Participants Find New Insights and Approaches at ILA-Europe Roundtable, October 14, 2004, Bloemendaal, the Netherlands

In the afternoon of October 14, 2004 five leaders from different companies in various business fields gathered to share their knowledge, bottlenecks, and successes in the field of leadership. For five hours the participants were colleagues in the field of leadership.

Management consultant Tjebbe Loonstra opened the roundtable by introducing the participants. Participants included a Professor in Political Science, and CEOs of a major telephone company, employment agency, hospital, and an implementation specialist company in the Netherlands.

ILA Board member and 2005 Conference Co-Chair Ted Baartmans started the discussion by explaining what he believes are the difference between leaders and leadership, and managers and management on basis of the following ideas: A leader cannot be effective without managers. Managers on their turn cannot be effective without a leader; Leadership in its primary form consists of vision, passion, creativity, interaction and empowerment, while management consists of planning and control.

The participants were asked to bring to the table an actual issue they face in their daily practice of leadership. Using these as a jumping off point, the following issues were discussed:

1. A Dilemma: who to listen to?
   A successful profit making company is part of a loss-making holding. In order to survive, the profit of the company is absorbed by the holding. How to convince the holding the continuity of the company is in danger? What is the responsibility of the leader?
2. Relationships between whites & blacks in large cities in the Netherlands
   What are the issues? How to solve it? How should political leaders influence this process?
3. Optimize through automation
   By means of automation a company can be optimized, in particular regarding expenses. How to convince people within the company that this is needed?
4. How to deal with product introductions?
   When to step into the market, how far, who will I encounter? All questions that rise when introducing a new product on the market. What is the responsibility of the leader?

Ted Baartmans concluded the session by rephrasing the most important things that were said. All participants mentioned that they had found new insights and approaches in dealing with their issues.

The next two European roundtables will be held at January 18 and February 15, 2005. For more detailed information about the roundtables, please contact Janna de Waard at dewaard@depresentatiegroep.nl.

Communities: ILA-Europe: October 14, 2004 Bloemendaal, the Netherlands