Edwin Koopmans argues that learning ability matters more than technical expertise in treasury work. As markets shift and regulations change, the people who adapt fastest will lead. Teams that prioritize growth over rigid skill sets outperform those stuck in old methods.
Foreign think that it's not necessarily about, you know, what your, say, technical experience is. Now, I think if you're going to be hiring somebody that's a treasurer and you want them to be able to do the job. Right. And to me, and I think the same applied to her is that if you can do 70%, if you can take on 70%, you know, and obviously this is a hypothetical number. Right. But I mean, you can start working on that right away and you can start making a difference. Yeah. And if you're the type of person that can learn that additional 30% quickly and if you have other skill sets which are maybe not technical, but more, you know, your personality and how you fit into the company and your leadership style, etc. That are really valuable, then that 30%, if you're convinced that that person can learn that and really learning the tricks of the trade, so to say, I think that's of less importance than all the other aspects that I just mentioned. It's probably one of the most difficult things to manage teams. And we've started off the conversation with that and we talked about it before as well. To me, people are the most important asset of a company and a lot of people will say that, but I personally feel that I also live by that. You cannot do anything by yourself. Right. The US does the thing. There's no I in team. And I truly feel like that you accomplish something with a team. So managing a team and giving them the right level of accountability and holding this carrot in front of them that drives them and getting things across the finish line, but also seeing the reward, not necessarily a financial reward, obviously that's also very important, but giving them the credit for things that you do. So really taking them out of, you know, if they're in the comfort zone, you know, we. From my perspective, you don't want to be in that comfort zone. You want to take that next level and you want to take on those challenges and helping them grow in their roles, maybe also personally grow. I think it's really, really important. The things that really helped me is don't be afraid to take on things that you have no experience in. Be willing to learn and create that opportunity to learn. Allow yourselves to make mistakes. But you can only do that if you have the right support. Your team or your direct lead or boss needs to, to. To be able to give you that opportunity to, to. To. To. To learn that. But if you have that, and if you have that open mind and really want to work on those things, I think you're going to be learning a lot, and not just the technical skill sets, but it's amazing how you develop yourself personally if you do that. So that would be one of the things that I, I, I think is key. And, and, you know, don't be afraid to ask questions, because not asking questions can get you, or asking them too late can get you into a much worse situation than where you should be. Just ask. Everybody needs to learn. I think that's something that a lot of people are hesitant about doing because they don't want to look as if they don't know and think that people expect them to know. So keep an open mind.
