After a two-week break, World Horti Center, in close collaboration with NethWork, resumed the EAT THIS! webinar series on June 24. Corporate anthropologist Jitske Kramer started out with a powerful statement: you need to know where you come from, in order to know where you are going to. If you don’t recognize your past, how will you ever know what your future will be like?
She then invited the audience to travel with her around the world looking for what it is that connects people to each other. Central to her vision are ‘tribes’, groups of people with a shared culture. Knowledge about tribes and cultures is essential, especially within the (international) corporate sector. Tangible results can only be achieved when bridges can be built between cultures. Working and living as part of a tribe also forces people to look at themselves from another perspective. Two important (and sometimes seemingly opposing) forces are key: power (results, achievements) and love (relationships, trust, connections).
The challenge is, also for companies, to find the right balance between these two.
Strong cultures are characterized by the ability to welcome others, including the so-called ‘rebel minds’ and acknowledge different opinions and voices. She also mentioned that the culture’s story should be told in a language others can understand; ‘Tell me your story in a language I understand and I want to be part of it.’ To be successful in an ever-changing world, especially in these unprecedented time, Jitske’s presentation offered a lot of food for thought for the horticultural sector. If you missed this session, you can watch the recording here: https://bit.ly/RecEATTHISJitskeKramer
Next week we will explore the horticultural ‘story’ further with Hidde Boersma, molecular biologist, writer and film maker and Erin Fitzgerald, CEO of USFRA (United Farmers & Ranchers Association). What can greenhouse producers learn from American farmers and vice versa, what are their stories and how to they connect? Curious? Join next week Wednesday July 1 for the next EAT THIS! session via this link: https://bit.ly/EATTHISHiddeBoersma