Walter Dusseldorp: Pure Leadership Power

What if your next chapter begins when you stop doing and start leading?

In this episode of Your Next Success, Dr. Caroline Sangal speaks with Walter Dusseldorp, founder of TheDutchMentor.com — a lifelong learner, paramedic, flight instructor, author, and leadership mentor helping professionals move from doing to leading with purpose.

From the farms of Holland to hospital boardrooms and helicopter flights, Walter’s story weaves humility, discipline, and heart. He shares how one life-changing moment at 14 set him on a path of service and how emotional intelligence became the foundation for true leadership.

You’ll hear:

•  How a single event shaped a lifetime of leadership
•  What operational rhythm means and how it transforms performance
•  Why emotional intelligence is a muscle — not a soft skill
•  The difference between managing tasks and leading people

🌐 Connect with Walter at TheDutchMentor.com where you can book a FREE strategy call to discuss your journey and identify ways you might be able to collaborate.

Transcript

Caroline: 0:03

What if your next chapter begins when you stop doing and start leading? Sometimes leadership doesn't start with a title. It starts with a choice.

0:15

Today, Walter Dusseldorf, The Dutch Mentor, shares how a single moment at 14 shaped a lifetime of service, leadership, and growth. From the farms of Holland to hospital board rooms and helicopter flights. Walter shows what it really means to lead with humility, purpose, and rhythm.

Caroline: 0:36

This is the Your Next Success podcast, and I'm your host, Dr. Caroline Sangal. I'm a life first career coach and strategist on a mission to normalize questioning your career because I believe each of us is made on purpose for a purpose only we can fulfill. The longer we live out of alignment with who we are, what we do best, and why we're here, the more we miss out. And the more the world misses out on what only we can give. The Your Next Success Podcast is where we explore how to build a career that truly fuels your life. We talk about self-discovery, smart job, search strategies, professional growth, and you'll hear stories from people who've navigated big career transitions themselves so you can see what it's really like to make bold changes and feel inspired to create your own version of authentic success, one that is aligned, meaningful, and truly yours. Today's guest is Walter Dusseldorf, also known as The Dutch Mentor. Walter is a lifelong learner, paramedic flight instructor, author, and founder of the Dutchmentor.com. Where he helps professionals bridge the gap between doing and leading through self-awareness operational rhythm. And emotional intelligence. He's led teams of more than 2000 people coached countless leaders and built a life centered around service and mentorship. From the farms of Holland to hospital boardrooms and helicopter flights, Walter story is a masterclass in humility, courage, and purpose. In this episode, Walter shares how a single moment at 14, holding a dying farmer in his arms set him on a lifelong path to serve and lead. We talk about how true leadership begins with awareness, why emotional intelligence is a muscle, and how to find rhythm and grace in the middle of responsibility. Whether you are leading a team or learning to lead yourself, this conversation will remind you that great leadership starts from the inside out. Welcome Walter, to Your Next Success. I am absolutely thrilled to be having this conversation with you today.

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 3:06

Caroline, welcome and thank you for inviting me. It's been a great journey up to this point in time, and sometimes you come across wonderful people and I'm sure that we're going to have a great conversation today about our next success, but first, reflecting back on our past successes.

Caroline: 3:21

So good. That's great. I've been looking forward to this for a long time,'cause I think it's so cool some of the things that you have been able to do and the ways you've contributed thus far. But let's take it way back toward almost the beginning. Tell me a little bit like where did you grow up? What was it like as a child? What kind of things were you involved in? That type of thing.

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 3:43

Sure. So the Dutch mentor, is not because I'm born and raised in New York City and came up with a fancy name. I actually was born and raised in Holland. Um, So I was raised, I should say I was born in Rotterdam, in big large city in Holland. And shortly after I moved to a very small farmer's village because it was easier for my father to travel for business throughout the country. Now mind you, Holland is not that big, so it's like an hour and a half to any side of the country. But I grew up in there as a, as a kid that was kind of like from the city not fitting all that well into the, into the Farmer's Village itself. A lot of you know, problems, barriers, struggles, especially as a teenager. But one thing I became sure is that I always found things interesting, um, in a, in a sense that I wanted to learn. And so I worked on a farm. I milked cows. I worked at the butcher. I slaughtered animals and prep food. I worked in the hotel and restaurant business. I participated in all kinds of sports, so I was always open to learning new things as I was going to school, but it was really struggling as a teenager with my own identity. I wasn't quite sure who I was or what I wanted to be, but there were in the background, there were two significant events that happened to me and that have played out for the rest of my life. First as a 14-year-old riding my bicycle home from school, an elderly farmer crossed the street and he got hit by a car. I was the first on scene and I picked him up and he literally was dying in my arms and I felt completely hopeless. I said, all I can do is provide him comfort. But I was not able to help him. And I said, at that point in time, I said, I'll never be in that position again. And that sparked my interest in the world of medicine, right at that moment in time. And I've never let go of that. And I'm sure we'll talk more about that. The thing in our village, which is right on the board of Germany, every Tuesday and Thursday, NATO F16 fighters would have dog fighting exercises over our country, our countryside. So you would've been screaming jets going over with sonic booms from time to time. Not supposed to happen with it. On occasion it did. And I was fascinated with flying. I said, listen, someday I want to be up in that. In the aircraft.

Caroline: 5:57

Oh.

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 5:57

So connecting those two pieces, as I went forward, I had an opportunity to go America in 1987 To visit family. And then I came back the year after that in 1988, and I stayed, I worked in a small camp, upstate New York. I'm gonna stay. I had a visa. I was able to stay for a period of time as a student. And then one thing led to another, and we can take the conversation from this point forward wherever you wanted to go. That's how I came to America. Those are my fundamental experience that helped me generated the interest in both medicine, and flying.

Caroline: 6:33

Wow. That's so cool though. Even at 14, you went toward a life threatening situation. Many, many people would've just bolted and gone the other way or been like, I don't know. But what was it that you think compelled you to go and try to provide help, or definitely provide as much comfort as you could?

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 6:57

Yeah. I mean it's partly instictual whenever there was an emergency, whenever I heard sirens, whenever I saw police fire EMS, I would run to it, never away from it. So this was not surprising. Something happened in front of me. I would run to it and see if I could help out. Not outta curiosity, out genuine care. Interesting enough, a lot of the things that I even do today in leadership today, I can bring a right back to the forum. Picking up 60, 70 cows and half a mile away from the barn to get them to milk them in the morning is really allows you to lead with humility.

Caroline: 7:29

Yeah.

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 7:29

It will set you straight a heartbeat, right? You have 70, 80 percent of that will follow you back to the stall while the other 20% will resist. Well, now you have to deploy some real leadership skills. In order entice the last few ones to come back to the barn as well. Of course, part of farming is birthing and part of farming is injury. So from a young age, I was able to help out with birthing the calves, And on occasion, you needed to have a C-section. I was always fascinated with the part of medicine, initially in veterinary medicine then, and more human medicine. I had a phenomenal doctor. The traditional Dutch doctor would come to your house when you were sick. He would come with this little, with a blood pressure cuff and a stethoscope.

Caroline: 8:09

Yeah.

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 8:09

I was fascinated by that. So, connecting all those pieces, I had not taken action until after that event. It was after that event I said, listen, you know what I should get my first aid license. And I joined what we call the AIBO, which is the first first-aid office in Holland and I started volunteering my time with them. And the thought process at that point, I wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to be a trauma surgeon. And then, of course, my own personal difficulties of really understanding myself as a teenager. Even into early adulthood, I had too many distractions, and that led me to come to America. Actually let go of EMS emergency services for the first couple of years, owned a bakery, delicate tester, and pizzeria for by the time I was 19, 20 years old. But that fire was lit inside of me and it wasn't until that point in time I had discovered here in the United States that most villages have their own fire department, their own ambulance services. So I joined it at that point in time. That's where I got reconnected to my true passion. And that's when I ended up going back after I got married to become a paramedic and then of course it was a journey of 30 plus years working as a paramedic flight paramedic while I went back to school in my mid thirties to get all my degrees and started thinking about how can I contribute in a way, not directly patient, one-to-one care, but how can I affect people who take care of people? Therefore, it can affect hundreds of thousands of people. And that's how the journey started.

Caroline: 9:37

Oh wow. And now when you were little, your dad was traveling for business, what did he do? What was your initial snapshot of this is work and this is success? Tell me a little bit more about that.

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 9:49

He was an Engineer. So he travelled throughout the country to work sites. I often traveled with him. And I paid very close attention to the kind of work that was being done, especially architectural and construction. And so I built my own houses. I've designed, properties and structures. So I learned a lot along the way. But see one, do one, teach one. That was the philosophy, so to speak. And my father was one of these people that he would not subcontract anything at home. So it was always making things. Now, don't get me wrong, my relationship, my father was very difficult because he was a super, super smart man. I would even say he was a savant. He was, you know, even in modern terms, he'd say maybe he was even on the spectrum a little bit, but very successful on his own right? Super smart way ahead of most people. But I as a teenager had a difficult time relating to that. I was not as smart as he was and I would not get, tens or what we call 4.0 on every single assignment that I had. And the question was never about, Hey, good job on the 90. Why did you not know the other 10%? And so I learned a lot of things. I said, as a father, I will never do those. Of course, as you become a father, many of the things that he has done and taught, you start doing that. But maybe in a more EQ driven fashion.'Cause I think some of the fundamentals he taught were really good. Was just the way he went about doing it was not conducive to me as a teenager, which caused a lot of struggles. And essentially speaking, caused me to leave the country and go somewhere else much to the chagrin of my mother, by the way. So she was.

Caroline: 11:21

I imagine. Now, did you have any siblings?

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 11:27

I have two sisters, one older and younger they are both still in Holland. And doing well. I came here by myself, but barely spoke the language and literally came to America with a small rucksack. I had$500, of which I spent probably three 50 on buying a camera in the streets of NewYork City, which ended up being nothing a little bit a box of wet paper towels. And I ended up going to camp with almost no money. So I can truly say whatever I have done in life is truly made through hard work, labor, and sweat, blood and tears.

Caroline: 11:55

What did you do at the camp? What was that opportunity?

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 11:59

Well, the interesting part is that they hire you as a camp power. And he was supposed to go work inside the camp. It's in a Camp Frenchwood Performing Arts, a great, phenomenal place for the city kids to go up and really learn their art from anything. From dance to in instrumental, acrobatic, and circus. Interesting, as a young man, I was struggling with drinking too much, smoking too much, maybe dipping a little bit into weed. And I thought that, listen, if I go here, I get to go on campus and I can do anything. It's a great time for me to have a hard reset and not do any of these things. Of course, I got to the camp. And Jimmy picked me up in Hancock, New York, and he said, shut up, sit down. He says, you don't know shit from Shanola. Do as I say, not as I do. What does all mean? But the part was when he dropped me off, I lived in the house just off campus and I walk in and there's 30, literally 30 other guys from England and Ireland and other parts of Europe with nothing else with beer cans. Pot smell smoking. As an 18-year-old, I thought I walked into heaven and said, okay, I guess my full reset to my new normal or my new me, we can wait a little longer. So it took me another bunch of months and meeting new people. When I finally said at 19 years old, somebody said literally I went to an AA meeting in Binghamton, New York, and the guy said to me says, So I want you to sit down. I want you to relate, not compare. And I quit drinking that day and I have not had any alcohol since. I do have an occasional beer or wine taste, But I don't consume any alcohol on any regularity. And for over almost 28 years, I never drank a drop of alcohol.

Caroline: 13:41

How did you even know that there was something like AA? I mean, I guess you had this desire to get yourself clean without any extra substances. You had that even when coming, but how did you, you know, not knowing the language, not knowing the culture, how did you even know that existed?

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 13:57

Well, I did not know. Europe is very different than drinking alcohol in the United States, right? We have beer by the time we're 11, 12 years old with Chinese food in a glass of wine with other types of food. It is when you start drinking for the wrong reasons, right? When it becomes problematic. So I happened to live at after camp with two people who were in recovery. And they exposed me first to their journey. Of course he started watching me as I worked for him in a hotel bar and restaurant, by the way, on how I was in my patterns of thinking, in my patterns of drinking. And he said, listen, I think you might have a problem. Why don't you come with me? And the first time I went to a local place and I said, there a bunch of old guys sitting around talking about BS I said, that's not me. I got some partying to do. And I went back and it was not until four months later when he took me to Binghamton to a youth group. Now he was a certified alcohol counselor himself, so he was able to see, and the fortune was this, right? I went there and he told me that sit down relating don't compare, which is something that I use in my mentorship and coaching program all the time.

Caroline: 15:04

Yeah.

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 15:04

We tend to compare while we should be learning to relate. That's one. Two, I ended up going to work'cause I was waiting for my green card to be processed after I got married. I was volunteered my time at the Family Foundation in Hancock, New York. And there, I met a whole group of people that were guiding young kids from New York City who were sent there by judges that either it was jail or rehab. And in there I learned the 12 step program. And lived with them during the day and at home. But I met a wonderful Catholic priest or Franciscan brother, father Anthony Moore. And although I am not a very religious person, I'm Roman Catholic. And I do go to church today because my son is asking me. And I found grace in that, in doing that with him together. But Father Anthony Moore made a real deep impression on me from a spiritual standpoint. And that really helped me to analyze myself, who I was and really tried finding myself. So I was always a really hard worker. I was always open to learning and do new things, but I was going about it the wrong way. Right? And somebody once said, they said, you get what you want, even if it takes stepping over a dead body. And that was true. So that's not leading with humility. That's leading with arrogance and sense of superiority. So early on I learned to lead with humility. To be more open-minded, more giving, elevate my EQ, so to speak. And through those processes, you learn to become a better parent and better store manager, or a better paramedic and a better flight paramedic, a better husband, a better father. And of course, I've had plenty of pitfalls along the way, but I've always tried to learn from each one of them.

Caroline: 16:41

What do you think it was about some of these early people that you chose to emulate as mentors that allowed you to be open to their advice? Was it that they had EQ versus your father maybe not so much was just more direct? Because anyone goes through that ego transition and I know it all to then maybe later softening up and realizing, oh, there's a whole lot I don't know. But what do you think it was about those certain leaders that allowed you the ability to be a little vulnerable and realize you had growth that needed to be done?

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 17:21

I'm more mature and you reflect back upon that, and I've written about that by the way, in books that have published, I think that you continue to look for a father figure in your life. Who's more of authoritative, but with a softer touch, a more understanding touch. Certainly, the people who I have played major roles in my life initially, Danny, on helping me find myself, father Anthony Moore, to really install some principles and morals. And Mike Senior, Mike Junior, they all had impacts, but these were all like father-like figures. People who I could respect and look upon. Look up to. None of them were perfect by any means other than Father Anthony, where he was a pretty good guy. It is something you could look up to and then try to emulate to some extent. And over time you have to continue to shape. To make something great, you can't do that over overnight. It's like building a culture and the culture requires a continuous assessment and reshaping until you get it to the point where you want it to be. So I've had wonderful mentors along the way. Mike Sina, Mark Oborne, Kirk Oborne, and a handful of other folks who really have had a significant impact on me and how I think, how I present myself, how I represent my personal brand and how I try to impact the people that I lead, or the people who I mentor today.

Caroline: 18:34

Now. Tell me how did the flight thing come back into the picture? You had these visions of these super cool jets. While you're little, you had this desire, you started to do the paramedic stuff. But then where did the flight part come back into the picture to have that opportunity?

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 18:52

911 happened and at that point I responded to that and I actually had to make a phone call home. So by the way, I'm going to the city to take care of patients. I'm not sure how I'll be coming home because at that point in time, we did not know. That was probably the most emotional call I've ever made. I had three young kids at home and obviously there were no patients to be treated. There was a horrible day for all of us and I think, you know, verbatim, but we can remember where we were, what we did. And, sadly, a couple of my partners who lost their spouses during that event, and over time, by the way, people who did respond to and stayed there for the time, people have been significantly medically affected by that. But that's another story. So, aviation, so once that took place as a foreigner with a green card, immediately there were restrictions put into place who could become a pilot of the United States. I said to myself, I was like, this is a life altering event. If I ever wanted to do this, now is the time to do it before somebody tells me I can't do it. So I literally, I went out a week or two later, and I said, we all need to live life. You can't just live to work. And I went to flight school and got my private fixed wing license, within a year after that. So I flew with Quaid Flight School, which is no longer in existence. Gary Quaid and I, he was six foot five. I'm six foot five. In a very compact Charity 140. We had lots of good time, but he taught me how to become a good flyer. It was four or five years later when I joined Step Flight Helicopter as a flight paramedic where everybody fell in love with flying a helicopter. Of course, flying an airplane is affordable. Flying a helicopter is almost unaffordable, right at the expense of that is really significant. But I really kind of got caught that bug. And then of course as you go, as the kids get older and they become teenagers and they go have to go to college, you have to shift priorities and it costs a lot of money. So I left aviation. I did not fly myself. For probably a good, it was five to eight years. Without an occasion I would take a ride with somebody. And it wasn't until after that was completed. That I went back into aviation first fixed wing, and then I had an opportunity to pursue my helicopter license. And that's what I did. So the last four or five years I've flown probably about two to 300 hours altogether. I've got my certified flight instructor instrument waiting for my helicopter, and currently working on the same add-on ratings for my fixed wing. With the goal to have it all done by first quarter of next year, and then I can start teaching. So that's really where the combination of my true loves. Right? I can no longer work as a one-to-one care provider because of a neck and back injury. But now I can work with healthcare providers who are taking care of patients and thereby affecting hundreds if not thousands of people. And I get to go out and teach new aviators who are still on the bottom rung of pursuing their ultimate dream in aviation. And I think that is really the purpose in our lives is it's really faith, family, and then the values, and then pursue the things that make us happy. And that is of course, for me, is emergency services and aviation.

Caroline: 21:55

So many nuggets there. I try to say, sometimes people say the things that influence your career is the title, the salary, the location, right? I'll say a career is like an iceberg that's above the surface, but below the surface that iceberg goes down four or five times deep. And to me it's who are you? What do you do best? What would you like your life to look like and how can your career fuel that life? In addition to, what's the chatter in your head? When I try to help people make their vision for their life or their career, there's eight factors. Where are you in your career development stage? What are your natural abilities. The skills, the things that you invested time, effort, and energy to learn your interests? What fascinates you? Your personal style? Are you introvert, extrovert, generalist, specialist. The family you come from and the family you have now, your goals, your values. All of these things come together. In that, I heard many of these influences, you paused some of the flying when you had kids because of the expense and some other things, and then you bring it back now the interest that have been there and the abilities, and the skills, all of these things are all very well demonstrated by your story. So I have the flight component, I have a lot of the leadership influences and aspects. And you touched a little bit, but then how did you get into, like care administration, those leadership? Because you led some pretty big organizations.

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 23:20

So as my dream, that's where I always remind people that we need to dream big and act small. Right? So my dream ultimately, became to a vision of becoming an executive leader of an organization where I could help shape the future of healthcare from sick care to well care. And that's really why when I was in my thirties, I was sitting on the couch at medic three in Rockland County with my partner at Bernadette and said, what are we gonna do next? I said I got three kids, eventually five kids. I said, I can't just be a paramedic and work three, four nights a week or 60, 70, 80 hours across two different jobs. I need to do something else. So she went back to school to become an emergency manager. I went back to school and got my bachelor's in management and economics immediately enrolled into an executive MBA program in New York City and graduated from that. While I was doing that, I convinced a local hospital to hire me. As a liaison between emergency services and the healthcare, once I got there and showed them what I was able to do to accomplish, they quickly gave me more and more work, which within, I think four or five months, it ended up being a full-time job. And that's where my journey in healthcare leadership started. So initially it was about safety and trauma and stroke and then it was about facilities management, facilities administration across many different departments. And eventually that led to the opportunity to go into New York City and work for New York City Health and Hospitals and service line executive, across two academic hospitals. And that team grew from hundreds of people to, well over a thousand people. And every step of the way, as I continue to grow as a leader, I had an opportunity to affect people. But one of the things that was installed early on is that sadly, over 60% of the people go to work every single day, not loving what they do.

Caroline: 25:03

Yeah.

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 25:03

And that's a shame, right? Because you're gonna spend 40 years of your life in a job that you don't like and you only get one life to live. So my mission to myself was always I wanted to be purpose driven. So yes, the paycheck helps me and it pays the bills, but money was never my driver. It was always about what kind of impact could I have? And again, remember, I wanted to be the CEO. So as I started climbing the career ladder in the positions that I held. As a leader, I clearly was able to demonstrated that we were able to activate passion, purpose, mission, and performance that was having real impact on patients. I also run into problems that in the organization that was in, I didn't look like some of the people and there were clear understanding and somebody told me, Mr. Walter, I don't think you will ever be the CEO here because you are not A, B, C, and D. And I had to learn to accept that that was a fact, I'm okay with that. Right? Sometimes that happens. Instead of letting it determine my future, and I could have worked there for the next 20 years and been very happy because the mission was phenomenal. I still buy into it today and love the people that I work with, but there are certain limitations. But I decided at that point in time to transition after an opportunity presented to myself. To go into the corporate world, the for-profit world, which I had never touched before. that's where you switch from mission driven to profit driven. And I will tell you, although I joined a team that was in shambles rated six out of six regions. And after three and a half years of working there, we were either number one or two in all mentors across the board. So we were very successful in the mission itself. I did not like the feeling of what we needed to do to meet the bottom line on a quarterly basis. Always in the fourth quarter, always before Christmas, always had required people a massive amount of people to be laid off in order to save money, and I really did not like that. And then COVID happened and we really worked really hard and that provided me with a runway that allowed me to go out and said, listen, you know what? Instead of continuing to pursue myself on that road to a CEO, I'm open up my own. Which I had already been doing in a background for many years on a part-time basis. So I want to dive in full-time, into the deep end. I want to go and become an a professional coach and mentor to middle managers to emerging leaders. People who go from doing to leading that are stuck in that valley of despair. That's where the real opportunity is. And people say, why is that? Isn't it better to go talk to executives? I do that too, but they're often already very cemented in place. The future leaders, the future of healthcare and it goes right back to my mission early on. We want truly want to go from sick care to well care, we need to change the way we think.

Caroline: 27:52

Yeah.

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 27:52

It that will be done by the next generation. So me working with 35 to 55 year olds who are managers or supervisors all the way to a VP level and to get them to think differently and become highly functional leaders with high EQ, servant type leadership style that will lead to the outcomes that I would desire where people can be creative and innovative, but always know and always care for the people that they lead.'cause on the end of the day, it is our people who are our most valuable asset, and if we get them to buy into the mission. And get them to believe and buy into a true trust and engagement. That's where true high performance comes from.

Caroline: 28:31

How do those types of middle managers, are you working for the hospitals or the systems that have the leaders, or do you work with individual leaders who approach you on the side? Who's choosing you as the leader for the leaders?

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 28:50

So, I will say, billiant executive leaders who are willing to not only admit that they can do it themselves. Not only admit that leadership development is the key to their success and organizational success but those leaders who are vulnerable enough to take the action step, to hire people like me to come in and help their organization on a one-to-one or small team basis in order to over an extended period of time to change the culture, to change the way they do business. To create new habits and behaviors that is focused around 15 minutes a day of self assessment and weekly cadence of accountability and driving outcomes. That's the person that I work for, and that's the person I'm looking for. Now, having set that, sadly, 95% of executive leaders believe in what I just said, but only 5% take meaningful action. Meaning, that they are using this as a checkbox. I am doing it and often it's done by HR, which is not the best place to get anything done. And what they do is they put a cohort together of people who go on like a fellowship or in leadership development course over a period of time to either in-person meetings or conferences or online classes. The problem is that. The representation of that group is so small compared to the group of middle managers that actually work for that organization. For example, 90% of the frontline work for a middle manager. While middle managers are people who are promoted, most likely from doing high performing, doing. But then they don't give them any kind of support and their bachelor and their masters means nothing because they don't teach the leadership in those classes. They teach a theory. And so putting it together and out of that group of middle managers, 1% of them get put into these classes, leaving all the other ones to struggle. So that's why I would say to the individuals, listen, it is time to grab the bull by their horn. You need to admit to yourself that you need to make an investment in self. So I do one-to-one opportunities where I meet with people on a weekly basis. We talk about real issues and we take real action steps, including measurement and Excel accountability on a weekly basis. And out of that, I've developed my mobile app called SMART. S is for self-care. M is for mindful growth, A is for adoptive learning. R is for rhythmic operations, T is for thriving community, and P is for performance. Where they get to now self pace through the program. It's sort of an accelerator program. They could do it as a standalone or they can do a combined with a coaching opportunity. And that's really where the greatest opportunity. And remember, people always have to remind themselves, I am in charge of my own career.

Caroline: 31:37

Yep.

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 31:37

I have to take the actions. I cannot sit back and wait for somebody else to do it. If you're lucky enough to be politically connected or to be truly in the top 1%, kudos, good for you. But the shortfall even there is this, they go to these programs it is one ear in, one ear out. And the test is this, when was the last time you went to a conference? When was the last time you took a class? Tell me now. Four days later and suddenly a month or six months later, what did you learn? And they will not remember 95%. And then the follow up question is, what action did you take that created new normals in your organization? And less than 1% have taken meaningful action. So all that stuff looks good on paper, but it accomplishes very little. Again, the philosophy is not about coaching. Coaching is more strategic. It's about mentorship. And the leaders need to first admit that I don't have the time to effectively mentor anybody. They cancel most of their one-to-ones. And the annual performance evaluation is a complete waste of time, because that's dusting of a plan. Talking about things again and again, and putting it back on the shelf. So we as leaders need to think differently, to take different actions, to get different outcomes. And that's where the space that I work in.

Caroline: 33:42

You mentioned EQ a lot of times. How do you assess and then help people to develop that absolutely essential skill?

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 33:53

So EQ is important because it first starts with self-awareness. Right? People need to become far more self-aware, and I asked the first question, said, tell me a little bit about yourself. And they will go on a five minute tirade that has no beginning, middle, end to it. That shows me right out the gate that most people have very little self-awareness or people come out and say and that is certainly the opposite of self-awareness, and that's more of leading with ego, pride, and this sense of superiority. So EQ, we need to see this as a muscle. Everybody has EQ. It's just, is it activated or not? And so the self-assessment is, I go to the pace. I have a couple of different programs I use or very simplistic things that people need to do to come to understand who they are as leaders. What are my strengths? What are my blind spots? What should I do more of? How can I really assess this? EQ is a muscle. It requires work every day to either build it up and solely to maintain it. So first thing is about, it's not about'I' it's about'we'. It's not about inward but outward. So yes, we have to start with inward looking and development. But once you have that stabilized, you really need to be outward looking. So one of the first fundamentals of leadership is to love the people that you lead. And it requires you to make time, to make it a priority, to get to know the people that you lead. To spend quality time with them on, with no distractions. To show love and appreciation and development opportunities, either through yourself or hiring somebody to do it for you. And there's a whole bunch of other ingredients that go into this, but EQ is not just a soft skill. EQ is part of the mentality, part of the culture of an organization where we, again, people matter. They're just not widgets in larger effect.

Caroline: 35:41

Now there's also something about you being a professor. What's that? So you are just like all about teaching and leading and as affecting as many people as possible.

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 35:51

I would never proclaim that I'm a professor. Although people do call me that. I teach at university and healthcare leadership course, an introductory because that's where they first get introduced to healthcare and help them understand. And I likely we'll teach other courses in the future there, but that's like a side gig to stay engaged and to really pay it forward again. Right? As a way to do it. What I also do is I teach fellowship programs. In other words, I encourage all healthcare leaders or any leader in any world to become part of their professional organization. So we have the American College of Healthcare Executives. And they have a board certification called the fellow of the board of American College of Healthcare executive. It's actually one of the most difficult exams out there, equivalent to a CPA exam. 230 questions takes five and a half, six hours to take. 50% of the people fail it the first time around. So I teach a cohort journey, so I take people on a 10 to 12 week journey, and help them prepare for the test. It requires a lot of, not only inside the ground across the continuum of healthcare, but it really is a lot about behavior. Even though I don't use the word behavior with them. But subliminally, I'm teaching them how to establish a behavior of success. Where they can focus in on something and really try to analyze. What do I know, what I don't know, and then go on that journey of continuous learning and dedication. And interesting enough, after a week or two, I know exactly who in that class will finish. I know exactly who will get it the first time, and if not the second time. It's very predictable.

Caroline: 37:23

What are the qualities that make someone finish versus not? As you're observing these people, what are the things that distinguish those types of leaders and finishers in your mind?

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 37:36

So number one, is do they have a camera on when in class.

Caroline: 37:41

Oh.

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 37:42

Right? So way too many meetings are taking place across organizations where people are allowed, are not mandated to have the cameras on. So as soon as the camera goes off, your eyes go to your phone to this stupid little thing over here and you start texting and emailing and paying attention once you are not listening anymore. And remember, the brain is a complex, but we can barely walk, chew gum at the same time. So if you are taking your attention elsewhere, you can no longer pay attention to the conversation. Therefore you only absorb partial. And it either leads the rework by saying, can you say that again? I didn't quite understand. Well, if you would've listened the first time and had allowed to process the information. So that's number one. Number two is people who participate in bidirectional conversation. Right now, of course, those people who are always have the first word, who are lead in sense of arrogance, also can fall into that category that you're not wise enough. It's not that you're not smart enough, you're not wise enough to put it all together and come across the finish line. But those people who are committed, are on camera, listen, participate, complete the work, ask follow up questions. They'll send me an email check in. Those are the ones who are most likely going to finish the course. And then certainly if those who book and test within three months after are more likely to be successful than anybody else. I tell them right, what is a journey of success look like? And I give them data points on what I can see. I think it's like we have a 74, 75% success rate of those people who follow the script. Passed the first time around 75%, that's 25% better than national average. That's pretty significant.

Caroline: 39:24

Yeah.

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 39:25

And the people who go back for the second time probably 90% go, who go back for the second time, pass the second time around. So it is significantly better than what the national average is. And again, it's a teaching style or the structure and again, it's subliminally and sometimes even outwardly. It's the behavior of people that holds us back or creates our own successes.

Caroline: 39:47

And so I've heard a lot about some of these behaviors you're mentioning. So you know, setting a goal, continuing to go back and look at the goal, not just at performance review time. Trying to make sure that you're doing the habits, spending quality time with the people, listening to them, actually getting to know them, loving them. What are some of the other behaviors that you've noticed that distinguish emerging or excellent leaders versus those who are ego, self, just not really in it?

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 40:21

The people who don't call you, they don't seek mentorship from anybody, are the ones who fall into that category. Right? They have to self discover still. And they continue to scratch the head, why they don't get to the second or third round or final interview process for a new role that they seek. So often we don't even hear or see from them. Others who join the program, I can clearly see that of the people who would join me, and they start learning to measure their own performance on a daily basis. Accelerate by a significant amount versus those who only measure themselves on occasion or don't measure themselves at all. So you can go to all of the materials, all of the action steps, all of the exercise, all the actions. Again, my program is action based. It's not just one, a theory of fluff. You should be taking small actions on a daily basis that should be self-assessed and how well you do, what you can do in the app, or you can do it on a piece of paper, but you have to do it. There was people who meet maybe on a weekly basis, in conjunction with that. And they present to me their scorecard, or I go to the app and look them up for that during the meeting and see how well they're tracking themselves without a single doubt they perform better than everybody else.

Caroline: 41:32

Hmm.

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 41:33

So the magic of behavior is this. Right? Sooner you come to the acceptance that on December 31st when you're going to be this wonderful person the next year and you're going to exercise and you run out and get that membership at the local gym and understand that you will go three times the first week and twice the second week, and once the third week, and then you'll go back four more times for the next entire year. The sooner you come to the realization that most of you are just like that in everything else that you do, and that's the root cause by 70 to 80% of the things we set out for ourselves personally or professionally, never meets its full potential. The sooner you come to the realization, it's not your technical skills, but it is your behavior that holds you back. The quicker you can make a turnaround time, a turnaround and go on the successive step of performance for cause, that will more likely than not lead to the outcomes that you decide.

Caroline: 42:33

Now your coaching and your app, is it only for those related to healthcare or is it anybody interested in improving their leadership?

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 42:43

It is completely agnostic to industry. And I just happened to spend probably 70, 80% of time with people in healthcare. But I've worked with people across the full spectrum, from technology to finance, to entrepreneurs, to production companies. It doesn't make any difference because the rules of engagement are exactly the same. You need to have a self-awareness. You need to take care of yourself. You need to know and understand what the DNA of a highly effective leader is. You need to understand how you can solve problems and root causes. You need to understand how to set up a rhythmic operation so you have more predictable outcomes, where real growth comes from. And you can never do it alone. You have to be involved in a thriving community. And then, when once that is all set, this six metrics, it is safety, quality, growth, cost, transformation, and continuous learning. Continuous development improvement is standard for all industries. So the quicker you can conceptualize these and take meaningful action on them in order of priority, and that I can do this with a team, I can do this with individuals. It is across any industry and the app is autonomous. You buy into it, you get into it, you go on the journey and you make a decision for yourself. If you should have a further investment in getting mentorship. I've seen if you do that a short period or long period of time, you definitely will do better than if you don't. But this can be done on your own as well, as long as you show the dedication and the self-discipline to assess. All of my mobile apps comes with an open coaching call on a weekly basis and Tuesdays. From 2:30 to 3 o'clock at no additional cost. So they all have an opportunity to join the thriving community and have discussed on a deeper level one topic per week.

Caroline: 44:26

Now how do people find you? How do somebody, if they've heard some exciting things and they're like, yeah, this Dutch Mentor is my mentor. How can they get to know you?

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 44:38

Great. I welcome people to come join me on any of my social media platform. Just look it up The Dutch Mentor on LinkedIn, under my name Walter The Dutch Mentor. You can find me on YouTube and Instagram and Facebook. I post every single day, little nuggets. Even three minute leadership lessons at no additional cost. Again, I believe in paying it forward. I don't believe in selling. I believe in relationship building and referral based opportunities. And the thing is, all of our responsibilities is share experience. That's why I wrote many books. You can go to Amazon. Just type in my name and I think there's 26 publications there. None of them cost very much, but I promise you that each one of them will add value and insight to your life that you can convert into whatever it is your dream is.

Caroline: 45:22

Last question. I'm really big on authentic success, and to me authentic success is however you define it to be. So how would you define authentic success for yourself in this moment?

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 45:36

So the key for me, and when you say authentic is you don't get into a box and stay there because somebody told you have to stay in that box. As time progresses, as you get older, as your brain matures. You might need to transform. Never give up on your dream, and that dream can change over time, but you have to dream. You have to think into the future, and then take meaningful steps every single day. Have the courage to take bold steps outside of the box for one, two, you do not and should not go at it alone. To find a coach and a mentor to work with, either volunteer or even make that investment in yourself in order to do that. You gotta be calculated. You gotta be risk. You take some calculated risk in the process itself. But don't get lazy,'cause you have only one life to live and it is your role to be a role model and also to inspire others including yourself. And that might require you to go a different avenue that you have traveled before.

Caroline: 46:35

Walter, this has been such an amazing, just jam packed full of wisdom and actionable items for listeners to be able to do. I wanna thank you so very much for sharing your time, part of your story, and so many nuggets and wisdom. I definitely appreciate it.

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 46:52

Caroline, thank you very much for the invitation. It was my pleasure and I look forward to connecting in the future. And good luck with Your Next Success podcast series. You can come join mine sometime in the near future as well.

Caroline: 47:03

Oh, I would love to. I would be happy to. Thank you so much.

Walter aka The Dutch Mentor: 47:06

Thank you. Have a wonderful day.

Caroline: 47:07

Walter, thank you for sharing your story and your wisdom. If this conversation inspired you to pause, reflect, and lead differently, connect with Walter at Thedutchmentor.com and follow the Dutch mentor on LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. You can also explore his SMART performance app and leadership books on Amazon. If you love this episode, share it with someone ready to step from doing into leading. Thanks for listening to Your Next Success with Dr. Caroline Sangal. Remember, authentic success is yours to define and includes aligning your career to support the life you want.