Joris enjoyed a long and international career in HR, both in-house at M&S and Kingfisher Plc. He also held consulting roles and led various businesses for Willis Towers Watson (WTW) in Europe, before transitioning more recently to executive coaching focusing on career-related work.
Current job title and description of what this role entails:
I'm a Partner at Stork & May LLP: I coach and advise senior executives at critical points in their careers. My clients are typically Chief Executives, board directors and their direct reports. Aside from my work at Stork & May I am an ambassador for a social impact initiative called Coaching with Conscience that delivers coaching to UK charities and not-for-profits, and am also a Governor and Trustee for a progressive and innovative School called Frensham Heights.
Tell us about your career journey since graduating from LSE?
I joined Towers Perrin as a consultant in London after leaving LSE, and also did international assignments with them in Germany and France.The focus of my work was on reward and talent management for leading global organisations. Gradually I took on increasingly large leadership roles in the business and worked through two large mergers. I left briefly to work in Group HR at Kingfisher Plc and came back to WTW to tackle various thorny business problems in Europe. Since then, I have developed skills and experience in coaching and mentoring, formally trained as a coach five years ago, and then in 2023 made executive coaching my full-time occupation by joining Stork & May. I love the work I do now and the difference I can make to individuals and organisations.
How has the programme you studied helped your career since you graduated?
I had worked in HR before doing my MSc programme at LSE but had no formal training or education in it. The course really helped me better understand organisations and organisational behaviour and secondly the employment landscape across Europe. Both have been pivotal to everything I’ve done since.
What´s the greatest challenge you´ve had to overcome?
Leading a business through Covid would be right up there. I’d just stepped into a new role and had led through some crises before but nothing like that. I learnt a lot about authentic leadership – it was the only way to get through it – and just how resilient people and businesses can be if you’ve built the right culture. It was exhausting but ultimately a great catalyst for change and self-development and reflection.
Share with us your fondest memory of the Department of Management.
There are probably two.
Friday afternoon lectures with Dr Jacqueline Coyle-Shapiro were a highlight. Nobody wants the 2-4pm slot on a Friday probably, but she made the most of it. And it was from there straight to the pub! Her work on the psychological contract had a big influence on me.
And secondly, my course did a trip to the Netherlands to visit the Shell oil refinery, the Shell European Works Council and Rotterdam harbour which was great fun.
If you would like to be profiled or if you would like to nominate a Department of Management alumni, please email dom.alumni@lse.ac.uk.