INTERVIEW | TRANSFORMATION NOMADS
An Interview with Ronald Heister
Founder of Transformation Nomads
Ronald Heister is the founder of Transformation Nomads and the initiator of Real Human Goals. With over 30 years of experience at the highest levels of PR, strategic communication, and in advisory, he now works with executive teams and leadership clusters to restore clarity, resilience, and values-based decision-making in a world of rapid disruption. As the world's pioneer in Human Sustainability Advisory, he brings a rare blend of executive insight and moral clarity to the table.
You've worked at the intersection of leadership, transformation, and communication for decades. What's the biggest blind spot in today's transformation strategies?
Ronald Heister: The biggest blind spot is human sustainability. Most transformation frameworks look solid on paper: timelines, KPIs, change management. But they collapse where it matters most; in people. Stress, disconnection, loss of meaning, erosion of trust. Transformation fails when we treat people like components of a machine.
What's needed now isn't more speed. It's more clarity. Not just structural change, but inner change. And that begins with values. That's what the Real Human Goals are designed to address.
That sounds almost philosophical. How does it translate into daily leadership?
Ronald: It's deeply practical. Executives today operate under immense pressure: market volatility, geopolitical tension, supply chain disruption, stakeholder expectations. Add the rise of AI, and many leaders and teams feel replaceable.
That generates survival behavior. People narrow their thinking. They play safe. Creativity dies. Culture dries out. And suddenly, a high-performance team turns into a liability.
The Real Human Goals help restore moral courage, personal clarity, and team alignment. They work as an inner compass during uncertainty. And they're not fluffy. They're field-tested. Practical. Applicable today.
What makes these goals different from other leadership models?
Ronald: They're not a model. They're not theoretical. They're derived from timeless moral principles and shaped into 17 practical disciplines.
Think of them as mind skills: Speaking truth. Practicing trust. Acting with integrity. Keeping peace in conflict. Leading with vision instead of fear.
These are not just personal virtues. They're competitive advantages in times of breakdown.
You've said teams risk becoming replaceable. That's a bold claim.
Ronald: It's not a warning. It's a reality. AI is scaling faster than people can adapt. If a team loses its clarity or cohesion, it becomes a risk. Not just to itself, but to the entire strategy.
Human sustainability isn't a luxury anymore. It's the foundation of operational resilience. Teams that evolve internally are the ones that drive external transformation. Everyone else is just reacting.
How can organizations implement this inner compass?
Ronald: We work in a modular way. Online, hybrid, in-company. We start with leadership clusters and ripple out to key teams. We don't add complexity. We reduce it. We bring people back to what's real. And that creates traction, even in messy contexts.
Final takeaway?
Ronald: Don't wait for systems to stabilize. Begin within. Transformation isn't just a structural game. It's a human journey. If we want sustainable change, we need sustainable humans. That's what the 17 Real Human Goals are for.
And I go deeper into this in Behind the Spotlight, where I share how this journey unfolded for me, from the heart of the system, to the clarity that now fuels my work.
(c) Transformation Nomads B.V.
Text: Pieter Richard · Photography: Brendan De Clercq · Clothing: The English Hatter · Styling: Jeroen Kamphorst
Hair: Addict Haarlem | With special thanks to De Residentie