'If the path looks familiar to you, you are probably on someone else's path'. It is one of the wisdoms of Ronald de Bruin, TU/e alumnus and currently CEO of COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology), an intergovernmental organization that sets up pan-European knowledge and innovation networks. Walk your own path, keep developing and make an impact. That is one of the messages he wants to give others. His own path? That took him to the European playing field, many insights and servant leadership.
A stacker: that's how he describes himself. Ronald de Bruin went from HAVO to MTS to follow a two-year accelerated course in Electrical Engineering as a stepping stone to a HTS Electrical Engineering study. Then, in 1992, he chose TU/e. There he took the then relatively new shortened course in Technology and Society. 'Not a really technical study', people said at that time, but it is precisely an education that took Ronald in a direction that fits him like a glove.
Broad-based
"In college, I laid a foundation in skills that I still apply today. It also taught me a certain way of thinking and analyzing. From my technical core, I always continue to seek broadening," he explains. "After HTS Electrical Engineering, I had a good technical base, but I didn't want to become a techie. I was more broadly oriented. The Engineering and Society study gave me the opportunity to deepen my technological knowledge as well as learn more about things like intellectual property law, social psychology of innovation processes and political aspects of innovation. The study focused on embedding technological developments in society. It was new and multidisciplinary and I found it extremely interesting. Science is not so much about technology, it's about people. That's still my motto."
Dynamic university
A lot has changed at TU/e since he started there in 1992, Ronald noticed the other day. "I was back at the university this year at the invitation of Robert-Jan Smits (President Executive Board TU/e). I was amazed. So dynamic, and what an international appearance. The TU/e fits very well into the Brainport ecosystem. It fulfills an important role in it, creates value. I found it an extremely positive experience."
While in Ronald's time there was "a stray Italian" walking the corridors of the university, now it is an international mix of students, teachers and researchers. A world that Ronald himself likes to seek out, as became apparent soon after his studies. After graduating, he got a job at a ministry that was working on privatizing the telecom sector. "I found mysef in the middle of the action. It was about European directives and standards, about technology. It dovetailed perfectly with my education."
In place
Because it took a long time to gain management responsibility in that civil service environment, Ronald chose to move to the private sector. He then went to work for a public-private cooperation platform (ECP.nl). "Enjoying poldering with all kinds of parties, I was back in my place. That multi-actor game around different interests and policies connected with my background again."
But then "at some point the cat popped out of the bag," Ronald recounts: "I still wanted to get a PhD. That worked out. I got my PhD in 2001 alongside my work in Leiden, in the field of Law and Computer Engineering."
European agency
At the same time, Ronald was working at his job on a public-private program in the field of cybersecurity to implement the policies of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. "That gave me a springboard to help set up an European cybersecurity agency (ENISA) starting in 2005. Before that, I moved to Crete with my wife and two very young children. There I spent five years, doing at an European level what I had also worked on at national level in the Netherlands. It was really interesting to be part of that, being a manager at my relatively young age of 37."
A few years later came a "twice in a lifetime opportunity": yet another time setting up an agency from scratch. This time Ronald went to work with an agency in the field of innovation, in Budapest; the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). "When the director left early, I was asked to fill the position. A huge challenge, there was a lot of political pressure for the agency to succeed. It was a very intensive time. I did the position for three years. And after that...there was nothing at all for a while. The position I was going to take elsewhere didn't open up, which gave me some time to think about the next step."
Servant leadership
Ronald, meanwhile, had moved with his family to Brussels, where after reflecting for a while on his work and on leadership, he came to insights. "Management is about dealing with the things you are given: time, assets, money, things like that. But leadership is about people. I once wrote down for myself: how do I think about leadership now? How have I done it myself, what works? I found out that my way of leadership has a name; servant leadership. I found this type of leadership rather lacking in the European institutions as I had experienced it myself. There it's quite hierarchical, top down, command and control, efficiency-driven. And that doesn't fit with an environment where you build, involve and create different parties. I thought: that can be done differently. Servant leadership puts the very people who are paid to think in their power. Eventually, my article I was writing became a book published internationally under the title "Twenty-first Century Leadership for EU Institutions. I interviewed 12 "EU civil servant leaders" on the subject. People with different functions and nationalities within the European Commission, agencies, the European Parliament, the European Council. I found out that servant leadership is always about putting the common goal first, and taking initiative and responsibility from there. Cultural differences do not play a major role in this. It is about becoming master of your ego; not putting your ego behind the wheel, but making sure you are driven by a higher purpose. I started giving workshops and trainings, and I like to carry this form of leadership. I now also apply it in my own actions as director of COST, the organization where I now work, and provide leadership training to young researchers participating in the COST program. So I remain in my mission, as a practitioner and as a trainer."
COST
COST is funded by the EU. It employs 70 people of 30 different nationalities and 41 countries are members of the intergovernmental organization. "What I do there also links back to my studies at TU/e. What I learned at university about multidisciplinary work, I do here every day. My investment in that broad study has paid off enormously. I work with people, with business models, with finance, and EU policy. TU/e gave me the tools and I started working with them."
A look to the future
A rich career path, happy with where he is now and experience in the European playing field: does Ronald have any wishes for the future? "I look confidently into the future from my authentic core and look forward to a great new challenge. I want to make even more impact and continue to develop myself. But in the European context, that's where I feel comfortable."