Your impact isn't your output.

Kirstin van der Aalst

Setting the scene

This was the first Curiosity Coffee that didn’t happen over coffee.

No café. No design studio. No familiar creative space.

It was a packed Monday morning at the Philips office in Eindhoven. Meetings stacked back to back. At 10:30 sharp I had to squeeze someone out of a meeting room to make space. No commute, no walking, just a quick breath before clicking join meeting.

I usually prefer face to face. But this time, we met online.

Despite the hectic surroundings, the conversation itself was calm and warm. Within minutes the noise faded into the background. We quickly found common ground, not only in innovation work, but in mindset.

I came in a bit rushed. I left with more energy than I started with.

What she does

Kirstin is comfortable where things are still unclear.

Her work lives in the fuzzy front end of innovation. The phase where ideas are still vague, fragile, and undefined. She moves naturally between abstract thinking and concrete making, always starting from user needs while keeping a sharp eye on system and business realities.

She has worked in both startup environments and large organizations, and that contrast shows. When roles aren’t yet defined and ownership is ambiguous, she doesn’t wait for clarity. She helps create it. She steps in, takes responsibility, and moves things forward when others hesitate.

Today, she’s accountable for innovation within infrastructure asset management. She oversees teams working on data, digitalization, and sustainability, and focuses on creating the right conditions for innovation to land: resources, ways of working, stakeholder alignment, and long-term direction.

What stood out most wasn’t her title or scope. It was how she thinks about people inside systems.

What we talked about

Different phases need different mindsets

One of the strongest insights from our conversation came from her startup experience.

In the early days of a company developing a lighting experience, everyone did everything. She wasn’t just working on innovation, but also handling supply chains, customer support, and social media. At that stage, the company needed people who believed the idea could work, even when it was still rough and unproven.

Optimism wasn’t a personality trait. It was a requirement.

But once the product started selling, from hundreds to thousands of units, something had to change. The company shifted from technical innovation to commercial execution. That phase demanded a very different mindset: zooming in, slowing down, being critical, precise, and detail-oriented.

Early ideas need creative optimists who take ownership and push through uncertainty. Later stages need people who challenge assumptions, refine details, and make systems robust.

Ideas don’t just evolve technically. They evolve socially.

Assets aren’t just machines

When we talk about assets, we usually default to the tangible ones. Tools. Machines. Materials. Infrastructure you can measure, depreciate, and optimize.

In infrastructure-heavy organizations, innovation has traditionally focused on lowering costs, extending lifetimes, and using physical assets more efficiently. Sustainability has pushed this further, forcing companies to rethink materials, energy use, and long-term impact.

That logic still matters. But what stood out in our conversation was a different shift.

People are assets too.

Innovation increasingly shows up in how people are onboarded, how teams are shaped, and how individuals are helped to recognize and apply their strengths. Making better use of human potential isn’t soft work. It’s innovation.

People no longer work for the same employer for twenty-five years. They switch roles. They move between organizations. They bring experience from elsewhere.

Instead of treating people as static resources, the focus shifts to activating them while they’re there. Giving them ownership. Creating conditions where they can contribute meaningfully, even if they won’t stay forever.

Optimizing assets without considering the human layer leaves value untouched.

Running as identity

At some point, the conversation drifted to sport. Something that plays a central role in Kirstin’s daily life.

She prefers forests over pavement, trails over straight lines. She often participates in adventure runs where running is only part of the challenge. You have to think fast, navigate, and continuously choose the best route forward.

It’s not about following a predefined path. You improvise, adapt to the terrain, and sometimes briefly get lost before finding your way again.

That way of moving mirrors how she approaches work. In innovation, there often isn’t a clear roadmap either. Things don’t work yet. Information is incomplete. Progress depends on staying optimistic, adjusting course when needed, and continuing to push forward until the idea reaches the finish line.

For Kirstin, sport isn’t something she negotiates with. It’s part of who she is. Dark outside? Headlamp on, and go.

From the outside, it looks like discipline. From the inside, it’s identity.

Reflections

Different phases ask for different people

Ideas don’t just scale technically. They scale socially. Recognizing when a shift in mindset is needed may be just as important as the idea itself.

People are assets too

Innovation isn’t only about tools, systems, or sustainability metrics. It’s also about unlocking human potential. Designing the right context for people might be the highest-leverage work there is.

Designers start with the user, and that still matters

Even after countless trainings, many professionals still default to starting from what they find interesting, familiar, or technically elegant. Designers are trained to resist that pull. They start with the user, the outcome, and the pain. Outside of design, this isn’t obvious, and it’s worth repeating.

Impact scales through others

My impact isn’t defined by my own output. I can achieve far more by activating others, by asking better questions, creating clarity, and helping people see and use their strengths. Not by stepping away from making, but by multiplying it.

This Curiosity Coffee wasn’t about coffee at all. It was about how ideas grow and how people make them real.