Van Gils Blogs

A while ago we stopped by to meet with Tamara, Eric, Isabelle and Max. The video is posted zzzzt.

P.S. please mail me if you want a link to the movie. Eric requested me to remove the link

Good news: as of this week I have a new job! As many of you may know, from December on i’ve been looking around to see what is “out there” on the job market. Furthermore, in late December I figured that, in order to do my current job well, I would need to know more about change management. After asking around in my network, Jaqueline tipped me to get in touch with the people at Strategy Works in Rotterdam. It didn’t take too long to make an appointment.

I went to Rotterdam just before Christmas to meet with prof. Bob de Wit for some advice. We had a wonderful conversation of about two hours after whi8ch he announced that he would like us to research the possibility of me working at Strategy Works. The motto of Strategy Works (“Rigor and Relevance”) is particularly appealing for someone with my background and ambition. Either way, I have actively research other options as well, including working for Cap Gemini (where Erik Proper is now also working), DNV Cibit (one of the best IT consultancy and teaching companies in the Netherlands), or a different position at vtsPN (where I currently work). Either way, after talking to the two other directors of Strategy Works, giving a presentation there, and going through the motions of negotiations I signed a contract there last week. I hope to start May 1st… to be continued!

To prepare for my new job I’ve read most of their influential book “strategy synthesis” which, in my opinion, is an excellent and thought-provoking book. I’ve also started reading a book that attempts to associate strategy with enterprise architecture. Particularly convenient for someone with a background in enterprise architecture I also got a copy of Ron Meyer’s dissertation. However, as hoppie always says: “dissertations are meant to be written, not read”. Not sure if I’ll start reading that soon… We’ll see.

Anyway, I’ll be traveling back and forth to Rotterdam by train (1st class). Looking forward to not having to drive the car every day… after about a year we’ll see whether it is necessary / whether we want to move closer to Rotterdam. We’ll see. For now, I’m anxious to start.

P.S. See also here for a picture of the building… this was taken from the harbor of Rotterdam.

Yesterday was the grand finale of the bridge season – at least as far as the open competition in our district was concerned. Numbers 1 through 5 were very close when we started (about 0.5% difference). That left us with some options for promotion as we were in 2nd place. Unfortunately we didn’t play too well yesterday. Seems to be a trend lately but I’m sure things ‘ll pick up again soon. Staying focussed and not loosing concentration throughout the game would help.

Well, the good news is that I did buy some new Berry Westra books, and that we had a lovely meal / party / drinks afterwards in downtown Deventer