A · About
Forty years in HR, formed inside large organisations and now applied from the other side of the table.
Fig. 01 — Hein J.M. Knaapen, photographed in Amsterdam, 2025.
I have spent forty years on a single question: which parts of HR actually move company performance?
Twenty years at Unilever, across markets, categories and continents. Then fifteen years as Chief HR Officer in three companies — KPN, DSM, and ING — through transformations, crises and the ordinary business of making a large organisation behave coherently.
At ING I consolidated more than 150 HR systems into a single backbone and took twenty percent out of the cost of the function. More importantly, I rebuilt the people agenda around what the bank's strategy needed — with the manager at its centre of gravity.
Two pieces stand out: a performance management practice built around the continuous conversation between manager and direct report, and Think Forward Leadership, a programme designed to build the specific capabilities ING's strategy demanded.
Since 2020 I have worked from the other side of the table. As Managing Partner Europe at CEO.works, I partnered with Sandy Ogg and worked with CEOs and CHROs across European corporates and private equity portfolios to bring investment decision rigour to talent decisions. In parallel, I built a mentoring practice for CHROs, most of them first-timers, who wanted a senior, unbiased counterpart who had lived their job before.
I now operate independently, from Amsterdam.
B · A career in chapters
Twenty years across markets, categories and continents. The patient construction of a craft before the CHRO seat: operating HR close to business reality, not as theory.
Fifteen years as Chief HR Officer in three companies — KPN in Dutch telecom, DSM in nutrition and flavour, and ING in global banking — through transformation, crisis and the daily discipline of coherence.
A single HR backbone from more than 150 systems. Twenty percent out of the function's cost. A new performance management practice, and Think Forward Leadership: specific skills tied to a specific strategy.
Managing Partner Europe at CEO.works, then independent counsel from Amsterdam. Work with CEOs and CHROs across European corporates and private equity portfolios, and mentoring for CHROs who want a senior counterpart who has lived the job before.
C · What brings the work together
Manager capability is the single most important driver of company performance.
Most of what HR does is either a means of building that capability — or a distraction from it.
Performance is a continuous conversation, not an annual ritual.
Specific strategies need specific leadership capabilities.
D · Selected work