‘Doing something for someone else is actually dead cool’
Following a long career, much of which was spent at McKinsey, Mickey Huibregtsen is now concentrating on social issues and transferring his knowledge and experience to future generations.
After graduating from Delft and his national service with the Royal Netherlands Navy, Mickey Huibregtsen joined heavy engineering firm VMF Stork-Werkspoor. One of his first assignments there was supervising 70 technicians during the construction of a naval frigate. With his knowledge of partial differential equations, for example, at first he found little respect on the work floor. ‘But that all changed when we went out on a test voyage in a force 11 gale,’ he recalls. ‘Everyone was really ill, except me. I didn’t get seasick and I could hold my drink, so within a day I had become a natural leader.’
Although he made a flying start at Werkspoor – by the age of 27 he was general manager of the Gas Turbine Division – he didn’t want to follow in the footsteps of his own supervisor. Instead, Huibregtsen decided to change tack and apply for a job with management consultancy McKinsey & Company. ‘They were asking for people who could walk on water. That appealed to me.’
He would stay there for almost 30 years. ‘I worked with interesting people on interesting problems,’ is how sums up that time. ‘I advised 45 of the 50 largest companies in the Netherlands, half of the ministries in The Hague and half of the country’s teaching hospitals. That was still possible in those days, but all the consultants are really specialised now.’ From the age of 55, however, he slowly began to retire from McKinsey. ‘Over the years, I came to realise that it was in the company’s best interest for people not to stay too long.’
Sport
Not that Huibregtsen was now planning to sit back and relax; instead, he shifted his focus to civil society. During his time with McKinsey, he had spent eight years as a director of the Dutch Olympic committee, NOC*NSF. He had also been a fanatical sportsman – he was once national squash champion in the veterans division and he played with the Delft Student Hockey Club for six years – and so appreciates sport’s social importance. ‘Sport is an ideal platform to bolster social values,’ he declares. Values such as health, social cohesion and quality of life. Besides sport, throughout his life Huibregtsen has also followed science, education, healthcare and politics. ‘I have universal interests,’ he says, ‘so I’ve involved myself in everything.’
Photo: Guus Schoonewille
Public Interest
For many years, Huibregtsen has particularly dedicated himself to increased civic engagement. Together with former government minister Pieter Winsemius, he set up De Publieke Zaak(The Public Interest), an association for ‘social innovation’. ‘People have been told for decades that they have rights,’ he explains, ‘but never that they also have duties. We want to create a mindset that taking the initiative and doing something for someone else is actually ‘dead cool’.’ To this end, De Publieke Zaak is backing initiatives like MaatschapWij.nu, the ‘inspiration platform for a more social, more sustainable Netherlands’.
Rebuilding Society
Behalve de burger moeten volgens Huibregtsen ook de instituties in de samenleving veranderen. “De meeste instituties, zoals de politiek, hebben hun glans verloren. We moeten ze tegen het licht houden en kijken of we ze opnieuw kunnen uitvinden”, zegt hij. “Grote ondernemingen zijn ook maatschappelijke instituties. Het is absurd om de aandeelhouderswaarde als enige maatstaf voor hun presteren te nemen.” De politiek verwijt hij gebrek aan lef. “We hebben een overheid nodig die richting geeft en inspireert, in plaats van stuurt en controleert.”
More us
A new publication is now in the pipeline. Meer Wij (More Us) will be about collaboration in the twenty-first century. As Huibregtsen explains, ‘Research shows that three-quarters of respondents believe they would be at least 35 per cent more productive if they were to co-operate more with those around them. If you were also able to increase co-operation between companies and between sectors, the effects could be enormous.’
Education
Huibregtsen also foresees major changes in education in the next few years. ‘Traditional teaching is too fast for half of pupils,’ he says, ‘but too slow for the other half. Make your children responsible for their own development, however, and 99 out of 100 will work hard.’ The same applies to university education. ‘Attending lectures is a waste of time for students. Only one tutor in ten is entertaining enough to make it worthwhile. The ‘flipped classroom’ model is already a big improvement, but I think that in the future people will follow their own self-assembled curricula, far more individually and at their own pace.’
Final Examination
Coincidentally, Huibregtsen’s own studies at Delft were quite individual. ‘I read Technical Mechanics, a course which only existed for a short time. We had more professors than students.’ He can still vividly remember his final examination. ‘I was interrogated for three hours by those four professors, about all the courses I’d taken since the first year. I’d been revising for that exam for years, day and night.’ And it did not stop there. ‘I designed a tanker lorry, which was actually built at the time and used at Schiphol airport. I also designed a low-wing aircraft for Fokker, but that was never built.’ Following his graduation, Huibregtsen was conscripted into the Royal Netherlands Navy. ‘After seven weeks of training, I was sent back to Delft as a prospective reserve officer. I worked at TNO on the hull strength calculations for a submarine, which was also built.’
Inspiring Dialogues
Huibregtsen has maintained a warm relationship with the university ever since he left. As a ‘Good Friend’ of the Delft University Fund, he still contributes financially to our development of young talent. He also likes to share his experiences directly with students. This February he is the first guest of Inspiring Dialogues, a series of interactive interviews with alumni being organised specially for students. ‘I think it’s a waste if, once you’ve reached my age and gained so much experience, you don’t share it constantly with young people. They can then do what they like with it: it’s about sharing ideas and encouraging personal development.’
Alumni
Are you inspired by this story? Would you like to explore your options for lasting involvement with TU Delft? If so, please e-mail us at alumnirelations@tudelft.nl.Do you, like Mickey Huibregtsen, want to financially support the talent development of our students? Then please contact Machteld von Oven, Relation Manager ‘Good Friends’, Delft University Fund, at m.w.vonoven@tudelft.nl or phone number +31 6 8106 0919.