Money and happiness

Being happy. Who doesn’t want that? β€œI have everything, but I’m still not happy,” I heard someone say recently. It was such an intimate conversation, before COVID19, on a plane, you know. The woman in question spoke furtively softly, but still way too loudly in...

Reputational damage

Damage to reputation. What does that cost? You might immediately think of the big organizations. Unilever, Shell. But you are also an organization. You as a private person with a job, a career or a company. Big players like Shell and Unilever have a lot to lose,...

Loyal privateer

Are you a loyal freebooter? Before you can say yes to that, you should know what I mean. My guess is no. You don't know. I'll explain. Maybe you can relate. A loyal freebooter is - in my opinion - a...

Compassion, the beginning of liberation

Oh yes. My father. An ordinary man. A special father. Just like all our fathers. In his younger years, my father would set hornet's nests on fire without any fuss. Killing thousands of little animals in one fell swoop. Apologies to the animal rights activists, I know it hurts you...

Another profession

From banker to pastry chef. Or from marketing tycoon to market trader. From designer to inventor. From furniture maker to teacher. I now ask you a question of conscience: do you also sometimes long for a different profession? The marketing tycoon who became a market trader, that is...