THNK prototypes its Creative Leadership Program

Claire Taylor
Article by: Claire Taylor
THNK prototypes its Creative Leadership Program

Starting 16 November, THNK, the Amsterdam School of Creative Leadership will work with teams of experts, users and leading designers and architects to prototype an important part of its new program: the Challenge. The theme of this Challenge Pilot is “Dealing with excess vacant office space in Amsterdam”.

 

Challenges are an important aspect of THNK’s Creative Leadership Program. They are relevant, real-life questions or problems, provided by THNK’s business partners. By working on such a challenge, using THNK’s Creation Process, participants develop their leadership skills and try to come up with creative and valuable solutions for the business partners.

 

“Dealing with empty office spaces is a complex topic for which there are no easy answers,” said Menno van Dijk, co-founder of THNK. “We selected this topic because it is important for Amsterdam, economically and from a social point of view.”

 

Prototyping is a process of hands-on learning from trial and error, in order to achieve increasingly positive and validated results. The Challenge will take place two days a week, from 16 November to the end of the year, at Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam.

The growing problem of vacant office space

For the Netherlands, Jones Lang LaSalle expects vacancy levels to increase to 14 million m2 over the next five years, equivalent to 25% to 30% of the total office supply. The factors underlying this trend apply to the whole of Europe – and the problem is likely to worsen.

The THNK Creation Process uses real-life challenges brought to the table by leading businesses and organizations. The THNK Challenge Pilot is supported by the Municipality of Amsterdam.

To tackle your own challenge, join the THNK Creative Leadership Program. Visit the program page to find out if you qualify or download the program brochure.