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THNK School of Creative Leadership, registered as THNK Social Enterprise B.V., is an independent leadership school founded in 2010 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Its curriculum focuses on leadership development, innovation, creativity, and triple bottom line entrepreneurship.

THNK offers international part-time education through its flagship Creative Leadership Program, Corporate Innovation Programs, Global Innovation Courses, and a venture support program ScaleUpNation. THNK has a global community of 450 practitioners and entrepreneurs in the social, corporate and private sectors.

History

THNK was founded in 2010 by Bas Verhart and Menno van Dijk as a joint initiative by the Amsterdam municipality, together with the Dutch Innovation Platform. It received initial capital from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, the city of Amsterdam, and the Province of Noord-Holland. It launched with partners McKinsey and Company, conceptual design company Droog, Vodafone, Stanford d.school, and Philips Design.

The school began in March 2012 with a class of 30 participants from 21 countries. In 2015, new locations opened in Vancouver and Lisbon. Programs have also been taught in Brazil, Shanghai, Dubai and Silicon Valley.

The Amsterdam headquarters moved from the Westergasfabriek inside the Westerpark to its current location at Keizersgracht in the Canal District.

In October 2016, THNK received the “facilitator status for start-up visas” by the Dutch Immigration Department. Entrepreneurs accepted into the program will automatically meet most eligibility conditions for a Dutch start-up visa.

Administration and Funding

As a social enterprise, THNK reinvests its profits into the organization. THNK is privately owned and funded, with day-to-day management overseen by Global Managing Director. THNK has a Partner system, with currently 6 partners in the lead from backgrounds at McKinsey and Company, Greenpeace, World Economic Forum, IBM, and Jones Lang LaSalle. Its governance is overseen by a Board of Advisors, with its current members including Ben van Berkel, Dominic Barton, Esther Wojcicki, George Kembel, Marcel Wanders, Maria Giudice, Michael B. Johnson (Pixar), Ravi Naidoo and Reuben Abraham.. It's founding Dean was Philips designer Stefano Marzano.

Programs

Creative Leadership Program

The Executive Leadership Program is a 6-month part time executive program that supports participants from corporate, social and public backgrounds in leadership and enterprise development. Two programs are run per year, with an average of 35 participants.

Corporate Innovation

Between 2015-2017, THNK was selected by the FIFA committee to design and deliver a program for the first edition of the FIFA Female Leadership Development Programme, aimed at providing support to women across the globe looking to become future leaders.

ScaleUpNation

ScaleUpNation was founded in 2015 as a venture growth support program that began in 2016. Financially it is supported by the Amsterdam Municipality, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Province of Noord Holland, and the Max Geldens Foundation.

Research

THNK research focuses on the scaling factors that make innovation and social enterprises grow for impact. In 2015, THNK and Deloitte published a research on turning a start-up into a unicorn. In 2017 THNK will partner with the Dutch Goldschmeding Foundation to conduct research. THNK also publishes research on innovation, creative leadership, entrepreneurship and mindfulness.

Notable Participants

Participants include entrepreneur Rand Hindi, Wikipedia executive director Katherine Maher, TV presenter Osher Gunsberg, princess and entrepreneur Reema bint Bandar Al-Saud, and composer Merlijn Twaalfhoven.