THNK School of Leadership is an international leadership organization headquartered in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. The school was founded in 2010 with the purpose of developing creative leaders to "turn global challenges and crises into opportunities, the ultimate goal being to achieve a more meaningful and sustainable way of life." The school offers two primary streams of learning — an Executive Leadership Program, a catalogue of creative leadership education programs, and custom-made programs for organizations. The school’s curriculum is aimed towards mid-career professionals from around the world, working across sectors, including the corporate sector, entrepreneurial sector, non-profit sector, and public sector. The school also has locations in Vancouver and Lisbon.

History

THNK was launched in 2010 as a public-private partnership supported by the Dutch government, the City of

, the Province of North Holland,

Vodafone Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. , Vod ...

, McKinsey & Company,

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...

Airlines, and a host of other private and public entities. It was founded to establish Amsterdam as a creative center and boost the city’s innovation ecosystem. Partly funded by the City of

, and influenced by the leadership thinking and creative modeling of companies such as McKinsey,

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...

IDEO IDEO () is a design and consulting firm with offices in the U.S., England, Germany, Japan, and China. It was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1991. The company's 700 staff uses a design thinking approach to design products, services, enviro ...

, and

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

, “THNK intentionally chose to stay outside of the formal education system so that it could create its own version of what leadership training for the 21st century should look like”. The co-founders were Bas Verhart and Menno van Dijk. Stefano Marzano, former Chief Design Officer of Philips, was the Founding Dean of the new course. THNK’s Advisory Board includes Creative Commons vice chair

Esther Wojcicki Esther Denise "Woj" Hochman Wojcicki ( ; born May 26, 1941) is an American journalist, educator, and vice chair of the Creative Commons advisory council. Wojcicki has studied education and technology. She is the founder of the Palo Alto High Scho ...

, Dutch architect

Ben van Berkel Ben van Berkel (born 1957) is a Dutch architect; founder and principal architect of the architectural practice UNStudio. With his studio he designed, among others, the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam, the Moebius House in the Netherlands, the Merced ...

, former Managing Director of McKinsey & Company

Dominic Barton Dominic Barton (born 1962), known as Bao Damin ( zh, 鲍达民) in China, is a Ugandan-born Canadian business executive, author, and diplomat. He is the current chairman of the private investment firm LeapFrog Investments as well as the chancellor ...

, and designer

Marcel Wanders Marcel Wanders (2 July 1963) is a Dutch designer, and art director in the Marcel Wanders studio in Amsterdam, who designs architectural, interior and industrial projects. Life Born in Boxtel, Wanders graduated cum laude from the Hogeschool v ...

Programs

*Executive Leadership Program *Custom Programs: THNK works with different organizations on special programs. THNK has worked with FIFA to support and develop female leaders at the senior decision-making level in football, with Stanford University to deliver the mediaX Global Innovation Leadership program, and with the Dubai Future Academy to deliver an Executive Education Program.

Notable alumni

* Anya Ayoung-Chee *Mark Brand *Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud * Easkey Britton * Wempy Dyocta Koto * Jon Gosier *Jürgen Griesbeck, Founder of Common Goal *

Osher Günsberg Osher Günsberg (born Andrew Jonas Günsberg), recognised by his former stage name Andrew G, is a British-Australian television and radio presenter and journalist. He is the host of the reality TV series ''The Bachelor Australia'', ''The Bachelo ...

* Rand Hindi *Hermen Hulst, Founder of

Guerrilla Games Guerrilla B.V. (trade name: Guerrilla Games) is a Dutch First-party developer, first-party video game developer based in Amsterdam and part of PlayStation Studios. The company was founded as Lost Boys Games in January 2000 through the merger of ...

* Ellen Jorgensen *

Katherine Maher Katherine Roberts Maher (; born April 18, 1983) is a former chief executive officer and executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Maher worked for UNICEF, the National Democratic Institu ...

, Executive Director at

Wikimedia Foundation The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., or Wikimedia for short and abbreviated as WMF, is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California and registered as a charitable foundation under local laws. Best know ...

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Business schools in the Netherlands Education in Amsterdam