Joseph Kessels
Prof. Dr. Joseph W.M. Kessels
Dean of TSM, the business school of the University of Twente
Partner in Kessels & Smit, The Learning Company
“I may be driven by a deep conviction that people have more potential than their surroundings generally allow them to reveal. Companies, institutions and schools could achieve so much more, if they gave free reign to learning and development. But providing this kind of space and removing the obstacles to autonomy, self-guidance and emancipation takes courage. What choice do we have? In a knowledge society, all available talent is needed, whatever that talent may be. Making learning and development appealing has become an economic necessity. After all, you cannot be smart against your will.”
Joseph Kessels is dean of TSM, the business school of the University of Twente, and partner in Kessels & Smit, The Learning Company, a consultancy firm specializing in HRD topics. He co-authored, with Rosemary Harrison, Human Resource Development in a Knowledge Economy (Palgrave Macmillan 2004).
He has a specific research interest is in the characteristics of learning environments that support knowledge productivity and that facilitate innovation. From 1995- 2000 he was professor of Human Resource Development at the University of Leiden. From 2000 – 2006 he held a similar chair at the University of Twente. He conducted projects for national government bodies, health care, banking, transport, telecom and industry. He consulted with a number of leading international firms.
As an academic he published several books and numerous articles on learning and development in an emerging knowledge economy.
For a full CV and bibliography see: http://www.kessels-smit.nl