Michel De Coster

Who is Michel De Coster?
People may know Michel as a bass player with the group ‘De Mens’. However, in his day-to-day life, he is a manager, coach and business advisor. He earned his spurs in the ICT sector and worked for Bosch Telecom, COLT, BT and Belgacom, where he became Executive Vice President in 2008. He then got involved in consultancy as an independent advisor of companies, and started a business specialising in triathlon supplies and bicycles together with his wife. He moved to French telecommunications operator SFR as Commercial Director at the end of 2013 and, since the summer of 2015, has been advising and coaching again at companies including Accenture, SAP and SAS. He wrote a book entitled ‘No Nonsense: brains, heart en guts, de troeven van de moderne manager’ (No Nonsense: brains, heart and guts; the tools of a modern manager) in 2012, which was followed by ‘People Peppers’ in 2018, about the importance of empathy.
This speaker knows what leadership is about. His many years of experience in the ICT industry have taught him a great deal about senior management. He is thus perfectly placed to offer tips about time management and how to maximise your results.
Michel De Coster is excellent! Although he doesn’t use slides, he is well structured and easily captures people’s attention for 1.5 hours. His hands-on experience allows him to provide clear examples. A solid argument for the need for balance between brains, heart & guts during every management decision.

The feedback was very positive. Particularly the fact that he was able to fascinate people for over an hour, without having to use a single slide.
Of course, it is useful when you can provide examples from a variety of disciplines - business, sport, art - which you have personally experienced. Most speakers rely on examples from the world of sport, but have sometimes never even ridden a bike.
In addition, the lecture also supplied a degree of humour.
Michel was able, without over complicating things, to visually and verbally encapsulate the essence of leadership for managers at all levels.
Michel opened an event to celebrate the launch of the Flemish Business Club. He was charming, likeable and, in particular, spontaneous, which meant he was able to enthral the audience until the very end. He is a captain of industry who will be more than welcome at many other business clubs.

Michel is the person you have to meet and learning to know.
Combining so many different heterogeneous professional activities and hobbies with success is not due to hazard. During a very helpful session with our Management Team, Michel give us a lot of tips to optimize the way we spend time!
Work better instead of trying to work more.
3 slides are enough in a Face to Face.
Define and respect strict house rules.
Focus on target and objectives.
So many you should know but that due to pressure, lack of discipline is difficult to respect.
Michel speaks about EQ - your emotions and soft skills, IQ – your technical skills, but he also insist on your capacity to take risk and to make the difference within uncertainty.
Michel De Coster managed to appeal to everyone.
This is rather surprising because the audience contained a variety of ‘profiles’, positions and backgrounds (blue/white-collar workers, field coordinators/managers).
In terms of his core message, he is right! It’s all about finding the right balance between ‘Head’, ‘Heart’ and ‘Guts’...
Most of us have these three elements, but they are not always in balance, or the right element is not always used at the right time.
Another thing that caught my eye was that, by organising his time efficiently, he was able to combine a top position with his passion for music and his family.
A remarkable personality.