From board member of the AFM to special education teacher. A step that is not for everyone. Merel van Vroonhoven got so many reactions that she decided to write a book about it: "The Step - How my way to the top brought me to the classroom". This week she is a guest at the Werkprofessor and shares her story.
Merel van Vroonhoven studied mining engineering in Delft followed an MBA at INSEAD Business School in 2000. Was chief executive at NN, member of the management committee at ING, board of directors at Dutch Railways, became top woman of the year in 2012 and became chairman of the AFM board; in 2021 Merel took a big step: she became a teacher in special education a step about which she wrote a book.
Honors
After Merel decided to make the move into teaching, she received thousands of responses from all walks of life. In those responses, she saw three types of questions. Merel: "That was on the one hand 'I also have the desire to do something different and now that you have done it I would like to know more about it'. The second type of reaction was from people who themselves had a disability or teachers who saw some kind of recognition in the importance of their work. The third type of reaction was from people who saw in my move a kind of turning point/ tipping point. From a time when we mainly paid attention and attached importance to making as much money as possible, to an era where other things are important. Namely what do you contribute to society. These questions were important for me to answer, but of course I couldn't do that to all those thousands of people. Then I thought, I'll write a book as a tribute to all the responses.
Experience
How does Merel look back on her past and the choices she made in it? And how does Merel take her experiences into the classroom?
This episode of the Work Professor covers it all. Fun, but also definitely interesting to hear what Merel has to share with us.
Links
More about Merel
Check out the book here
More about the Working Professor
Do you have questions or input? If so, please contact Wendy van Ierschot at wendy@viepeople.com.
Curious about the next guest in the Werkprofessor or want to be the first to hear the teaser of the next episode? Follow the Werkprofessor on LinkedIn.
Build best-performing teams based on objective HR data
A well-executed data-driven HR approach provides a grip on the development and well-being of your people, as well as clarity and transparency. But where do you start and how do you ensure assurance within your organization?
.png)