Ralu on Board

Mirte van der Nat and Geert Kruijswijk are the co-founders of “Due to curiosity”, a Brainport start-up with a social purpose, best known for its “Navigating stress” toolkit, which is a playful way for a serious conversation about stress and its impact on mental health. In Edition 13 of Ralu on Board, Ralu Nistor-Lustermans had the opportunity to hear from Mirte and Geert, about their entrepreneurial journey and how a Design Academy student project ended up becoming a market product with a purpose on shifting the conversation on stress and mental health from curative to preventative.

“Preventative solutions are not the sexiest, it is easier to buy pain killers than vitamins”, mentions Geert and despite this challenge Mirte and Geert are aware that their product is something that the society desperately needs, as the figures, around the cost of people falling out due to burnout or the cost of people leaving the companies because there is no attention to their development and well-being, are raising.

This podcast is packed with insights in the ups and downs of a start-up, on what it takes to gain visibility and market, when your ideas are ahead of the market, and how designing, analysing, realising, and adjusting to the market current needs while not forgetting about the bigger idea, needs to be balanced with dreaming and getting things done when you are an entrepreneur with a social purpose.

Dr. Riza Kadilar explains in Ralu on Board Edition 12 the importance of coaching and mentoring for individuals, organisations and our society in general. The importance of developing our skills for a reflective practice allows us to catchup with our souls, which get left behind in today’s rushed way of living. He thinks that it is not about what happens to us, as we can’t control everything that happens to us, it is about what we do with it, and what we become with it0. Dr. Riza Kadilar is the President of EMCC Global, a tech investor and an enabler, he was recently nominated by The CIO Global magazine as one of the most influential executive coaches to know. radio host Ralu Nistor – Lustermans has the opportunity to sit down with him for a very thought-provoking and insightful conversation about coaching, mentoring, energy and passion, the new leader’s skills and importance of connecting and co-creating. Consciousness puts us in charge, and it decreases the price we all need to pay to live our lives

Patrick Rutten, in Ralu on Board Edition 11 thinks curiosity is a highly undervalued leadership skill, which is essential to creating highly innovative workplaces. In his view leadership is not a hierarchical title, but more a way people behave and take ownership of what they want to achieve and contribute to. Patrick has been described as an ‘organisational rebel’, able to rewire organizations towards radical transformation using insights from behavioral and organizational sciences and a broad set of experiences. In this podcast, Ralu and Patrick explore the unique ingredients that contribute to creating highly effective, innovative work environments, particularly in Eindhoven—a tech hub renowned for its success and magnetic appeal to international talent.

Ralu on Board, Edition 10 is about the importance of mental health as part of our overall well-being, how mental health language and perception varies depending of the culture you have been raised in and the undoubtable need of raising awareness of the need to talk about our mental health.

Do you feel comfortable talking about mental health? Is mental health a topic of conversation in the organisation you work? In edition 10 of RoB, Ralu Nistor-Lustermans has the pleasure of talking with Meagin van der Vesthuizen, who is an independent mental health advisor for expats and a social worker from South Africa. Meagin is passioned about making people’s lives better and ensuring that those who need to be heard and cared for are getting the support they need.

Eindhoven region is home to more than 150 nationalities, and the while every culture approach to mental health might be different, every individual needs to look after their wholeness wellbeing, therefore the mental health topic is one that requires priority and raising awareness.

In Ralu on Board, Edition 9, Ralu is hosting an astonishing, or shall we say #estonishing, creative and open-minded person, who is at the heart of creating impactful brands, Peter Kentie.

What’s your brand? What is the brand of your organisation? Does a city or a nation have a brand? And would you dare to make your brand “open source”?
Peter is the Director of Eindhoven365, the organisation in charge of city marketing of Eindhoven region, where Peter was in the last 12 years at the helmet of designing Eindhoven brand and city strategy.
In Episode 1 (out of 3 episodes) of #RoB, Edition 9, Peter shares insights into how Eindhoven brand came about, its challenges, successes, and the incredible decision of making the city brand “open source”, while ensuring it is used appropriately. The Eindhoven brand is not the only branding success Peter created; Episodes 2 and 3, share more on the @estonishing story of building a pro-bono brand for Estonia, as a country/nation, and the contribution to the rebrand of the Dutch national brand from “Holland” to “The Netherlands.

Lots of interesting stories, and food for thought on where do you start when you want to build a brand and how you make it impactful!I left the interview with lots of food for thought, as Peter’s stories are vert insightful and if I have to mention just one, is to think of your job as a project. What do you want to achieve from it? Also Peter’s view is that for the future work place we shall not focus on developing specific skills, buy curiosity and an open mindset.

Ralu on Board, Edition 8: In conversation with Gijs Vrenken, whose mission as the Communication Director at Eindhoven Airport, is to make Eindhoven proud of its airport. The role of the airport beyond serving the sun and fun vacationers, is to connect Brainport’s businesses and the international professionals and their family. Eindhoven airport is a unique airport as it serves a civil, military and amatorial aviation purpose, and running its operations comes with challenges and great opportunities to create effective collaboration between the different parties involved in the daily running of the airport. In his passion for connecting people, interest for sustainability and being an expert in communication and a trained journalist, Gijs, bring to live the purpose of the airport with his passion of telling its story.

Ralu on Board, Edition 7:Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Eindhoven’s mayor, a “bridgebuilder” between communities and cultures. Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the mayor of Eindhoven since September 2022, talks about Eindhoven as a collection of nationalities and sees its task as a “burgemeester” (father citizen) to be focused on enhancing the collaboration and building trust between the various communities, taking care that our Eindhoven community is a safe place for all of us. Having had various high profile political roles in the past: Minister of Finance (2012-2017) and Chairman of the Eurogroup (2013-2018), Jeroen Dijsselbloem is not knew to building bridges and bringing people together, this is a skill he sharpened while dealing with the European bank crises, and which now helps him bringing together the local representatives to solve the challenges of the cities and villages in the region. He considers that critical thinking and the ability to collaborate are essential skills to grasp the real root cause of a problem before looking for solutions. Will Brainport continue to grow? What if the economy cools down? Jeroen Dijsselbloem sees it as his responsibility not only to consider the growth scenarios but also oversee the risks of not so gloomy scenarios, including economic downturn. As an ex-minister of finance, he openly criticises political parties that do not produce a solid financial plan to back up their promises to the voter; and his view is that currently the biggest issue is not immigration but the housing crisis; which impacts on other issues. With a background in engineering and economics, Jeroen beliefs that basic education should include math, reading, history and a way to develop our critical thinking as one of the crucial skills we need to solve the issues we are facing. His ambition is to serve two terms of six years each in his role, which requires and allows him to help set a long-term strategy and vision for Eindhoven. On a closing note, Eindhoven’s mayor is encouraging us to reach out to each other, cut hour hedges down to 1m to see our neighbours and speak to each other. Join us in listening to an incredibly inspiring interview with Jeroen Dijsselbloem, de “burgemeester” of Eindhoven.

Ralu on Board, Edition 6:Bert-Jan Woertman To be successful you need to build “weak” and ”strong” connections and relationships. Both are equally important to progress in life? In Ralu on Board, Edition 6, we are in conversation with a very well-known connector, elevator, and promoter from the Brainport area. He has been involved in the development of the smartest km2 in Europe, the High Tech Campus. The conversation gives many insights into what does it takes to build trust, challenge the system when it does not give the results you want, to build a new system more appropriate, and how can you do that? I more collaboration and more building trust the answer to our current problems. Bert-Jan Woertman, definitely thinks that we need to surround ourselves with people who can challenge us in the right way and help us ask the right questions, before we can find the adequate answers.

Ralu on Board, Edition 5: Alina Totti Alina Totti is a force of change for good, she battles to help create a society which is more inclusive and equitable for everyone. She is currently a policy advisor for the International relationships and labour department at Noord-Brabant Province, she worked at the European Parliament before as a political advisor for the UK delegation on matters related to the transport ministry during Brexit. Alina listens to what people say, and she helps politicians and governments create the right policies and procedures to help fulfill those needs, like giving her contribution to create a mulit-language call center in Noord-Brabant for matters related to international labour.

Ralu on Board, Edition 4: Arnout Nederpelt Arnout Nederpelt, one of 2% gifted people in the world and a member of Mensa International, is currently a Business Process Analyst at ASML, where he is also an Ethics Liaison and the Chief Ambassador of the neurodiversity-focused Atypical Employee Network in ASML. Outside ASML Arnout is a leader within Toastmasters International, having achieved twice the award of Distinguished Toastmaster and he is the Immediate Past District Director of District 59 (110 club in the Benelux area and France, ~3000 members). Arnout is a neurodivergent leader in a neurotypical world, and his mission is to make the world a more inclusive one.
Arnout Nederpelt wrote: I really enjoyed being on the podcast. It was well-prepared, and I enjoyed listening to prior episodes before we recorded my own. It was a pleasant experience to set up and you asked really good questions during the interview. I really felt you helped draw my story and message out of me 😉 I was also very pleased with all the marketing and feedback around the episode afterwards, including the invitation for a follow-up we still need to detail out 😉

Ralu on Board, Edition 3: Mira Dreessen Mira Dreessen, is a true people believer. She believes in people and in the long-lasting impressions, and I am sure this interview will make a long-lasting impression on you! As a trained psychologist, working in the innovative tech industry, Mira focuses on the people behind the innovation, as she believes that everyone has an intrinsic motivation to contribute to something that matters. Having moved to the Netherlands 12 years ago for her studies, Mira is now, what we call a “dutchee by choice”. Besides her HR role in ASML where she contributes to changing the world one nanometer at a time by empowering the people behind the technology, she is also an Ambassador for Women for Women program an initiative by Expat Spouses Initiative and supported by Holland Expat Center South & Provincie Noord-Brabant. Listen to Mira’s wisdom pills if you want to know more about how to “get to feel at home” when you live abroad, and the stages you might go through before you get that homey feeling.

Ralu on Board, Edition 1: Bart Ghysels In Edition 1, Ralu is in conversation with Bart Ghysels, who describes his journey as “getting more comfortable with being uncomfortable.” Bart started his entrepreneurial journey 2 years ago, taking a lip of faith to create Ghysels recruitment company. He is passioned about connecting talented technical project managers to organisations in High tech, automotive, R&D;, pharma & Life science, Aerospace & Defense, consumer goods, semicon and medtech. Join us to listen to Ralu on Board, Edition 1, in conversation with Bart, to hear insightful advice on entrepreneurship shills, how organisations can embrace multicultural talents, and how international talents can successfully land their desired job in Brainport. Bart has many wisdom pills and food for thought! Bart Ghysels wrote: It was a pleasure to be part of the radio interviews of Ralu on Board. She has a very enthusiastic approach and let you feel comfortable right from the start. She is really willing to listen and to ask the right questions. I will certainly do it again!

Ralu on Board, Edition 0: Ralu Nistor-Lustermans Ralu on board, is a radio program about organisation culture, leadership, entrepreneurship, and performance; where we will debate how people, processes, and behaviors impact results, how organisations and individuals reach success, whatever success might mean for them. If you have wisdom pills about success, and why not about failure as well, reach out to us at Radio 4Brainport and Ralu will be happy to have you on board. In Edition 0 of the program, “Ralu here, ready for launching”, we get to know why a radio program about business, processes, people and success, and who Ralu is. More