People unite and gather to make great achievements. When these gatherings become formal we call them meetings. And everyone will agree that there are good and bad meetings. Sadly enough, in most organisations the bad ones dominate over the good ones. And it is sad indeed. Because you disengage from the group and that, in [...]
Dave Gray, founder and chairman of the visual thinking company XPLANE, has just released his new book ‘The Connected Company’. The speed that information moves across, customers, markets, investors and beyond, changes the environments in which our companies are operating. More and more, customers request special and tailor-made treatments. In ‘The Connected Company’ Dave Gray [...]
Innovation is inefficient. Innovation is embracing uncertainty. You’re standing in a big vast room. And everywhere around, you see doors. There are so many doors that the walls, the ceiling and the floor of the room are actually made up of doors. There’s nothing that resembles a normal piece of wall. It’s just doors, doors [...]
Paul Iske is the Chief Dialogues Officer at the ABN AMRO Bank. It’s an intriguing position in which he is responsible for the Dialogues House and Dialogues Incubator. The ABN AMRO Bank created these spaces to support entrepreneurial and innovative thinking and behaviour within and outside the bank. Ruben: The Dialogues House and Dialogues Incubator [...]
Keith Sawyer is one of the leading scholars on creativity, collaboration and learning. He is author of several books including the best sellers ‘Explaining Creativity’ and ‘Group Genius’. Working in the creative field I was surprised to find out that many creativity people (including myself) use misconceptions about how novel ideas originate and creativity works. [...]
Alex Osterwalder is hot. He is co-author of the bestseller book ‘Business Model Generation’. The book inspired me as being one of the only books worth reading on business modelling. The model is simple, handy without being simplistic and it emphasizes the idea of testing and failing. Something I recognize from the field of organisational [...]
You’re in a meeting. The stuff that’s being presented is boring, as is the presenter. You know the discussion will be long and tedious. So you start daydreaming. “Meetings are by definition a concession to deficient organization” is what Peter Drucker wrote in the The Effective Executive. You either meet or you work. You [...]
A while ago I came across The Strength of Weak Ties, an article written by Mark Granovetter some 40 years ago. After the article had been refused in the sixties by the American Sociological Review it was eventually published in the American Journal of Sociology in 1973. That was the tipping point, as Granovetters’s theory [...]
Hurray! My site has reached the young age of 1. And look at all the possibilities that exist with number 1. 1 quote: ‘It’s better to be 3rd instead of 1st’ Malcolm Gladwell 1 thing I’m thankful for: Ella, born on October 11th 1 book that inspired me: ‘Delivering Happiness’ by Tony Hsieh 2011: [...]
Finally there it is: my 7 minute presentation of ‘Creative and Engaging Meetings’ at the Creativity World Forum. Especially for all those who have voted for me but where not able to attend the Forum. And of course, also for all the other interested!
About you
You're leading a team. And you hold meetings; regular ones, occasional ones.
Meetings consume valuable time so you want to get the most out of them. You want them to energize the participants, develop your team and help you achieve your change or innovation.
About Ruben
I'm Ruben van der Laan and I'm here to make your team flow.
I coach, (re)design and lead your meetings unleashing creativity, building teams and organising expediency.
