Dutch Kahuna · the online learning platform for leadership
Every leader once started at the bottom.
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Sustainable leadership development
We develop leaders who know themselves, consciously take responsibility and make others stronger for the long term. Not a one-off leadership training, but a journey that brings together reflection, practice and visible behaviour.
Start learning online: become a member today, on your own or with your organisation. The first 5 days are free.
In traditional Hawaiian society, a Kahuna is a wise and respected expert in a particular field.
Which way?
Everyone climbs differently.
Dutch Kahuna is there for boards, for HR, for every leader who wants to grow, for groups, for the Partners who guide them and for the community. Tap your signpost.
Who leads the leaders?
Development at the top works both ways: your own leadership and that of the team around the table. Start with a quick mirror of your management team.
Design a learning journey that works.
Choose your learning goals, see which learning paradoxes stand in the way and put the journey together from trainings, workshops, coaching and online modules. With an immediate indication of time and investment.
You know what’s needed. And yet sometimes you do something else.
Tell us what you’re up against and get a tailored learning route, including how much time it takes. You track your progress in your own learning environment and the app.
Up the mountain together.
Sign up yourself or a group through your organisation. The administrator sets up the route and the materials, with scheduling, location and attendance. In the group you can see who you’re travelling with.
Experienced leaders guiding leaders.
From interest and decision to training in the Academy and your own income in the field. In January 2027 we are looking for the first four Partners.
No one climbs alone.
A member of the platform is a member of the community: expert groups, seminars, masterclasses and managers from all over the Netherlands who seek each other out.
Why Dutch Kahuna
Not just a training. And then hope.
- 18learning paradoxes
Knowing is not yet doing.
Everything we do is built on the eighteen paradoxes that make learning challenging, and on how you deal with them.
- 13categories
A unique range of content.
For each category, the fifteen thinkers and models that matter. Every topic becomes an online module, with the Kahuna behind it.
- 9months
A journey designed for real change.
From The Call via Basecamp and six expeditions to The Summit, and a hundred days later the proof.
- 1focus
Leadership development only.
We do nothing else. From team leader to CEO, from first step to boardroom table.
Every intervention along the paradoxes. Even a short intervention works along the paradoxes. A training, workshop or coaching programme starts with your learning goals and the paradoxes at play, and ends with behaviour that others notice.
Learning on our own platform and app. Our own online learning platform and app, with the Academy’s offering, assessments, your own route and your group. Between sessions the journey simply continues.
The 18 paradoxes of learning
You know it. And still you don't do it.
You often know very well what you would like to do differently. That a conversation needs to happen. That you need to be clearer, listen better, set boundaries sooner, or rather let go more.
You resolve to do it. And yet it doesn’t happen.
That isn’t unwillingness. What makes us efficient makes change difficult. Our approach is built on eighteen paradoxes of learning and development. How many do you recognise?
Paradox 01 · Efficiency paradox
To become effective, we automate our behaviour. To develop, we have to examine that automatism.
Experience doesn't necessarily make us better. Experience makes us faster at what we have often done.
Paradox 02 · Effort paradox
We want to grow, but our brain is constantly weighing up whether the effort is worth it.
The brain isn't lazy. It's economical.
Paradox 03 · Reward paradox
What brings us relief in the short term can block our development in the long term.
A lot of behaviour that holds back development has one annoying quality: it works.
Paradox 04 · Predictability paradox
We learn when reality turns out differently than expected, but that very difference can be uncomfortable.
What do you do when reality doesn't fit the story you tell about yourself? Do you investigate, or explain it away?
Paradox 05 · Competence paradox
To grow, we have to be willing to feel less competent for a while.
“This isn't me.” Maybe. But there is another possibility: you just can't do it well yet.
Paradox 06 · Stress paradox
Precisely when we need our new behaviour most, old behaviour becomes more attractive.
The question isn't: can you do it? But: can you still do it when the pressure is on?
Paradox 07 · Feedback paradox
We need feedback to see ourselves, but feedback makes us vulnerable.
Without safety, people protect themselves. Without challenge, they protect their patterns.
Paradox 08 · Autonomy paradox
We want autonomy, yet organisations often try to organise development by telling people they have to develop.
Development calls for a shift from “I have to be here” to “I have something to explore here”.
Paradox 09 · Knowing-doing paradox
Knowing what good leadership is says surprisingly little about what you will do tomorrow.
Knowledge matters. But knowledge is not behaviour.
Paradox 10 · Intention paradox
A resolution feels like progress, while it isn't change yet.
Not: I'm going to lead more courageously. But: before 5 pm on Thursday I'll have the conversation I've been putting off for three weeks.
Paradox 11 · Learning illusion paradox
What feels good while learning is not always what teaches best.
Participant satisfaction matters. But satisfaction is no proof of development.
Paradox 12 · Time paradox
We want to develop quickly, while learning needs time, repetition and forgetting.
Practice isn't a place you take what you've learned to. Practice is part of the learning.
Paradox 13 · Experience paradox
Experience makes us more expert and can also hold us captive.
Someone can learn for twenty years. Someone can also repeat one year of experience twenty times.
Paradox 14 · Success paradox
The very behaviour that made us successful can block our next stage of development.
Which behaviour got you here, but won't automatically take you to the next stage?
Paradox 15 · Context paradox
We train the leader, while the environment retrains them every single day.
A programme can say: show trust. A system can say: make no mistakes. Guess which message wins on Monday morning.
Paradox 16 · Social paradox
Learning is personal, but you can't develop yourself on your own.
The group becomes a hall of mirrors. Not because others decide who you are, but because through others you see something that is hard to notice on your own.
Paradox 17 · Reflection paradox
To move forward, we have to stop.
Reflection is not a rest stop in development. Reflection is the moment when experience can be turned into learning.
Paradox 18 · Relapse paradox
Relapse feels like failure, yet it holds valuable information.
The goal isn't: never relapse again. It's: recognise it sooner, understand what causes it and choose again more quickly.
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The flagship
Nine months.
Eight leaders.
One mountain.
Not a one-off leadership training, but an intensive journey that brings together reflection, practice and visible behaviour.
- Live sessions
- Online learning on the platform
- Practice missions
- Buddy and peer consultation
- Organisation visit
- Impact Case
The leadership journey
From Basecamp to The Summit.
Nine months, eight leaders as travelling companions and one continuous movement through the six dimensions of leadership. Drag your flag up the mountain and see what happens at each stage.
Week 1
Basecamp — Departure
The group forms. Your compass, your credo and your personal contract.
Along the way you’ll encounterWe want autonomy, but organisations often try to organise development by telling people they must develop.Paradox 08 · Autonomy paradoxMonth 1
Expedition 1 — Me
Dimension Personal leadership: being able to lead yourself
Self-knowledge, responsibility, resilience and conscious choice.
Along the way you’ll encounterExperience makes us more expert, and can also hold us captive.Paradox 13 · Experience paradoxMonth 2
Expedition 2 — You
Dimension Leading others: making people stronger
Expectations, trust, holding people accountable and ownership in teams.
Along the way you’ll encounterThe very behaviour that made us successful can block our next stage of development.Paradox 14 · Success paradoxMonth 3
Expedition 3 — Us
Dimension Connective leadership: making differences discussable
Collaboration across interests, generations, cultures and professional perspectives.
Then: Leadership Encounter I: at a participant’s organisation.
Along the way you’ll encounterLearning is personal, but you cannot develop yourself on your own.Paradox 16 · Social paradoxMonth 5
Expedition 4 — Change
Dimension Transformational leadership: changing while the work carries on
Combining direction and momentum with attention to people and day-to-day results.
Along the way you’ll encounterWe train the leader, while the environment retrains them every single day.Paradox 15 · Context paradoxMonth 5–6
Expedition 5 — Grow
Dimension Development-focused leadership: giving room to grow
Coaching, giving feedback and preventing help or control from increasing dependence.
Then: Leadership Encounter II: a real strategic challenge.
Along the way you’ll encounterWe need feedback to see ourselves, but feedback makes us vulnerable.Paradox 07 · Feedback paradoxMonth 8
Expedition 6 — Tomorrow
Dimension Visionary and future-focused leadership: giving direction amid uncertainty
Setting a course, exploring scenarios and acting responsibly when the future is not set.
Along the way you’ll encounterWe learn when reality turns out differently than expected, yet that very gap can be uncomfortable.Paradox 04 · Predictability paradoxMonth 9
The Summit
Integration and your personal legacy. Then 100 days on your own, and on day 100 The Return: the proof of change.
Along the way you’ll encounterRelapse feels like failure, yet it contains valuable information.Paradox 18 · Relapse paradoxWhat are you up against?
Sound familiar?
The thoughts leaders share with us most often. Tap what you recognise: underneath is what it’s really about.
0 recognised
What we offer
It doesn’t always have to be a journey.
The journey is the flagship. But theme sessions, masterclasses, short interventions based on your needs and coaching are just as good a start. We look at the challenge first, then at the format.
Discuss what fits- The leadership journey9 months · 8 leadersThe flagship. A distinctive, one-of-a-kind nine-month programme across the six dimensions.
- 01 Programme for team leaders6 daysFor first-time leaders: from professional to leader.
- 02 Programme for leaders of leadersExperienced leadersFor those who manage managers: from team leader to leader of leaders.
- 03 Management DevelopmentTailor-madeSetting up MD programmes for your organisation.
- 04 Executive and management teamsGuidanceGuiding and developing executive and management teams.
- 05 Team developmentTailor-madeFrom a group of individuals to a team that works ever more independently.
- 06 StrategyDevelopment and implementationDeveloping strategy and making it land in behaviour and daily routines.
- 07 Theme sessions and masterclassesShortShort interventions based on your needs.
- 08 Personal coachingOne-to-oneFor managers and board members.
- 09 The online platform5 days freeKahunas, assessments, models and 30 days of courses. Along the journey, or on its own.
Become a partner
Guides wanted.
Dutch Kahuna wants to become relevant across the Netherlands, with a network of experienced leaders who guide others. In January 2027 we start looking for the first four Partners. We train them in the Dutch Kahuna Academy, across all our propositions.
Read what it involvesYour guides from De Transitie Kamer
We’ve been training leaders for more than 25 years. And we’ve only just begun.
Trainer
Henk Berendsen
Henk Berendsen is an inspiring organisational scientist and leadership expert. For more than 25 years he has helped managers and team leaders show ultimate leadership and bring out the best in their people.
Trainer
Vincent Goedhart
Vincent Goedhart is an enthusiastic, driven trainer with a strong background in learning and development. Like no other, he knows how to build a team and deliver results with it.
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In memoriam
Bjørn Vos
Our online guide and the rock everyone on the platform could lean on. We miss him.
17% Only 17% of all managers take the initiative for their own development. From “I have to be here” to “I have something to explore here”.
Are you one of them? Plant your flag.
Press and hold the button: your flag goes up and we schedule an introductory call. Rather try it yourself first? The platform is free for 5 days.