THIMON DE JONG
On November 24th Mercuri International will be hosting The Sales Conference 2022, the Nordic region’s largest event for B2B executives, offering guidance and insights for sales and marketing leaders as we all assess the last year and look to the future. With five great keynote speakers and thought-provoking presentations, the event promises to be truly unmissable.
In this series of blog posts, we’ll be talking to several of the most prominent attendees and discovering their views on where we are now – and, more importantly, where we’re heading.
Thimon de Jong is no stranger to the keynote stage, having presented to an A to Z of some of the world’s most influential companies’ events.
As a lecturer in social psychology at Utrecht University, he brings a winning combination of academic rigor and engaging charm to his presentations, focusing to a great extent on the intersection (and occasional contradiction) between our human tendencies and business goals.
He’s also a founder of Whetston, a strategic foresight think tank that takes an interdisciplinary research approach that combines diverse academic disciplines from a broad range of backgrounds.
With his topic ‘Future Human Behaviour in Times of Polycrisis’, we look forward to academic insights that bring a pragmatic, real world edge to improving business strategy in these unpredictable times.
You talk about ‘Future Human Behaviour in Times of Polycrisis’ at the sales conference – why do you think this topic is relevant for sales and marketing today?
The state of the world influences how people behave and how they make decisions. What makes this day and age (and the coming years) interesting is that we are hit by one crisis after another – whilst the climate crisis is ongoing. And this is something we haven’t experienced in recent history and strongly influences our behaviour.
Do you think leaders in sales and marketing devote enough time to learning and professional development? If not – why not?
Most leaders I encounter do devote enough time, although most would like to do even more. The question is: are they focussing their L&D efforts on what really matters? I could fill a page here, but to put it most simply: I see too much focus on the IQ side of professional development and not enough on the EQ side.
What are you most proud of in your career?
What makes me most proud is when people who have seen me speak or were in a leadership training session many years ago reach out and thank me for an insight or a lesson learned. That happens regularly and is just the best!
What’s been the most challenging moment so far – and how did you deal with it?
What makes me most proud is when people who have seen me speak or were in a leadership training session many years ago reach out and thank me for an insight or a lesson learned. That happens regularly and is just the best!
You have had an impressive career – What is your best career tip for other leaders in sales and marketing?
Engagement is key. These days one should have a (virtual) engagement strategy: both a personal and an organizational one.
What is the best thing about The Sales Conference?
The audience! I remember them being wonderfully engaged and friendly in 2015.
The theme for this year’s conference is ‘The New Era of Trust’ – what does ‘trust’ mean to you in business terms, and how do we go about earning it?
The more digital, virtual, algorithmic and global the world becomes, the more physical, face 2 face, analog and local we need to become as well to build trust. It is not one or the other, it is both.
Tell us something that can’t be learned from reading about you…
I recently did one of those DNA tests and I am 1/5 Scandinavian. Side note: there is nothing in my family tree that points in that direction, so I expect a family secret somewhere. This heritage does explain why I do feel most at home in the Nordics though 🙂
Thimon is just one of the great speakers joining us at The Sales Conference 2022. Make sure that you don’t miss out on what promises to be a fascinating event and book your tickets now.