Author Arjen Van Berkum

15 juni 2015 by Arjen van Berkum Leave a Comment

Recruitment becomes a marketing stunt

Recruitment is a Marketing stunt

When we think of our (potential) customers, especially about how we want to reach them, we right away start to think on marketing level. We contemplate about how we can steer our identity in a way it can influence our image and our reputation positively. We have ideas about our brand: who are we, who we want to be and how we want people to perceive us. We directly connect this with the changes our company culture needs, so it can help us shape the company we wished for. A distinct marketing plan will put all sorts of processes in motion that creates all this. Or at least, we aim for it. Now visualise replacing customers for employees in this situation.

26 mei 2015 by Arjen van Berkum Leave a Comment

The ingredients for building an innovation culture

In today’s dynamic business environment, every organisation must continuously change to stay competitive. How do you maintain the advantage on your competitors? If you can’t make it as a market leader, make sure you at least stay on par with competitors. How? It starts by thinking tactically and strategically from an innovative angle. You are never alone in an ecosystem. Competitors, customers, suppliers, employees and other stakeholders, they are all influenced by the way you act and the other way around. The dynamics of the environment that surrounds your business should be defining how you set up your processes. This ecosystem requires you to clearly position yourself. As an innovative business you should outline who you want to be and define how leading you want your role to be in the market. Looking at the innovation culture you want to build, what place in the ecosystem will suit your business best?

8 mei 2015 by Arjen van Berkum Leave a Comment

How to catch yourself red-handed failing self-leadership

So much has been said and written about leadership, leaders and their (expected) performance. In this blog I’m not specifically referring to executives, but to anyone in the workforce; managers, employees and self-employed professionals. What about them? Well, how do they manage their self-leadership? Nowadays we have to live up to fairly high standards. Are they that high? Let’s keep that open for discussion. I think we experience them high level, when in fact they are just different due to the continuous change and the fast moving technology. Agility is something a lot of people have a hard time dealing with, so they are tempted to take the easy road. People have the tendency to constantly demand and forget that performing is what they are hired for from the start. Since when are accountability and performance optional? Why do we accept neglectful behaviour from ourselves to begin with?

27 april 2015 by Arjen van Berkum Leave a Comment

What would be a fair income gap?

An entrepreneur risks bankruptcy and an executive on payroll is fully protected by collective labour agreement. How honest is our income tax policy, comparing the situations of entrepreneurs, executives and employees for example? Salaries and extras should depend on the risk taking and the (possible) outcome. How is this incorporated in today’s society? More and more organisations are freezing salaries and strike out bonuses. Often a good thing, because in most cases there doesn’t seem to be any relation between the amount of money and the performance. In years of financial crisis, increasing lay-offs and redundancies by reorganisations rewards for the already well paid executives may seem unbelievable unfair, even inhuman in public eyes. What seems to be totally overlooked are the circumstances in which people work; in this case not the environmental circumstances, but the financial arrangements. We are ignoring the risk component that people are or aren’t dealing with. Risk should play a crucial role in how income taxes and discharge arrangements are settled. Not only to minimise the income gap, but also to establish fair play on the labour market.

17 april 2015 by Arjen van Berkum Leave a Comment

The CIO ’s X-factor is being a great mentor in the learning ecosystem

In my previous blog I shared my idea of the try-and-fail strategy and how I thought leadership and education are connected. The blurring lines between functional and theoretical technology as well as those between industries play a crucial role in the evolution of the educational system. Or at least, the evolution this system should go through. Up to now innovations in education seem to be held back by a legacy of traditional believes and standards. When I was discussing this subject with peers after publishing ‘This technology era needs leaders that fail’, I received some nice input that stirred up quit some thoughts about this subject. My conclusion: leaders in education and technology should join forces and develop a new approach, one that is applicable in both learning providers and organisations. But an educational system and business world forming a collaboration that can be the solid, sustainable base for ecosystems raises two questions. First, are the current schools geared to cultivate engaged students? Second, is attendance at school a prerequisite for successful education? No and no, I would say. But let’s start at the beginning of this line of reasoning.

Are you with me?

Author Arjen Van Berkum

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