Crisis, what crisis?‘Do not worry, everything is under control. Sounds like something politicians say during press conferences, doesn’t it? In fact, this was the last thing Saddam Hussein’s Information Minister said on TV just hours before Baghdad fell.
Well, at least he didn’t lie. Everything was under control, he just forgot to say ‘but not under our control!’
Somehow the same story is happening now in our economic world. Leaders give speeches saying there’s nothing to worry about, there are enough reserves to save the finance and manufacturing sectors. Yet every morning news about companies facing bankruptcy gives us a good wake-up kick. Can’t someone at least try to be sincere and let investors know if it’s a time to panic or not? Of course, we know the housing market is in a bad shape and the economy less stable than Microsoft Windows. We see companies struggling – the stock market numbers don’t lie at least. Yet, should we really worry about the current situation?
If you’re not an investor, you don’t have too much to worry about. And if you’re a wanna-be-entrepreneur, then, in fact, this whole saga is good motivation to become one, and here’s why. You wake up in the morning, switch on the news and hear that another mega company went bankrupt and there are now another 80-something thousand workers on the market looking for new jobs. What’s the first thought that goes through your head? ‘Hey, it’s a great time to start my career and look for a job?’ Or, ‘Oh oh, finding a job in this unstable market ain’t gonna be easy!’
Now, sure there are still some good opportunities out there for new jobs with good companies and the fat paychecks and interesting projects that come with them. But if you look at the situation with a little more reality-focused logic, last night you had 100,000 experienced competitors looking for jobs, and this morning you have 180,000 to compete against.
Hence, now is a great time to give yourself a chance to become an entrepreneur. Think of it as Plan B. Make some extra time in your daily schedule and dedicate it to looking for new opportunities in markets where you can positively contribute. Remember that brilliant idea you and some friends were talking about a couple months ago? The one that you could never bring yourself to work on seriously, because you thought you’d be better off finding a more stable, less risky occupation. Well, that less risky occupation doesn’t really exist anymore, at least not for a while.
Finding ways to become an entrepreneur is mostly a passive process. Still, you should be able to find some smarter ways to automate your job-hunting process and free up more time. Looking for jobs doesn’t really taking all your free time anyway, even if you’re one of those people who go from page to page on company profiles; instead, think of ways to ‘outsource’ this process. Create a good CV, put it on the Internet, and then let the professional job-hunters fight to find you a job (and earn their bonuses!). This should give you a few hours of free time per week. Now, of course, if you aren’t smart enough, there are lots of ways to spend your valuable free hours. You can waste them by doing nothing for your future, or worse, you can attend one of those over-hyped ‘how-to-be’ workshops, and then spend hours recovering from all the mental damage you’ve got from wasting your time! Or think sharply and brainstorm with your friends and colleagues to test the feasibility of the idea you want to build your business on. Remember, many other people might also share your dream! This is how many entrepreneurs usually start.
Whatever the case, make the best use of your free time, and instead of sitting around wondering why so many companies are falling like dominos, focus your energy on building your own company. After all, crisis is the best time to make improvements. Think ‘no crisis!’ Think ‘opportunity in disguise!’”
Fardad Zand, from Iran, is a PhD student in ‘Economics of Innovation’. Shahin Mesgarzadeh, also from Iran, is a technology consultant and TU Delft alumnus. Please send any comments and links to: biztalk4you@gmail.com.
Wies Bouwmeester maakt in 1950 een grande entree in het pittoreske Delft. Op haar Triumph 650 Thunderbird komt de bouwkundestudente de grachtenstad binnen. ‘Over de Nieuwe en Oude Langendijk, door de Peperstraat, het Oude Delft op naar nummer 26, waar ze woonde in het clubgebouw van DVSV en waar haar huisgenoten tegen de ramen op waren gevlogen, al snel naar buiten leunend, gilletjes van bewondering en schrik slakend voor Wies Bouwmeester, goddomme, die daar eventjes op een motorfiets is komen aanrijden! Een meisje! In het Delft van de mannen!’
Zo beschrijft schrijver en dichter Robert Anker hoe Bouwmeester Delft onveilig maakt. Anker maakte de afgelopen jaren vooral naam met zijn prachtige roman ‘Een soort Engeland’ (2001) en de vindingrijke dichtbundel ‘De broek bewapperde mens’ uit 2002.
Na deze hoogtepunten uit zijn oeuvre richt de voormalig leraar Nederlands zich nu op het levensverhaal van Wies Bouwmeester. Een groot gedeelte van het boek gaat over haar wel en wee als Delftse bouwkundestudent en beginnend architect.
Bouwmeester besluit bouwkunde te studeren in Delft, omdat ze de wereld wil veranderen. Haar vader was aannemer en jarenlang haar grote voorbeeld tijdens haar redelijk gelukkige jeugd, die tenenkrommend slecht wordt beschreven door Robert Anker. De burgerlijke clichés buitelen in het begin van het boek over elkaar heen. Maar het doorlezen is de moeite waard. Bouwmeesters jeugd wordt bruut verstoord als na de bevrijding van Nederland in 1945, Bouwmeesters vader veroordeeld wordt voor collaboratie met Duitsers. Haar vader is fout en valt van zijn voetstuk.
Daarna begint het meest interessante gedeelte van ‘Nieuw-Lelievelt’: de Delftse periode. In Delft gaat het aanvankelijk stroef. In haar eerste jaar haalt Bouwmeester maar één vak. Bouwmeester is als vrouw een opvallende verschijning in mannenbolwerk Delft, maar laat zich daardoor niet van de wijs brengen. Ze hangt vooral rond in de cafés van de Beestenmarkt om te discussiëren. Deze discussies geeft Anker gedegen weer, alsof je er als lezer zelf bij bent, al zijn de opvattingen van Bouwmeester en haar medestudenten soms op het simplistische af.
De oude architectuur, waar Delft vol mee staat, is passé volgens de studenten. Karel, een vriend van Bouwmeester, roept uit dat de verwoesting van de Rotterdamse binnenstad een zegen was voor de architectuur. ‘Helemaal mee eens,’ riep Joop, ‘anders leren ze het nooit, dan blijven ze verlangen naar Anton Pieck!’ Le Corbusier en zijn megalomane plannen voor Parijs om het centrum plat te gooien en op die plek massale woontorens te plaatsen worden met applaus begroet. Ook Amsterdam, met die lelijke steegjes en grachten, zou er aan moeten geloven. Weg met de lawaaierige grachtenpanden en hoera voor de nieuwe flats.
Anker voert twee van de belangrijkste architecten van de jaren vijftig op in ‘Nieuw-Lelievelt’, de Delftse hoogleraren Jakob Bakema en Jo Van den Broek. Van den Broek ontwierp onder mee het Auditorium in Delft en Bakema bedacht de Centrale Bibliotheek in Rotterdam. Bouwmeester studeerde cum laude af bij Van den Broek op een multifunctioneel gebouw, dat bestaat uit zowel een schouwburg van gewapend beton als restaurant, bar en danszaal. Ze mag het gebouw ten uitvoer brengen bij het bureau van Van den Broek en Bakema. Daar bemoeit de laatste zich intensief met haar ontwerpen, waardoor ze gedesillusioneerd weggaat.
Anker sluit de Delftse periode af door Bouwmeester als wereldverbeterende ingenieur naar Afrika te laten vertrekken. Het verhaal van Bouwmeester verliest dan aan zeggingskracht. De personages gaan maar niet leven, vooral omdat Anker ze afstandelijk beschrijft en hun gevoelens wel erg simplistisch weergeeft. Anker haalt geen moment het niveau van ‘Een soort Engeland’. Zonde, want van een boek dat over een van de meest interessante periodes uit de architectuurgeschiedenis gaat mag je meer verwachten.
@01 infoblokje:Robert Anker, ‘Nieuw-Lelievelt’, Querido, 253p., 18,95 euro.
Crisis, what crisis?
‘Do not worry, everything is under control. Sounds like something politicians say during press conferences, doesn’t it? In fact, this was the last thing Saddam Hussein’s Information Minister said on TV just hours before Baghdad fell. Well, at least he didn’t lie. Everything was under control, he just forgot to say ‘but not under our control!’
Somehow the same story is happening now in our economic world. Leaders give speeches saying there’s nothing to worry about, there are enough reserves to save the finance and manufacturing sectors. Yet every morning news about companies facing bankruptcy gives us a good wake-up kick. Can’t someone at least try to be sincere and let investors know if it’s a time to panic or not? Of course, we know the housing market is in a bad shape and the economy less stable than Microsoft Windows. We see companies struggling – the stock market numbers don’t lie at least. Yet, should we really worry about the current situation?
If you’re not an investor, you don’t have too much to worry about. And if you’re a wanna-be-entrepreneur, then, in fact, this whole saga is good motivation to become one, and here’s why. You wake up in the morning, switch on the news and hear that another mega company went bankrupt and there are now another 80-something thousand workers on the market looking for new jobs. What’s the first thought that goes through your head? ‘Hey, it’s a great time to start my career and look for a job?’ Or, ‘Oh oh, finding a job in this unstable market ain’t gonna be easy!’
Now, sure there are still some good opportunities out there for new jobs with good companies and the fat paychecks and interesting projects that come with them. But if you look at the situation with a little more reality-focused logic, last night you had 100,000 experienced competitors looking for jobs, and this morning you have 180,000 to compete against.
Hence, now is a great time to give yourself a chance to become an entrepreneur. Think of it as Plan B. Make some extra time in your daily schedule and dedicate it to looking for new opportunities in markets where you can positively contribute. Remember that brilliant idea you and some friends were talking about a couple months ago? The one that you could never bring yourself to work on seriously, because you thought you’d be better off finding a more stable, less risky occupation. Well, that less risky occupation doesn’t really exist anymore, at least not for a while.
Finding ways to become an entrepreneur is mostly a passive process. Still, you should be able to find some smarter ways to automate your job-hunting process and free up more time. Looking for jobs doesn’t really taking all your free time anyway, even if you’re one of those people who go from page to page on company profiles; instead, think of ways to ‘outsource’ this process. Create a good CV, put it on the Internet, and then let the professional job-hunters fight to find you a job (and earn their bonuses!). This should give you a few hours of free time per week. Now, of course, if you aren’t smart enough, there are lots of ways to spend your valuable free hours. You can waste them by doing nothing for your future, or worse, you can attend one of those over-hyped ‘how-to-be’ workshops, and then spend hours recovering from all the mental damage you’ve got from wasting your time! Or think sharply and brainstorm with your friends and colleagues to test the feasibility of the idea you want to build your business on. Remember, many other people might also share your dream! This is how many entrepreneurs usually start.
Whatever the case, make the best use of your free time, and instead of sitting around wondering why so many companies are falling like dominos, focus your energy on building your own company. After all, crisis is the best time to make improvements. Think ‘no crisis!’ Think ‘opportunity in disguise!’”
Fardad Zand, from Iran, is a PhD student in ‘Economics of Innovation’. Shahin Mesgarzadeh, also from Iran, is a technology consultant and TU Delft alumnus. Please send any comments and links to: biztalk4you@gmail.com.
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