{"id":109564,"date":"2020-02-19T16:35:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T15:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=109564"},"modified":"2026-02-10T16:46:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T15:46:53","slug":"if-you-want-to-be-universally-loved-forget-about-becoming-a-professor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2020\/02\/19\/if-you-want-to-be-universally-loved-forget-about-becoming-a-professor\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018If you want to be universally loved, forget about becoming a professor\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Willem Verbeke recently retired as an endowed professor of Sales and Account Management at Erasmus University. He spent years working on the interface of economics and neurosciences, endocrinology, genetics or epigenetics. In his research, he has subjected sales professionals to fMRI scans or DNA tests. And he could occasionally count on considerable criticism, since he isn\u2019t afraid to test the waters with experimental projects. Nevertheless: \u201cThese last ten years have been the best years of my life \u2013 a gift from heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGeisje van der Linden<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Verbeke worked at Erasmus University for 34 years. The university awarded him emeritus status just before Christmas. That very same day, he left for China to work on a paper. In China, he will also be holding a professorship: three months in the year, Verbeke will supervise PhD candidates at the Zhejiang University in Hangzhou. He doesn\u2019t feel like hanging up his sword just yet, Verbeke tells us when we meet in the Novotel restaurant next to campus Woudestein.<\/p>\n

He still enjoys science too much to retire. \u201cWe had already analysed all the data for that study in China, although we didn\u2019t exactly understand the significance of our results. So you spend three weeks thinking, writing, asking questions, conferring. And all the while I feel insecure and restless: \u2018Am I smart enough for this?\u2019 But once the penny drops, I feel very relaxed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why have you decided to continue working after becoming Emeritus Professor?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoy working, but actually I don\u2019t see performing research as work. It\u2019s about finding solutions, piecing together the puzzle. You start out on your own \u2013 by writing and discovering \u2013 and then you study how others have approached the issue. Whenever I get stuck, I go to bed and start over again in the morning. And when I ultimately find a solution, I feel enriched. Wow! Emerging from that struggle can be so fulfilling: finding an explanation for counterintuitive results in your data.\u201d<\/p>\n

What was the main insight when you arrived in China?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAllow me to give you a different example from a study we performed into interbrain synchronicity in the context of a trust game<\/a>. Subject A is handed five euros. He is free to give a share of this amount to Subject B, at which point the money is multiplied by three. B is then invited to give a share of his money to A, and the process is repeated fifteen times. You\u2019d expect this experiment to lead to stronger inter-brain synchrony between their two brains, since the subjects can make a lot of money by trusting each other and taking a rational decision. But we actually observed the opposite: the higher the level of trust, the lower the level of interbrain synchronicity. At which point you sit down to think, write, put together the puzzle. What\u2019s going on? At the end of the day, it\u2019s quite simple: Subject A feels anxiety, because he needs to hand over money \u2013 at the risk of B making off with the cash. And Subject B needs to be stable and win A\u2019s trust. It actually makes a lot of sense: this idea can also be applied to leadership or motherhood, for example.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are you driven by a desire to find an explanation for counterintuitive results?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYes. We tend to think that science goes like this: you formulate a hypothesis and you refer to data to check whether it\u2019s correct. But this generally yields different results to what you would have expected. In most cases, whatever you suspected isn\u2019t supported by the data, so you start looking for alternative explanations: \u2018Let the data speak\u2019. See it as a kind of detective story.\u201d<\/p>\n

'Mama, I want to become a professor'<\/h2>
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Verbeke grew up in a family with five children in the Belgian village of Stekene, between Sint-Niklaas and Hulst. His father Robert Verbeke was mayor of the village \u2013 as testified by a street sign (Robert Verbekelaan) in the rural district of Kemzeke. His uncle was also active in Flemish politics. As one of twins, he developed ambition, drive and something of a competitive streak from a very early age. At the end of secondary school \u2013 Verbeke was taught at a boarding school \u2013 his mother asked him what he wanted to become. \u201cI said: \u2018Mama, I want to become a professor\u2019 \u2013 I had set myself that goal at the age of 18.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my secret weapon,\u201d says Verbeke as he fishes a book out of his bag and lays it next to the French loaf with tapenade. Norbert Elias\u2019s Wat is sociologie?<\/em> \u2013 the Dutch translation published in 1971. It reminds him of the goal set by his 18-year-old self, which is why he has saved it. \u201cI always try to learn from intelligent people: it helps you progress in life. And my uncle once told me a story after going off to Ghent to study. He had a friend who wasn\u2019t particularly intelligent, and he told my uncle: \u2018You know what? I\u2019ll start studying beforehand.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Neurobabble<\/h2>
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So when the young Verbeke went to study Philosophy in Ghent, he left a day earlier so he could read a bit in Wat is sociologie?<\/em>. He leafs through the little book full of underlined sentences and notes in the margins: \u201cAt the time I only understood bits and pieces, but I was the only student who was able to ask the professor a question on Monday. And that\u2019s how I\u2019ve approached things ever since. I\u2019m fairly intelligent, but I\u2019m not brilliant. So I have to work hard for everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2009 Verbeke made an appearance on the television programme Pauw en Witteman<\/em> to talk about his research. Looking back, he thinks he shouldn\u2019t have made such sweeping statements \u2013 nowadays he would never put it that way. During the broadcast, he showed two brain scans, of a strong salesman and a poorly performing one. The strong salesman showed more brain activity than his colleague. Verbeke concluded that within five years, brain scans would be included in many job application procedures. This prediction put him squarely in the firing line. Two prominent psychologists even called it \u2018ludicrous boasting\u2019 and \u2018neurobabble\u2019 in NRC Handelsblad<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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