Stefaan van Hooydonk is the founder of the Global Curiosity Institute, a service that helps individuals and organisations foster a curiosity mindset. He consults businesses and leadership teams worldwide – including in Saudi Arabia, India and China – to help improve their curiosity with the aim of helping their development.
His impressive education record – a Masters in Economics and Chinese and Postgraduates in Marxist Economics, Cross-Cultural Management and an MBA in Business – means his knowledge is often in demand at large-scale industry events.
Contact Great British Speakers today to book Global Curiosity Institute founder Stefaan van Hooydonk for your next event.
Stefaan van Hooydonk has worked for several globally recognised companies in various roles. These include as an Education Director for business schools, a learning director for Universities and businesses such as Nokia, Philips and Agfa Healthcare, and as Chief Learning Officer for Cognizant, where he oversaw the development of over 300,000 associates.
“Our goal is to help individuals, organisations, and society to foster a mindset of curiosity to inspire them to keep discovering and innovating. We do this by researching workplace curiosity and working with companies to build cultures of intentional curiosity.”
Stefaan’s role is to research curiosity in the workplace, for the business as a whole and its individual employees. He believes that individuals and workplaces need curiosity to survive and thrive, especially during uncertain times – such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
As well as speaking engagements and workshops, Stefaan provides a podcast where he discusses subject matters such as curiosity in the workplace, learning in the workplace, the power of curiosity, the importance of curiosity for individuals and how to master curiosity. He has also provided presentations and written articles on how to rekindle curiosity in organisations, how to foster curiosity as a workplace skill, and how to cultivate curiosity for your team, amongst other topics.
In 2022, Stefaan van Hooydonk released his book The Workplace Curiosity Manifesto: How Curiosity Helps Individuals and Organisations Thrive in Transformational Times. It was highly successful in its field and contains real case studies of academics, entrepreneurs and line managers rediscovering their curiosity and passing it on through the business.
Stefaan’s expertise makes him a popular face on the industry circuit, and he has provided keynote speeches at many high-profile events. This includes at the 2022 Learning Technologies London expo on how curiosity is the key ingredient for a winning learning and development strategy.
– Curiosity
– Business Development
– Management and Leadership
– Change in the Workplace
– Business Strategy
Curiosity: The Key Element for Creating a Winning Culture (For Senior Executives): Every person is born with curiosity, but it is often lost over time. This is most obvious in start-up businesses. At first, business owners are enthusiastic and curious about the future, but once the business grows, this mindset deteriorates. Stefaan explores why it is important to keep a level of curiosity in our professional and personal lives.
Leading With Curiosity (For People Managers): The effect managers have on their teams cannot be understated. Good managers help inspire their team to improve productivity, whereas a bad manager can stifle it. Curious managers are good at maintaining an impressive team relationship and securing a promising future. Stefaan explores why curiosity is important for leaders to have.
Master Your Curiosity to Master Your Life (For Professionals): As stated above, curiosity tends to diminish as we age. Those who keep their curiosity are often referred to as A-Players. They are not afraid to ask questions or to challenge what is in place; they learn better and are seen to be more productive. Stefaan explores why A-Players are a minority and what the barriers are.
The Power of Curiosity (For HR Professionals): In times of change, managers and leaders realise they need to manage a productive team while being honest about an uncertain future. And it’s not only managers this affects. HR teams must embrace this curiosity and what it can mean to the employees and the business. Stefaan explores why it is important for HR to be curious and what they can do to improve the staff curiosity level.
The Power of Curiosity in L&D (For Learning and Development Professionals): Curiosity is the spark which ignites development, creativity and innovation. Many L&D teams are already using curiosity in their day-to-day work in the hope of creating a high return. Stefaan van Hooydonk discusses the barriers to curiosity in the workplace and what L&D teams can do better to improve curiosity in their teams.
Stefaan van Hooydonk – Clients: Area9 Lyceum, ASML, Astellas, CoachHub, Degreed, Dell, Executive Networks, GrandVision, Grundfos, House of Executives, Intercorp, KPN, McKinsey and Company, Mercuri Urval, Novo Nordisk, Pepsico, Philip Morris International, Pratt & Whitney Dependable Engines, Tesseract, Upside Learning, Welspun, Zurich.
Super thanks for a truly inspiring, enriching and thought-provoking session!
Rita Vanhauwenhuyse, VP, Customer Experience and Insights, Executive Networks
It was wonderful meeting you again Stefaan! Your session was the most insightful at the London Learning Technologies 2022 conference.
Saurav Jaiswal, Founder and Managing Director of Innostrat Technologies
Dear Stefaan, I have just viewed the recorded version of the session about curiosity. I was overwhelmed by its colour and preciseness. Many of the aspects that were brought forward are on our agenda, and the research you presented gives us confidence that we are on the right track. Also, the simplicity you used in describing forces, behaviours etc. really appealed to me. And the individual/team/organisation perspectives align well with the way we understand lifelong learning in the company context. This session is really valuable for us. Thank you so much for making the effort.
Britta Börjeson, Head of Learning Expertise, Volvo Group University
Stefaan has proven an excellent speaker choice at the events I chair. He is clearly deeply knowledgeable about workplace curiosity and is able to share his expertise in an engaging way with his audience. He backs this up with his global experience as a Chief Learning Officer in large corporations, which provides real gravitas and credibility. There’s no doubt that Stefaan is providing leading thinking and practice in this field and I have no hesitation in recommending him.
Donald H. Taylor, Chair of London Technology Conference
Stefaan has been moderating and speaking at several of our HRcoreEVENTS and has proven to be an exceptional added value. His passion, purpose and personality make him connect with the audience, keeps them engaged, and inspired action.
Michael Nielsen, Managing Director at HRcoreEVENTS by TENEO
Stefaan van Hooydonk spoke at our global summits for over 150 learning and development professionals. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Many conference delegates started that they found Stefaan very poignant and that his message was timely and something the industry wanted to hear. We would not hesitate to invite Stefaan to speak again at our summits, across diverse geographical locations, as he also brings a global outlook having worked in different locations amongst the greatest industry leaders.
Vassilis Theocharides, Associate Director, Global Association for Talent Development
I highly recommend Stefaan’s exceptional book. It focusses on the critical importance of curiosity as a success factor for companies in the 21st Century – and shows you how to recognise, develop and nurture curiosity in companies. It is deeply researched and thoughtful, with a plethora of real-life examples from the frontline. This book is a practitioner’s dream.
Dr. Yury Boshyk, CEO and Founder, Global Executive Learning