Yves' Space

A 6 hour TGV to Montpellier - and back - with Guy Kawasaki’s Reality Check in my ear. Thanks for the awesome gift you biggest love of my life you. Nice intro from Fake Steve Jobs by the way.

This www.playaway.com book focuses only on start-ups (love the speed button for faster narration) and I must say it contains great stuff. I recommend this book to everybody who wants to start a business. I ran a few startups as Intrapreneur and Entrepreneur and I relate to 99% of the things Guy states. I’m not saying this “because it’s Guy” but because I experienced most of his stories and pitfalls personally.

To get you in the mood, I selected some things to tickle you.

Fairytale:

• somebody invents something great in his garage
• he immediatly finds investors
• and tons of customers
• always makes a profit
• is succesfully introduced on the stock exchange
• and keeps on innovating for the rest of its life

“Not knowing you are doing something impossible helps”. Success takes crazy passionate people who think they can change the world.

Note to myself: have to read more about The Banality of Heroism.

Also like his chapter on the top 10 for entrepreneurs who think they would like to run a startup. “If running a startup were easy, more people would do it. Things that scare you make you stronger! The best way to build cohesiveness is to suffer.”

“Intrapreneurs don’t have it better, they have it different.” Kill the cashcows and use them for the new calves. Mmm should have used this statement more @ Belgacom :-)

But there’s so much more interesting stories in there about mantra’s, VC’s, business angels, pitching, lies, bootstrapping, intrapreneurship, boardmeetings, innovation, lawyers etc.

Just enjoy it and let me know your thoughts.

Congrats to the Dutch in the semi’s! The power of a fabulous team really wanting to achieve an “impossible” dream.

The Belgian Hercules Trophy season was huge. It’s great so see a dream come through. We had an awesome celebration with the crew on Saturday night. Time to move on and focus on the next Trophies in The Netherlands, France and Dubai.

No holidays for me. Who needs holidays when your job is not “work”, when you do your job with friends and family all around the world? I don’t need expensive holidays to forget about all the negative stress. I have none.

Did buy a lot of inspirational books though. First one: “Tribes” from Seth Godin. Seth is one of my all time favorites. His “Permission marketing” was a big inspiration to me and again he can’t stop to amaze me.

You should read it! Why?

• When you are a leader: read the book to understand why you should go on in a world where the majority is scared to change.
• When you are a manager: read the book and discover there could be a leader inside you. We need more leaders in this world!

I couldn’t agree more with:

• Leaders BELIEVE in something. Believe is a briliant strategy.
• Leaders have followers, managers have employees
• Leaders love to change through believe, managers love status quo
• Leaders make change, managers make stuff
• Organisations hire managers to perform tasks as good as possible. Organisations need leaders to change.
• Change is very scary to a lot of people, however stability is just an illusion.
• Everybody feels the world is changing. Change requires leaders. We need more leaders.
• Managers try to keep things as they are. The best strategy for them: sell average products to average people. Make predictable products at low cost and high profit. Broadcast you average product to the large average crowd.
• Leaders don’t settle, they know that’s not acceptable. Managers settle (= go for consensus) all the time.
• Leaders lead tribes of special people
• Religions have been invented to enforce believes. However, religions aim for status quo. People should change religion all the time. Move from Tribe to Tribe without losing their believes!!!
• The secret of “being wrong” is not to avoid “being wrong”. Leaders admit mistakes, managers avoid them. You can’t make no mistakes!!!
• “Not yet” is the best excuse for status quo. “Perfection” is an illusion that has been created to protect status quo.
• Leaders follow their heart, managers follow their brains.
• Charisma doesn’t make you a leader. Through leadership you get charisma.
• It’s not about having ideas. It’s about the believe that your idea will work. It’s about having enough believe to get rid of your fears. Fear is one of the most powerful emotions you know. It’s ok to be scared, just don’t use it as your guide.

I love the term: Sheepwalking. It’s about scaring people as much as possible to make them follow you. A typical management trick.

Are you a manager of leaders? Woops, start developing your leadership skills rapidly or feel miserable every day of your professional life.

Being a manager is easy. If being a leader was easy, everyone would be one. It’s tough to believe in your new idea, it’s tough to speak for an unknown crowd about your believes, it’s tough to attack the status quo. If you don’t find that tough: you are a leader.

Our Dutch team passed me an interesting link(Dutch) to an investigation done by Hay Group. Over 5.500 employees from Germany, France, UK and the Benelux were interviewed. Their conclusion: massive employee migrations (59%!) will hit the market! That’s a big difference compared to last year. The recession caused a lot of frustration.

I talk to hundreds of business people from different sectors regularly and I can only confirm that what I hear matches the investigation and matches my believes:

• People in great teams make the difference
• Talent is only an Olympic minimum. Everybody has some kind of talent.
• What creates real Olympic Business Champions:
• Motivated people
• Focused teams
• Great networks

I have worked for one corporate company with an awesome people culture: Telindus. I’ve experienced the difference between a good company and a great company. And the difference is huge! A few years ago Telindus was bought by Belgacom, and the “kick ass culture” disappeared in a few months time. Amazing no? Was it the building? Was it the strategy? Was it the products? No: it was the people.

At Hercules Trophy, our crew is crucial. It’s fantastic to see how they look forward to the event and enjoy the party after a day of hard work. It’s great to see how they connect with the fans, how they have fun, how they promote the event and how proud they are to be part of the crew. And they should be! I’m not saying that every crew member is on the same level, but the great ones lead the way and the bad ones are eliminated automatically. I’m convinced that any company can create this kind of atmosphere.

During customer contacts, I can easily sense which companies are doing great and which ones are probably facing problems. Typical negative indicators:

• “I don’t see the value of teambuilding”
• “150EUR per person all-in is expensive for a networked teambuilding.”
• “Why should I connect on an emotional level with my customers and suppliers?”
• “People don’t want to do anything for my company during the weekend”
• “People don’t want to do sports with other team members”
• “People don’t want to come to a party with their colleagues”

I can only advice company owners, managers and employees to do something about it. Start with yourself. Start to lead by example. Every day is a new day to change. It requires a lot of leadership and humor, but the results are amazing if you manage to do it right.

The Belgian Circus works on my nerves. People all over the world ask me what’s going on here. Simple: Belgium is surreal and people in Flanders (that’s the north, where I live) has over 50% right wing voters since yesterday. That’s one out of two!?! I’m deeply ashamed. We used to be a great country to live in, with fantastic and tolerant people and we are throwing it away at the speed of light. So for once and for all I will write down my opinion. I know most of you (50% I presume) will stop after a few paragraphs, because most people are only interested in short quotes and don’t want to face reality. That’s not my problem. If you don’t wanna read, just look at the video below.

1. Some people think we live in a democracy. They must be out of their mind. We live in a particracy. This means the leaders of the parties decide who goes to parliament and who doesn’t. Elections are just a tool to make people believe they have something to say and are the perfect excuse to take away their power. “The people have spoken”. Come on, get real. Most of the people on the list won’t even take their position. Maybe your cousin has a great political vision, but I got news for you: he won’t make it into parliament unless he sucks up to the party bosses and walks in line. “Who doesn’t vote doesn’t have to complain afterwards”. That’s the biggest bullshit I heard in years. As if politicians listen if you do complain??? I complain about the economical situation in Belgium. I complain about the stand still in this country. I complain about the BHV-bullshit. Did one politician come up with some kind of a plan (a plan is not a list of stuff and it’s something you achieve together). If those leaders would show any kind of leadership, I wouldn’t be too worried about the system, however they don’t. So, for once and for all: “I don’t vote anymore, unless things change drastically (and I’m pretty sure they won’t)”.

2. The economical crisis in Europe is unseen since World War 2. Now even countries are under attack. We laugh at Greece but Belgium needs to find 22bil EUR by 2015 if the economical growth is higher than 2% for the next 5 years (which it won’t). IMF tells us that economical growth between 2007 and 2011 in Asia was 8,5% and hardly 0,5% in Europe! We blame the EURO, not ourselves. It’s the fault of “the others”. Most of the voters don’t even know about economical crisis when they kept their jobs or their large pensions. They talk about it, but they don’t really feel it. They are more annoyed by those o so bad French speaking people and who will win “My Restaurant”. They still think they live in a country of milk and honey where unions defend their rights from strike to strike. However, they will feel it when nothing changes fast. And when you look at the programs of the political parties: they don’t even mention real plans to solve the crisis! All the surrounding countries have the balls to take serious decisions. By the way: reforming the state will cost MORE, but that’s only my simple mind…

3. We didn’t have a serious government for the past I don’t know how many years. Did those jokers apologize at all or just resigned because the felt incompetent? No, they stay where they are and they “understand” people are sick of it “but let’s be positive and look at the future and let’s build bridges” (read this with a patronizing tone) with exactly the same lousy leaders??? Face it: they lack political talent! And talent is an olympic minimum. To achieve something you need more than talent. You need a team and clear goals. If a father, a CEO, a colleague, a friend, a football team, an athlete… would do what these people do, they would be lynched on the spot.

4. And when we find those 22bil EUR, the pension system will start to collapse from 2015. We know that for decades now. The baby boomers have done nothing to fix that. It’s a sure thing that their children (that’s me) and their grandchildren will never achieve the wealth they had. The past 11 years, the socialist party had the responsibility over pensions…last year we even had an alcoholic clown as minister… ”but ok, that was the past let’s be positive because now things will completely change”??? The party leader of that minister will probably become our new prime minister. Can you imagine this? This guy claims that the economy is doing great and nothing needs to be done???

5. The media is completely sick. Weeks before the elections all they do is talk about this mister Bart De Wever who played the final of a stupid show on Flemish Television called “The Smartest Person”. The whole country watched this for months (not me). So he must be really smart then? Come on! He’s got a degree in history. So? Billions of people have degrees you know. A few years ago his party almost didn’t get the minimal number of votes. People forget he never did anything except making it impossible to govern the country. This is the guy who says Belgium has to be split by 2035 and then quickly turns to “confederalism” and “building bridges with the French”. He’s the guy who says he will create 500.000 new jobs by 2015. We never even did that when things were going great! Who believes these kind of people? Who votes for them? My neighbor? My friend? The media is not objective anymore. They support him. They just look for the quick quotes and don’t even ask questions anymore. They do one poll in which mister De Wever gets 25% extra votes and from that moment on, it’s true. Elections are not necessary anymore; we can already start talking about the day after because media people think they are so smart. This mister De Wever even had the nerve to talk to the international press? Have to admit: he looked extremely silly. And the people? They don’t even question the media anymore. In 1991, we experienced a Black Sunday on November 24th. The party of Mister De Wever won this weekend. Do you think the media calls it a Black Sunday?

6. Entrepreneurship in Belgium is nearly dead. It’s very difficult to be an entrepreneur in Belgium. If you say you do export, people think you are crazy or that you are doing some business in The Netherlands and who knows Germany, or that you are doing fraud or something. Economy is the engine of a country you stupid! An economy needs a long term and inspiring goal. Companies know very well they have to react fast to changing conditions. If they don’t, they will go bankrupt. Companies know very well that the total supply chain is crucial to be successful. They know they have to stay on speaking terms with each other. They look at the political media show with consternation. When China and India are growing with 9% and Europe isn’t, an alarm bell should sound. But no…

7. Our school system of which we were so proud once, goes down the drain. We are not even in the top 50 anymore of The Times Higher Education Survey, but everybody still claims we are. People don’t know their languages anymore, teachers are demotivated, classes are getting bigger, parents think they know better, there’s not enough sports at school…Children are our future remember?

8. Our Healthcare system can’t be financed anymore. In the 70’s, when I was born, the Belgian dept was 56% of BBP. Today it’s nearly 100%. The baby boomers have created a great environment for themselves with royal and early pensions, low activity rate, a big government and an unpayable healthcare system. You should be ashamed of yourselves! There will never be another generation in Belgian history with so much money. That’s simple math you stupid. What do they use that money for: play with it on the stock exchange and complain to each other they lost it…If you believe this will change, think again. People in politics, media and unions defend the system. Why? Because they are Baby boomers! More than 50% of the Belgian voters consist of 50+ and people who work for the government. Do you think they want to change anything? Talk to them and you will know how much they care. I’ve got news for them: watch the video I posted on my blog in January 2009 and enjoy you wealthy live until 2016. If you say “this is about America”, stop reading my blog you fool.

My conclusion: Belgium, and specifically Flanders, has become an ego-world. Me me me me. And that’s a very bad thing. Polarization is increasing. Extremism is very ok. Me against them. People are losing important values. They work a lot less. They don’t dream anymore. They don’t want to walk the extra mile. They become fatter by the year. People take and don’t give anymore. Short term thinking has become the standard. Teamwork is not done. This is not the world I want to raise my kids in. Read your history books about the Roman Empire, the Turks before World War 1, Argentina (the second richest country in the beginning of the 20th century) and so many others and make your own conclusions.

However, I want to stay that little boy who thinks he can change the world. I relate very much to Generation We. I stay as far as I can from the negatives. Every day is a new day. Lead by example. Keeps me fit and open minded. The current situation has to change rapidly. When you talk to people you hear more of them saying the same things: “We can’t accept this anymore”, “I’m ashamed of my country”, “I want to get out of here”, “I realize I have to change too”, “Let’s forget about our fears”. I hope they mean it because 50% voted right wing… We need people to stand up, lead by example, do more with less and take difficult decisions. Remember ‘68…

If we don’t succeed to keep the very best in this country, emigration of talent is inevitable and things will become even worse for the people who stay behind.

Didn’t find the time to write down my thoughts lately. So here it goes.

Just watched a fabulous in flight movie – Invictus - based on the book “Playing the Enemy”. You know, the one I read some time ago. I just loved it and it has been a while I stayed awake during a movie. These past 6 months, Inge forces me to watch movies to make me sleep. In the meanwhile she stays awake, so I don’t really see the point of the whole thing :-). But anyway…luckily my lovely kids wake me up very early so I can get back to work and focus on my passion again.

I’m not going to tell you all about Invictus. Just watch it – guys, you’re allowed to cry - and you’ll know what I mean: “Sport has the power to unite in a way that little else does.”(Nelson Mandela)

The past year we were working extremely hard to realise our dream: to connect business people, not just the sporty ones, with the sports world. I did many speeches for large and small groups, had a lot of face to face discussions in many countries. I talked about the similarities between the sports and the business world. I talked about emotional resonance. I used the example of the Belgian Bobsleigh ladies many times. These examples make people understand that it can’t be just about talent. Everybody has some kind of talent you know. That’s an Olympic minimum. It’s about passion, focus and great teams and networks supporting you to reach your full potential.

I used examples of managers/politicians/reporters/people who manage/live by fear, not by passion. These people try to make other people believe there is something that is called “safety” and everybody should stay in that safety zone. They take people from one fear (some of you are even affraid of sports?!?) to the next one and tell them they will fix it for them. If you think other people will fix your issues, you are probably the biggest fool of all. You are the captain of your soul. It’s never too late to get a grip on your own life. The future is being shaped by what you do today, not tomorrow. It’s ok to be affraid sometimes (I’m too if that helps you), just don’t let it guide your actions.

O yeah, I also watched Up in the Air. Since I did some serious travelling the past weeks, I liked it. But one of the most hilarious ones was “The Invention of Lying”!