Moleskine

I am a great fan of moleskine notebooks. I bought my first small pocket moleskine a few years ago as a notebook to record my thoughts where ever I went. It contains all my thoughts and ideas.

I have also started using moleskine notebooks (A5) at my work.

Moleskine notebooks have a great story:

"Moleskine is the legendary notebook, used by European artists and thinkers for the past two centuries, from Van Gigh to Picasso, from Ernest Hemingway to Bruce Chatwin.

This trusty, pocket-size travel companion held sketches, notes, stories and ideas before they were turned into famous images or pages of beloved books.

Originally produced by small French bookbinders who supplied the Parisian stationery shops frequented by the international avant-garde, by the end of the twentieth
century the Moleskine notebook was no longer available. In 1986, the last manufacturer of Moleskine, a family operation in Tours, closed its shutters forever."

15 people work at Modo & Modo and they will sell 5,223,000 Moleskine notebooks in 2006 which will travel the world.

Moleskine is now manufactered by Modo & Modo. Great links with more info is Squidoo's Moleskine page and Moleskinerie. Jeremy Wagstaff, a columnist from the Wall Street Journal wrote an article in the WSJ about Moleskine notebooks





















The sketchbook of Vincent van Gogh (1888–1890) - Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Support our troops

The Dutch Prime-Minister made a surprise visit to the Dutch troops serving with NATO ISAF in Uruzgan Afganistan. He made his trip to boost morale among the troops and the Dutch people. The Ducth homefront has a website with pics of our boys.

The troops als have daily Dutch radio that they can send requests to. Listen to it at Uruzgan.fm. You can also listen to it as a podcast.

The Dutch military has no objections to helping out the British and Canadian troops in the neighbouring provinces. According to the Dutch newspaper NRC (Dutch link) the politicians aren't so sure yet. The Dutch troops are still relatively early in their Deployment.



Kamp in Uruzgan at morning















Burger King at Kandahar Air Field














pics from http://www.tfa-dtf.nl

Surfs up!

Went surfing today in Scheveningen. Started out great, but strong winds messed up the waves.

Best way to relax and get some distance from daily issues.

Amsterdam at night

We had diner at friends in Amsterdam after which we went for a boat trip on the canals in Amsterdam. They have their own small boat so it was just the four of us. The weather was pretty bad during the day, so it was relatively quiet in the canals. The weather in the evening was great. This was the view we had:



A very relaxing way to start the weekend!

What poeple want.

Good rant by Seth Godin about what people want.

Customers want to be special and receive special treatment, but not like too special (they're not a celebrity).

Special means different. Different means as a unique person. Not as part of a segment, but as a real customer.

Customer Relationship Marketing is key. Not the technical (Siebel/Oracle) CRM, but really managing the relationship with every individual and unique customer and building the company around that customer.

It's all about being customer centric, building a true and valued relationship and an authentic story.

Americans like fulfillment and helping others in job

A recent Gallup Panel poll finds that Americans most often say like that their jobs offer them a sense of fulfillment, provide opportunities to help people, and give them autonomy in how they accomplish their tasks.

More immediate concerns such as pay, benefits, and job security rank lower down the list.

On the other hand, American workers' top job "dislikes" are their work schedules, pay, and office politics.

Great to see fulfillment, helping and autonomy higher on the list than pay and benefits.

Creativity and friendship

This weekend we were invited to a murder mystery. The murder mystery had a good plot, video's, excellent diner, great location and about 30 guests per show. It was organized by 10 friends of friends. They played the mystery 3 times.

Why?

Because they love being creative and doing things for friends. No other motive. It was great and a truly entertaining evening. Thanks for doing this for friends.

We should all do this more often!

Dilbert quotes at work

I got this from a friend. Not sure if it's real, but too good not to be...


***********

A magazine recently ran a "Dilbert Quotes" contest. They were looking for
people to submit quotes from their real-life Dilbert-type managers.

These were voted the top ten quotes in corporate America:

"As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building
using individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday, and
employees will receive their cards in two weeks."
(This was the winning quote from Fred Dales, Microsoft Corp. in Redmond WA)


"What I need is an exact list of specific unknown problems we might
encounter."
(Lykes Lines Shipping)


"E-mail is not to be used to pass on information or data. It should be
used only for company business."
(Accounting manager, Electric Boat Company)

"This project is so important we can't let things that are more important
interfere with it."
(Advertising/Marketing manager, United Parcel Service)


"Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule."
(Plant Manager, Delco Corporation)


"No one will believe you solved this problem in one day! We've been
working on it for months. Now go act busy for a few weeks and I'll let you
know when it's time to tell them."
(R&D supervisor, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing/3M Corp.)


Quote from the Boss: "Teamwork is a lot of people doing what I say."
(Marketing executive, Citrix Corporation)


My sister passed away and her funeral was scheduled for Monday. When I
told my Boss, he said she died on purpose so that I would have to miss work
on the busiest day of the year. He then asked if we could change her burial
to Friday. He said, "That would be better for me."
(Shipping executive, FTD Florists)


"We know that communication is a problem, but the company is not going to
discuss it with the employees."
(Switching supervisor, AT&T Long Lines Division)

Creative video!

Very creative video!

Good reading

I just returned from vacation and that's the best time to catch up on some reading. I read three books.

One of them was an adventure by Wilbur Smith set in ancient Egypt: The River God. It is part of a trilogy that is worth reading. Best read them in order, unlike how I did it.

The other two books, I have not completely finished but have already sparked me and are a MUST READ for all. They are A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink and All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin.

A Whole New Mind is about moving from the information age into the conceptual age. Daniel Pink argues that due to Abundance, Asia and Automation we need to start using and excelling in conceptual and left brain aptitudes such as design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning. Relying on 'right brain only thinking' has had its day.

All Marketers Are Liars shows the power of telling authentic stories. He doesn't argue that marketers are liars, but that they are story tellers who tell stories that consumers choose to believe. Something Nike has been doing for some time. Seth Godin has a blog sepecifcally linked to the book.

In English

I have decided to continue posting my website and blog in English. Dutch is my native language, but the audience and interaction in the blogoshpere/Internet is mostly in English.

I will probably switch back and forth between English and Dutch every so often and I will also post links to local sites, but the main language for now will be English.

I'll also be changing the posts a little. It will be on stuff that interests or intrigues me. It will also contain personal stuff and my own experiences. Basically everything that I find interesting in some way. The stuff I post or link to will not always contain my own point of view, but in some way is interesting.

I sometimes won't post in a while, which means that I am doing something else. It doesn't mean anything else, just that I am intersted in something else at that moment. I think it's very healty to do different things at different times. Anyway my life would get boring without change.

So all in all, what you'll see here is (part of) my life.

Yours,

Rod