David Knibbe (NN Group): ‘Leadership begins where analysis ends’
David Knibbe, CEO of NN Group, remembers exactly how it felt. In 2009, he was a finalist for the Young Captain Award in a year that was difficult to sell. The financial crisis had just struck, the sector in which he worked was under heavy fire, and he was, as he himself says, not optimally prepared. He barely made it through the early rounds. In the final, where the question on the table was what the Netherlands needed to do then, he had really put in the work, and it came to a close call. The jury appreciated his problem analysis but found the solution aspect lacking. That lesson stayed with him.
More than seventeen years later, he now sits on the other side of the table. Since 2026, he has served as jury chair for the Young Captain Award, which will be presented this year on November 9. In his day-to-day life, he leads NN Group, the listed financial services provider active in ten countries, from the Netherlands to Japan. Knibbe explains why he accepted the invitation to become jury chair, how NN tries to identify talent and move it through the organization, and why he believes AI is changing a lot already, but still far from everything.
You are the new jury chair of the Young Captain Award. How did you end up in that role?
‘At the request of Dimitri de Vreeze, CEO of dsm-firmenich and chairman of the board of Young Captain Netherlands. I know him from the time I was a finalist myself. He thought it was really something for me. And he assured me that it would not take much of my time, the kind of polite promise we always make to each other. But I had to think about it for a while, because of course I knew perfectly well that it would take its fair share of time. But I also thought that thinking about people and talent is very interesting. So, I accepted the offer after all.’
What exactly attracts you to it?
‘Back then, as a candidate, I myself found the process very educational. I learned a lot from it and met a great group of people outside my own company and sector whom I still see regularly. In addition, there is a clear societal aspect to it. There is a lot of talk about how Europe can remain relevant in the world. Often the focus is on technology and AI – and rightly so – but talent development is perhaps at least as important. I see that there is increasing discussion about the declining number of Dutch CEOs at Dutch companies as a result of internationalization. I believe that we should not be naive in this regard and must also consider Dutch interests – other countries do the same. It is therefore important to continue focusing on developing strong leadership in the Netherlands. The Young Captain Award contributes to this.
There is a third reason. Appointing people is pretty much the most important thing you do as a leader, and at the same time, it remains incredibly difficult. I have colleagues who sometimes say after just one interview: this is who we are looking for, or conversely: this is not it at all. I am less likely to do that. I almost always find it a difficult decision. So, I am genuinely curious to see how that works on a jury like this. I will probably learn a thing or two from it.’
You were a finalist yourself in 2009. What is the most important lesson you learned back then?
‘That was right after the peak of the financial crisis. A tough time, with a lot of anger directed at the financial sector. In the first round, when we were judged purely on our resumes, I honestly was not well prepared. Still, I managed to make it to the finals. In the first interviews, questions came up like: where do you want to go with your career, do you want to become a CEO? I found all of that rather premature at the time, so I did not really have an answer to that.
I did enjoy the final round, though. It was about the crisis: what needs to happen to the Netherlands now, how should we move forward? I think I spent too much time dwelling on what had gone wrong. Why did it go wrong? What exactly is the situation? The jury also said: your analysis is strong and fascinating, but the solution aspect is less developed. That stuck with me.
I still see that happening around me. In interviews and presentations, you often read sharp, vivid stories about what is going wrong, but much less often an answer to the question: what now? Yet that is precisely what leadership is about. Not about the best problem analysis, but about providing direction. That is also more difficult. You can test an analysis; a vision still has to prove itself. But leadership begins where analysis ends.’
Why is selecting talent so difficult?
‘Because in interviews you encounter people who can sell themselves very well, but who might be less strong in practice. And conversely, there are people who come across as less convincing, who do not have catchy one-liners, but develop tremendously. That means you have missed something.
Talents sometimes function excellently in one place, but not in another: the context in which they work makes a big difference to how successful they are. For example, one talent might be like a fish in water in a growing business, while another struggles in a place where a major reorganization needs to be implemented first. Which manager someone gets, which team they end up in, it all plays a role in how successful someone is in a role.
Resumes and interviews never tell the whole story. You are not only assessing whether someone is good, but also whether they are a good fit for a specific context, position, and team. It is precisely that combination that makes it so complicated.’
When it comes to talent development, the conversation these days often revolves around the war for talent. How do you experience that at NN?
‘It is simply raging. We recently discussed the strategies of all our business units, and almost everywhere – from Europe to Japan – attracting talent and, above all, retaining it is perhaps the biggest challenge right now.
Fortunately, NN has built a strong position as an employer. This is due to our progress in data and AI, but also to our brand name and our reputation regarding sustainability and climate. We are seen as a company that plays a positive role in this, and that makes us attractive to the new generation. On average, a job opening at our company attracts more than fifty applicants, and our trainee program receives over 1,000 applications. But that does not happen by itself. Attracting talent only works if you invest in it as an organization, consistently and consciously.
Will that war for talent continue? I think largely yes. I do not strongly believe in the idea that AI is going to cause mass unemployment right now. What I do expect is a major transition. Some jobs will disappear, others will be partially taken over by AI, and still others will change less. The real challenge lies in that first group: can you redeploy people, retrain them, and help them make that transition? That is where the challenge lies.’
How do you concretely shape talent development in an organization of this size?
‘We hire trainees every year. I started as a trainee myself at ING, of which NN was still a part at the time. In addition, we offer training programs at various stages of a career. And we have established guilds for specialists. These are networks in which experts from different business units and countries can share knowledge. That way someone in Romania can see what is happening in the field of data analytics in Poland, Japan, or the Netherlands. This makes people's development less dependent on a single manager or business unit.
We also ensure that talent does not get trapped in a single team. If you have very good people, you must be willing to share them with another unit. A strong risk manager might also perform well in finance, and vice versa. Someone working in the Netherlands might also be valuable elsewhere within the group. That is why you need to conduct talent reviews across units, functions, and countries.
Within our Future Ready program, the importance of this has only increased. This is a transformation program centered on two things: an additional investment of EUR 450 million in technology and AI, while simultaneously working on shared values and desired behaviors. We also measure it. We are seeing the first positive signs, but the challenge remains: how do you foster agility in a large organization with many departments, business units, and disciplines?’
What is the concrete impact of AI for NN?
‘The biggest impact right now is mainly in efficiency and customer service. Take auto claims, for example. In the case of a somewhat more complex collision, processing normally takes one to three days. A claim must be filed, sometimes a claim needs to be recovered from another insurer, a fraud check is required, and a repair shop must be found. We now have a system live, with what we call agentic AI, which handles the majority of those cases in six minutes. You receive a link to where you can have your car repaired; if necessary the claim has already been filed with the other insurer, and if the amount is correct – which it usually is – the money is already in your account. People are almost startled to receive a notification six minutes later that everything has been taken care of.
When I look at AI, I distinguish three levels. Level one is basic support, such as coding. Level two – where we are now – is using AI to organize your existing business much better. Level three is using AI to actually launch a new industry or products. When I speak with the owners of the large language models, they themselves say that their models are not ready for that yet. So, that bar is still somewhat removed. At the moment, I do not see many truly new products in AI. What is mainly happening is that existing activities are being made smarter and faster.’
Is the human advisor disappearing from your sector? That is often said, especially regarding intermediaries.
‘I am not convinced. You can simplify products and processes, but people's situations are often complex. Someone might not have worked for a while, been sick, lived abroad, or have a partner who may or may not be working – all those factors play a role in what someone needs. And people's willingness to go through all that with a chatbot or avatar is fairly limited for now.
So, human interaction and personal advice often remain necessary. The role of the advisor is, of course, changing: our 10,000 advisors in Europe are now also using AI.’
How do you make decisions when the perfect solution is not on the table yet?
‘I also make choices where I do not know if they will all turn out well. You discover that along the way. But what I have learned is that if you have good people and good teams, the impact of a wrong decision is smaller. Then you figure it out in time, and you have people who can course correct. You also have to have a little faith that you will solve it together.
You also should not overanalyze things to the point of paralysis before you dare to make a decision. The strength lies not in the perfection of the plan, but in the speed of course correction.
Is our era truly unique in its speed? I think every generation believes that about itself. When the internet arrived, that seemed unique too. When the computer arrived, the same was true. But I do think the pace is still accelerating and decision-making has to keep up with it. At the same time, you have more and more tools – just think of AI – but they never take away the responsibility for your choices.’
What advice do you give the candidates facing the jury this year?
‘Above all, be yourself and make it a real conversation. To be honest, I did not go into that process with much enthusiasm at the time, but I ultimately benefited a lot from it. That is only possible if you keep putting energy into it yourself. Then it becomes more enjoyable, too.
The Young Captain Award is not a magic bullet, but it is important that we try to recognize talent and give it attention. We are creating a network where people can develop.
As for the finalists: they seek each other out, talk to each other, and follow each other. There is also a weekend with the larger group, so that people who are not in the final three can still connect with one another. That is how you build a network within a generation. That is valuable.’
This interview was published in Management Scope 05 2026.
This article was last changed on 19-05-2026