Archives for April 2008

Americans in Amsterdam (video)

April 30, 2008 by Dave Hampton

The Today Show is a national, daily American television program with light news and features to help people connect to the world gently as they get up and out the door in the morning. Their roving correspondent, Matt Lauer, drops into cities around the world, giving people perspectives on other cultures.

This week he visited Amsterdam, Delft, and Leiden, reporting on Dutch tourism, tulips, and lifestyles. He is married to a Dutch woman, and plunged into elements of the Netherlands (such as the correct style for Jenever-sipping and the quality of Dutch humor) that don’t usually appear in video essays.

The clips last a few minutes each and are available from the show’s website, along with blogs and essays by the correspondents and crew. They are fun to watch and cover a range of US cross-cultural perspectives.

I’m on the road to Minneapolis and Seattle for the next week, traveling with a Dutch physician who swears that nobody ever drinks Jenever in the style they use on this program.

Curiosity and Experience

April 29, 2008 by Dave Hampton

The French business school, INSEAD, is making a variety of papers and presentations on global business issues available through their Knowledge website. There’s been a good focus on the people-centered aspects of engaging with international partners and customers, including articles on cross-cultural negotiation, diverse hiring, emerging-country entrepreneurship, and social development.

The dean, Frank Brown, recently published an article on global business leadership: I was intrigued by his emphasis on cross-cultural curiosity, as opposed to simply expatriate experience:

‘Transcultural’ leaders at the helm of international companies need to be sensitive to other cultures and national differences. That means leaders today need to be willing to explore and travel. They need to be curious about other people and customs. This awareness and willingness to engage and be intellectually curious about what’s going on in the rest of the world is an absolutely critical component to being effective in a transcultural environment.

I think that this is a really important distinction.

High-potential business talent is seasoned for greater responsibility through rotation programs, spending time in jobs across functions and divisions of the organization. I don’t think it’s as effective as taking longer-term responsibility for actually running a business. Rotations make it too easy to leave before the consequences of decisions can develop, creating disengaged leaders who manage by reference to academic portfolio theory, Harvard case study aphorisms, and analyst’s stock valuation.

In contrast, I think that the greatest value that senior managers bring to our staff meetings is their commitment and experience gained from running a business. Addressing problems ranging from organizational plumbing to market strategy, solutions are found when people discuss their stories, not articles.

And insightful personal stories are the result of engaged careers, with a personal curiosity to understand and a drive to do things better.

I think that Dr. Brown has it right: "Anybody who aspires to be a leader needs to focus beyond their own backyard. A lot of leadership is learned, and a lot comes through being in a position to get the right experience."

Exploring the Vecht

April 27, 2008 by Dave Hampton

How do all the big sailboats get into the Vechtplassen?

A map of the area shows the lakes to the right, and the twisting Vecht river to the left, passing through (of course) Loenen aan de Vecht. The straight cut of the Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal passes diagonally at the far left.

The Kanaal is the logical place for large boats to pass from the sea into the Plassen, but as I search along it’s length, I could not find a direct connection to the Vecht river. The closest suggestion seemed to be at Nigtevecht, a small village east of Abcoude. Google’s maps have a suggestion of a connection to a bend in the Vecht, but the arial shot is certainly ambiguous.

It’s a slow, sunny Sunday: so why not check it out?

The Amsterdam Rijnkanaal must be one of the most utilitarian waterways anywhere: dead straight, lined only with a road, a railroad, and a single row of trees. The only interesting thing is that the water in the canal is visibly higher than the level of the surrounding fields: I have absolute confidence in Dutch mastery of this balance.

Arriving in Nigtevecht, this is the view east at the bend in the Vecht with the canal to my back. The river bend is tagged with markers pointing the way north to Muiden.

However, a bit of tramping about (and ignoring a few “verboden toegang” signs) does turn up the connection between the two.

Locks with a slot between them, one opening directly onto the Canal, and another beneath the bridge. Today, both sets of gates were open. So, interestingly, the river and the canal sometimes, but not always, need to be separated, and the Dutch have defined spots along the Vecht where this can happen. The direction of the lock’s opening suggests that the water rises higher on the canal side locks, and that they form a barrier to prevent backflow into the Vecht when this happens.

It’s also clear that, far from being a meandering creek, the Vecht is a perfectly navigable river in its own right. Few pleasure boats seemed inclined to challenge the commercial traffic on the canal: mostly they steamed from the south, around the bend, and on towards the Ijsselmeer without a glance at the Amsterdam-Rijn.

‘Just to prove it, I drove the single lane riverside road out of Nigtevecht all the way up towards Weesp. It’s a nice lane, lined with chateaus and cottages, too tight for cars to pass, so I periodically had to back up to clear the road for others.

So, I arrived in Muiden with a much better understanding of why the castle is there: protecting the mouth of the Vecht as the waterway into the heart of North Holland. And, best of all, it was still early enough to find a table along the locks, catch a bit of sun, and watch all the boat traffic.

Vechtplassen and Utrecht blues

April 27, 2008 by Dave Hampton

With temperatures soaring to 23 deg C this weekend, it was a perfect day to go out with a friend to explore the countryside.

On several occasions, trying to get overland to Schiphol, I’ve been blocked by lakes and waterways north of Utrecht. This area is the Vechtplassen (literally Ponds of the Vecht river, shown in a map, right, from Natuurkaart.nl, and more commonly known as the Loosdrechtse Plassen). The lakes are divided into smaller ponds, separated by dikes and surrounded by small villages. The shoreline is extensively serrated, a result of extensive peat mining in the area during the Golden Age. Today, these canals support boat moorings and holiday homes, very reminiscent of the Norfolk Broads in England. It’s a great outdoor recreation area, and a perfect place to enjoy a warm, sunny day.

The main recreation is boating and fishing,and the lake was filled with people on the water, all flying huge Dutch flags. There were lots of sloop-rigged and gaff-rigged sailboats reminiscent of Norfolk, classical stylings with lots of teak and wonderful lines. The motor boats resembled large lifeboats, broad and deep with rounded ends, able to carry a lot of people (or fishing gear and beer!).

The shores are filled with holiday homes, mostly modest waterfront houses and beach trailers. The Dutch have largely escaped the blight of trophy mansions that encrust US shores. Even so, Paulmakelaars.nl indicates that these sell for between 150,000 and 1 million euros (still low compared to US waterfront). There was a lot of construction, though: I hope the area isn’t being ‘discovered’.

We headed down to Utrecht for an unusual dinner at The Ostrich. They offer ‘authentic’ African cooking styles and ingredients (crocodile, zebra, etc.). I tried the ostrich (half expecting chicken), and found it different, but good: a consistency like beef and a strong taste of fowl. The kudu (a bit like an antelope) was a very good cross between beef and venison. The canalside ambience is much better than the close darkness inside the restaurant: ‘lots of party boats and a lingering twilight that keeps stimulating laughter and new conversations over an extended meal.

The annual Utrecht Blues festival was on from 10 pm until 1 am all weekend. I went to graduate school North of Chicago, hanging out in great blues clubs like Biddy Mulligans and Kingston Mines. Unfortunately, Utrecht’s styles ran from rock with no blues to blues ballads fused to rock-a-billy or reggae. ‘Good music and a very pleasant (suprisingly middle-aged) crowd, but the music left me longing for the old clubs, sorry.

Travel Notes: Reach the Vechtpassen via the N201, either from the A1 through Hilversum or the A2 at Vreeland. Dutch roadworks are in full swing, and the N201 is torn up in spots east of the ponds; detours are long and tortuous. The best paths across the area are from Oud-Loosdrecht west across a dike dividing the north and south parts of the main lake, or west from Nieuw-Loosdrecht to Tienhoven at the southern end. There is an open-air cafe at Tienhoven that is a great place to have lunch and watch the boats.

Digital nomadism and changing patterns of work

April 25, 2008 by Dave Hampton

The Economist has a special series of articles in their April 10 issue about Mobility. Rather than reviewing emerging technologies and business models, they examine the apparent impact of wireless networks on work-life activities, and conclude that it is leading to a new form of nomadic lifestyle:

"Humans have always migrated and travelled, without necessarily living nomadic lives. The nomadism now emerging is different from, and involves much more than, merely making journeys. The emerging class of digital nomads also wander, but they take virtually nothing with them; wherever they go, they can easily reach people and information.

Digital nomadism will liberate ever more knowledge workers from the cubicle prisons of Dilbert cartoons. But the old tyranny of place could become a new tyranny of time, as nomads who are “always on” all too often end up—mentally—anywhere but here (wherever here may be). As for friends and family, permanent mobile connectivity could have the same effect as nomadism: it might bring you much closer to family and friends, but it may make it harder to bring in outsiders. Politically, nomadism promises the heaven of new freedom, but it also threatens the hell of constant surveillance by the tribe."

I’m still thinking about how true this is of my own life, and about the implications for how I think about what I will do in the future.

On the one hand, I can’t imagine yet how I would do collaborative work as effectively if I had to depend on Blackberry’s. The rich ideas on the whiteboard, above, resulted from a few people standing around writing and erasing, arguing and ‘aha-ing, until a complete plan took shape. It was social / emotional more than it is process / rational. In contrast, I struggled to reach agreement on a model structure with a health economist in Lausanne yesterday. I drew finger pictures in front of the telephone receiver, futilely trying to communicate visual diagrams: we shot e-mail drawings back and forth while we talked, but we both had to withdraw to sort our ideas separately in the end.

At the same time, it is true that my network and, indeed, my closest colleagues and friendships, now extend over a vast geography. I feel like I do have a close and rich interactions with them that I never had in the days of mailed letters and occasional telephone calls. The wireless and network technologies enable new shared, social spaces that give immediate and visual ability to share experiences, thoughts, and plans.

It makes me think that perhaps I haven’t gone far enough: that I am still trying to live with one foot in traditional work-life styles and another tentatively feeling into the future.

‘Thoughts I want to think about and return to…

Back from Geneva

April 24, 2008 by Dave Hampton

‘ Back from a short trip down to Geneva to pitch our new idea to some interventional cardiologists at the University Hospital. The weather was terrible: low clouds, blowing cold, spitting rain. But the city must be beautiful in the summer between the lake and the mountains. I’ll need to plan a trip back when spring settles.

My RSS aggregator, NetVibes, was down for a scheduled upgrade when I returned. The four-hour outage turned into three days, so there wasn’t much to do to catch up with other people’s blogs except to wait. It was nice to have access back this morning, and to catch up with everyone’s thoughts and stories over coffee. It’s much better than wrestling with the morning newspaper.

KLM’s in-flight magazine had a wonderful photo essay by Anton Corbijn featuring pictures of rock and roll musicians. I was a disk jockey, then program director, at WRVU back in the 70’s, so a lot of the groups and people that he highlighted were familiar to me. I was really struck by two of the pictures: the first was one that he made of U2, Fathers and Sons. It’s remarkable for having each band member alongside his parent: the resemblances and mannerisms are worth a close look. The second was a casual picture of Janice Joplin by Jim Marshall: it really is full of life yet captures the easy attitude that would lead to her tragedy.

My project engineers finished work on our prototype device this week, so we went out to the de Bourgondier Restaurant in Wehl to celebrate. This is a "Dutch Buffet", one price gives access to a wide array of typical Netherlands cold hors d’ouvres, cooked items, soups, and desserts. It was a good chance to explore a variety of foods, not all great, but I did make some discoveries that I really liked. It’s got an "English Pub" sort of atmosphere, close, dark, antique, and warm, and made for a fun evening together.