News..2010

Also look at the diary and for the latest video's go to Video News

We (Ben and myself) are very proud! We have been asked if we would like to be the keynote speakers at the biggest NLP congress of the Netherlands! Of course we accepted the invitation. We will be speaking about our book 'Ik Ben niet alleen op de wereld' on April 16. Maybe we will see you there. You can find the details at: iepdoc.nl.November 18 2010- The cover of our book is finished!

'I AM not alone on this planet' is a book from Ben Steentra and Wassili Zafiris. It will be on sale around May. For now...in Dutch only.

Ben Steenstra (1973) is creatief entrepeneur and has been owner of Quince for 15 years. Quince is a international advertising agency located in Amsterdam and Budapest with more then 70 employees.

Wassili Zafiris (1964) is change expert.As coach, NLP trainer and NeuroSemantic pioneer he facilitated many transitions within international companies. He developed successful training programs such as 'Wealthy Living', 'Dealing effectively with setback', and Personal Leadership'.

What is it about? Motivation, a meaningful life, abundance, the 4th revolution, a new way of doing business, enthusiasm, real inspiration, leadership, employees, leading and managing, sharing and taking, guts, trust, seeing and following, new economy, contributing, ecology, profit, generative capital, a new era, entre- preneurship, welfare, sharing, ownership, crises, the birth of a new organization and organizing. Check out our BLOG, and follow us on Twitter!On September 13

I will be speaking about the inner side of wealth and abundance together with Avital Selinger (The worldchampion coach of the Dutch ladies volleybal team) and professional athlete Francien Huurman. Want to be there? Email for the details.

Coaching conference Paris June 2010

Attended the ICF coaching conference in Paris. Interesting because it explored sustainability issues society is facing and the role of coaching and coaches concerning those issues.

New Books

I am working on two new books! One with the owner/director of Quince advertising, Ben Steenstra and another one with Aranka van der Pol, journalist Telegraaf (biggest newspaper of Europe).

The book with Ben is about the transformational process he, his employees and his company went through ( and are still going through) during the last 4 years. I have been so fortunate to facilitate the changes in Quince and now we are reflecting on what happened, what worked, what's been challenging. Two mayor new developments have come out of this process. The first is that we have been focusing on the answer to the question: "What is real and deep motivation?". I had to look at an almost intangible motivation crisis that has hit our societies. And secondly we developed a new way of setting up a business where motivation is more a given and intrinsic in the structure of the company itself. Interested? You'll have to wait till October/November 2010.

For the second time I am writing a book with Aranka. This time we will be looking at the idea of 'fast goals'. In almost every aspect of our life, politics, relationships, work etc. their are quick and easy ways of achieving your goals. However how quick and easy are these ways actually and is the effect of these quick gains sustainable? Aranka writes in her usual funny, slightly cynical way about her and our experiences in politics, work and play. I will reflect on some 'real' ways to have quick gains...Also available from October/November 2010.

Entrepreneurs in Texel

I was invited to speak at the yearly VVV (tourist office of Texel) conference for the entrepreneurs of Texel (one of the Dutch Islands). In the local cinema I spoke about the power of cooperation amongst entrepreneurs in a Island society. The central theme? "If you give a man a dollar and he gives a dollar back, both man have 1 dollar. If you give a man a great idea and he gives you one back, both men walk away with two great ideas!" An article about this speech has been published in the newspaper of Texel.

A new seminar about wealth 'Wealthy Mind' brought to Europe

In times of crisis one of the first things people do is to budget and forget about important goals they had in life (at least for a while). The current crisis is actually touching the fundaments of our economic market model and the way we see money, wealth and richness. Interestingly enough just before the Internet bubble crisis in 2000, research showed that the amount of private investment into sustainable energy sources soared. Why? The new rich achieved all their money goals and could finally look at what they found of utmost importance in their life. In this seminar we will look at what money means to you. How you can change your perspective on money and wealth, so that you can embrace the spirit of 'forth bringing'. 'Bringing forth' will enable you to go for the real important and meaningful things in your life, whilst making money at the same time. The best of both worlds? I think so. Check out: Good Fortune Seminars for the next 2 day seminar.

Leading Change: the website about leadership, teamwork and organizational change

I finally set up a separate site about my leadership- team- and organizational change work for the Dutch speaking market. This to give a better overview of what we are offering in that area. See Leading Change.

Eetlust! (Appetite) Our book about 10 of the best culinary chefs in the world.

Aranka van der Pol and I had a great and inspiring time interviewing 10 of the best chefs in the world. Aranka traveled all around the world to experience the chef and his or hers life to meet the person behind the chef. Our mission was to understand the character of the 3 star chef. Aranka went dining and clubbing with several of them and they opened up. I was so lucky to join her with some and one of the most memorable moments was to have diner at El Bulli's to enjoy Ferran Adria's mastery and art. I made a 'recipe' of their character... so you can also become as determined and creative as a 3 star chef. Look at: Eetlust boek for more information. Picture with Ferran Adria.

Eetlust the book on television

Aranka and I were interviewed for Dutch television about our book Eetlust (Appetite). Of course they were curious about our experiences with the chefs, the food and their characters. To see a clip of this interview (in Dutch) go to this link.

Speaking at the press conference of the launch of Valid People

I was invited to think about a workshop concept for a new company that aims to bring people with a physical disability back to the workplace, with the motto "there is nothing wrong with the brains." I spoke about my view on perception of physically challenged people in society and the workplace for the Dutch press assembled in restaurant 15 (of Jamie Oliver). See a piece of that here (in Dutch).
The Dalai Lama in Brussels

I was fortunate enough to be asked by the biggest newspaper in the Netherlands, De Telegraaf to join the 4 day teaching of the Dalai Lama in Brussels and report about that. The article appeared in De Telegraaf and can be read here (in Dutch).

Other news? Look at the articles section.