Interview with Maureen Beernaert – Clinical Psychologist, Criminologist and Ex- international field hockey player
Sport, entrepreneurship and psychology. On the occasion of the new edition of the ADM Goodwill Cup, TIP-IM sat down with an engaging young personality.
Maureen Beernaert is 29 years old. She currently commutes for work between Ghent and the coast. Maureen started playing hockey at a very young age in Knokke. At 15, she joined Pascal Kina’s first team at Gantoise, and also started in the A-team of the national team. Maureen combined top-class sport with higher education. This demanded great discipline from the start. Well structured, she thus obtained a bachelor’s degree in criminology. After a switch year, she immediately concluded her university studies with a master’s in psychology. “I have always been very fascinated by how your mindset can influence your performances.”
Maureen herself had quite a few setbacks in her young sports career: she tore her cruciate ligaments three times and learned to listen to her body. At 25, she was forced to quit top-level sport. Maureen admits it in all honesty: it took her quite some time to come to terms with it all.
TIP-IM: Maureen, what is your view on entrepreneurship and its interfaces with sport?
Both are worlds in which performance is important both as a team and individually. They also have passion in common. People who start a business are often passionate. For me everything revolves around passion, you can get very far with passion. Furthermore, you have a certain culture that teaches you to communicate with each other in a certain way in both sport and entrepreneurship. You have to be able to bring everyone on board and motivate each other. Inspire in your own way. Learning to be very goal-oriented. Both in entrepreneurship and sport, everything also stands or falls with good preparation and a clear strategy. A growth mindset is essential and being able to deal with challenge and obstacles.
TIP-IM: What qualities that you would also find in sport do you think interim managers should possess?
Emotion regulation, being emotionally intelligent, having sufficient mental resilience. You must be resilient. You must be able to deal with setbacks, have sufficient perseverance. Focus on what you can control.
You must have a mindset that allows you to keep developing through experience. Daring to be completely yourself and being vulnerable is also important. Moreover, you need to be coachable, able to deal with feedback. Introspection and self-reflection. Working goal-oriented, setting targets with an optimistic attitude. I strongly believe in the power of thoughts.
An interim manager must also be able to work well in a team, be result-oriented and have discipline. And, of course, learn to deal with stress and situational awareness.
