Never take anything for granted
Ik hou ervan om jonge ondernemers te begeleiden in hun traject naar een volgende niveau. Daarom ben ik ooit mentor geworden bij The Birdhouse, een start-up accelerator in Gent en Antwerpen. Gedurende intensieve periodes van zes maanden werken we nauw samen met onze startups om hun ambitieuze doelen te bereiken. Dat doen we als raadgever,…
As a linguist (yes, I also have a Master in Linguistics :)), I truly adore Oscar Wilde for his wit: a combination of contrary elements that make his style so full of irony and paradox. On being your true self: “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.” On true friends: “True friends stab you in…
Nietsvermoedend vertrok ik op maandagochtend naar Brussel voor een zoveelste doordeweekse vlucht Brussel-Montreal. Ik heb Toni Coppers mee als reisgezel. Wat is het lang geleden dat we nog eens samen op pad waren. “Nooit meer alleen” op vlucht AC833. Verder ga ik ook werken aan een paar strategische presentaties waar ik zoals gewoonlijk tijdens de…
Marketing is no longer about telling the world how great your products and services are. Marketing is not what you think it is.It is more counter-intuitive than you think. “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole.” said the legendarey Harvard marketing professor Theodore Levitt. And actually, we do not…
The less people are experienced in marketing, the more they want to have a say in marketing. Because they believe their “intuition” rocks? Well, their intuition doesn’t rock. Here’s why: a lot of principles in marketing are counter-intuitive to non-marketeers. Let’s look at just one. The BIG LOGO struggle We still see clients asking for a…
One of the most stunning things we encounter when we run workshops about strategy, is the confidence managers usually have with respect to knowing their customers well. When we confront them with questions such as “how do you know this is exactly what your customers want”, “how do you know this is the way to…
Your product or service may be complex or hard to build. That’s why at the basis you have a complex story to tell. But what people buy from you must make their lives easier. That’s why you need to listen carefully and simplify your message. At Galland.be, we offer a simplification trail to transform your…
Time flies. Yesterday my parents had their 54th wedding anniversary. It was a anniversary different from all previous ones. It was their first wedding anniversary in separation. My dad’s still doing fine and continues to live in the house where I grew up. My mom is staying in a retirement home because she is no…
Since last Saturday, the nameplate at the top of the Montreal airport terminal shines in alternating red, white and blue. And to underline the importance of ice hockey, the O has been stuffed with the “Canadiens” hockey logo. Gohabsgo ! It is an internal idea, they say. Yes, I can see that from a distance.…
Het is van alle tijden. Mensen zijn per definitie tegen verandering. Dus ook tegen het nieuwe circulatieplan in Gent. Spijtig. Waarom? De redenen zijn uiteenlopend: bang om de controle te verliezen, bang om zich te moeten aanpassen aan iets waar men zelf niet voor kiest, bang om gewoontes te moeten veranderen, bang om… you name…