How to Get a Board Seat in the Netherlands

For 25 years, I have been sitting in boardrooms where the most consequential leadership decisions are made. Who leads the organisation next. Who has the vision, the gravitas, the character. And time and again, I have watched the same pattern play out: the decision was effectively made before the vacancy was ever announced.

If you are a senior leader with your eye on a C-suite role in the Netherlands, understanding why that is — and what it means for you — is the single most important thing you can do right now.

But to understand the decision-making process, you first need to understand the governance structure within which it happens. Because the Dutch two-tier board model is distinctive, widely misunderstood, and far more influential in shaping careers than most leaders realise.

The Dutch Two-Tier Board: What It Is and Why It Matters

The Netherlands operates a two-tier corporate governance structure. Unlike the Anglo-Saxon single board model — where executive and non-executive directors sit together — Dutch companies separate these roles entirely into two distinct bodies, each with its own mandate, accountability, and power.

The separation sounds clean. In practice, the relationship between the two tiers is nuanced, deeply human, and profoundly important. The chair of the RvC is often one of the most influential figures in an organisation — not despite being non-executive, but precisely because of it. They carry the perspective of the long view. They hold the trust of shareholders. And they are, for the CEO, frequently the most valued and honest sparring partner available. It is lonely at the top. The chair of the RvC is often the one person who can speak freely.

How the Supervisory Board's Role Has Transformed

For many years, the Raad van Commissarissen was perceived — sometimes fairly — as a ceremonial body. Senior figures lending their names and reputations to an oversight function that rarely intervened and never truly challenged. That era is over.

The implication for any leader who aspires to a C-suite role is profound. The RvC is no longer asking only: can this person run the operation? It is asking: does this person embody the values and culture we are prepared to advocate to our shareholders? That is a fundamentally different question. And it can only be answered convincingly if the RvC already knows you.

The Hidden Truth About How C-Suite Decisions Are Made

Here is what most senior leaders do not know — because they have never been in the room when it happens.

When a C-suite vacancy arises, the formal process — the search brief, the longlist, the interviews — is almost always a confirmation of a direction that has already been forming in the minds of the RvC for months. Names have been circulating. Impressions have been forming. Quiet conversations have taken place. By the time a search firm is engaged, the supervisory board often already has a strong sense of the profile they want — and sometimes the person.

The formal process selects. The informal process decides.

This is not cynicism. It is the natural consequence of how trust is built in a governance context. The RvC cannot advocate for someone they do not know. They cannot vouch for a leader's culture, character, and vision to shareholders on the basis of an interview. That conviction is built through sustained exposure — through observation, through reputation, through the signals a leader sends over time into the networks where the RvC moves.

Which brings us to the most important insight in this article.

Your Name Must Circulate Before the Vacancy Exists

The leaders who get the C-suite appointment are not always the most qualified candidates at the moment the vacancy arises. They are the candidates whose names were already in the room — already associated with the right qualities, the right vision, the right cultural fit — before anyone knew there was a vacancy to fill.

This is not about luck or connections. It is about deliberate positioning over time. Three things determine whether your name circulates in the right conversations before any vacancy exists:

• Presence — being observed in the right moments

  The RvC forms its impressions through direct and indirect observation. How you show up in cross-functional leadership moments. How you communicate upward. The quality of your thinking when you are asked to contribute beyond your operational lane. The character you demonstrate under pressure. Presence is not performance — it is the consistent signal you send about the kind of leader you are, over time, in the moments that matter.

• Vision — being associated with a direction, not just a function

  The RvC is looking for leaders who think beyond their current mandate. Who have a point of view on where the organisation — or the sector — is going. Who can articulate a direction, not just manage a process. If you are known exclusively for operational excellence within your current role, you are not yet readable as a C-suite leader. Vision is the bridge between where you are and where the supervisory board can imagine you.

• Readability — being easy to advocate for

  When a member of the RvC says your name in a room, they need to be able to follow it with a sentence. One clear, credible, compelling sentence about what you bring and why you are the right person for the next step. If that sentence is hard to construct — if your profile is too broad, too operational, or too internally focused — your name will not travel. Readability is not simplicity. It is clarity. And clarity is a choice.

The Role of the Sponsor

Understanding the importance of circulating your name before a vacancy leads to an uncomfortable truth: you cannot do it alone. Not effectively. Not in the timeframe that matters.

The most powerful accelerant in a C-suite career is a sponsor — a senior figure who knows your work, believes in your potential, and is willing to say your name in rooms you have not yet entered. Including, critically, rooms where members of the supervisory board are present.

A sponsor with strong ties to the supervisory board is, in the Dutch governance context, the single most powerful factor in a C-suite appointment outside of your own capability. They provide the personal conviction that the RvC needs in order to advocate for you. They translate your profile into the language and the trust that moves a decision.

But — and this is the crucial point — sponsors do not champion people who are hard to read. They champion people whose value is clear, whose vision is visible, and whose character they have observed at close range over time. A sponsor cannot advocate for you if they cannot articulate you. Which is why presence, vision, and readability are not soft aspirations. They are the prerequisites for the most powerful force in your career.