Built on the belief that everyone deserves a great manager
LeadWise was founded in the Netherlands in 2023 — born from a simple observation: most new managers are set up to fail before they even begin.
Why we built LeadWise
Between 2013 and 2023, Maikel Cupido built a successful career as a sales leader at Google, known for his authentic approach and deep commitment to developing the people around him. During that time he benefited from world-class management training — frameworks, coaching, and structured development programs that helped him become the leader he wanted to be.
But as he looked around, he noticed something troubling: most managers — in organisations large and small — never got anything like that. They were promoted because they were great individual contributors, handed a team, and expected to figure the rest out alone. The result was predictable. 60% of new managers fail within their first two years — not from lack of ambition or intelligence, but simply lack of preparation.
In 2023, Maikel set out to change that. Together with experts in leadership development, he created LeadWise — a program that removes the two biggest barriers to management training: time and cost. The Emerging Leaders Program delivers everything a new manager needs to build a strong foundation, in under an hour a week, for a one-time investment of €299.
The result is a structured 10-week program combining expert-designed microlearning, practical weekly exercises and a 24/7 AI coaching companion — so that no one ever has to start a management role without the right preparation again.
Former sales leader at Google (2013–2023). Based in the Netherlands. On a mission to make great management training accessible to everyone, everywhere.
Connect on LinkedInGuided by a simple but powerful belief
Driven by our belief that everyone deserves a great manager, our mission is to guide new managers globally to unlock their leadership potential, improve their employees' happiness and supercharge their business success.
Accessible to everyone
Great management training shouldn't be reserved for those at large companies with big L&D budgets. LeadWise makes it available to any manager, anywhere, regardless of company size or industry.
Practical over theoretical
Knowledge without application is forgettable. Every week of the Emerging Leaders Program includes a practical exercise applied directly with your real team — turning learning into lasting habits.
People-first leadership
We believe the quality of a manager is one of the most powerful factors in employee happiness and wellbeing. Every piece of content we create is built to help managers lead with empathy, clarity and confidence.
The principles that guide everything we build
These aren't values we put on a wall — they're the beliefs that shaped every decision in building LeadWise.
Everyone deserves a great manager
The quality of your manager shapes your experience at work more than almost anything else. We exist to raise that standard — one manager at a time.
Preparation is a right, not a privilege
Being thrown into management without training isn't a rite of passage — it's a failure of the system. Every new manager deserves to feel prepared from day one.
Habits beat knowledge
Reading about leadership doesn't make you a better manager. Practising it does. That's why every week of our program ends with an exercise applied in the real world.
Coaching over telling
The best managers don't give answers — they ask better questions. We apply the same philosophy to LeadWise itself: our AI coach Lisa guides rather than prescribes.