The Childlike Philosopher
The Childlike Philosopher We’re visiting Maarten Coolen. Maarten is a philosopher from Amsterdam, respectably old at 80 years. He still has the same astonished eyes as in a childhood portrait hanging in his room. He’s 5 years old in it. Never really aged. He is not just any ‘philosophologist’, an expert in philosophical systems, someone […]
The Most Important Question
The Most Important Question Each time, I’m curious and a bit tense: now it will be revealed what the training has done, what it has meant for the student board after an afternoon working with MoTiv on Voorstraat. The most important question is not an evaluation: ‘What did you think of the training?’ or ‘Would […]
Community Builders
Community Builders “Action over words” is a mantra for many budding engineers and the reason behind their choice of Delft. It’s about deeds, not discourse. Not just talking, but doing. Working on solutions is deemed better than wasting time discussing them, as often happens in The Hague. As coaches, we’ve frequently seen this: when students […]
Discovering New Rituals Across the Ocean
Discovering New Rituals Across the Ocean Last October, I was across the ocean with Renske and David. We spent several days delving into leadership. At the International Leadership Association in Vancouver, we were immersed in lectures, workshops, and networking events about leadership. Particularly, a seminar on female leadership in academia was very inspiring. The visit […]
Eye contact
Eye contact It’s something commonplace, and yet few things are as intimate as eye contact. We connect with each other through our eyes even before we’ve spoken a word. Recently, I saw a traffic sign that read: ‘make eye contact with another driver.’ I taught in a classroom for a few years and experienced that […]
I suffer from the life I lead.
I suffer from the life I lead. You visit your family doctor, saying you feel unwell. You can’t quite articulate what’s wrong. It feels like you constantly have to be someone other than who you are. You act extroverted, but you don’t feel extroverted at all. The doctor looks at you, examines you, and asks […]