Friday, November 19, 2004

TDC: yesterday's meeting

The Dutch Connection is a club with Ecademy. Eleven people came to Amsterdam to discuss the status with respect to innovation here in the Netherlands.

I had a wonderful night last night. A big compliment for the host, Colby, for asking each individual "why are you here?" and not settle until the person would fully agree with his or her own answer. In my case, I didn't really know what brought me to Amsterdam, it's quite a distance: 145 km from Borne at the other end of the A1 highway. I just felt I needed to go there.

Anyway, what I really liked about the people was their attitude. Frequently I meet people who want to be right. They want other people to explicitly confirm that they are right. Only then they are able to listen.

In this gathering however, the attitude was one of opportunity scouting, rather than judgement. I believe there was a common sense among this group of unique individuals. The credo from Indonesia "unity in diversity" holds here. Each person brought something to the team that was complementary to what the others would bring.

"Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

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