Intern internal international

Over time we have learned to love all the interns and assistants that worked with us over the years. First in Ghana, then in South Africa, now in A'dam. Most of the time ladies. You get so tired of those guys. All this macho career building, lots of talk, less action. Hé guys, bring it up down! Yesterday we said goodbye to David, our last intern so far. A man, a real man, yes. But we loved him too. Lots of guts, critique, humor, laughs. Hard working also, where do you find a man like that? Sorry to see him leave, hiring for new interns, yes we are. Write to Angelica and send your motivation and cv and we will have a look. So, now you know, we love diversity. We love arguments, culture, being different. Are you next?

The report, the report and the report

I did not know that CR reporting was so boring sometimes. It takes forever and in the end you are discussing numbers till nobody knows anymore what reasons there were to publish those number in the first place. And editing text. You edit, they edit, we edit. And sometimes coming back to the same text we had three months before...

But now we are out with the report. On line. And printed in a summary with the Annual Report. Last year I promised the investors that our new report would be a lot duller. And we kept that promise! It looks and is a lot duller than last year. Less glamour, more data, that does the trick. Actually, that was one of the remarks of the investors present at our Monday investors meeting. They missed the passion of last year. And that made me wondering. Do we indeed lack passion. I do not want to hear that. I love my job, passionately. But if that is not recognized anymore?

Anyway, we started working on the 2009 report and we will love it right from the start!

Milky Way!

Yesterday evening I went to a concert of Habib Koité and his band. Just look at wiki for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habib_Koit%C3%A9. I loved it, relaxed mix of African and whatever influences. If you ever have the change to go listen to him, please do. You feel at home with this music and Africa comes alive again. Just hanging out there in the Milky Way with friends and this kind of music is one of great things op life!

Professor Franse

Onno is the Nestor of our department and he just celebrated his 50th birthday. As always with Onno he gave a magnificent speech about life in general and some specifics about his own life. Having worked for fast movers, McDonalds and the likes he has seen it all. Cheap calories, the whole range from poverty --> wealth --> well-being. And how do you reach that? It is a balance my friends. It is not about eating healthy always, it is about sometimes eating fries, burgers. Sometimes carrots, fried garlic. Drinking beet root juice and wine. And exercising. make it a life, get a life!

Effe een balletje trappen

We just had the celebration around our new official soccer table in the office. We had several before, but you know, with all those financial guys playing with it, it breaks down easily. So now we had a huge X-Mas project where the most creative Albert Heijn man reviped an old table and we were giving the opportunity to sponsor the players. Of course our Corporate Responsibility department got the strikerand all the proceeds went to the Johan Cruyff Foundation. Johan Cruyff, being our world soccer player from the past, is trying his utmost to give disadvantaged kids a good sport time one or the other.
Ha, that is the spirit!

New Year

Last week a reception in the Hague of the MInistry of Development Cooperation. All the guys and girls from the development scene were there. Mr. Joris Voorhoeve, former Minister of Defense, was speeching before me about all the ins and outs of the development world. Can we create a avant-garde capable of actually hitting real development goals? He is a wise and friendly man. Then I could give my ideas about cooperation between the development sector and the private sector. My conclusion: together in the mud we will stand! Jack van Ham was there also, he is heading ICCO, with whom we have a fruitfull cooperation.
Who's next?

Obama!

Now, this was the day. We got up quite early to get to The Mall to see what was happening around the inauguration. And it was great! There booing, cheering, crying and all of that. Long lines for refreshments and an impressive amount of mobile toilets. And there was Barack Obama, impressive as ever. It was so cool to listen with I do not how many other people to those great words. Seeing all those persons that made US history. And for me wondering what all this will mean for our policies in Corporate Responsibility. For the better I am sure. I am wishing all Americans a good change