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.
Hein Knaapen has 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 he consolidated more than 150 HR systems into a single backbone and took twenty percent out of the cost of the function. More importantly, he 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 he has worked from the other side of the table. As Managing Partner Europe at CEO.works, he 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, he built a mentoring practice for CHROs, most of them first-timers, who wanted a senior, unbiased counterpart who had lived their job before.
He now operates 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