Marjolein van Mierlo joined as Associate Partner at Boer & Croon

Marjolein van Mierlo has joined Boer & Croon as an Associate Partner. From various perspectives, Marjolein is well acquainted with current issues within the healthcare sector. The transformation to appropriate care, the importance of working and organising differently, and the need for (and dilemmas in) regional cooperation. But also the renewal of the business model and its concretisation by entering into discussions with insurers on appropriate funding.

Marjolein: 'In my current interim position in elderly care, I experience that traditional 'linear thinking' is no longer enough to solve today's complex problems. Although I see regional differences in emphasis, the broad outline of the challenge in elderly care shows itself along the axis of scarcity, in terms of shrinking budgets, rate cuts, and staff shortages, versus a strong growth of over 75 in the coming years, and that combined with rising costs. The transformation task is too big to bear as a provider individually.'

'I believe in the power of regional cooperation, across domains, and I also see good examples of this. Where municipality, hospital, elderly care provider, housing corporation, insurer and GP organisation meet, there is movement. The trick is to remain in control of the task and to think in terms of impact. Focus on initiatives that make more and sustainable impact on this task, and make sure you create the right preconditions together. After all, appropriate care is not possible without appropriate preconditions. In practice, I find that the latter is often the proverbial 'brick in the shoe'.

Her professional career virtually falls into three equal parts. As a management consultant in healthcare, she was formed in skills such as understanding and getting to the bottom of the 'why' of an issue, being an interlocutor at all levels and reducing complex issues to structure and overview. As an internal consultant within, among others, the mental healthcare and hospital sectors, she gained a lot of experience in the political force field in an organisation, in decision-making processes and dynamics within internal relationships. As a manager in the VVT she learned to 'stand in the wind', and her decision-making skills and compass were strongly called upon. Here, she also experienced that radical change in elderly care was inevitable.

'The tightening labour market and the increasing ageing of the population are making society increasingly aware that the available professional care for the elderly will not be able to meet all the demands in the near future. It is important that we start thinking together earlier about ageing and what it takes to continue living a life of value to you, where not everything can be taken for granted anymore. How can elderly care best contribute to a meaningful life? This is not about looking for the maximum but for the optimum. We will all have to recalibrate the social dialogue on this.'

'As an MT member, I learned a lot from the discussions with the supervisors. They taught me to think from a different perspective and challenged me to keep learning and experimenting. A well-functioning and diverse Supervisory Board is crucial and incredibly valuable in the healthcare sector of today and tomorrow. For that reason, I decided last year to further qualify myself in the role of supervisor. I attended a training course for prospective supervisors at the NVTZ Academy. In the supervisory board meetings I attended, I mainly learned a lot about boardroom dynamics, reflectivity without judgment, and that governance is more than just complying with rules. For me, it's about creating social value.'

Marjolein recently completed an MBA in Healthcare Management at the Amsterdam Business School (UvA). Here, she gained a lot of up-to-date knowledge in areas such as digital health, social entrepreneurship, organisational transformation, development of (sustainable) business models, and data-driven entrepreneurship.

'Boer & Croon is a club that suits me well. They have that entrepreneurial and businesslike attitude that is very much needed in the healthcare sector, especially now. In addition, the pool of Associate Partners keeps each other sharp, a lot of knowledge is shared and mutually consulted. I am convinced that I can play a connecting role between different generations of leadership, something that is enormously valuable in the broader social developments.'