Humanity, Not Attitude. It is actually really simple.

Humanity de force - Carin Beumer on her mission to benefit the world with groundbreaking innovations in Consumer Health, Biotech and AgriTech.

As a humanitarian and entrepreneur, Carin Beumer is most happy when combining her knowledge as a pioneer in tackling some of the world’s big health challenges, such as obesity, antibiotic resistance, and livestock emissions, with her humanitarian work. You need to balance grit and energy and strive for self-mastery, she says, and constantly turn your attention to where you fit into humanity. There are plenty of opportunities for each of us that can make a difference in this complicated world. Beumer serves as a Board Director on several not-for-profits, drawing on her life and work expertise that has become a way for her to give back.

Being involved in the complex world of life sciences and not one to back away from challenges, she and her husband have invested heavily in biotech innovation and research to identify ways to improve our collective health and wellbeing.

Beumer is the epitome of a modern global nomad, having lived in many countries across Europe, the US, and Asia. She currently splits her time between the South of France and London. We catch up with her as she reflects on her life....and adventures.

My fields are based around three areas: life sciences (developing therapeutic solutions), governance, and humanitarian matters - all areas I would like to expand my learning and understanding of. If I could sit down with an expert from any of these related fields, I'd like to know what challenges they are facing. My personal feeling is that we will see higher standards for the governance of organisations (for-profit and not-for-profit) and increased formal responsibilities for board members as future trends.

The most common misconception in governance is the extent of one's responsibilities. It can be difficult for those not involved in this area to realise the full extent of the scope of responsibilities as a Board Director, especially in the not-for-profit sector.

Cultivation and gratitude are two influences on which I try to invest my energy. To cultivate awareness of inner and outer worlds and gratitude for all your blessings, however "small" is important. Accept losses with grace and invest in building and maintaining strong connections with others as a fundamental cornerstone to living a life with meaning and purpose.

Guided by those principles, I reflect humbly on a comment by a well-regarded expert and person of high integrity who once told me that I am a respectable person.

"As a leader, I set the framework (mission, strategy, organizational structure, culture) and provide the direction and resources needed, for staff to thrive."

For me, measuring your life in terms of personal success is all about maintaining meaning and purpose. This means staying relevant and includes a balanced life (body-mind-spirit), time spent on self-care, personal growth & reflection, engaging with and investing in others and meaningful activities.

In other words, how does one foster a healthy body and mind and fully engage with life?

There are three moments in my life which have a particular personal significance to me. They are the birth of my two sons (1999 and 2001), moving to Malaysia with my husband, sons and a container with our worldly goods to create new experiences (2004) and commencing psychotherapy to help me grow and understand myself, my life and others (2014).

Being a leader requires many things. I aim to be a compassionate and effective leader by being open and transparent, listening to people, treating people fairly, making hard decisions and difficult trade-offs, being responsible and accountable, and ensuring a healthy work culture. I hope to show good leadership to my team and set the standard for how we should strive to work together.

Personal impact can come from something as simple as being present and engaged with your team. As a professional board member in the humanitarian and life-sciences sectors it took me by surprise that an authentic and deep way of engaging with staff, knowing the organisation, its people, culture and activities, can be of enormous motivation and inspiration for all staff – “the tone is set at the top”.

My work crosses different fields, and someone outside of that industry may not be aware of what happens in each. For example, in life sciences, it requires a huge amount of investment, effort, and risk-taking to develop a therapeutic solution and the relevant business model to bring the solution to market.

My work as a humanitarian exposes some of the ongoing issues around sustainable resourcing. The importance of funding a strong organisation that can deliver on its mission should not be underesstimated. Many donors are willing to donate “earmarked” funds but do not wish to allocate a portion (10-15%) of the donation to the overheads that are needed to function well as an organisation. A lack of resources weakens the organisation and its mission.

Everyone wants to feel that what they do is meaningful. I can identify in my own work two tangible areas that make me feel that my work is worthwhile. The first is seeing the successes of developing feasible and effective therapeutic products that help address health and environmental problems and unmet needs.

The second is knowing that I am contributing to helping those in desperate need by providing access to healthcare and education.

In summary: to contribute to a world where people have opportunities to make something out of their lives.

From an early age, I have always been an avid reader and lover of books. The areas of interest have evolved over the years and, in the past decade, have included human and psychological development, economic and social development in developing countries, governance, and biographies of interesting and inspirational people.

I have subscriptions to and read the The Atlantic, Financial Times, Economist, Foreign Affairs, Financieel Dagblad, World Politics Review and The Marginalian by Maria Popova.

Recent books I’ve read include Humankind by Ruther Bregman, Farewell Kabul by Christina Lamb, books by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon on women in war zones, and biographies of Michelle Obama and Melinda Gates.

On my “to read” table is (I purchase more books than I can read) Net Positive by Paul Polman, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates, The Value of Everything by Mariana Mazzucato, What We Owe Each Other by Minouche Shafik and Boards by Paul Dunne.

I consider myself a truly global citizen. I grew up in the Netherlands and lived in the USA, UK, Austria, Malaysia, Switzerland, and France and have travelled extensively across most of the world.

I currently live between the South of France and London. I am happy with this balance between an urban, fast international environment and a quiet environment infused with natural beauty, where friends & family from all over the world like to gather around our large dining room table for good food (including my favourites of bread, cheese and salad), wine and conversations.

I make a conscious effort to balance a busy professional life with time to relax. My go-to habit to end a busy week would involve being able to relax in my favourite corner, have a comforting drink - wine or pu ehr tea - and connect with my family.

Having things you are passionate about is what makes life worth living. For me I can group my passions into health and education. Within those, there are particular things I am interested in, including humanitarian (emergency and development) in the health sector and integrating physical health and mental health in public health systems. I'm also deeply passionate about creating opportunities for young people to develop themselves, finding solutions for unmet health needs (wound care, genetic skin disorders) and for methane from rumianats and anti-microbial resistance.

Over my life so far, I've been fortunate to have many experiences in my professional life which have led me to where I am today. I had a career as an investment banker (arranging project financing), entrepreneur, and Board Director. These activities have allowed me to acquire skills and to grow, and it is through these careers that I have been able to live in different places and lead an international life, which has tremendously enriched me in many ways.

I was able to become a mother, have a family and be professionally active whilst making difficult trade-offs and accepting inevitable losses. As a result, this enabled me to generate sufficient income and wealth to sustain an expansive lifestyle where I have choices. All-in-all, with the mistakes made, and learnings garnered, I am satisfied with the choices I made. My family and I are currently in a good place, and I am grateful for that.

We live in a complex world, and if I were able to change things, I would, for instance, want to ensure that conflicts are resolved and nations are governed based on the rule of law and principles of justice by capable persons of proven integrity. Leaders that prioritise the needs of the world and the people they govern over their personal needs and desires for people to have opportunities to educate themselves and be productive so there is more justice and less suffering.

"In summary: to contribute to a world where people have opportunities to make something out of their lives."