Thoughts

Maarten van Beek writes about work as if it were life - because, in truth, it is. For nearly three decades he has moved through organisations large and small, from factory floors humming with routine to boardrooms echoing with ambition - including ING, Unilever and Mölnlycke. He has served, among other roles, as Chief Human Resources Officer and carried responsibility for branding and communication. Along the way he discovered something unsettling: strategy is rarely the hardest part; behaviour is. He has lived and worked across five continents, travelling from Geleen, where he first saw the light of day, to Leiden, Beijing, Geneva, Ithaca (NY), London, São Paulo, Singapore, Gothenburg and The Hague, where he now lives. While each place added a language, a rhythm, a different way of disagreeing, Maarten never truly picked up the local languages in the traditional sense. He reads people, senses a room, and understands how organisations move and connect. He holds multiple master’s degrees - useful, certainly, though never a substitute for the slow education of experience. Alongside his executive work, Maarten teaches, thinks and writes. He has served on boards and supervisory boards including Cordaid, UAF (the NGO for Student Refugees), NPO (Dutch Public Broadcasting), the Dutch Employers’ Association (AWVN), and the International Leadership Association (ILA). Different sectors, different vocabularies — yet beneath the surface, the same human longings for recognition, dignity and meaning. Across these roles he noticed a pattern: spreadsheets rarely explain behaviour, culture resists command, and leadership is usually less heroic - and more fragile - than we like to believe. He is drawn to craftsmanship: the quiet pride of those who try, day after day, to do their work well - whether they shape strategy, negotiate agreements, bake bread or repair machines. His writing circles around a modest conviction: most people want to contribute; systems do not always help them do so. He wrote HR Impact: The Power of Craftsmanship (2020). His columns blend lived experience, research, gentle provocation and a touch of dry humour. He believes sharpness can coexist with kindness, and that reflection often travels further than outrage. When not writing, he walks through The Hague’s ‘Zeeheldenkwartier’, studies art with patient curiosity, cooks for friends, or retreats to his wine cellar — where conversations slow, certainty softens, and honesty, like good wine, improves with age. He writes not to close conversations, but to deepen them.