Sven Prevoo

Marije: Hi Sven, great to meet you – would you mind giving us a short introduction about yourself?

Sven: Hi! My name is Sven Prevoo. I’m a commercial leader with a background in organizational psychology, currently driving growth and impact at Lepaya. Over the years, I’ve been deeply engaged in helping organizations develop their talent and foster cultures of continuous learning and high-performance—particularly at the intersection of technology, human behavior, and leadership. I’m passionate about how we can use data-driven insights and behavioral science to elevate people and create workplaces where both individuals and the business thrive.

Marije: Leaders in Finance is very happy to welcome Lepaya as a partner for its upcoming CHRO event of 19 June. Can you tell us more about the business and what it is you do in the field of HR?

Sven: Thank you—it’s great to be part of this event! Lepaya is a blended training platform that equips people with the skills they need to excel in their roles today and in the future, at scale. We combine digital, AI fueled learning with live training and contextualized, real-world scenario skill application, enabling scalable, measurable development programs that directly support organizational strategy. What’s unique is that we focus on both the technical (eg. Analytical thinking and decision making) and human sides of skills—empowering employees and leaders to drive performance, innovation, and collaboration. In essence, we help HR and business leaders build the capabilities that matter most in a rapidly changing world.

Marije: We all realize how important it is to have staff with the right skills for the roles they are in. I had a look at your website, which says that ‘60% of jobs require new skills’. What kind of skills are you talking about? And how do you ensure that people acquire the right skills through training?

Sven: That’s right—today’s roles evolve faster than ever, and many jobs require a new blend of skills to stay competitive and relevant. At Lepaya, we focus on training essential human skills in Academies relevant to different career levels and business functions, to enable people to navigate complexity, collaborate effectively, and adapt to change. Think of skills like communication, resilience, problem-solving, coaching, and inclusive leadership, but also negotiation, discovering value, setting targets and building partnerships —skills that can’t be replaced by AI, but are supercharged by it.
We ensure that people acquire these skills through a combination of proven behavioral change techniques and real-world practice. We don’t believe in ‘one size fits all’; we tailor our learning experiences to make them relevant to each organization’s context and strategic objectives, using data to measure progress and continuously adapt. That way, skills development becomes not just an HR initiative, but a core driver of business impact.

Marije: What is the biggest challenge in your field of work right now?

Sven: The biggest challenge is aligning learning and development with business strategy in a way that truly drives measurable impact—especially now that we are entering an era of efficiency and profitability as key driver again and now that AI is reshaping the workforce. There’s a lot of talk about AI replacing roles, and in some cases, like simple code-writing, that’s true. But I believe the real opportunity is using AI to augment the workforce—to elevate human potential and beat the competition by creating more value.
At the same time, there’s a real risk that if we let AI do too much of the thinking for us, we risk losing the depth and critical thinking that drive real innovation. We need to keep upskilling people not just to use AI tools, but to think beyond the surface—to communicate more deeply and clearly, make better decisions, and avoid intellectual laziness.

Marije: What are you most looking forward to in the event of 19 June?

Sven: I’m really curious to hear how other HR and CHRO leaders are tackling the promise and the challenge of AI in the workplace. There’s a tempting narrative that AI will simply replace people, but I think the real opportunity is to use it as a force for augmentation—to make people more capable, more creative, and more connected to value. I’m also eager to discuss how we can prevent the unintended downside of AI: letting it reduce critical thinking to surface-level solutions. How do we ensure people keep developing their ability to think independently, communicate beyond the obvious, and challenge ideas? That’s the kind of dialogue I’m looking forward to—nuanced discussions, learning from real stories of what’s working, and seeing how we can collectively navigate this transformation to elevate people and performance in tandem.