Speaker & Panelist

Isabel de Clercq

Isabel De Clercq is an expert in focus and meeting culture, author of five management books and an HR columnist for the leading Belgian business newspaper De Tijd. She starts from a contrarian idea: your greatest productivity hack is not AI, nor is it yet another time management method. Focus problems do not arise solely from our brains, routines or willpower, but primarily from the way we work together.

Drawing on science, humor and compelling stories, Isabel challenges persistent myths about focus, productivity and resilience. She encourages her audience to look differently at work, meetings and performance.

Rate indication: Price on request
Available for booking as: Speaker Panelist
Languages: Dutch English French

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About Isabel de Clercq

Isabel De Clercq has been exploring how people learn, collaborate and perform for more than twenty years. She began her career as a researcher at Ghent University, spent many years working in HR and organisational development, and is the author of five management books. In her work, she bridges scientific insights and the everyday reality of organizations.

Where Others Stop, Her Story Begins

Much of the advice on focus and productivity focuses on the individual. Build your resilience! Manage your time better! Turn off your notifications!

According to Isabel, this is misleading: it is only part of the story.

In her new book Het Focusmanifest, she shows how our focus is undermined by the way people collaborate and share information. Meeting marathons, endless chat messages and a culture of constant availability are making it increasingly difficult to work with concentration.

Where others focus on the individual, Isabel looks at the bigger picture: team dynamics, organizational culture and the spirit of the times.

Substance and Humor

Isabel combines science with powerful stories and a generous dose of humor. She makes her audience laugh, think and sometimes shift uncomfortably in their seats. Her talks are sharp, relatable and action-oriented. Participants leave not only with new insights, but also with the motivation to put them into practice immediately.

Themes

Sessions

Are you also fed up with all the vague talk from keynote speakers who take to the stage to tell you how work should be done? Do the empty words of politicians and the doom-laden predictions of psychiatrists who seem to thrive on workplace unhappiness make you nervous?

How about:

?‍♀️ The four-day workweek will solve all our problems.

?‍♀️ Follow your passion and you will never have to work again.

?‍♀️ Want more focus? Don’t let yourself be distracted by rabbits jumping around.

?‍♀️ I am a blue, introverted INFP.

?‍♀️ The coffee machine is not for chatting, but for innovation.

?‍♀️ Feedback is a gift.

?‍♀️ As a woman, I really need more time for myself.

Isabel De Clercq believes it is high time for some pushback. And for a healthy dose of realism. In her new keynote, she shares her perspective while switching between different registers.

Because yes, Isabel from Flanders loves to make you laugh. Especially at all the hollow phrases that are currently flourishing on LinkedIn and in the workplace.

But she is also dead serious. She offers insights that provide an honest look at work, the office and working with people. Nuanced insights that may not always be easy to hear.

After this keynote, you will no longer be easily swayed by hollow phrases and quick fixes. Instead, you will be ready to explore seven fresh perspectives: illuminating concepts that can help you build a healthy and sustainable relationship with your work.

Why are so many professionals busier than ever, while getting less and less done when it comes to their most important work? In this keynote, Isabel De Clercq reveals why traditional advice on focus often falls short. The problem lies not only in our brains, discipline or smartphones. It also lies in the way we work together.

Based on her new book Het Focusmanifest, Isabel reveals ten forces that quietly fragment our attention. From meeting culture and constant availability to the glorification of busyness and the reflex to always respond immediately. With humor, scientific insights and recognisable real-life examples, she shows how these mechanisms keep us from focusing on what truly creates value.

The keynote offers not only new insights, but also a different perspective on work, time and productivity. Participants leave with concrete ideas for creating space for focus, value creation and enjoyment at work.