All nice and well, but what are people who worked with me saying?
The value of Curiosity explained
Some representative experiences from workshop “CE: a Curious Economy” participants:
- “Curiosity is like a key to open a new world which leads to more innovation and creativity”
- “… businesses that want to open up new paths, make a change […] want to be creative and innovative have to get more concerned with curiosity. […] especially the ones that are concerned with sustainability”.
- “.. we only gain knowledge by “asking questions” and by “questioning the answers.”
- ” .. very enthusiastic and explained his point of view logically, even though it is a complex-sounding topic” .
- “… before the workshop I was very sceptical. But after going deeper into the topic and reading the HBR article and the website […] I noticed what my problem was. I was not curious. My mind was way too closed […] I think I already lost some very interesting opportunities in my life, because I was not inquisitive enough”.
- “Nowadays, companies operate in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment, where it is essential to have employees that are inquisitive and scrutinize things”
- “…it is important to be able to face unexpected situations, because these lead us to new directions and ideas. Uncertainty needs Adaptiveness and curiosity can build the bridge between those two.”
- “… after I heard about the steps to increase curiosity in businesses I realised how I never witnessed one of these approaches in former companies, showing how underrated the whole idea of curiosity is.”
Value-driven professional who connects people and ideas
“Wouter is an extra-ordinary person I had the honor to work with for the past 13 years. He is goodness himself, and someone I 100% trust. Wouter has been the moral compass of the Enviu team and a value driven professional. As innovation manager he was in charge of our research, exploring new methods, writing papers, guiding trainees and thesis students, summer schools, managing our university network, connecting projects with academics and merging several isolated ideas into new ones.”
Stef van Dongen – Founder, former CEO and board member of Enviu
Passionate Chief Curiosity adds value to your product or service
“Do you feel that you are stuck in structures, rules, systems but have an urgency to make changes for the better? Work with Wouter! He has a broad palette of skills and methods that help you to develop (market) data into insights that make you think “I’m possible”. He’ll make you excited on the journey to forget about any box and go outside your comfort zone and turn your new insights into additional value for your product or service. if you have a proven product or service and want to export it to new markets or if you see a societal or environmental issue and have no clue for a solution. Wouter with his Context Variation by Design approach, tested and researched at the Technical University of Delft, can help you out. Do make sure to involve him early enough in the process. No slick blue suit, but a genuine, passionate, dedicated and very human expert.”
Bart Meijs,– Chief Business Development Officer, Enviu
Helping others to master the skill of “using different perspectives”
“I have come to know Wouter as a talented person who is able to quickly grasp the essence of any given problem in its full context. He is capable of looking at such situations from a variety of different perspectives. The curious questions that he generates allow him to consider whether the existing framing of the problem is the most helpful one for fruitful next steps. He does not shy away from the extra (mental) effort that this mode of working requires. By having applied and reflected on this attitude for many years he is also able to convey the benefits and relevance of this attitude to others. Most important of all he is both experienced and successful in making the outcomes of his problem analyses actually work in real practice”.
Jo van Engelen – (former) board member in amongst others PFZW, Nedap, Triade Group, ANWB, APG, Ordina and charired profssor Business Development (Groning) and Integrated Sustainable Solutions (Delft).
Using Curiosity as guideline
“I worked with Wouter for a few years in the Delta Talent program in the Netherlands. I have known him as very committed, curious and innovative person. He had clear added value. in working with students and young professionals with curiosity as guideline.”
Jeroen van Herk MSc – Founder LINKit consult, founder & partner OAK consultants, initiator Groene Donderdag