I am Erwin van der Koogh, Worldbetterer.

My way of making the world a better place is through work. How can we improve our work to be fun, more productive, more common-sense and have a great impact on society as a whole? This is why I'll work for free.

Storytelling

Storytelling is an ancient art, which undoubtedly had a starring role in the development of civilization and society. But how can it help you to achieve your goals and become successful?

Lean Startup

The Lean Startup method teaches you how to drive a startup-how to steer, when to turn, and when to persevere-and grow a business with maximum acceleration.
-- Eric Ries

Stoos

"Organizations can become learning networks of individuals creating value, and the role of leaders should include the stewardship of the living rather than the management of the machine.”
-- Stoos Communique

Latest from the blog

Consequences of Corporate Culture

Posted on: in Storytelling | 1 Comment »

This morning I was overthinking corporate culture and storytelling in the shower, as you do, when it hit me. I was trying to figure out why companies should care about their culture. I knew it was important; companies with healthy cultures usually had a great vibe in the company and people were generally happier, but what was the impact on the bottom line? My Eureka moment was realising that culture defines what the default option is in each and every decision made in your company.

The culture in your company[...]

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Our Business Environment: From Connect Four to Chess to Poker

Posted on: in Stoos | No Comments »

Until not too long ago, the second half of the 1800s, all business was like playing Connect Four. The playing field was known, strategies were simple and if you could see a couple of moves ahead you would do well. This was the realm of bakers, farmers, tailors and fishermen.

Then came along the Industrial Revolution and the game changed. Over the course of 1 or 2 generations the game changed from Connect Four to Chess. It was a completely different game. Mom & pop[...]

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Stoos Connect! A week later..

Posted on: in Stoos | 6 Comments »

The dust is finally starting to settle on Stoos Connect. What a day it was. 20+ lightning talks, 75 local participants, 24 remote viewing locations between San Francisco and Melbourne and another 100 or so remote viewers. Everything about it blew my mind. I am looking to do a retrospective about the day in a week. So here are my observations and hope you will add yours.

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Interest

Interest was and is extremely high. We probably had between 400-600 participants and a line-up[...]

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My ultimate KPI: My funeral

Posted on: in Stoos | 3 Comments »

This morning I was told one of the students in a storytelling course I ran passed away. She died of a heart attack while on holiday. Now I did not know her very well, I only trained her for a few hours, but it still got to me. She was nice and outgoing with a bubbly personality. Someone you take an instant liking to. And more importantly she was about my age. Somewhere in her thirties probably.

Most people do not like contemplating their mortality. It is unsettling to[...]

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Review of Drive Workshop

Posted on: in Stoos | No Comments »

The Drive Workshop is a workshop that is based on and developed in cooperation with Daniel Pink, the author of the book: . The tagline of the workshop is “Using autonomy, mastery and purpose to transform your organization and yourself” and that is exactly what I love about the workshop. Instead of rehashing the concepts of the book, the purpose of the workshop is to create an action plan on how to use the concepts in the book to, surprise surprise, transform your organization and[...]

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