Organizer: Jacinta Noonan

Organizer: Ariëlle Brouwer

The smell of Spring is in the Air which sounds like a great excuse for a dinner and that is exactly what we are arranging for our May event.
On Wednesday May 19 we could like to invite you to the 2010 Spring Dinner which will be an evening of good food and great conversation.

In the recent survey you asked for more opportunities to get to know each other better. You asked, we listened and therefore, instead of having a guest speaker this month, Ariëlle Brouwer, www.brouwertheater.nl has kindly offered to be the facilitator for the evening together with Jacinta Noonan. They have a number of fun activities up their sleeves designed to get us up and moving about, meeting people in innovative and creative ways. The aim of the evening is to get to know each other at a deeper level and to engage in conversations that we are truly passionate about.

In the ambience of a beautiful restaurant, while enjoying a delicious meal accompanied by just the right wine, you will enjoy an enriching evening among friends; some you know and some who are just waiting to make your acquaintance.
Sign up now!

LIMITED SEATS AVAILABLE for this event, to be allocated on first come, first serve basis. If you have registered and need to cancel, please advise us in a timely fashion so we are not left with empty seats. Please be advised that we cannot offer a refund if you need to cancel.

Date: Wednesday 19 May
Time: 19:00 Registration and Welcome Drink
Venue: Brasserie Harkema
Dress Code: Business Casual
The price of the dinner is 50 euros per person.

Ariëlle Brouwer is a pioneer, an initiator and a specialist in creativity. She originally comes from the world of theater and now brings her unique skills and talents into the field of training and coaching. Using special techniques from theatre, Ariëlle creates interesting workshops to enable people to explore openness, communication and authentic self-expression at a deeper level.
www.brouwertheater.nl and www.globalworkersexperience.com



Jacinta Noonan With a passion for helping people to achieve their true potential, Jacinta Noonan’s long and successful career as a coach and trainer is more a divine calling than a job choice.

She is the founder and Director of three companies. Each has a different focus and specialty, but her passion and devotion to transform people is at the heart of each one.

For Corporate Training and Coaching: Branch Out ; For Personal Coaching & Women in Transition: Soulworks – ; For Improved Body Image & Weight Loss: Big on the Inside

Organizer: Anna Farrenkopf

14 April 2010 – 18:00 – 6 pm.

Welcome MBA011

Anna together with the RSM and OneMBA programs will host the borrel beginning 18:00 in Rotterdam. All interested parties are welcome to join in us at Coopvaert.  The restaurant is located at Blaak 776 and can be easily reached by Tram 21, metro Beurs,  bus 32 & 48, Water taxi (Leuvehaven) and foot from central station if you’re feeling atheletic or missed your work out at lunch.

The federation board has met in Paris over the weekend and I’m sure everyone wants to hear about the opportunities and looking forward to staffing up the new initiatives.  We’ll be on hand to tell you more about it. Late arrivals always welcomed just jot me an email or an sms so I know to find you.

Cheers,

Anna

From Left to Right: Patty Kruiswijk, Manuela Roth (RSM ‘10), Dianne Bevelander, Camilla Bjorkqvist (RSM ‘10), Eleonore Breukel, Saskia Trurniet, and Ursula van Rozemeijer.

Women comprise about 30% of the students in the OneMBA and the percentage of women faculty is even less. While there are complex factors that might explain this, members of the 2010 and 2011 classes have decided to put women on the agenda.

The effort lead in large part by Camilla Björkqvist and Manuela Roth has focused on securing eminent business women to speak at OneMBA residencies. By connecting with women across the OneMBA community as well as the European Professional Women’s Network( EPWN), the kick-off on during the Spring 2009 RSM Residency featured Mirella Visser, Owner of the Center for Inclusive Leadership and the EuropeanPWN President. This conversation was continued when the class went to Istanbul and met with local women business leaders.

In September 2009 another panel took place with a group of Dutch women executives on the topics of “Women – the saviors of our economy?” With several courageous men participating in the audience, there was a lively and honest discussion.

At the EGADE Residency in November 2009, a Cemex executive, Irma Gomez shared her perspective on women, employment, and the economy in Mexico.

Events are in the works for Hong Kong and the the U.S. All alumni are invited to attend a session at the RSM Residency on April 8 2010 with Carien van der Laan, co-owner of Women Capital, and executive search firm specialized in women and placing them on top level positions. Van der Laan will address what to do with once you get an MBA and the value that women add in the executive ranks.

Some interesting statistics from the United States are worth sharing. According to the report The Economic Impact of Women-Owned Businesses in the United States by the American Center for Women’s Business Research and funded by the National Women’s Business Council and Wal-Mart, women-owned businesses contribute nearly $3 trillion to the U.S. economy and create or maintain 23 million jobs. If women-owned businesses were their own country, they would have the 5th largest GDP in the world, ahead of countries including France, the United Kingdom, and Italy. Anecdotally, many women say that they start their own business because they want to balance work and family and that they cannot break into the traditional male-dominated positions—or do not want to.

Members of the 2011 class are taking leadership to continue the discussion of the women in the OneMBA. Anyone in the OneMBA community can join the events organized by Women@OneMBA, men included. If you would like to know more about this initiative, please contact Manuela Roth or Camilla Bjorkqvist in the OneMBA2010 class.

For more news about the one MBA programs and to see the full newsletter click through to the one MBA website.

Breaking news: finally there seems be an increase in the number of female partners at the large law firms in the Netherlands. The total number of female partners has increased at the top 10 law firms from 57 last years to 61 this year, whereas the total number of partners decreased in that top 10 from 450 to 430. These data are published in De Stand van de Advocatuur 2010. On 26 March the first copy of this document will be handed over to Saskia Stuiveling, president of the general Court of Auditors and member of the Council of recommendation of the Dutch order of lawyers.

There is also less good news for the champions of diversity: at the top 10 last year  a total of 865 female lawyers worked, this year that number has decreased to 808. Also the number of male lawyers decreased, from 1,211 to 1,168. In terms of percentage the proportion male and female lawyers now amounts to at the top 10 of offices 59.4% for 40.6%, in contrast to last year 58.9% and 41.1%.

This text has been translated from: http://www.advocatie.nl

OBA (the Bieb)
Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam
Oosterdokskade 143
1011 DL Amsterdam

Happy New Year
This is your chance to come borrel with the Amsterdam board.
Ideas, brainstorm, feedback, questions are welcome.

We’ll all be on hand to talk with you about the organization, logistics, planning, future board positions, what’s happening with the federation, and how you can help to grow and to sustain the organization with your participation. “Club business” and updates.

We will meet in the New Library – next to Amsterdam Centraal Station
(same as last year). Join us on the top floor at the bar for tapas and beverages in the La Place Restaurant.

We have also reserved a meeting room – on the 6th floor.

We really enjoyed the productive discussions last year in this format.
Please join us again!

New Year, New Chances.

Proost!

In our training sessions, we regularly receive this type of question from participants: “Why is my Russian colleague always so negative? Is it something I did wrong?” asks Tom from London. Our answer is: “On the contrary Tom, your Russian colleague trusts you enough to share his concerns with you. Actually he is trying to be friends and bond with you.”

Bonding by complaining

In Western Russia, many Eastern European cultures and various cultures in Southern Europe and Latin America, people try to bond with others by complaining. Complaints about the boss or about tasks to be performed or simply about the food, places people ‘together’ in a common situation in which they can relate to each other - bonding with the suffering majority. These complaints are usually expressed with emotion. However, it is passive and is not followed by an action to change the situation that is complained about. An outsider will get the impression that something terrible has happened and that the complainer is deeply unhappy. This however is not the case. There are many reasons for such behavior depending on the context. Some of the underlying reasons may be uncertainty, risk avoidance, xenophobia, fatalism and the feeling of not being in charge as well as being unable to create or accept change.

Seeking appraisal by complaining

Another reason people complain is to seek appraisal. The complainer feels that they have to show and communicate how problematic life or a task is in order to be taken seriously by his boss, colleagues and others. In this case the complainer seeks admiration, respect and compliments for his skills and the effort put into the task.

The mirror

For those coming from a mindset where one bonds by communicating something positive like “isn’t this interesting” or “let us make this work” complaining is seen as negative. For these people, someone who frequently complains at work is seen as being inadequate for the job. Frequent complaining in a social setting is seen as whining and complainers are not taken seriously. In this case, ‘frequent’ means complaining several times a day. Complainers are seen as negative and dissatisfied people whom no one likes to work or socialize with. In case one does complain he is expected to take action to change the situation he complains about. When we look at the American corporate language, we see that the word ‘problem’ has a negative connotation. Therefore, Americans substituted the negative word ‘problem’ by the word ‘challenge’ which has a positive connotation. The word ‘problem’ implies a negative situation, while the word ‘challenge’ has a ‘yes we can change it’ positive type of energy and action in it.

Ideas for creating a positive attitude for everyone

If you have members in your multicultural team who complain to bond or seek appraisal and like to try to create a more positive attitude try the following;

• Explain how you experience complaining.

• Discuss the different interpretations of complaining in various cultures.

• Show how stimulating it can be to have a positive approach towards work.

• Try to provide insight into how complaining influences the energy of the team members from other cultures.

• Together make two lists. One of what is the benefit of complaining for each person present and one of what is the benefit of a positive approach for each person present (energy, pain, admiration) and which of those benefits serve the project or task best.

• Create together a code of communication.

• Make a list of desired behaviors during meetings or ground rules for the team or the office. Post them on the wall as an aid in guiding conversation towards positivity and constructive action oriented communication.

© Eleonore Breukel

www.intercultural.nl

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Sign up now to ensure you receive the next newsletter. In the mean time, read our first issue from December 2009 here.

Happy New Year Den Haag!

This year’s NewYear’s Borrel will take place on January 5, 2010 at the ‘Pasta Company’ in Scheveningen Harbour. We are looking to make this a joint EuropeanPWN/Connecting Women event members & all guests are welcome! The official time of the borrel will be from 7-9 pm. It will include drinks and nibbles.

So far the cost of the EPWN Hague Borrels have been around 10 euro a person. Those who drank more have been kind enough to pitch in extra. Since this is a special evening to celebrate the New Year, we have made a special arrangement with the PastaCompany.

This time the cost will be 12,50 euro per person – this will include a glass of bubbles to toast, tapas and one more drink. You pay this upon arrival to either Erika or Karin and you will be given a token, which you can use at the bar for your second drink. Anything after that will be at your own costs.

We know that the tapas will be quite substantial, however, you are most welcome to stay for dinner afterwards. Do check out their website www.pastacompany.nl for their menu.

The Pasta Company is located in the Harbour of Scheveningen, and although the address is Dr Lelykade 24a, for those of you who don’t know Scheveningen well, it’s best to go to the Schokkerweg and then take the stairs down to the restaurants;the Pasta Company is the last one in the row, after Het Brouwcafe, De ZouteZoen, De Dagvisser, Lemongrass and then the Pasta Company. There is plenty of free parking at the restaurant and if you are coming by public transport, take tram 11 to the Duinstraat stop.

Please make sure you register your attendance via the EuropeanPWN website (click on register above this post) or send an email to Erika at erika@bothassistanceandsupport.nl.

Please de-register if you are not able to make it after all; we need to confirm the number of attendees with the Pasta Company 48 hours in advance.

We are looking forward to seeing you all and have a sparkling evening!

Warm regards,

Erika Both & Karin Bosscher

EuropeanPWN / CW

Organizer: Catherine Burns

EuropeanPWN hosts Happy Hour in the Hague.