience where a colleague came up with a solution you hadn't thought of yourself shows that letting go not only gives you space but also offers others the chance to grow.

Tensions

Where it grinds

Highly developed problem-solving capacityAmbition to delegate and help others grow

Your greatest quality directly obstructs your core desire. Every time you solve a problem, you reinforce the pattern of others coming to you. What makes you effective as an individual problem-solver hinders you as a leader who wants to give others space, because your speed of thinking makes it tempting to jump in instead of waiting for others to figure it out themselves.

Identity as problem-solverFuture vision as strategic direction-giver

Your identity has been shaped for years by effective problem-solving and you still get satisfaction from the moment when a seemingly impossible solution works. But your ambition requires a fundamentally different role where you must redefine your self-worth in facilitating growth in others instead of coming up with solutions yourself. This tension can't be resolved by working harder, but requires redefining who you are.

Perfectionism and thinking everything through firstInsight that progress matters more than perfection

You've learned that progress matters more than having everything perfect beforehand, but your perfectionism continues to hold you back. That tendency to completely think through an idea before sharing it conflicts with your own ambition to move faster and delegate more. Here you see dissonance: you say you want to let go, but your behavior shows you keep holding on to control.

Core value of connection and solidarityMentally often still busy with work after work hours

Family and those long evenings eating together are fundamentally important to you, but after busy work days you're often mentally still occupied with problems you want to solve. This tension between truly wanting to be present with the people you value and mentally staying with work can't be solved by better time management alone. It requires a conscious choice about what you're willing to give up.

06

What to do next

Recommendations

Concrete, small steps that fit your capabilities, your pitfalls and where you stand right now.

Make one day per week a 'no-rescue' day

Start here
Personal growth
Linked toOperational addictionNeed for control

You're drawn like a magnet to concrete problems, but this blocks the space for strategic work that actually energizes you more. Just reserving time didn't work because urgent matters kept taking priority.

What you doChoose one fixed day per week when you don't respond to operational problems unless truly critical. Communicate this clearly to your team in advance: they solve it themselves or wait until the next day. Block that day in your calendar with a different color and treat it as an external appointment you don't cancel.
How you noticeYou notice colleagues ask fewer questions that day and you actually get to strategic work without interruptions.

Start a small strategic experiment this month

Start here
Career & role
Linked toPragmatic buildingStrategic thinking

You work best by simply starting with a concrete component, not by thinking long about the end result. Just like when you started with that internal system with one simple process that showed immediate value.

What you doChoose one strategic question you'll face in a few years and work on it for the next two weeks with a small prototype or plan. Don't start with the whole picture, but with one aspect you can develop and share with others this month. Get colleagues to respond to it directly.
How you noticeYou experience the same energy as in that strategy session that gave you more than an entire week of operational problems.

Give one colleague full ownership over a project

Start here
Collaboration & leadership
Linked toEnabling othersNeed for control

You've already experienced that giving trust not only creates space for you, but that colleagues come up with solutions you hadn't thought of yourself. That feedback that someone would have appreciated being made fully responsible earlier shows what's possible.

What you doChoose an important project and make one person fully responsible for it this month. Explicitly agree that you only contribute when they request it and don't intervene yourself or check regularly. Schedule one single moment per week for a brief update at their initiative.
How you noticeThe colleague comes with progress or solutions without your intervention and you experience more space in your own agenda.

Create a personal 'coming home ritual'

Wellbeing & balance
Linked toWork-life blurring

After busy work days you're mentally still occupied at home with solving problems, while precisely that connection with family helps you recharge. Switching that button requires conscious effort from you and doesn't happen automatically.

What you doDesign a fixed ritual of 10 to 15 minutes that marks the transition between work and home, for example a short walk, music in the car, or consciously putting away your work notes. Do this every day at the same moment and communicate to your family that this is your 'transition moment'.
How you noticeYour partner or family notices you're truly present during dinner and no longer mentally occupied with work problems.

Practice 'imperfect sharing' these weeks

Personal growth
Linked toPerfectionismTrust in process

You've learned that feedback on an imperfect version often gives the best improvement, but your perfectionism still holds you back from sharing things before they're completely thought through.

What you doConsciously share something in 70 percent state with your team or colleagues over the next three weeks. Start explicitly with: 'This isn't finished yet, but I want your perspective.' Choose something you would normally develop further first, like an idea, proposal or direction. Notice what feedback you get that you hadn't thought of yourself.
How you noticeYou get concrete input that changes your approach and you notice the end result becomes stronger by sharing earlier.

Ask explicitly: 'What do you need from me?'

Collaboration & leadership
Linked toOver-responsibilityEmpathetic leadership

You often automatically jump in to help, but your involvement can unintentionally limit others' space. By asking what they need instead of deciding yourself where to help, you give them control.

What you doStart project discussions and meetings this month with the question what the team or person needs from you. Wait for their answer before making suggestions yourself. If they don't ask anything, accept that they try it themselves first. Make this a standard opening of conversations.
How you noticeTeam members express specific wishes instead of waiting for you to decide where you're involved.

Define criteria for 'truly needs your attention'

Career & role
Linked toOperational addictionStrategic thinking

You already realize yourself that just reserving time isn't enough. You also need to determine more clearly which matters truly need your attention versus what the team can solve.

What you doMake a list this week with your team of three to five clear criteria that determine when something requires your involvement, for example: strategic impact for two years ahead, new unknown territory for the organization, only your unique perspective can help. Display these visibly and test requests against them.
How you noticeYou can decide within thirty seconds whether something requires your involvement or can be solved by the team.

Schedule one fixed evening per week without work

Wellbeing & balance
Linked toBalance with connection

Long evenings eating together, talking and laughing with family give you the most energy to recharge. Precisely that connection - like those Sunday afternoons at your grandparents' - is essential for your well-being.

What you doAgree with your partner or family on one fixed evening per week where work is consciously not a topic, not even casually. Choose that evening together, put it in both calendars and treat it as non-negotiable. Think beforehand of an alternative topic if work does come up.
How you noticeYou experience the same connection and peace as during those Sunday afternoons at your grandparents'.

Reflect weekly: What have I let go?

Personal growth
Linked toSelf-reflectionNeed for control

You're aware of your own patterns and want to increasingly let go of control. By consciously reflecting on moments when you didn't step in, you reinforce that new behavior.

What you doTake fifteen minutes every Friday afternoon to answer and write down three questions: Which problem did I consciously not solve this week? What happened then? What did I learn from this? Keep these notes and review them after four weeks to discover patterns.
How you noticeYou see concrete examples of situations that went well without your intervention and feel less fear about letting go.

Explicitly celebrate others' solutions

Collaboration & leadership
Linked toLetting others excelImpact-drivenness

You get energy from moments when you develop an idea together with others and see them become enthusiastic about it. You can strengthen that energy by consciously acknowledging what others contribute.

What you doWhen someone comes with a solution or proposal in the coming weeks, explicitly state what you learn from it or why it's stronger than your own approach would have been. Also email this to the broader team so their contribution becomes visible. Do this at least twice per week.
How you noticeTeam members come more often with their own proposals instead of waiting for your direction or solution.
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