Profile: Alexander Koene

Alexander Koene

Strategy without a safety net

Alexander Koene is co-founder of BR-ND People (Amsterdam, B Corp since 2018) and co-inventor of 23plusone, the scientific method for emotive dynamics he developed in 2006 with Kim Cramer PhD. He works with boards on mission-driven strategy, brand portfolio and culture development.

Most strategists hand you a plan. Alexander walks into the boardroom, lifts the bonnet and has a proper look at what's underneath. Every choice is an action. Every action defines your values is his manifesto, not a LinkedIn soundbite. Twenty years ago he founded BR-ND People with Kim Cramer on a single belief that has stayed his north star: when people are the brand, everything changes. And no, a new visual identity won't fix that.

• From boots to boardroom. Alexander learnt the corporate playbook by heart, just so he could help rewrite it. From military boots to international boardrooms. From the streets of Jakarta to the cafés of Rome. Culture is his battlefield, strategy his weapon, branding his art.
• Strategist with sharp edges. He works with boards and leadership teams on mission-driven strategy, brand portfolio and shaping culture. No middle-of-the-road advice, just direction that lands and goals you can measure. For Alexander, impact and progress aren't enemies. They're partners.
• Three ventures, one mission. Alongside BR-ND People (B Corp since 2018) he's the co-inventor of 23plusone, the scientific method that maps the universal language of happiness. Through The 23plusone Collective he's building an international community of changemakers. And with Let's Play Equal he drags diversity and inclusion out of PowerPoint and onto the table, in the form of a serious game.

Off the clock: three kids in Amsterdam, on his bike in any weather, in the gym every day and teaching at ski school come winter. Because if you don't have the discipline to tend your own fire, you can't light one in an organisation.