Joris Van Droogenbroeck
After completing secondary school, my university experience was truly liberating. I had the freedom to make my own choices, face new challenges, and had fewer obligations, allowing me ample time for youth work. I decided to pursue the sciences to gain a deeper understanding of the world and eventually obtained a doctorate in the captivating field of quantum chemistry.
Following my PhD, I ventured into the realm of the chemical giant BASF, which was unfamiliar territory to me. It didn't take long for me to realize that chemistry is more about people than molecules. I was entrusted with responsibilities overseeing teams and facilitating change processes across diverse areas such as production, technical services, purchasing, and communications. Shaping the future direction, clarifying the bigger picture, and mobilizing people became integral parts of my work. However, my appetite for new challenges persisted. I pursued an Executive MBA with an intensive personal development program and became a staff assistant to the CEO of BASF Antwerp. Despite the numerous opportunities I received, I felt a strong desire to shape my own path, and so I did.
In the beginning of 2012, I left behind my corporate career and embarked on a journey of self-employment. Since then, driven by curiosity, I have been exploring different ways to make a positive impact.
I have been setting up and facilitating constructive dialogues within organizations, I have been involved in shaping organizational networks that drive societal impact, I have been guiding organizations through blocked situations, transitions, and complex challenges. I am co-founder of a career center and talent incubator ‘The Young Vibes by Co-Vibes’. This initiative was specifically designed to support young people who lack work experience, providing them with opportunities to gain work experience, self-insight and unlock their potential on their path to meaningful work. As coach and sounding board, I assist individuals in their personal development and with their professional challenges.
Supported by intensive personal development programs, including the recent impactful experience of Leading by Being, numerous coaching sessions, enriching encounters, extensive reading, and profound self-reflection, I have continually discovered new dimensions of myself. This process has been akin to a profound positive transformation, beautifully described by Kazimierz Dąbrowski as positive disintegration. The journey of discovery gradually transformed into embracing and integrating these new aspects, leading to a growing sense of balance and freedom. Understanding my own nature as a multiversalist, uncovering my inherent predispositions, and comprehending their implications have been pivotal breakthroughs in this transformative process.
The comprehensive range of offerings provided by Multiversity, with its versatility, presents an ideal platform for me to channel my core talents towards making positive contributions. Moreover, this can be effectively combined with my other roles: spending time with my wife and teenage daughters, nurturing relationships with family and friends, engaging in local community initiatives, reading and engaging in thoughtful contemplation, fostering dialogues, exploring new places through travel, running marathons and indulging in painting and playing the piano as forms of creative experimentation.