Kees Matthijssen
Kees Matthijssen is a retired Dutch Lieutenant General. From his unique mission experiences as a responsible commander, he can speak about various elements of leadership.
Biography
Lieutenant General ret. Kees Matthijssen has had a unique career. In his almost 43 years of military service, in addition to many other positions, he was commanding officer four times at various levels during operational deployments. He led a company in Srebrenica (1995), a battalion in Iraq (2004), the Task Force in Uruzgan (2008-2009) and the force of the United Nations Mission in Mali (2022-2023). He received a royal honour for this. He recorded special leadership experiences from his missions in his book "Commander in four missions" (only available in Dutch).
"Leadership is there to enable people to bring out the best in themselves. Leadership is who you are. Authenticity is an important foundation."
Bio Lieutenant General ret. Kees Matthijssen
Lieutenant general ret. Kees Matthijssen has served in the Dutch Armed Forces for almost 43 years before retiring in October 2023. He has fulfilled many positions in the Army Staff and Defence Staff, but also many in the operational domain including four deployments in a commander’s position. In his last posting he served as Force Commander for the UN Mission MINUSMA in Mali from January 2022 - January 2023. Furthermore, was company commander in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1995), battalion commander in Iraq (2004) and brigade commander in Afghanistan (2008-2009). He was also part of the Netherlands Liaison Team to UN Central Command in early 2002, Military Advisor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2013-2014), the Deputy Army Commander and he served in NATO’s Joint Force Command Brunssum as Deputy Chief of Staff Plans. He holds a Master’s degree of Strategic Studies (MSS) obtained at the US Army War College in 2010. He was awarded the French ‘Legion of Honour’ and the German ‘Bundeswehr Cross of Honour’ for his outstanding cooperation with both nations. For his exceptional state of service, he received a royal honour and became an Officer in the Order of Oranje Nassau with swords.
Employability
Speaker
LIEUTENANT GENERAL KEES MATTHIJSSEN AS KEYNOTE SPEAKER
From his unique mission experiences as a responsible commander, Kees Matthijssen can talk about various elements of leadership. He can talk about the fall of Srebrenica and how you try to do the possible with your people in an impossible situation. He also offers a broader perspective: how do you prepare with your people, what is the impact and what are the consequences for your people. Not only from Srebrenica, but also from his period in Iraq, he talks about crisis management and how you give substance to it. But what is a crisis after the crisis and how do you deal with it, in such a way that it does not affect the tasks of your unity and your people.
Based on his experience from Afghanistan and Mali, he can provide a lot of insight into the reality of international cooperation, diversity, cultural differences, but above all the question of how you guarantee the effectiveness of the performance of tasks. The common thread in his leadership is giving trust and space to his people. He provides insights into how you continuously apply this and what it means for yourself as a leader? What means bearing responsibility, how do you deal with it and how do you ensure that your decisions well thought through and all relevant factors are considered properly?
Kees Matthijssen not only speaks about leadership, but also about related themes such as: crisis management, international cooperation, diversity, cultural sensitivity, gender, integrated approach, strategic communication, strategy, safety issues. Based on a first introduction, he prepares his keynote in such a way that he can respond to the need and the relationship with the goal and the target group of your meeting.
SOME KEYNOTE TITLES OF KEES MATTHIJSEN
Stronger together
On the basis of his experiences, he makes a link with your own organization with which he provides insights that may be applicable and can contribute to better cooperation and cohesion in the organization.
Leadership in crisis
With practical examples, he illustrates what a crisis does to your people, what the impact is and, above all, the question of how you as a leader effectively can manage a crisis including how to keep attention to your people. What is involved, but also, what is the aftermath of a crisis and how do you prevent a crisis after the crisis.
Authenticity and leadership
What is it and what is the interest in leadership. He tells how he has always guaranteed his authenticity and what its effect is in leadership. He shares his vision on leadership and the question of whether you can learn that or whether it comes in part from yourself.
The mission of Dutchbat III in Srebrenica in a broader context
As the commander of a company, Kees Matthijssen experienced the fall of the Srebrenica enclave in July 1995. He can put the events and what the unit has experienced in a much broader context in which he speaks about the preparation, Dutch government’s decision-making, the shortage of the underlying UN safe area concept and the aftermath for the unit throughout many years.
Decision-making in complex alliances
What does it mean to lead and take decisions in a large organization that operates in a complex environment. He can sketch how one could optimize the unity of effort in situations where unity of effort is important and other stakeholders that you do not control are active. He discusses the dynamics of international cooperation.
