A warm welcome to another episode of ‘The Naked Truth about…Podcast’. In this episode Prof. Dr. Beverley Wilson-Wünsch and I talk to Anouk Lagae. Anouk is the CEO of Accent Jobs in Belgium. Accent is a temp-to- permanent recruitment agency with the largest network of specialist branches in Belgium. What is amazing, is that Accent Jobs has been voted a Great Place to Work for 17 years in a row!
We met Anouk at the Happiness @ Work conference in Antwerpen in Belgium last year, where she gave a wonderful keynote. We liked her energy and wanted to get in touch with her.

03:07 Anouk wants to create value and impact in daily lives with respect and balance for all its ecosystems. When did this appreciation for the interconnectedness started?
04:18 Why did Anouk gain a huge fascination for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TMC)?
05:27 About her love to surround herself with bright passionate people and be the catalyst so people can be at their best and flourish. Because in all business it always comes down to people who thrive.
07:30 People are gold!
08:58 Why we must change the name ‘Human Resources’ into ‘Resourceful Humans’.
09:46 There is no ‘war for talent’ because there is an abundance of talent everywhere. Growing a company is about growing people.
11:08 We now come to realize that if you want to regain talent and follow your goals as a company, you need to take care of your people. There is a rebalance going on.
12:29 How does Anouk combine purposeful leadership with profit and economics? The mission of Accent Jobs is to embrace every talent to spark joy in their lives. It’s not about creating volume but about creating value with respect to the eco-system.
15:10 Accent Jobs wants to be the ‘Apple of HR’. Accent dares to go different ways. People want to be part of Accent.
17:15 We talk about ‘inner engineering’, which is an absolute necessity as a leader. It’s about doing the inner-work, for example by working with a coach.
19:48 About authentic leadership; leading strong but with empathy and kindness. It’s yin and yang. About balancing the male and the female energy in this change of era. It’s both…and…!
23:19 Why listening to Anouk’s vision on people is music to our ears 😉
23:30 Do educators/schools/universities provide the skills companies are looking for? Society is changing so fast, and education still ingrained in old ways of working. We are still so trained on just knowledge and not enough on soft skills. So, there is a gap. Accent now has its own training company to re-skill and up-skill people.
26:35 Education should work more on unlocking the potential of people. Working on soft skills.
28:20 About the views different generations have on the world of work, especially how generation Y and Z want to live and work. Some of them are ‘slashies’. About the multipotential of all of us.
30:45 How Accent dares to reinvent itself, starting from within. And the importance of collaboration.
32:34 What does Anouk, as a parent, want for the generations to come? She thinks that the answers will be in their hands! They all want to have more quality of live. And we, as parents, agreed on that.
36:04 What is a truth Anouk can bring to the table today that not many people know about her?