Birthday South of Greenland

I started my birthday on an Air Canada flight, up in the air over the Atlantic, South of Greenland. In the afternoon, I drove to visit my parents in Westerwald and crossed farmers’ protests on the way. This was one of the most friendly and well-organized protests I have ever seen, with strong support from the public. For the police, this was a pure traffic management job. No riot gear, no water canons, no teargas. Instead, the protesting farmers arranged, together with the police, emergency lanes in case something would be needed for rescue services. People still have in their minds the recent protest in Berlin, where an ambulance was blocked by climate activists glueing themselves on the roads, where rescue services could not reach an unrelated accident site, and subsequently, a woman died. Members of the current German government have preemptively discredited the farmer’s protests unfairly. Discontent with this government is extreme, and all hope is the call for a vote of no confidence and opening up the path for new elections. The question just is how the political landscape changed and what reasonable and competent coalitions could emerge. At the moment, it feels like it can’t get worse. But who knows?

This morning I had an early start driving to Tilburg. Train staff started striking today, so I was taking the car and passed through commuting hotspots before the rush hour. Still, the drive was slow because of the many construction sites until I reached the Dutch border. Infrastructure in Germany is a complete mess. I had lunch on the University campus and will start teaching a strategy course at TIAS tomorrow. This is a very nice business school co-owned by Tilburg and Eindhoven Universities. It will be long days with 12 hours of “stage time” per day. But I am looking forward to it. It’s an MBA programme, but unlike some other programmes, these students are special as they are already very experienced. So, it’s more like Executive Education, which is what I like doing.

TIAS and on to Zürich

Last week was the first time I taught my Strategy Course at TIAS (Tilburg Institute of Advanced Studies) in the EMBA Programme. And I really enjoyed it. Great participants from all kinds of industries and walks of life, which reflect the structure of the Dutch industry landscape. TIAS developed into a highly regarded business school, which Tilburg University and Eindhoven University own. Teaching this course gave me a really good insight into the current challenges of Dutch companies, which are different from what we experience in Germany. For the future, I will also restructure my course a bit to reflect these differences.

After driving back from Tilburg, with a quick stopover in Germany, I flew from Frankfurt to Zürich to work the next week. Normally, I would have taken the train for such a small distance. But the German railway is currently in such a desolate condition that I took the plane. The flight time was just 35 minutes. With the German Railway, such a trip is completely unpredictable and can take you a whole day, if you arrive at all.

Arriving in Zürich is nice: friendly, quiet, efficient, clean and safe. Switzerland appears to be everything Germany is not anymore. So, I am looking forward to start my week here.