The following is a report on the occasion of the third main event of 2010 held by EuropeanPWN-Amsterdam at the Amsterdam Renaissance Hotel on 15 March 2010. We thank Margareta Jonker-Dorila for submitting this report.

Innovation also means “do your core business right”

One of the most striking statements of Shannon Jones, Director Marketing and Category for Starbucks Coffee Company EMEA, was that most of the time innovation means to “do your core business right”.
Listening to the captivating presentation of our guest speaker who brought 70 members and guests of EPWN Amsterdam together on Monday evening this statement seems to have been one of the conclusions of the re-examination of the company’s strategy in the beginning of 2008.

In today’s economy, it is not an option for any organization to not innovate. Where does innovation starts? How is it applied? How is innovation fostered best? And how does leadership come into play to drive innovation?

Copyright Taco Anema/Wolters Kluwer

Guest speaker Nancy McKinstry, CEO of Wolters Kluwer, will share how the global, market-leading information services company is implementing innovation in its portfolio of products and services for professionals, based on the foundation of the company: deep customer insight and understanding. The company’s long-term strategy is focused on maximizing value for customers and is based on technology and innovation to drive success for the company as well as for its stakeholders. Moreover, innovation is embedded in the talent management strategy of the company to foster leadership.

In the last few years, with an ever increasing competitive coffee environment and global economic crisis around the world, Starbucks Coffee Company had to reexamine its path to the future and truly innovate across products, brands and communication to differentiate and be relevant for the future.  From innovations in the digital space like My Starbucks Idea to new product launches like VIA!, Starbucks is poised to continue its record 2010 first quarter earnings into the next decade. Starbucks Coffee Company provides an uplifting experience that enriches people’s lives one moment, one human being, one extraordinary cup of coffee at a time.

Our guest speaker Shannon Jones is Marketing and Category Director for Starbucks Coffee Company Europe, Middle East & Africa.  She has been with Starbucks for over 10 years in various marketing roles in the U.S. and international. For the past 4 years she has lead marketing and product in the EMEA region from their EMEA headquarters and roasting plant in Amsterdam.

Join us on March 15^th when we will get insights into one of THE most innovative companies, Starbucks!

Participants are welcome to network from 19:00 to 20:00. The program begins at 20:00.

Registration and Guest Policy: Registration is required for members (no charge) and guests (guests are welcome at a cost of 25 Euro which includes snacks and drinks). Guests are allowed to attend two EuropeanPWN-Amsterdam functions per year. Please contact Caroline van Leuven, our VP Membership.

From our event Riding the Whirlwind: Culture & Innovation, Fons Trompenaars shared with us his thoughts on diversity and innovation.

The presentation as well as other useful resources are available here for download for EPWN members:

• Presentation from “Riding the Whirlwind: Culture & Innovation” with Fons Trompenaars

Password Required: Contact us for the password

Hollis Kurman: Growth Strategy and Innovation Advisor

One of the ironies of leadership – whether it be for companies, brands, or individual managers – is that once we get to a certain level of success, we tend to spend more time and energy protecting what we’ve achieved rather than actually leading. At best, this means that we risk losing our edge and sliding into a conservative comfort zone. At worst, we also leave a gaping hole in the market for challengers to come in and shake things up for us.

As the bar for creating truly differentiating and sustainable innovation gets higher and higher, we need to challenge and re-shape the rules, sharpen our ‘inquisitiveness’ muscle, and make fresh connections that others don’t make or don’t know how to use. Perhaps most importantly, we do need to be ‘always on’. Not in the Facebook/Twitter/Skype sense of the word – but simply to be able to recognize, capture and leverage the inspiration that is quite literally all around us, at all times. Women, especially, should be masters of this refreshing version of the blurred boundaries between ‘professional life’ and ‘personal life’ – and use it to their advantage.

Our guest speaker, Hollis Kurman, is an independent growth strategy and innovation advisor (as well as an aspiring writer of poetry and children’s stories…) and is currently:

• Advising clients (multinational leaders, challengers, not-for-profits, cultural institutions)
• Serving in a number of advisory- and innovation boards (commercial & academic)
• Member of the Dutch committee of Human Rights Watch
• Expert ‘outside advisor to the Firm’ McKinsey & Co.
• A frequent Workshop- and Co-Creation session- leader, speaker, university guest lecturer

Prior roles include Founder and Managing Director of Auberon, Growth Strategy Consultants; Founder and Managing Director Publicis Consultants (and in parallel Worldwide Account Director Unilever, and SVP Publicis Groupe); SVP Senior Account Director and Multinational Business Development, BBDO Worldwide; and Consultant/Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company in NY, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels. Hollis is originally from New York but has spent most of her adult life living in Europe.

Join us on March 29th as Hollis shares some new perspectives as well as some practical tips and tricks for honing your innovation skills and creativity.

Participants are welcome to network from 19:00 to 20:00.

The program begins at 20:00.

Pre-registration is advised.

Registration and Guest Policy: Registration is required for members (no charge) and guests (guests are welcome at a cost of 25 Euro which includes snacks and drinks). Guests are allowed to attend two EuropeanPWN-Amsterdam functions per year. Please contact Caroline van Leuven, our VP Membership.

Richard Kwakernaak, founder Institute for Communication Psychology and Transformation (ICPT);

Thursday, February 4^th, 2010

Location: Amsterdam Renaissance Hotel

Why is it sometimes a challenge to enjoy working together with others, men in particular, while it seems so easy at many other occasions? What role do emotions play? How do we recognize each other’s and our own emotions? And how do we consciously as well as unconsciously focus our attention, depending on how we feel?

During this interactive event Richard Kwakernaak will guide us to reveal our inner resources to communicate and cooperate as effectively as possible, even under difficult circumstances.

Richard graduated from Naval Academy with a specialization in Human Resources Management and founded the Institute for Communication Psychology and Transformation (ICPT) after fourteen years in active service of the Royal Netherlands Navy. During that time Richard acquired a vast amount of experience of communication in male dominated environments which he now also passes on in his work with various national and international companies and a number of seminars that he teaches for the military, especially at NATO’s Civil-Military Cooperation Centre of Excellence.

Discover how to benefit from the latest insights in social neurosciences, practically applied in the fields of Mindfulness, NeuroLeadership and Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Learn what all people have in common and yet how different individuals interpret experiences, including specific characteristics of male and female information processing.

Afterwards you will have a thorough understanding why men sometimes act in a neglecting way, how emotions arise and impact your communication. During entertaining exercises you will practice how to maintain focus in order to communicate how and what you want.

Participants are welcome to network from 19:00 to 20:00. The program begins at 20:00.

Registration and Guest Policy: Registration is required for members (no charge) and guests (guests are welcome at a cost of 25 Euro which includes snacks and drinks). Guests are allowed to attend two EuropeanPWN-Amsterdam functions per year. Please contact Caroline van Leuven, our VP Membership.

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is to be a key driver of sustainable European growth and competitiveness through the stimulation of world-leading innovations with a positive impact on economy and society.

The mission of the EIT is to grow and capitalise on the innovation capacity and capability of actors from higher education, research, business and entrepreneurship from the EU and beyond through the creation of highly integrated Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs).

• European Institute of Innovation and Technology

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Julie Gilbert comes as a “two-in-one”: There’s the Senior Vice President of Best Buy, who leads retail training, leadership development, and the company’s innovation engine for 140,000+ employees worldwide. And there is the founder of WOLF (Women’s Leadership Forum), through which Best Buy increased its female market share by more than USD 3.6 billion and the number of female general managers by 40 percent.