Waste?!

For sometime I have been looking around me and been thinking: We cannot go on this way!? We are wasting away the world! We generally are not so nice getting all the resources we need to make the stuff, not so nice producing all the stuff, and are we really nice in finally (too quickly) getting rid of all the stuff we have consumed? If you have never seen the short video Story of Stuff on this topic I can recommend it to you.

Fortunately there are people that have already taken on the challenge to change this and have thought of actual solutions to turn around our destructive waste producing way of life. One of which is called Cradle to Cradle. The concept is based on re-thinking the way we do things, and this starts with the design of all the stuff we make. Products produced through the Cradle to Cradle concept are made from environmentally friendly pure materials that are good for human health and are designed in such a way that at the end of their useful lives, they can be biologically or technically recycled. This means no waste!

You might think now that that cannot be a profitable way of doing business? Let me assure you it can be! And I am very happy and proud that a reputable Dutch company has been able to do that. Desso is a manufacturer of carpet flooring in the Netherlands and Belgium already for many years (I know because my grandmother never wanted any other carpet …). The company has designed a Cradle to Cradle strategy for their whole business. Already they have successfully implemented this strategy for their biggest business unit, carpet tiles, and they plan to have the Cradle to Cradle strategy fully implemented by 2020.

In case you are interested to learn more about the Cradle to Cradle strategy of Desso: the CEO of the Desso Group, Mr. Stef Kranendijk, is speaking at the next annual Bbest conference titled Taking Responsibility for a Sustainable Future later this week. The title of Bbest’s conference this year is also the title of one of the eight Fundamental Concepts of Excellence. It is specifically for this Concept that I have high hopes to find many more excellent examples for the EFQM community to look at and learn from in the near future. I hope you find this contribution to my aim to promote this helpful. CU next time!

Just start!

It is time for me to start blogging. I have been thinking about how to start this blog for a long time now, considered several options and I have come to the conclusion it is best just to start with it! But before I do I need to clear up a few things.

First of all I will write in English and not, for instance, in Dutch, which is my mother tongue. The reason is that many of my friends and contacts speak other languages than Dutch and I want to communicate to “a big audience” so writing in English will be the best approach to take for my blog.

Secondly I expect mostly to write about excellence in a business context, meaning: to continuously improve the organisation to get better results.  Before long you will notice that I will refer to the EFQM and the EFQM Excellence Model often. For those among you that do not exactly know who or what this is can take a look at a good article in the online magazine of  Achieving Business Excellence October 2010.

Suspect that you will ask yourself “why” now. If you have read the article you know now, that the EFQM Model is not “new” as it has been around for 20 years. Personally I came in contact with the Model a little over 10 years ago, when I was still working for Philips. Since my first contact with the Model in Philips I have become more and more involved and interested in Business Excellence. Up to the point where I decided to put my long Corporate career in Finance at Philips to rest and put all my time and energy in helping organisations to improve.

Some insiders might refer to this state as “being bit by the Excellence bug”... Well, I know I have been bitten. I fully believe in the benefits of using the EFQM Model to improve your status quo and to get better and more balanced results, whatever results your organisation is aiming for.

However, the Model is not for wimps! One does need to put their teeth in it, as it will take some time, maybe years, to improve your results in a sustainable way. But this should not come as a surprise, good things hardly come easy! My advice is: just start! CU later!