Governing Bodies

It might be a bit special to explicitly advertise on my website that I can also be active in advisory bodies of an organization.  This is usually arranged more behind the scenes.

Nevertheless, I want to expressly express how I approach a role as, for example, a binding external board member or member of an investment committee.

We as humans are still the same as in prehistoric times as far as our programming (our DNA) is concerned. When we lived in nature, there was typically a shortage of food and constant threats. That makes us tend to be greedy and to defend ourselves through power or even attack others if necessary. Because we have started working together, culture and technology have ensured that we generally have an abundance of food, and our safety is assured.

Yet our programming remains the same and each of us tends to get into these survival patterns at times in our lives. This is very human.

For that reason, we have to organize ourselves to protect ourselves by surrounding ourselves with others who can hold us accountable, or through whom we can make decisions together.

When we work with a group of people, each person can represent their own role. In a collective, each member can defend different interests, depending on the chair they sit on and depending on their own background. In this way you arrive at a more widely supported insight that can also represent more widely supported interests. This ensures that we make decisions that transcend the interests of one person. 

I see it as my role within an advisory body to be present at both the rational and the emotional layer, and to make interventions. I pay attention to the financial, technical, organizational, sales, market, customers and personnel. I also try to become aware of what is going on between the members of the collective and whether there is a need to give space to that which has not (yet) been spoken. 

I take into account the phase in which the group of people find themselves as much as possible and will try to make appropriate interventions that are both necessary and acceptable.

The growth and development of an organization is important in order for the organization to have a greater impact on the world. I try to stimulate this and at the same time keep an eye on the effects on the various stakeholders.