Author – Liefde Werkt and Love@Work
About Annemieke Mintjes MSc
“The organisations we build today shape the world of tomorrow. By re-humanising work with love and compassion, we create not only better workplaces – but a better future for all.”
Annemieke’s Background
I grew up surrounded by the language of communication. My parents ran a consultancy for marketing, advertising, and public relations in Heerenveen, a small town in the north of the Netherlands. From them I inherited a deep curiosity for how people connect and how stories shape our world. At Utrecht University I studied communication, and since then I have evolved into a practitioner, facilitator, and thinker, always searching for new ways to bring people together and make work more human.
The Anecdote That Shaped Things
Once, someone called me a kliko (a garbage bin). It was not meant kindly, but I wear it as an honorary title. Because I see being a generalist as a gift: I collect, combine, and give back. In my work I facilitate meetings, guide teams, and create training around themes such as agile ways of working, workplace happiness, and love at work. Over the years I have gathered a wide palette of methodologies – from agile and scrum to LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®, liberating structures, Six Bricks, storytelling, and serious gaming. This diversity allows me to find forms that truly fit the people and the questions in front of me.
Annemieke’s Beliefs
I believe that organisations, at their best, are places where energy, creativity, and compassion are set free. Yet too often I see the opposite: communication that fragments instead of connects, listening that is half-hearted, and people who feel unseen. My mission is to re-humanise organisations. To create spaces where people feel heard, where trust can grow, and where collaboration is not driven by fear or control but by love, meaning, and possibility. When that shift happens, individuals thrive and organisations flourish alongside them.
Books and Projects
In 2021, together with my colleague Martha Buning and positive psychologist Matthijs Steeneveld, I co-authored Hybride bijeenkomsten: Een praktische gids voor effectief en sprankelend samenwerken (Hybrid Meetings: A Practical Guide for Effective and Dynamic Collaboration). At its heart, the book is about connection: the invisible thread that allows collaboration to become both effective and joyful.
Love@Work
In 2023 my book Liefde Werkt (Love Works) was published in Dutch, followed by the English edition Love@Work in 2024. This book explores what happens when we dare to bring love into business – not as a soft afterthought, but as a force for clarity, courage, and connection. The journey is ongoing: an illustrated edition is in the making, alongside a Love@Work game that helps people experience love as a practice at work. At first, the word “love” may feel unusual in a business context. Yet when people allow themselves to embrace it, they discover its quiet power. It changes how they see themselves, their colleagues, their work, and ultimately, the world we are building together.