Personal Development & Teamwork

Just with confidence

Waiting, she looks around, not knowing what the outcome behind this door will bring. Will she keep the door closed or is her curiosity for change simp...


Personal Development & Teamwork

Success loves silence!

  “Work hard in silence, let your success be your noise.” Anonymous Work hard in silence and resounding success will follo...


Business Development

Are people really going to be surprised by this?

"No risk, no story. No guts, no glory." Ruud Olijve This is the only real question that should matter within marketing. The only criter...


Business Development

Less process, more content please

A director at a health insurance company once told me the best way to make the board cheerful: give them the feeling that everything is under control ...


Personal Development & Teamwork

It's not about who started, but about who stopped

We all face conflicts from time to time; there is nothing wrong with that in itself. Yet conflicts often make us feel bad. Especially if there have be...


Personal Development & Teamwork

Growth in your group

“You will meet two kinds of people in life: ones who build you up and ones who tear you down.But in the end, you will thank them both”...


Business Development

Discover or invent

“Philosophy interprets, science explains, but art shows,and that which it cannot say.”– Willem Brakman We can agree t...


Business Development

Retaining existing customers with retention marketing

"Do what you do so wellthat they will want to see it againand bring their friends."  – Walt Disney Retention marketing is a strategy ...


Business Development

No one can predict the future

Prediction is difficult - particularly when it involves the future. – Mark Twain When future scenarios are needed to future-proof an ...


Personal Development & Teamwork

Turn it around

When British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was asked what the greatest challenge for a statesman was, he replied, “Events, dear boy, events. T...


Business Development

Switch, step up or get in?

Marketers are often judged on the inflow of new customers, leaving customer retention greatly underemphasized. Bringing in switchers is what counts. U...


Business Development

Market Engineering

The man behind the desk in the blue suit looked at me cynically. “So you are the one who is finally growing our business? With these words dripp...


Business Development

Good to have a bad idea

The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away. – Linus Pauling  It is sometimes very good to have a b...


Business Development

Hormones & Marketing

You are what you feel! Our senses play a relevant role in generating our feelings and even determines our behavior. How? Whatever we perceive with our...


Business Development

Ode to the misfits!

Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things diffe...


Personal Development & Teamwork

The secret of collaboration

Successful team performance is not achieved by haphazardly putting people together. A high-performing team consists of people who really trust each ot...


Personal Development & Teamwork

Fear culture or performance culture

Every day we read the news in which some cesspool is opened where the creeping odor is truly unbearable. It especially stinks when someone has not fol...


Personal Development & Teamwork

Water is necessary

Dreaming about water. Any mighty ship can float on it. Setting course to desired destinations. No matter how much water there is. Ships don't sink bec...


Business Development

Do something different (from your competitors)

Point of sale proposition (POSP) involves promotional materials and distribution channels that support the sale of your products. Giving an extra push...


Business Development

Inflation creates innovation!

It is not all doom and gloom around the current high inflation rate. We have to get used to the fact that prices will rise sharply for years to come. ...


Business Development

Distribution determines your success!

Bad distribution, not bad goods,is the main reason for failure - Peter Thiel  Distribution is all about being visible enough to your ta...


Business Development

Cross an intersection or stay at the crisis traffic circle?

The pessimist complains about the wind;the optimist expects it to change;the realist adjusts the sails. – William Arthur Ward An awful lot...


Personal Development & Teamwork

You really can do it yourself!

Intuition issolidified experience andacquired knowledge! And then things don't turn out as expected. You keep running up against your limits. Thi...


Business Development

Clodding within marketing

'Good marketing can sell once, but only a good product which is available in the right place can sell twice.In the long run your performance reverts...


Business Development

Reflect and learn!

Organizations optimize their self-interests. Little concerned with gaining real insights. Reflecting and learning to embrace feedback will go a long w...


Reflections & Essays

The cry of a seagull

Looking out the window, I see the screeching gulls.There are many of them screaming loudly.Living on the simple waves of sound.Thus guarding their ter...


Reflections & Essays

Loose society

A government that dismantles the connecting social shell and even chooses to strengthen the controlling and repressive shell under the guise of a smal...


Personal Development & Teamwork

Looking out for each other

Never underestimate the person who is processing trauma. This person has seen through the darkest places the world holds but is still standing before ...


Business Development

Together we are smarter

It is already late in the afternoon. We have arrived in a typical English landscape where the hills are as gray as the clouds. The rain is drizzling d...


Business Development

Without innovation, everything becomes a commodity

Today once again a whole stack of advertising flyers fell on the doormat. The discount offers scream for attention from the hallway. Three for ten eur...


Personal Development & Teamwork

The perils of being talented

Twenty-one-year-old Australian Nick Kyrgios is in his tennis match. He is ready to serve.... The crowd is dead silent. Instead of a vicious serve, he ...


Personal Development & Teamwork

Tug of war or cooperate?

My self of thirty years has returned Of, “Sure, black and white” and “I'm right!” He nuances with his mind Th...


Personal Development & Teamwork

How do you handle sandcastles?

A beautiful summer day, a perfect day for the beach. The youngest children play safely in the waterline, busy with shovels and buckets. Today is one o...


Business Development

How do you acquire new customers?

To grow, you need customers. This seems like a simple task but in practice is often more difficult than thought. You've pulled out all the stops latel...


Personal Development & Teamwork

Time is irreplaceable!

Life is not just the passing of time.Life is the collection of experiences and their intensity. –– Jim Rohn The clock pushes the han...


Personal Development & Teamwork

Trust your intuition

“The only real valuable thing is intuition.”– Albert Einstein Heard this morning, “intuition is mind in a hurry.”On...


Business Development

Together on the customer journey

The very best time of the year has arrived. Enjoying a well-deserved vacation. You are really looking forward to it. The preparation, the trip, the de...


Reflections & Essays

If a farmer can't swim, it's because of the water.

If a farmer can't swim.... it's because of the water. It was a favorite saying of my father. Often heard during my childhood. The farmer always has a...


Personal Development & Teamwork

Why goal setting is so important.

Do you feel that not enough is happening in your life, that time is slipping past you? That you want to be more successful? You are not the only one, ...


Business Development

Share your ideas

Do you have an idea to improve the world? Or do you see opportunities to create an innovative service? Are you still looking for partners? Are you loo...


Business Development

How can you become more creative?

Philosophy indicates,Science explains,But art shows, and that which it cannot say. - Willem Brakman How creative are you? How creative are they ...


Business Development

Balancing is a verb!

Good marketers move back and forth.Balancing between customer and organization. Why are we so afraid of change? Whether it's switching health insuran...


Reflections & Essays

Why I write?

Even at a young age, I could become completely absorbed in all kinds of stories. In my youth, it was the adventures of Old Shatterhand that I could dr...


Business Development

Jobs to be Done (JTBD), creates better product ideas

There is “brainstorming” in almost every organization. This popular method causes the walls of an office space to be filled with dozens if...


Business Development

Customer insight: from customer-oriented to task-oriented!

In the factory we make cosmetics,in the store we sell hope. –– Charles Revson: founder of Revlon. It starts with letting go of the belie...


Personal Development & Teamwork

Your line of sight determines where you go!

You look around you.In the distance is your destination.Where? You determine that.While you are on the road, you can change the route towards it.A lit...


Personal Development & Teamwork

Ambition is waking up before the alarm clock

A brilliant day lies ahead.Last night you already knew.Knowing what tomorrow will be written.It is certain where you are headed.The sun and the birds ...


Personal Development & Teamwork

A washing machine never breaks down on its own!

Turned thousands of times. After each wash, the end comes closer. Time asks kindly for replacement. When not heard, time takes control....


Personal Development & Teamwork

How easy is it to destroy motivation?

Are you familiar with the book “Holes” by Louis Sachar? It's about prison life at Camp Green Lake where American youth prisoners toil unde...


Business Development

No unique product. No unique message. No problem!

Do you ever wander around on social media? The sheer number of sponsored posts from all kinds of coaches is striking. The message from them is essenti...


Business Development

Is too much choice bad?

We make choices every day. It starts at breakfast; a sandwich or a yogurt? What are we eating tonight? Should I switch health insurance companies this...


Personal Development & Teamwork

How to learn a new skill within 20 hours!

When was the last time you learned something new? Started something new, briefly pushed yourself, or stepped outside your comfort zone? Some people do...


Business Development

Winning propositions by solving real problems

Why are people so eager to buy new things? That's because people want progress in their lives. If they have realized that this is possible with your p...


Business Development

Pitch your plan, know your audience!

‘Shall we go away for a wonderful weekend?’ I will not let this question pass me by. A wonderful weekend away. Berlin, Vienna or Oslo! The...


Business Development

Help, my business model is broken!

An economic crisis is timeless. Every now and then, all economies worldwide are hit by a brutal recession. This happened with the stock market crash o...


Business Development

Success begins with a good story

“Facts tell, but stories sell”. Even in ancient times, story had an important role. People have always loved telling and relaying stories...


Business Development

Opening doors at customers' premises

It is a drizzly Monday morning. With firm steps, I run up the stairs to the platform. An overcrowded platform waits apathetically for what is to come....


Business Development

Misdiagnosis leads to incorrect treatment

It is a coming and going of ambulances, another one is already approaching. The blue flashing lights echo on the walls. After the back door is opened,...


Business Development

Marketing must embrace real change!

On a stormy Sunday afternoon in April, I walk along the coast. The wind rages over the waves. Waves with white heads smash themselves on the beach. Ag...


Business Development

Perception creates connection

It is summer 2001 and I walk somewhat hesitantly into the small barbershop Figaro on Begijnensteeg in Amsterdam. This salon was on a side street of th...


Business Development

When coffee competes with kale

The idea of waking up early and sitting down at your desk with a fragrant cappuccino early, knowing what needs to be done that day and what you need t...


Business Development

A flower is weed with proper marketing

We love flowers. Giving roses, tulips, lilies and other flowers ensures that we make people happy. But when are flowers, flowers and when are weeds? W...


Business Development

Brands with a recognizable character

During my holiday in the south of France, I strolled along the boulevard with my daughters. The sun had done its job very well that day and allowed it...


Reflections & Essays

Goodbye Manfred Bik

“We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy"​ Our first conversation was a few yea...


Personal Development & Teamwork

Plant your flag!

The flag flies proudly on Liberation Day. It's a beautiful day and the wind is blowing the flag full of life. A living flag shows itself as a symbol o...


Personal Development & Teamwork

The art of timely quitting!

“ In the end I thought,I'm going to stop this program.It's a very good program, I think.At least a lot has been achieved, let me put it more mod...


Business Development

With vision you can even get to the moon

“We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things,not because they are easy,but because they are hard; because that goal will ...


Business Development

Karaoke or character?

‘Mama, just killed a man. Put a gun against his head, Pulled my trigger, now he’s dead. Mama, life had just begun, But...


Business Development

Peeking at the neighbors!

This is an urgent call for corporate espionage. That, like a real James Bond, you are appropriating information about a competing company, with the ai...


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