
Many beautiful words have been written by beautiful people.
Lost at the bottom of my LinkedIn profile.
And beauty should be shared.
They fill me with gratitude.
Enjoy!
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I've worked closely with Dennis in a couple different capacities over the last several years, and there is no short, simple way to give credit to the positive impact that he can have on a person, team, or organization (though I will try).
Dennis elegantly combines agile leadership best practice, research-backed academics, and human centricity in everything that he does seamlessly, powerfully, and with subtlety.
He generates innovative thought of his own, and he shows up as a thought partner and listener in a way that leaves me more energized and inspired after every conversation we've ever had.
Through all of this, he gets results by creating more connected and directionally aligned high-performing teams at many levels in the organization.
I have and will continue to rely on his partnership for years to come.
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Tom Keller
Senior Director @ Nike
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I’ve had the pleasure of working with Dennis for more than 6 years, and in that time I have yet to come across someone who walks the talk more than him.
Dennis is a true leader and coach, helping individuals and entire teams grow into their best selves.
His ability to remain curious, apply theory and skills in a way that yields immediate results, and do so in an authentic manner grounded in personal experience makes him a worthwhile investment for any person or company.
I’ve collaborated with Dennis on several successful large-scale culture and leadership projects, trusted him completely as a thought partner, and I’ve been a recipient of his trainings/workshops which were always customized to the needs of the group.
Lastly, what I can say about Dennis is that he doesn’t shy away from delivering messages that groups and leaders need to hear, but he always delivers these with compassion, and understanding of the journey and process, and with deep respect for the problem and solution.
Anyone considering working with Dennis will be better for it, his positivity is contagious, and we need more people like Dennis in the corporate world.
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Becca Silver
Product & Change Management @ Nike
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Our technology innovation leadership team at Nike worked with Dennis to both define our team's multidisciplinary vision and strengthen the bond between leaders.
Through multiple sessions Dennis expertly navigated us through ever-deepening activities to unearth our fundamental focus and inner challenges.
Personally I've enjoyed Dennis' very competent and compelling approaches to the workshops, especially his passion and personal touch.
I definitely recommend Dennis to orchestrate, facilitate, and navigate anyone's individual or team growth and development.
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Jan van der Asdonk
Global Director of New Concepts - Tech Innovation @ Nike
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Transforming teams. It’s not a task for the faint of heart and Dennis dives in head first.
He has the innate ability to build truly human connections with each individual, and therefore create a safe, collaborative environment for the team to thrive.
We’ve worked together for over five years in a variety of capacities. We've been on the same team, different teams, peers, direct report.Throughout this time, Dennis became a confidant, advisor, and source of inspiration. I can always count on him for an insightful conversation and to give a new and fresh, yet grounded perspective. He’s my go-to when it comes to teams.
I recommend him for anyone looking for someone who can help their team be awesome – in either the short-term (e.g. team workshop) or long-term (e.g. dedicated Scrum Lead), Dennis is your guy.-
Adrienne Dant
Product Lead @ Nike
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I have had the pleasure of working with Dennis in his role as our scrum coach, and his impact on our team has been nothing short of transformative.
Dennis excels at driving productivity, constantly seeking out opportunities to enhance our workflow and ensure we deliver maximum value.
His flexibility in focusing on what truly matters, rather than concentrating on the formalities, has significantly improved our efficiency and effectiveness.
Dennis brings an infectious positivity to the team, consistently inspiring us to achieve our best. His ability to balance the needs of the team with the demands of the project is remarkable, and his leadership has been a key factor in our success.
Dennis is not just a scrum coach, but a motivator and a catalyst for continuous improvement.
I highly recommend Dennis for any team looking to boost their productivity and morale.
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Artem Dekhtyar
Senior Consultant @ Cubewise
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I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with Dennis during his tenure at Nike, and I was consistently impressed by his exceptional abilities as a facilitator, his unwavering growth mindset, and his invaluable contributions as a thinking partner.
Dennis has a natural talent for facilitation, effortlessly guiding the sessions to productive outcomes. He manages to create a space for people to feel seen, heard and supported. He skillfully taps into their empathy and fosters a sense of intimacy among team members. The discussions he leads prompt genuine connections and a heightened sense of mutual understanding, leaving everyone feeling more united and motivated moving forward.
As a thinking partner, Dennis has always helped me figure out complex situations and consistently brought fresh insights and innovative ideas to the table. He has a remarkable ability to see beyond the surface and uncover solutions that others may overlook, making him an invaluable asset to any team.
I wholeheartedly recommend Dennis for his exceptional facilitation skills, growth mindset, and invaluable contributions as a thinking partner. He would be a tremendous asset to any team or organization seeking to drive innovation and develop high performing teams.-
Eugenia Martelli
EMEA Digital Supply Chain Director @ Nike
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Our leadership team worked with Dennis from August 2023 and March 2024. A new team that was still navigating out of hybrid zoom existence, leading a team that was demonstrating low employee engagement.
The opportunity for better team effectiveness was there.
The work together was a great success; our leadership team and the broader group were in a better situation following our sessions together with Dennis.
We conducted approx. 2 hour sessions over a 3-5 week period across the 8 months.
We touched upon topics ranging from Team purpose, goal setting, resilience, growth mindset & outlook, empowerment & failure all routed in building psychological safety.There was a great mix of building our own team but also building our toolbox so we can leverage the work more broadly.We were able to complete the sessions in person and in Zoom (No Hybrid!).
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dennis and highlight, if you are thinking about this type of work with your teams, Dennis is a great facilitator.
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Sean Harris
Senior Director EMEA Distributors @ Nike
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I worked with Dennis at Nike on implementing a budgeting and forecasting application. He has a phenomenal ability to bring the team together to achieve common goals.
His experience in the scrum / scrumban methodology assisted the team in excellent cooperation, integration and communication that delivered highly successful results to the organization.
He has a powerful skill to develop relationships within a team. He has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, thus making it easy for the team to interact with him.
He has great leadership abilities, to manage the objectives of the team and in turn deliver results to the business. I highly recommend making him part of any team that needs cohesion.
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Van Zyl Brink
Consultant @ Cubewise
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I have worked with Dennis in Nike.
Dennis is a true inspiration. Not only he lives and breath Agile, but he is also able to create and hold the space where individual, teams and organisations can evolve in their agile journey while maintaining a focus on delivering results, changes and value.
Any organization that wants to succeed by increasing their their agility and their efficiency should contact Dennis.
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Shinjini Nath
Cloud Data Engineer & Analyst @ Nike
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Dennis joined Enterprise Datas & Analytics at Nike as Scrum Master at a time when the agile transition was not in very good shape, and managed to turn things around in relatively short time.
He took a keen interest in understanding the team and business functions and effectively adapted agile principles in a way which were suitable in that particular environment.
He grasped the diverse nature of each team and its own specific challenges and enabled and facilitated the team members to tackle those challenges in accordance with what is best suited for their circumstance.
He makes agile ceremonies fun and meaningful instead of being just routine meetings. He goes the extra mile to understand intricate technical details and is thoroughly involved and keenly interested even in highly technical discussions and issues.
He is easy going and social and manages to get along well with everyone involved. He knows how to keep ship on course and makes it a point to be super transparent with team members.
Me and my team members had great experience working with Dennis.
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Asmita Bote
BI Developer @ Cognizant
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Authenticity is the first word that comes to my mind when thinking about Dennis.
Dennis started out as a new scrum master for my team and was presented with the challenge to win over the hearts of a team that had gone through several scrum masters in a short time and at the same time improve cooperation with the other teams in the value stream.
In a very short time Dennis managed to get himself adopted by the team, after which he started focusing his attention more on coaching and teaching the agile way of working and getting valuable and actionable outcome out of retrospectives.
The nice thing about Dennis as a person is that through his passion he was able to inspire our people and teams with his genuine agile mindset. For every challenge he has an idea or way to connect it to the appropriate theoretical foundation and shares this in his own “no strings attached” fashion with the team.
In my interactions with Dennis I’ve found him someone who can get people aligned on the common goal at hand. He influences the teams in such a way that they take ownership of their challenges and come up with their own solutions on how they want to tackle the challenge ahead of them.
I highly recommend Dennis for any complex change programs, where he will help your teams move to the next level and beyond.-
Mehmet Sezer
Senior Product Owner @ T-Mobile
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Dennis is a truly agile coach and scrum master.
As an RTE I want to have scrum masters in my team who are growing their team(s), and helping and challenging me to grow my ART / Value Stream.
Dennis is capable of doing all that.
He is able to help and grow complex teams with a sharp eye for the needs of individual team members, as well as helping and challenging me how to implement / think / live the agile way of working in a somewhat bigger and complex environment, and with key stakeholders with different maturities in their agile thinking.
Dennis is really an added value for organizations that want to grow in living the agile way.
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Arno Hanssen
Agile RTE/ Chief Scrum Master @ T-Mobile
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I have had the pleasure to collaborate with Dennis during our time together on the culture team.
We worked together in a project group which was tasked with creating a culture of belonging and empowerment within our team and teams in our orbit at Nike.
Dennis is very knowledgeable and passionate about topics that help teams excel such as: servant leadership, psychological safety and a growth mindset.
He is a very skilled facilitator of workshops that bring teams together to work on a healthy team culture.
Dennis is a very emphatic leader and he helped me grow and develop within my role in this team through his coaching and mentoring. He was always ready to help out and offer words of advice when I needed it.
I was also very humbled by witnessing how Dennis applied his own Growth Mindset in times of adversity. His positive attitude and his view on the world are a big inspiration on how I try to look at the world in my everyday life.
Without reservation I would recommend Dennis if you need help with building strong and safe teams where individual team members feel a sense of belonging, safety and connection to excel and cooperate efficiently.
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Melanie Martens
Sr. Assortment Planner @ Nike