About Harry de Bont
Engineering, HR, coaching, and an undiminished curiosity about what moves people.
Harry de Bont, born in 1963, combines a technical background with senior HR experience, many years as a coach and trainer, and an ongoing study of what moves people in work and organisations.
Background
Started in engineering.
Harry studied Electrical Engineering (applied sciences) and spent the first part of his career in industrial automation and software. That period still shapes how he looks at things: systemically, structurally, focused on how things work, not on isolated words.
It also brought him to the people behind the technology: skilled, driven, analytical, often introverted, sometimes hard to move. That is where the fascination started for what actually gets people moving and what holds them back.
HR career
Senior HR in IT, grown from the inside.
From the late 1990s onwards Harry held HR roles in IT and professional services, rising to Corporate HR Manager at ICT Automatisering, an organisation that grew during his time from over 300 to around 1,200 employees.
In that role he was responsible for HR policy across its full breadth: leadership development, talent development, appraisal and reward, culture development, organisational change and management sparring around people and organisation.
It is exactly that combination, going through strong growth and continuously fitting HR policy to it, that forms the foundation of his current work.
Domains
- HR strategy and policy at senior level
- Leadership development, leadership team and first-line management
- Talent development and sustainable employability
- Appraisal and reward structures
- Culture and organisational change
- Coaching and training
- Sparring partner for leadership, owner or HR lead
Vision
What moves people, as anchor point.
The motto “What moves people” is not a slogan, it is a working principle. Behind every organisational question is a question about people: their talent, their fear, their courage, their need for meaning and direction.
Over the years, alongside his work, Harry has explored a broader field: psychology, neuroplasticity, leadership and behaviour, the difference between courage and fear patterns, and, as a personal fascination, the question of what we actually know about consciousness, dreams and the human mind. That intellectual frame, including Anthropic Universe Theory, forms his background. It is not the message your organisation meets first; it is a foundation that resonates in how he looks at things and works.
In the work it translates very concretely: role clarification, feedback rhythms, talent conversations, leadership principles and light structure. No philosophy on the work floor, but a foundation that holds as the work floor moves.
Style
Senior, warm, concrete.
Harry likes direct, honest conversations. He is technical enough to seriously follow the work of engineers and professionals, and human enough to talk about what is harder to discuss.
He doesn't like slogans, fashionable models or grand presentations. He does like a clear question, a good agreement, and seeing something actually start to move.
Practical
- Born in 1963
- Based in Ermelo (Gelderland, Netherlands)
- Works nationally, online and on location
- Harry works primarily in Dutch and is fluent in English
- KvK 51171058
Ready to explore?
An intro call is no-obligation and often clarifying, for both you and me.