Marcel van Marrewijk's Blog, page 170

Productiviteit en serendipity

Ondernemen en serendipity lijken soms wel twee tegen gestelde belangen. Ze lijken in ieder geval in hun energie recht tegenover elkaar te staan. Ondernemen gaat toch vaak uit van een bepaalde controle en calculaties. Maar ook een grens tussen belangrijke en niet belangrijke zaken met uiteindelijk een positief resultaat onderaan de streep. Serendipity draait juist erg om dingen los laten en laten ontstaan. Om zo oog te hebben voor waardevolle dingen die je op het eerste moment misschien totaal over het hoofd ziet en niet als waardevol had ingeschat.

Ik merk het zelf als ik op ondernemerszaken sta ingetund. Helemaal als het om cijfers gaat of productie draaien of een heleboel kleine dingen regelen gaat. Dan krijg ik, als het positief interpreteer, een soort focus om het allemaal voor elkaar te krijgen. Echter die focus heeft ook een heel groot nadeel: je ziet eigenlijk niet meer wat er om je heen gebeurt. Je hebt al helemaal geen oog voor het positieve wat uit het onverwachte kan komen ofwel serendipity.

De kracht van serendipity is juist dat je vindt, wat je het hardste nodig hebt ook al weet je nog niet wat dat is. Die serendipity zorgt voor de mooiste en meest waardevolle ideeën en vooral ontmoetingen. De ondernemersenergie kan je dan vervolgens weer gebruiken om die ideeën ook daadwerkelijk toe te passen.

Wat ik veel om me heen zie en ook zelf ervaar is dat het eng is om ruimte te creëren voor serendipity. Bijvoorbeeld om mee te doen met de gezamenlijk lunch op een van onze locaties of deel te nemen aan een sessie Seats2learn of Host to Transform. Of om juist als het druk is bij het koffiezetapparaat te gaan staan. Want ja die deadline moet gehaald worden. Er gebeuren dingen die je niet in de hand hebt. Het gaat niet goed met je business of er zijn urgente zaken die aandacht behoeven. Ofwel het gaat ten koste van je productiviteit…

Maar is dat ook werkelijk zo? Het voelt vaak zo, want je bent niet met je “busy” work bezig, maar tegelijkertijd wordt ik er in ieder geval wel blijer door en juist ook effectiever. En dat zie ik ook om me heen. Na een gezamenlijke lunch of een inspirerende sessie gaat bijna iedereen weer lichter en efficiënter aan het werk. Juist ook met het zicht op zijn of haar ondernemersdoelen.

Waar ik heel benieuwd naar ben is hoe jij dat ervaart en hoe jij ruimte creëert om te spelen, creatief te zijn en serendipity toe te laten in je ondernemende leven.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Keynote Kaspar Korjus about e-Residency

Kaspar Korjus, the Program Director of the Estononian e-Residency program, shared an update about the program on feb 4th at the Crowdfunding Hub in Amsterdam. Martijn Arets from Crowd Expedition was there and recorded the keynote, so that we could share it with you.

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S2M In japanese Newsweek!

This week a very nice article appears in the Japanese Newsweek! Although it is a  bit hard to read if you don’t speak japanese it is a very nice story and it shows that our story is spreading across the globe!

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Servicemanager (m/v) gezocht voor Seats2meet station Amersfoort

Seats2meet station Amersfoort heeft plek voor een nieuwe servicemanager! Bekijk hieronder de vacature. Iets voor jou? Solliciteer voor 26 februari 2016.

 

 

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Seats2Meet goes to Melbourne … via Belgium

September 2011 I arrived in Melbourne for my second IODA (International Organisation Development Association) conference. I was going there together with my friend and colleague Cyriel Kortleven because we both believe that we can create more human and society oriented organisations instead of the mainly profit oriented ones that still rule a big part of our corporate landscape.

 

It was another step in my search for a purposeful career, which had started in 2006 when I decided to leave IT behind me. It was a bigger step than I had expected. The first night when I sat down for dinner at Fed Square with Cyriel, mere hours after I have arrived after a 23 hour journey from Belgium, I immediately has this visceral feeling that came over me: I am home! It is this feeling that made me say yes to a request from someone I met during that first visit. The request was the following: ‘Could you come and speak at a student conference in March next year? … But it’s only 15 minutes and we can not pay you.’ March 2012 I boarded a flight to bring me back to Melbourne to go and speak at the student conference and the investment of my time and money has more than payed off. Sometimes we just need to follow our instincts and do things that people consider to be batshit crazy I guess.

 

I spent 2 weeks in Melbourne that time and my network just simply exploded. Part of it had to do with the people I met through the conference, another part of it with the fact that I went back to the HUB, a co working space that I got to know on my first visit. It is there that I really experienced the value of what a co working space can bring for the first time. I had been to co working spaces before. I had been to the HUB in Brussels and had facilitated the opening of S2M in Eindhoven. But until then I didn’t really ‘get’ it. It’s a concept you need to grow into when you come from the ‘normal’ corporate world I guess and it requires a shift in mindset that can take some time.

 

Now that I ‘got’ it I wanted more of it. This was a great concept and I wanted to be part of it! I re connected with the HUB in Brussels but it was just too hard to get to due to their location and not long after they went bankrupt. Sad because they really tried to build community. Then, after my move to Antwerp I tried out a couple of co working spaces there. I was left disappointed though because I was missing the social aspect that I had experienced in Melbourne. The setup of the space was just too office like in order to facilitate the social connections that I deemed so valuable. It felt more like a rented desk than a co working space.

 

And there was another issue that I ran into: competition between co working spaces. It confused me. How can you set up a space that aims to increase collaboration and then go into an almost cut throat competition with other spaces that aim to do the same? It just didn’t make sense to me … from a value oriented point of view that is. From a profit or business model point of view it makes all the sense in the world … if you limit your thinking.

 

Things work different in Melbourne. They don’t have the level of collaboration that I would like to see in the co working space world but there also is no cut throat competition going on. There is an constructive relationship between the owners of most of the co working spaces I have been to. And yes, I have come back to Melbourne many times and will continue to do so in the future.

 

I love the diversity in culture there, the friendliness of the people, the fact that they are willing to try things out instead of killing it off with a ‘yes, but’ from the get go. I love the artsy fartsy vibe of the city, the vibrant dance community I started tapping into during my second visit, their totally unpredictable weather and their world class coffee. Yes, Melbourne turned me into a real coffee snob It’s a city that beats in synch with my rhythm. People are passionate about what they do, work hard and are also laid-back, a combination I really like.

 

Since the fall of 2015 a new mission has been added to my stays in Melbourne. In 2014 I was working on creating a platform that would connect people and grassroots projects. This idea was born out of the realisation that there are a lot of groups working on projects which could be a real boon for society but their efforts often fall short because most of them are working on their own little island without a tool to easily connect them to other, similar project groups. After having a chat with Frederik Feys we decided to do something about that. We wanted it to be easy to use and require as little effort as possible from the users. For that I was looking at artificial intelligence. I was pretty sure that we could implement and train an AI that could learn to recognise similarities in people and projects. To realise that we needed to get IT people on board though and that proved to be harder than we anticipated, especially since we did’t have a budget to work with and it proved to be hard to sell something that was mainly focused on creating value instead of profit. So the idea got kind of shelved. Up until a meeting that led me to re connect with Seats2Meet in Utrecht. After a very inspiring chat with Lenneke van Rossum and Vincent Ariens I came to the discovery that they had implemented what I was dreaming of, an AI powered platform that connects people and learns form the feedback. That was not all though. The value oriented drive that I discovered behind the organisation was what I missed with most organisations and co working spaces I had been to. The business model almost always took precedence over the value model, something that often frustrated the hell out of me. Here I had found people who had the guts to do it the other way around. It was then and there that I decided to become an ambassador for them in Melbourne.

 

I believe that we need to evolve to a more collaborative society. The human race did not get this far through competition but through collaboration. We thrive through sharing. The pre requisite for that is that we feel safe doing so, something that is often severely lacking in the world we live in today. Especially in corporations where it’s too often about beating the competition and eating as much of the pie as possible instead of sharing it. That model is not sustainable and it will run us into the ground. It is a breath of fresh air to see different models. I believe that Seats2Meet and the values they represent can create positive change in this world and that’s why I came on board.

 

I did not get where I am on my own. There have been many people and organisations that have inspired me, believed in me and supported me on my journey. Some I already mentioned in this post and there are many, many more. I could not have done this without them. I especially want to thank Pacquita Balcaen and Matt Batey for re connecting me with Seats2Meet, Andre van den Toorn for giving me the opportunity to publish on this platform and Renske Mennen for being my partner in crime in Melbourne. The journey has just begun and I am excited to be on my way.

 

My name is Stef Kuypers and I am a Stand-Up Entrepreneur

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Matchmaking 3.0

Facilitating powerful networking

Events are the stage where people meet in real life, build relationships and share knowledge through a mutual experience. It’s the optimal time and place to network and to bond with others. Research has shown that networking remains among the top 3 reasons why people attend events.

But do you know that feeling when you’re at an event but you don’t know anyone? You walk around the room slightly diffident, a bit insecure, checking out the different people that are actively talking, not sure how to make the first step and then eventually you find the coffee bar- quickly you grab a cup of coffee. What a relief- finally something to hold on to. And suddenly with your new cup of encouragement you start to go from one conversation to another, hoping to meet relevant people, who share a similar drive, ambition and interest which hopefully leads to an exchange of ideas and knowledge. Networking can be exhausting but at the same time it so important. It gives you the opportunity to represent yourself and your business as well as to meet new people and find peers. Being active in environments where people can share their knowledge, visions and ideas, where they educate and empower themselves help you to become a better version of yourself for yourself.

As an event organizer we see that networking is often not easy or organic. Returning attendees often clump to people they know, leaving newcomers uninvolved and alone with their cup of coffee. As an event professional we have to find ways to facilitate networking.

Wouldn’t it be nice to encourage people to connect to others they might not know but are relevant to them?  Wouldn’t it be nice to accelerate serendipitous meetings to provide the attendees with positive encounters?  We think it would be great. That’s why we have developed S2M for Events.

The software goes beyond simply checking into an event or area. It gives visitors insights into who the other attendees are and what knowledge is present at the event. By using artificial intelligence the software dynamically matches them to other relevant professionals based on their knowledge and talents. This can take place before, during and after the event. It allows them to get in touch with others and gain access to the present professional network of innovative thinkers. Additionally, visitors also become part of the worldwide S2M network. Once they are connected, they can start exchanging knowledge, collaborate and grow!

By using the software the forward thinking event organizer offers something that is often lacking in most event apps and tools- context. S2M for Events boosts the effectiveness of networking by offering attendees unexpected but relevant encounters and creating meaningful connections in a sort of orchestrated serendipity. In this way events become more relevant to the attendees.

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How to elevate your platform thinking – the role of Devil’s Advocates in harnessing serendipity

 

Platform thinking is gaining momentum and for a good reason. It has disrupted many industries already and it will re-shape our business ecosystem thinking in the very near future. The consequences of this evolution process will be huge and therefore it’s fundamental for us to adapt as early as possible to these changes.

The first conceptual definition of platforms, which I have noticed was by John Hagel, John Seely Brown and Lang Davison in their brilliant book “The Power of Pull” (2010). They introduced the notion ‘pull platforms’. The authors defined the new phenomenon as following:[1]

“Pull platform is used metaphorically to describe frameworks for orchestrating a set of resources that can be configured quickly and easily to serve a broad range of needs”.

With a wide set of case examples the authors were able to explain in beforehand, already few years ago, the vital benefits of platform thinking. They also predicted with amazing accuracy the vast implications, which platform thinking will bring to out business environment.

The fundamental changes that accompany every shift in the industries, which are getting transformed by the platform thinking are:

1) new networked markets get created

2) new sources of supply start to emerge

3) new consumption patterns will be developed.

4) new and unique combinations of competences will be created.

The first three (by Sangeet Paul Choudary) are certainly valid when talking about traditional platforms, but I added also the fourth dimension, which is available by the use of competence platforms.

John Hagel et al have analysed ‘pull’ driven platform thinking and they conclude that to exploit the opportunities created by uncertainty, pull platforms help people to come together and innovate in response to unanticipated events, drawing upon a growing array of highly specialized and distributed resources. With this feature a pull platform becomes a real asset for ecosystem builders and in orchestration of distributed freelancer organizations.

In the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) conditions the developments and the encounters often are unexpected and hence unpredictable. Pull platforms and the concrete implementation of them called competence platform will help to prepare for the unexpected and act accordingly. The self-organizing characteristics, the agility and open access are the fundamental features of competence platform and vital for survival in out contemporary business environment, and unfortunately not offered by the traditional communication tools.

How do the Devil’s Advocates fit into this thinking, why do we need them? That is a question, which has recently obsessed my mind. And the answer is finally found from Gary Klein’s wonderful book ”Seeing What Others Don’t – The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights”. According to Gary Klein insight, which is the key outcome of serendipity process, will be triggered by (the picture below):

 

Connections
Coincidence
Curiosity
Contradiction
Creative Desperation

Actually a contradiction is a very strong catalyst for unexpectedness. And there are many wonderful stories in the history of serendipity about cases where especially contradiction has ignited the final insight for a great discovery. Let’s figure out how we can benefit from this approach.

Creating contradiction by purpose is easy, just make sure that there will be enough diversity in your platform and if needed ask some people to play the Devil’s Advocate role. For harnessing serendipity purposes this will certainly be a great alternative. Putting people in front of unexpected contradictions will sparkle their creativity and lead to insightful results.  The role of Devil’s Advocate might be a real catalyst in many communities and companies, as long as it’s understood the right way. Contradictory opinions can stimulate the serendipity process in various ways. Often innovation communities are way too homogenous without any contradictions; the ability to tolerate uncertainty and different kind of thinking is the key to fruitful discussions and hence disruptive solutions in any business ecosystem.

The critical success factor in introducing Devil’s Advocate principle to a competence platform is to design the matching algorithm in a way that also people with totally different values and competences are invited to certain swarms, partups or whatever they are called in various services. The alarming trend with just mixing people with similar interests and values is not encoruraging contradictory behavior – vice versa. So, as a platform operator you will be more successful and have better results with great impact, if you encourage the Devil’s Advocates to do their job properly.

(During the canonization process employed by the Roman Catholic Church, the Promoter of the Faith (Latin: promotor fidei), popularly known as the Devil’s advocate (Latin: advocatus diaboli), was a canon lawyer appointed by Church authorities to argue against the canonization of a candidate.[2] It was this person’s job to take a skeptical view of the candidate’s character, to look for holes in the evidence, to argue that any miracles attributed to the candidate were fraudulent, and so on.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_advocate

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Hagel III, John Seely Brown & Lang Davison: ”The Power of Pull – How Small Moves, Smartly Made. Can Set Things in Motion”, Basic Books, New York, USA (2010), page 76

http://platformed.info/platform-stack/, Sangeet Paul Choudary.

Ilkka Kakko, Mika Lavikainen, Tatiana Glotova: ”netWork Oasis: New Practises for Emergent Collaborative Working Environments” p. 338 in a book by Luis Camarinha Matos, Hamidesh Afsarmanesh, Martin Ollus (eds) ”Network Centric Collaboration and Supportive Frameworks”, Springer, NY, USA (2006)

Gary Klein (2013): ”Seeing What Others Don’t – The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights”, Public Affairs, New York

 

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Social Capital

By Tianne van Woudenberg Directly translated from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sociaal-kapitaal-tianne-van-woudenberg

The Seats2meet-concept is driven by an important principle: the sharing of abundance. Apart from renting out seats there are also seats that we can share for free with independent professionals so they can work and discuss. Since these seats are available thanks to abundance they do not have to pay for this, or at least not in a monetary form.

However, this is not to say it is completely free; they pay with social capital! I’ve realized that the concept of social capital usually raises some questions. What does it exactly entail? Why do you work with social capital, and how does it actually work?

Social Capital

At Seats2meet.com ‘social capital’ refers to the willingness to share your abundance of knowledge and your network, and to be open to serendipitous encounters. We facilitate this by giving you the opportunity to book a flexible workspace for free if you let us know what you will be working on. By means of a dashboard we are able to give people insight into the knowledge and skills present at the Seats2meet location. In this way we can optimally facilitate serendipitous encounters between the independent professionals present at the location!

Why?

We live in a society that is changing all the time and which poses many challenges. Elise de Bres (my coworker) and I believe that connecting people is the most important prerequisite for a better future. As an individual, community, country and citizen of the world we can conquer any challenge, as long as we can do this together. That is why we create an environment that facilitates connections between people and the sharing of knowledge. This will eventually and organically lead to co-creation. In short: the ecosystem facilitates the exchange of social capital and the sharing of abundance.

Do I have sufficient social capital to offer, and if so how can I do this?

Everyone has knowledge, talents and a network! Being open to helping others by means of your knowledge, talents and network is enough. How? By fetching coffee for the other people in the open lounge and starting a conversation, or asking your neighbor what they’re working on during the lunch break. You could also participate in one of the short network sessions we frequently offer. Do you have another way that works better for you? That is fine as well! Do you have a pressing deadline and no time for small-talk? No worries, it is okay to be anti-social every once in a while!;) But not too often, of course!

What do we offer independent professionals?



In exchange for your social capital (the sharing of your knowledge and abundance) we offer you a space to work with wi-fi, coffee, tea  and lunch. However, keep in mind that “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” If you don’t want to contribute in social capital we expect you to pay in monetary capital. You can do so by booking a meeting space.

Either way, YOU ARE WELCOME!

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S2M’s Asian Adventure!

These are turbulent times here at S2M International! The release of S2M for Events and our rapid international growth; so many exciting things! One of our projects is introducing S2M to the Asian market. Why Asia, you ask? Well, let me tell you. The Global Coworking Survey 2015 concluded that the biggest coworking centers can be found in Asia. The coworking scene in South-East Asia is experiencing exponential growth, not only with regards to the number of coworking locations but also the amount of members. With some big events planned for 2016 Asia is definitely a ‘place to be’ for coworking centers and startups.

On the one hand you have the well-established startup hubs such as Singapore. TechinAsia calls Singapore the “3rd most popular technology destination in the world for professionals”. The government, which has been very active in igniting the entrepreneurial fire, has been a massive driving force for Singapore’s professional allure. Although it is the smallest of the ASEAN countries it has the highest GDP. (source). Nearly every university has its own accelerator program stimulating the young population to take risks and innovate. Hubs such as Block 71 form the heart of the innovative society, housing startups, venture capitalists and incubators in one building. Connect, collaborate & grow; that’s our motto at S2M and this seems to be what the Singaporean ecosystem is all about. It is no wonder that Singapore is our first focus point on our journey to Asia! Are you currently in Singapore, or planning on heading over there sometime soon? Why don’t you check out one of these coworking spaces and share your experiences with us? Or if you happen to be in Singapore April 12th-13th, why don’t you attend TechinAsia and experience the innovative ecosystem yourself?!

Apart from the well-developed and established Asian innovation ‘hubs’ you also have the up-and-coming places such as South-Korea and Shenzhen. A couple of years ago the startup scene in South-Korea was pretty much non-existent; in January 2015 there are an estimated 30,000 startups! Although the ‘true’ startup culture is still developing, the technological infrastructure has a massive carrying capacity to turn South-Korea into a true global innovation hub. Shenzhen is another example of a miraculous development into a  “hardware capital of the world.” With the full support from the Chinese government Shenzhen has really become a ‘place to be’ for tech-startups and accelerators.

This lively and fast-changing start-up society is the perfect place to introduce S2M. Facilitating the matching and connecting of relevant parties is so important in creating an efficient, effective and  innovative ecosystem. Our first encounter with the Asian market will take place February 24th-28th in Bali at the Coworking Unconference Asia. With 250 participants from over 30 countries, the second edition of CU Asia will provide opportunity to find out how we can match the serendipity software to the needs of the Asian market. We will be sure to include you in every step of our Asian adventure, so be sure to check the magazine for new blogs!

 

 

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Seats2meet magazine is updated!

With over 350 postings in 1,5 year we thought the time was right to improve the Seats2meet Magazine. We changed the complete lay out and made it much easier to post your new blogpost.  

Off course I can tell you a lot about it, but seeing is believing So I share some screenshots with you to see what’s new. Next to a fantastic new layout we also made it much easier to post a blog for the magazine. If you want to post a story in the S2M Magazine, let us know! You are more than welcome!

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The first impression shows you the featured post. Selected by us and absolutely must reads. Right above you see a ticker which informs you about the trending posts of this moment. Directly after this block you see the latest posts.

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If you scroll further down you see a highlight of the specials of the magazine. At the moment we have specials about the Seats2meet Lab, the Sharing Economy and Seats4silence.

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Every author has it’s own overview page with the published posts.

[image error]And then off course a post itself. A nice image with some featured posts on the side. There are some more nice elements added, find them out yourself! We are very curious what you think about it  

Enjoy the weekend!

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