Dare to leave leadership to a combination of different generations

"I used to say, 'I hire on competencies, and I fire on attitudes.' Over the years, I've come to realize that you can develop skills and competencies, and that it's actually all about attitude. As a leader, do you give people space or to be themselves, are you able to create safety and trust in a team? That question is much more important.'

Anne van Herwijnen has joined YESS, a subsidiary of Boer & Croon, as a partner. Here she will deal with the recruitment and selection of leaders (directors and executives) for life sciences and the healthcare sector.

Anne has a background in sales and marketing within life sciences. She has a commercial attitude with a strong focus on the people within a team. Because of her sincere interest in people, she is able to find the right leader, who is not only able to develop a vision, but can also carry it out.
A leader who can motivate those around him or her, provides connection, safety and trust within the team. And who ensures that people have the right tools to do their jobs well.

Wide Value propostion

"It's nice that with Boer & Croon we have a very broad value proposition. We can serve our clients in all areas. They can come to us for strategic issues, interim management as well as executive search for permanent positions.

The professionals who work for us are capable of much more than just putting the right person in the right place. We look very carefully at the composition of the team. Do the team members complement each other sufficiently? If you only have like-minded people at the table, you reduce the chance of discussion and thus the possibility of improving and changing things.
Important themes are therefore diversity and inclusiveness. This includes not only the male-female ratio within the organization, but also different cultures, educational backgrounds and generations. This view is widely supported within YESS.

Transformation

'A profound transformation is currently taking place in both healthcare and life sciences. On the one hand, the focus is slowly shifting from healthcare to health. So prevention is becoming more important. But we also have to deal with an aging population and the associated rising costs and personnel shortages.'

'In addition, new technologies are available with which, based on DNA, much more targeted medication can be developed against cancer, for example. Digitalization is also an important theme. Life sciences organizations can play an important role in these changes, including by entering into new partnerships with hospitals and health insurers.
Cooperation is the key to future-proofing our health care system. Our challenge is to find the people who will make all this possible.'