A look into the life of the Chairman of Asset | Marketing!
While writing this blog, I realized how much I have already experienced and what I have already accomplished together with my fellow boardies. Time goes by fast during a board year but luckily, I still have more than enough time left as chairman of this beautiful association. In this blog, I will give you insights into the position of chairman, but also why I chose to do a board year and what my experiences are!
Why did I choose to do a board year at Asset | Marketing?
Two and a half years ago, in my second year of the Bachelor of Econometrics and Operational Research, I wanted to do something besides my studies. My roommate did a board year at Asset | Marketing then, so I decided to join some activities and eventually a committee. I got to know many people and quickly felt part of the group. I remember the first activity that I joined. I didn’t know anyone besides my roommate, but everybody was welcoming and interested in you. With my study, it was not the most logical choice to join Asset | Marketing, but as I felt very comfortable here, I never left. I was a very active member in my first two years and made friends for life. When two of these friends decided to do a board year, I decided that this was the time to apply for a board year as well. Of course, I was looking forward to all the fun a Board Year would bring me, but I also wanted to develop myself on a more professional level and add something to my experience that would distinguish me from many other students.
What did my board year bring me?
Because I was part of the association for 2 years before I joined the board, I had the feeling I already knew what to expect. But I was still very much surprised during my first months as a chairman. In short, my board year brought me two important things: social benefits and personal development.
Regarding the social benefits, I really underestimated how many new people you will get to meet during a board year. You will personally get to know all Asset boardies of all the other departments, which are already like 40 other people and because we all work together on the same floor, it is like a big group of friends. This is, in my opinion, one of the things that makes working during a board year a lot of fun and for that reason, it totally does not feel like working. Then there are all the boardies of other study and student associations, whom you speak to quite often and make for some good connections to have. Furthermore, you get in contact with a lot of companies and meet new people there as well, which can be very valuable for your future career. Next to the large network that you build during your board year, you also get to go to a lot of amazing activities. You will be very busy every week, but that is totally made up for by the amount of fun and excitement each week.
Secondly, the personal and career development that you go through during a board year is truly incredible. A lot of tasks may be out of your comfort zone during the start of the year. For myself, I always found it a bit scary to call or mail people and companies that seem far more accomplished than yourself. However, only after a few weeks I totally grew over this irrational fear. Now, I am very comfortable with speaking to more important people and parties. Besides, as a chairman, you will be able to develop numerous skills such as (professional) communication, keeping the overview, leadership skills, working in teams, setting priorities, weighing out different options and their consequences, and adopting a professional attitude.
What does the position of Chairman entail and what did I learn?
I find it hard to explain exactly what the position of chairman entails, but I’ll try to explain it the best I can! In short, the tasks of the chairman are keeping overview, leadership, ambassadorship, Asset General, and remaining board tasks.
Keeping the overview and contemplating the bigger picture
One of the main tasks of a chairman is keeping an overview. You need to be up to date about what your fellow boardies are doing, but you also need to know what is happening within Asset General. Therefore, you are a lot in contact with your board members from Asset | Marketing and Asset General. In addition, you need to look into the future and make sure you begin on time with organizing events or planning meetings. Furthermore, you need to actively focus yourself on long-term decision-making and therefore, the future of Asset Marketing.
Leadership
Another one of your tasks as the chairman is leadership. You will lead all the meetings like the board meeting and the policy meeting every Monday. You need to make sure that during discussions everybody can share their opinion and that everybody supports the final decision, which can sometimes be a real challenge. But it goes a little further than running meetings. You also provide leadership to your fellow board members. You make sure they complete their tasks on time and properly. In addition, you must find the balance between controlling your board members and giving them the freedom to do their own stuff and make their own decisions. You also ensure that the workload is fairly distributed among the board members and that everyone remains satisfied and motivated. For this, you also have expectation and evaluation meetings with each board member.
Ambassadorship
As chairman, you are the representative of your association to different parties. Firstly, you represent Asset | Marketing in the meetings with the General Board of Asset. Secondly, you have meetings with important parties like the Department of Marketing of Tilburg University or the Marketing Associatie Nederland. In addition, you also represent Asset | Marketing during the Marketing Kick-Off, where you represent the association to a large group of students. When meeting with all those parties, you need to keep in mind the interests of Asset | Marketing. This can be challenging sometimes when there is a conflict of interest with the other party.
Asset General
As chairman, you also take place on the general board of Asset. The board consists of all the chairmen of the 7 Asset Departments, the chairman of MAK, and the Independent Chairman. So next to your position as chairman of Asset | Marketing, you will also have a position within the general board. You can expect that around fifty to seventy-five percent of your time goes to your Asset General position, depending on the exact function that you cover there. I am the Administration Coordinator of the General Board, but there are 6 more positions you can choose from! Within my function, I am among other things responsible for the membership administration and year planning of Asset General. As Administration Coordinator, you work very close with the secretaries of all the departments, which is very fun. Being on the board of Asset General is fun, but also a huge challenge since every department has different interests, and even your own department might have a different interest than Asset General. This can be very challenging, but at the same time, very interesting and educational.
Board Tasks
Next to your tasks as a chairman, you also have general board tasks. As mentioned, before we have our Board Meeting every Monday, where we discuss all the committees, current affairs, events, promotion schedule, and much more. In addition, we have our weekly policy session also on Monday, where we work on our short- and long-term policies that we made in the summer. This year our focus is on increasing the bonding within our members, improve the marketing, our alumni association MiM (Meesters in Marketing) and improving our formal events and committees. Next summer, the short-term policy needs to be renewed by the new board. This is also an important task of the chairman. Another thing that every board member needs to do is coordinate committees. This can sometimes be challenging, but it is also fun since you build up a stronger bond with the members of your committee. Lastly, every board member has the time to pick up a project or an event that they want to pursue. For example, organizing the introduction activity, which was the Beer Olympics in September!
Do you want to know more?
Are you interested in doing a board year and do you want to know more about the position of chairman? You can always send me a message on +316 17 72 92 10 or we can drink a coffee to talk a little bit more about a board year!