Ronald is a born conflict mediator and the founder of SURPLUS®, that he established in 1992 thereby making his childhood dream of becoming an entrepreneur come true. He is the founding father of non-legal conflict mediation in the Netherlands when it comes to labour relations, averse to conventions and humbug. He always holds true to his beliefs. He stands for respecting people and their interests. He is pragmatic, a good listener and a passionate communicator. An independent analyst and observer. He feels at home when dealing with conflicts. He dissects them, like a surgeon, razor sharp to the core and mediates and coaches the parties to an optimally attainable result. Over the past 16 years he has built up the company and is proud of the company's reputation." We advise employees who have a problem with their employer to consider Unilateral representation . Mediation appears to be a better instrument for employers. We have proven that we are able to continually help employees and employers to come to working solutions for their complex conflicts or dismissal situations. The discussions are often tough but eventually, after short but intensive negotiations lead to a solution, the parties are almost always satisfied. We make double agendas, politics, opportunism and trench fights disappear by making them, where possible, open to discussion in the positive context of the solution to the problem. The main question is always ‘separate' or ‘continue' and under what conditions(?). In every case a working solution means relief from an unchanging and loaded past, often with relationships set in their way or even corrupted. We stand for being the ‘reasonable alternative' (link to under resigning oneself etc) with respect to a legally escalating situation. This path is a nuisance for everyone and always involve higher costs. The additional big benefit is that the parties ‘are in control of the steering wheel' while in the legal situation the control is lost totally, often causing severe damage and personal suffering. We are, after all, dealing with important interests: for employers these are the high costs and lengthy proceedings and for the employees these are the threats to their very existence'. However, the Netherlands demands of its citizens an always honest and decent behaviour where reasonableness and fairness are the standards. After all, these citizens are and always will be responsible for their problems and solving them.