PEOPLE | Frank Smilda is a current participant in THNK's Creative Leadership Program. Frank is commisioner of police in the north of the Netherlands with extensive experience in the field of law enforcement. He is the founder of the site www.politieonderzoeken.nl, an attempt to solve murdercases where the police put up details of the investigation online in the hope citizens will suggest new angles or ideas. He won the police innovation prize for this in 2007.
I am a current participant in THNK’s Creative Leadership Program. And I find myself in an international environment where I am constantly offered elements that I didn’t know was looking for - talk about serendipity!
The methods of teaching here happen in a truly novel manner, which translates to an optimized learning experience for each participant. To me, THNK feels more and more like a home instead of a School and that makes it very special.
The thing that inspires me most is the thought that has gone into everything in the program and the extent to which our feedback is processed and translated to the program by the faculty.
Several things stand out and make my experience so special.
The people: I am among a very diverse group of impressive people from all over the world. And they all have strong passions for driving innovative change.
Quest: The individual Creative Leadership coaching part (called Quest) was new to me, and turned out to be exactly at the right time that I needed it.
Campus time: Our time on campus is very much a pressure-cooker experience, and this creates a unique chemistry between us as participants.
Forums: Forum sessions have a special structure that also inspires the speaker to open up and learn from us too, I am referring to the inspiring exchange during the Forum session with Ben van Berkel.
I’ve loved so many elements of the program so far, like: storytelling that moves to act, thinking big on societal impact, and I literally get connected to the world every time I come here!
All in all it is like a true Swiss army knife for innovation at THNK.