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AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP PROGRAM 2026

 

 

Authentic Leadership requires courage. Do you dare to stand still?

 

Are you a leader, entrepreneur or professional ready to take the next step?  In impact, authenticity and meaning? This program is a profound experience that starts with reflection and ends with clarity to action. It is not a training, but a space for development and transformation.

 

Your Leadership Journey

 

In four intensive days you discover what authentic leadership really means to you. You break through limiting patterns and discover how to face the future with clarity and confidence. This programme takes you out of your daily context and invites you to take a systemic look at yourself, your environment and your role as leader. Within a small, close-knit group of a maximum of 12 participants, you will work on your personal and professional development, with an eye for the deeper dynamics that influence your leadership.

Under the expert guidance of Dr Jürg Thölke and Margit Sleeuwenhoek, two experienced professionals with over 60 years of combined experience in leadership, entrepreneurship and personal growth, you will receive personal and targeted coaching. What is unique about their approach is that they are both academically trained and deeply rooted in daily coaching practice. Their approach is sharp, committed and respectful, with a strong emphasis on real contact and authenticity.

Why Mennorode?

Mennorode estate is tucked away in the woods and moors of the Veluwe, a place where tranquillity is not a decoration, but an experience. The old estate breathes history and tranquillity, surrounded by vast nature that slows you down as if by itself. The combination of simplicity and beauty makes it an ideal setting for deep reflection and real contact. No distractions, but space. Exactly what leadership sometimes demands.

 

What Will This Program Bring You?

     
  • Clarity about your next-level leadership challenges. You leave with a concrete sense of direction and insight into your concrete issues as a leader and your unique strengths that support them.
  • More psychological insight into yourself, into collaboration and into the dynamics that colour your environment (such as your organisation).
  • Solidity in complex interactions: you learn to deal with tension, pressure and opposing interests without losing yourself.
  • Refined intervention skills: you see what others are missing and know when and how to intervene to ensure constructive change.
  • More autonomy and inner direction: less reacting, more steering by choice.
  • A broadened systemic frame of reference: you learn to look beyond the visible, to the patterns and dynamics underneath.
  • Practical, embodied knowledge: theory and experience are interwoven. You learn by doing, feeling and imagining.

- Facilitators -

Jürg & Margit – Guides in Leadership & Transformation

Jürg and Margit are experienced facilitators who have supported leaders, entrepreneurs, and professionals in their growth and transformation for many years. Their approach is tailored, personal, and direct, combining sharpness with empathy. They do not differ as opposites but as complements, enriching each other’s methods. Together, they stand at the edge of vulnerability, always in service of the participant.

With deep roots in both practice and academia, they integrate insights from systemic work, group dynamics, Eastern and Western psychology, psychodynamics, and organizational theory. Their guidance is radically honest yet compassionate, creating a safe space for reflection, growth, and action.

They do not offer ready-made answers, but rather guide participants toward deeper insights and concrete solutions. They help leaders take their next step—with depth, appreciation, and a broad perspective on the world.

Collaboration for them means bringing their individual strengths side by side. At times, one takes the lead, then the other. Alternating, complementing, and supporting each other in the process.

Jürg Thölke

Born in Switzerland, shaped by a life of movement and continuous reinvention. His curiosity about how people and systems function is at the core of everything he does —as a researcher, facilitator, teacher, advisor, entrepreneur, parent, and partner. Always a teacher and a learner.

He was a professor at HAN University of Applied Sciences and Inholland, leading the Master’s program in Supervision and Coaching. He remains involved in leadership education within the MBA program at Nyenrode Business University.

As an entrepreneur, he has worked with companies such as Brunel, Heijmans, DHL, TKH, and Achmea.

Margit Sleeuwenhoek – Experienced Coach & Trainer

Coaching and guidance only work when there is trust—trust in your coach’s expertise but also in the process. That’s why I’d like to share a bit about who I am, how I work, and what you can expect from me.

People have fascinated me since I was young. Why do we do what we do? Why do certain patterns hold us back? My search for answers led me to a career as a manager and later to a five-year training in Transactional Analysis (TA). This changed everything: it gave me a language for what I had intuitively felt and helped me break through my own fears and blockages. Since then, I have been captivated by the power of TA and apply it daily in my work with individuals and teams.

In addition to TA, I work with systemic constellations, psychodrama, strategic coaching, and… horses. If you think people are a flawless mirror, just wait until you meet a horse.

Authentic Leadership Program

Would you like to participate in the Authentic Leadership Program or receive more information? Please fill out this form.

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Jeroen Winkelhorst

Senior Personal Coach

''In working with Jürg (in facilitating groups), I have learned to give yourself space time and again to experience what-is. On the one hand, daring to stand still at what is showing itself now, in this moment in this situation. On the other hand, turning in to and being present with yourself. Just from this inner experiencing, to become aware of what's going on, what wants to become visible and whether ''I'' have to do something or not. Being together with Jürg in coaching situations is always instructive and inspiring. By how he deals with the issue or situation. But even more so by seeing how he is aware and deploys himself and his own questions or doubts. He shows how to be an instrument himself in the service of what the other person, the issue and the situation requires.''

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Jeroen Kerkhof

Managing Director Public Search

''With Jürg, I developed international leadership programmes for Brunel. He knows how to connect the personal with the business like no other and bridges the gap between theory and practice seamlessly. Jürg has a keen eye for what is going on - both within the group and with the individual - and knows how to expose in an appreciative way what is going on above and below the surface at personal, team and organisational level.

Participants from diverse cultures discovered what drives them as leaders in a complex world and how to authentically shape their leadership. They learned how to use their unique perspectives to strengthen teams, act confidently and create inclusive, safe environments in which people grow.''

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Victor Vas

Managing Director Ovation

''Despite striving for many years to develop my leadership skills, both by following trainings and working with multiple coaches, I was unhappy with the lack of progress to the point I was unsure if this kind of development was at all for me. However, after just a few sessions with Jürg, if finally "hit me" and I found the proverbial key to unlock my own personal potential in this area. I also realised that sometimes it's not about how long and hard one tries to make progress, but instead having the right person next to you asking the right questions and instilling the right perspective. Jürg not only was very experienced but used several techniques I had not been exposed to before, despite trying for many years. I am happy to have found Jürg and I will forever be grateful to him for opening up a door I didn't believe was meant to be opened.''

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William de Kaste

Working at HAN Educational Sciences and self-employed

''Jürg Thölke's guidance has helped me to look at my leadership more consciously. His focus on systems approaches such as the place of difficulty, working with constellations and being open to the 'not knowing' has challenged me to examine my own patterns and actions from a different perspective. What I appreciate is the space he creates to reflect on my own choices and how they relate to my environment. It has helped me to look more consciously at what is really needed and how I can play my part in that. His approach invited me not to act thoughtlessly, but to consciously reflect on my behaviour and its effects. It also taught me the importance of staying connected with others, both in personal and professional situations. This strengthens my ability to improve cooperation and achieve results that have real impact.''

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Brayn Van Russel

IT Consultancy

''Jürg, your insight, expertise and enlightening words have helped me take leadership in my own life. Thanks to you, my emotional journey to Suriname, the land of my roots, has become a true exploration of myself. I have realised that the pain from my childhood and young adult life was not my fault and now feel reborn. 

With renewed peace, I am enjoying fatherhood and have made Suriname my second (t)home.''

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Raoul Wirtz

Learning & Development Business Partner and Curriculum Manager specialists development Alliander NV.

''With Jürg, it is always about what really matters. Like no other, he knows how to link his vast academic knowledge to daily practice in organisations. His working method is touching and well-constructed. This is how he helps you progress as a person, as a professional and as a leader. What makes Jürg special is his ability to really see people, sense systems and convey complex insights in an accessible way. As a participant, you come closer to yourself and further in your work. He is a facilitator who shapes facilitation with knowledge, intuition, precision and professionalism - exactly what is needed in these times of major social changes.''

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Barry Polak

Lead Product Owner Commerce

''In 2022, I participated in the MBA module Leadership and Cooperation with 2 colleagues from ABN AMRO. This module made a huge positive impact on me and my colleagues. Both professionally and privately, I gained a lot from it. The intensity and excellent coaching by Jürg taught me a lot about myself and created a great bond with the other participants, with whom I still have a lot of contact. The way of systemic constellations and looking at Leadership are groundbreaking. Especially with the way Jürg guides this. Highly recommended.''