DSM still goes by the initials that stood for Dutch State Mines when it was syy more than a centuryago. The letters are one of a few things that haven’t changed for a company that has been in a continualstate of transformation throughout most of its history.The coal mines in the south of the Netherlands are now closed. But, even when coal was centralto its business, DSM expanded into fertilisers as a way of using the ammonia produced during coalprocessing operations. Over the decades, the focus shifted to plastics and, later, chemicals. Today, it isonce again reinventing itself, this time seeking out the higher-margin and less cyclical sectors of lifesciences and material sciences.The company has tried to attract the finest technical minds and put research and development atthe heart of the business. But, argues Feike Sijbesma, chief executive, a greater focus on goodmanagement is just as important.‘Innovation, coming up with new products and launch concepts and business models, is one ofthe main drivers of our strategy,’ Mr Sijbesma says. ‘The whole idea about our business education startswith our strategy ... You need a lot of technical knowledge but you also need to change the company interms of culture and behaviour.’The company wants to create managers who can show inspirational leadership. Mr Sijbesmadefines this as combining ‘authenticity and vulnerability with clear direction’. DSM now works with fourbusiness schools – IMD in Switzerland, Wharton and Babson University in the US and RSM inRotterdam – and sends top executives to all four schools to develop leadership skills, gain industry insightand work on special projects that can feed into overall corporate strategy.The links with the universities help graduate recruitment. It also puts its executives in contactwith other business people. ‘Our executives get to meet people from other companies and learn a lot fromthem during these leadership discussions about industry developments.‘The programmes are focussed on two things: personal leadership skills and business elements,’Mr Sijbesma says. He adds that learning is a key part of his drive to transform the group into aninnovative life science and material science company.‘What we want to do with this whole learning architecture and with those universities is to makea stronger foundation to support or speed up this whole change process,’ he says.