#com4nsm

Ik zie het zo vaak de laatste tijd: in tijdschriften, op sociale media, bij blogartikelen, in advertenties. Zelfs nu ik dit typ wilt mijn autocorrectie van mijn telefoon het woord blogartikelen foutief verbeteren. Waar ik het over heb? Aaneenschrijven.

‘Weer updates’ Het los schrijven van woorden komt vaak genoeg voor. Dit wordt ook wel de Engelse ziekte genoemd omdat je in het Engels alles los schrijft en in Nederland aanelkaar. Een voorbeeld hiervan staat hieronder. In het Nederlands schrijf je weerupdates, want anders heb je het idee dat je ‘weer updates’ krijgt. In het Engels is het weather updates. Hier zie je dat er geen verwarring ontstaat

'Super leuk dit’ Een bepaalde fout die ik zo vaak zie bij artikelen van blogs is 'super leuk’, of andere woorden met super ervoor. Dit is, luisteren jullie mee bloggers, één woord. Elke keer zie ik het maar weer en wil ik onder de blogpost reageren, maar doe ik het uiteindelijk niet want dan ben ik weer een taalnazi.

Het is ook niet dat alleen de kleine bloggers het doen, ik zie het juist bij de grotere blogs. Gelukkig zijn er ook blogs die deze regel wel kennen en 'superleuk’ schrijven.

De kracht van storytelling

Verhalen zijn overal om ons heen. Door verhalen worden wij geïnspireerd, gemotiveerd en voelen wij ons in leven. Verhalen zijn dé manier om uit te reiken naar mensen en emotioneel te verbinden. Maar hoe kom je tot een aansprekend verhaal? In dit artikel zeven tips:

1. Verscherp allereerst je doelgroep en kernboodschap

Door je als onderneming te verplaatsen in je doelgroep begrijp je wat hen beweegt, kan de onderneming aansluiten op hun beleving en kun je van daaruit een nieuw perspectief bieden.

2. Verbeeld de boodschap en daarbij elk onderdeel van je visie

Het vertellen vanuit een toekomstbeeld komt sterker over dan het vertellen vanuit het heden. Je boodschap wordt hierdoor eerlijk, werkelijk en concreet.

3. Verdiep je toekomstreis en beschrijf deze spannende toekomst

Hoe gaan jij en je onderneming problemen overwinnen en welke uitdagingen neem je aan?

4. Licht de samenhang en betekenis toe

Hoe hebben prestaties van de onderneming op dit moment of in de toekomst invloed op het grotere geheel? Laat in je verhaal naar voren komen wat de bijdrage was aan bijvoorbeeld het creëren van winst voor je onderneming en wat hierna de logische volgende stap is.

5. Deel ervaring en gevoel

Laat in je verhaal continu naar voren komen wat je voelt wanneer je een belangrijk punt hebt bereikt, zoals het openen van een vestiging in het buitenland. Door je gevoelens te delen, maak je een sterke verbinding tussen je publiek en jouw als spreker.

6. Gebruik persoonlijke anekdotes om je verhaal krachtiger te maken

Vertel bijvoorbeeld bij elk kernwoord van jouw onderneming een aansprekende anekdote. Hierdoor illustreer je waarom het zo belangrijk is voor de onderneming.

7. Gebruik pakkende voorbeelden

Beelden blijven veel beter in het hoofd van de mens hangen dan abstracte woorden. Gebruik beroemde voorbeelden om bijvoorbeeld de definitie van innovatie uit te leggen.

The average American supermarket sells 47.000 products, vegetables are available all year, many products contain corn, and a burger is cheaper than a broccoli. I watched the documentary Food Inc. by Robert Kenner and I was shocked by how the American food industry works. Insane: that is the only way for me to describe it.

There is a world hidden from us: the food industry. As Robert Kenner said: ‘There is a veil between us and where our food comes from. And the industry does not want us to know the truth behind it.’

Fast Food

The industrial food system began with fast food drive-ins. The McDonald brothers were the first to become incredibly succesful. When they decided to cut costs and simplify their concept, they brought the factory system to the kitchen. They hired people to do one particular job over and over again. In this way the employees did not cost as much and were easy to replace.

But this caused huge consequences for the entire food industry. When McDonald’s is the largest purchaser of ground beef in the United States, and they want their hamburgers everywhere to taste exactly the same, they change how ground beef is produced. In 1970 the top five beef packers controlled 25% of the market. Today, the top four control more than 80% of it.

The food industry wants to become more and more efficient. But this efficiency leads to problems. And when these problems appear, the companies don’t look at what’s wrong with the system. They come up with technical extra’s instead to work with the flawed system. For example: a company that cleans its beef with ammonia to kill the E. Coli infection that cows get from eating corn instead of grass. This beef becomes hamburger meat filler for 70% of the burgers in America.

A cornucopia of choices

Because of all the different products it feels like we have plenty of choice. But there is an illusion of diversity. Many products are made with corn. Farmers are subsidised for overproducing corn so it can be used for food engineering. Yes, you read that correctly. Food is being engineered. Even products such as cheese, peanut butter, coke, diapers, batteries, meat and fast food contain corn.

The use of corn makes it possible to drive down the prices of meat. Which therefore makes it possible to eat 200 pounds of meat per person per year. That’s more than 90 kilograms. That is an insane amount. Furthermore its production has a negative effect on the environment.

Many people do not have much time and money. Candy, soda and chips are cheaper than one broccoli. Unhealthy calories are cheaper, because they are being subsidised. Think about the corn. The government blames the obesity in its country on a crisis of personal responsibility. While in fact the corn - that is within most of the cheap food - gives spikes of insulin which are wearing down the system by which our body metabolises sugar.

Hidden costs

When you take a closer look, you will see that cheap food is extremely expensive when it comes to health costs and production costs. Everything needs to be faster, fatter, bigger and cheaper. Nobody’s thinking about the personal or ecological health. And that is because the decisionmakers, the big companies, do not have to live with the consequences of the decisions they make.

The FDA decided not to label genetically modified foods, so that people won’t know what they are eating. They think it will create unnecessary fear among consumers. The power is centralised and is being used against farmers, employees and even consumers. One bad word about any ruling company and you will end up in jail.

Power of the consumers

Consumers are way more powerful than they think. Every time a product runs across the supermarket scanner we are voting: local or not, organic or not. Individual consumers change the biggest companies on earth. Walmart for example.

Stonyfield is a company that produces organic foods. And it seemed that consumers wanted that more and more, because Walmart made the choice to go organic. They changed because of the wishes of the people. You’re not going to get there by only buying food at the farmers markets. You have to go to the supermarket and vote by buying local and organic food.

The tabacco industry is a great example of how powerful consumers are when they know a company misbehaves. You can vote three times a day. Buy from companies that treat employees, animals and the environment with respect. When you go to the supermarket, choose foods that are in season, buy organic foods and read labels. Be aware of what you buy and what is in your food.

Everyone has a right to healthy food. You can change the world with every bite. So go for it. Make that change!

Today, 896 million people are living in extreme poverty. This means that they have to live on less than $1,90 per day. Even though this is shocking, it may not be new for you. How so you may ask? We see it everywhere: on the news and in documentaries. Maybe you remember the images of African children with swollen bellies. Personally, these images make me sick to my stomach. How is it possible that in the same world where we waste so much food (one third of all the produced food in the world gets wasted) people are dying from hunger? What can we do to make an end to extreme poverty, as soon as possible?  

Screenshot from the documentary: “Living On One Dollar” – 2013.

A few weeks ago I saw the documentary “Living On One Dollar” on Netflix. If you didn’t see it: go check it out. In short it is about four American students who went to Guatemala for eight weeks to live on one dollar a day in order to experience extreme poverty. The documentary clearly shows the  daily struggle of the locals to survive in extreme poverty conditions. Most of the inhabitants of Guatemala are poor farmers. Their life is hard and they all want a better future for their children by sending them to school. But it often happens that there isn’t enough money in the family to afford education. The kids end up helping their parents at the farm and remain uneducated. In their future they will have to perform low-paying work as well. This causes a cycle from generation to generation.

Is money the solution? After watching the documentary I was, and I still am, really impressed by it. These people need help! And I really felt the urge to do something. I thought a lot about how I could contribute to ending this endless cycle of extreme poverty. Not only in Guatemala, but in the whole world. I wanted to know more on how I could do something, as an individual, to help ending extreme poverty. So I started to do some research on the internet. I discovered that rich Western governments spent almost 91,5 billion euro per year to development assistance. Over the past 50 years it sums up to a total amount of 4,8 trillion euro (which is, by the way, just about the same amount as the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan). The good news is: there is progression. Although the number of people who are living in extreme poverty conditions is still really high, the amount is decreasing if you compare the numbers with a few years ago:

From: http://ourworldindata.org/extreme-poverty/

Priorities The United Nations aims to end extreme poverty by 2030. Personally, I believe it is a realistic aim, but 2030 is way too far ahead. Chino, the Guatemalan boy from “Living On One Dollar” (left on the picture above), will be 29 years old by 2030. Is he just one of the 896 million unlucky people? Or do we need to accelerate the process? I’m starting to feel that ending extreme poverty doesn’t have a high priority in Western countries.

Why you might ask? This is why:

Did you know that every European country has to spent 0,7% gross national product (g.n.p.) to development assistance, according to the standard of the United Nations?

Did you know that just five countries (Norway, Sweden, Luxembourg, Denmark and The Netherlands) actually achieve to spend this required percentage to development assistance?

And did you know that 0,7% of the g.n.p. is not much. In 2015, 0.7% of the The Netherlands g.n.p. was just 3,7 billion euro. That is almost nothing, especially if you compare it to the money that The Netherlands spend on defence, which is 7,3 billion euro.

Make it a public debate again The signs mentioned above are in my opinion signs of the decreasing perceived severity of the poverty problem in our society. But this is serious! We have to take action to make extreme poverty a public debate again, so that our governments will give this problem a higher priority on their agenda’s. Let’s create awareness of the problem, raise money with out of the box fundraising events to end extreme poverty right now! And we can do this. Because we have a powerful weapon: the internet. With all of its social platforms and communities where we can talk and encourage each other from all around the world to do something about extreme poverty. Remember what the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge did in over a year? They created worldwide awareness and raised a total amount of 220 million dollar in almost a year.

I love weekends! Three days filled with offline luxury. Because, after a week of hard work, I’m really done with being online. That is why I put my phone in silent mode as soon as my weekend starts on Friday evening. I do not check Instagram, Whatsapp and Facebook. For a moment, I’m not a slave of my smartphone. Instead, I do things I really like, such as going for a long walk or to a museum, visiting a friend or reading a good book. By doing this, I can finally get the rest I’ve been looking forward to all week, and I can make a fresher start the next Monday. By being offline for a moment, my body gets time to “charge” again.

Socialbesitas I need to recharge, because after a full day of online activeness I’m really tired. My mind is thinking about my social network all day. I’m wondering if anyone has reacted to my post yet, or what my friends are posting. This compulsive use of social media is called socialbesitas. One of the signs of socialbesitas is becoming irritated when your smartphone is out of your reach. Other symptoms are: not being able during conversations, constant pressure to check social media and fear of missing something on social media. This is called FOMO: Fear of Missing Out.

Online brains The Dutch neuroscientist Roeland Dietvorst is specialized in how people process information and how they can be influenced. According to him, every online like feels as a reward, and we want to experience this feeling over and over again. That is why using social media can become an addiction. These days, people are losing their capacity for boredom. But when you are experiencing boredom, your brain is not bored. But your brain is doing important work for mental and emotional stability. If you are addicted to social media, your brain can’t do this essential work.

The facts The Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) recently showed that girls are more addicted to social media than boys. Girls depend very much on the likes and comments they get. They also become restless if they can’t answer a message directly. They are afraid of missing something while being offline. Figures from CBS also show that 17% of Dutch teenagers are addicted to social media. More than half of the teenagers checks their phone first thing in the morning, and they read new messages immediately. This addiction can have a negative impact on the amount of sleep of the teenagers. It also affects the ability to concentrate and their grades at school.

Online learning Lots of schools support working online. Smartphones and laptops enable students to look things up. But more and more professors are not so sure about this working method anymore. They have started to realise that laptops and phones distract the students. Psychology professor Sherry Turkle says that every open laptop is a circle of distraction. Because it not only distracts the owner of the device, but also the people around it.

Distraction Almost all Americans prefer having face to face conversations instead of being online. But still the devices distract them from having deep conversations. 89% of the Americans say that in their last social interaction they have looked on their phone. 82% of them said it had a negative impact on their conversation. This is a sign that people are living in a virtual world, instead of living the moment. Everything that happens online is more interesting than the people across the table.

Information overload The British research agency Tecmark found that we check our smartphone 221 times a day. Honestly, I think I check my phone more than 300 times a day. So yes, my brain is suffering from information overload, day after day. This is the reason I need an online break every once in a while. I couldn’t agree more with psychology professor Sherry Turkle. She says: “There’s nothing wrong with phones, and there’s nothing wrong with connectivity. We don’t have to unplug, but we have to know when to take a break.”

Sometimes I begin to doubt my own life. If you scroll through your timeline on Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat, you always see beautiful photos of ‘friends’, in their bikini with perfectly tanned bodies on beautiful white beaches with a stunning view. Romantic dinners for two, city trips, BBQ’s and high class parties .... But is the rest of the world really a lot more romantic, more exciting, more inspiring and more social than you are? Probably not, but the enviable messages on your timeline make you think that these people have it all. Why can’t we just smash our phones against a wall and stop comparing our lives with these people?

Social media is an important communication tool for many people. Research from Newcom Research revealed that there are over nine million active Facebook users in the Netherlands. All the Facebook users together share over 350 million photos and ‘like’ about 6 billion messages a day. I am sure these enviable pictures are taken on holidays and are posted to make us jealous. YES, YOU MADE ME JEALOUS! SO WHAT?!

Sharing = caring?      

But why does everyone post almost everything of their life on their social media? The New York Times was also wondering this. They set up a study, which revealed that 69% of the respondents share pictures on social media because they want to feel more connected with the outside world. Furthermore, the research revealed that 68% of the respondents wanted to create a better image of themselves. But I believe that this is not credible, because the study also revealed that we only post things from our happy moments. And to be honest, secretly I am doing that as well!

The kick According to the same research from the New York Times, getting hundreds of likes and flattering comments gives people a kick. It is very addictive when you think that people notice you and comment on your selfies. I know that this is very addictive because I feel the same ‘happiness’. The likes and comments can be seen as our social reward for being cool! According to a study by the Erasmus University not everyone is delighted with this joyfulness. People who are already feeling alone and dissatisfied with their social contacts, will feel even more miserable about their social life because of the social media.  

I am addicted The use of social media is a growing problem among the youngsters of our society. As reported by the Centraal Bureau of Statistiek (CBS), 1 in 6 youngsters from the age of 12 to 22 are addicted to social media. Especially girls suffer this problem. I am also addicted to social media because I want to be connected 24/7 with the outside world. People who are worried about missing something have ‘Fear Of Missing Out’ (FOMO). Not only the young people are worried that they are missing out, but also the older generation is afraid for missing things online.

However all young people who participated in the research of the CBS said they prefer personal contact over social media contact. Only 4% of the respondents would rather have digital contact than physical contact with their relatives and friends. Social media does help in maintaining contacts with relatives and friends who live far away. I recognize how difficult it is to keep in touch with my relatives if I didn’t have Facebook or Instagram. I am half Indonesian so almost all of my family members live there. And I am not able to see them on a daily basis.

Socialbestitas The Dutch people have made a word for the social media addiction: ‘socialbestitas’. Which means: social media obesities. The pressure to be constantly social and to respond to all messages. Because of the popularity of this word and the meaning of it, the government of the Netherlands have worked together with SIRE. SIRE is a foundation discussing social issues. Together they have made a video about the social media addiction. Click here to watch it!

Well, I am not trying to convince you to completely stop with social media. Sometimes it is very useful for if you want to stay up-to-date with news and current events or just to fill up your spare time. But stop believing that someone else his/her live is better because of the pictures they post on their Instagram or Facebook! And keep posting those selfies because sometimes you just want flattering comments and those hundreds of likes.

Het onthouden van klantinformatie; het is iets waar veel bedrijven nog veel aan kunnen verbeteren. Vorige maand maakte ik het bijvoorbeeld mee bij NS. Ik had een vraag waarvoor ik de klantenservice belde. Na het (met veel irritatie) doorlopen van een keuzemenu met drie verschillende vragen, kreeg ik na vijf minuten wachten een medewerker aan de lijn. Deze vroeg mij vervolgens om precies dezelfde gegevens als die ik zojuist had ingevuld. Zuchtend maar beleefd gaf ik haar nogmaals antwoord. Want ach, zij kan er waarschijnlijk ook niets aan doen dat de communicatie in het systeem zo slecht is geregeld. Na een paar minuten had ik de informatie die ik nodig had, en hing ik met een tevreden gevoel op. Maar wat bleek, de informatie die ik gekregen had bleek niet te kloppen.

Kan íemand mij helpen? Vermoeid belde ik de volgende dag opnieuw NS op. Opnieuw moest ik het hele keuzemenu doorlopen. Ik kreeg een andere medewerkster aan de lijn, die mij opnieuw alle vragen stelde. Vragen die ik nu voor de vierde keer in twee beantwoordde. Na het opnieuw uitleggen van mijn situatie, kreeg ik een compleet ander verhaal te horen dan degene die ik een dag daarvoor ontving. Een oplossing voor mijn situatie was er helaas niet. Koortsachtig zocht ik naar meer vragen om duidelijkheid te krijgen, maar antwoord kreeg ik niet. Mijn irritatie begon een hoogtepunt te bereiken, terwijl mijn kostbare belminuten ondertussen wegsijpelen. Terwijl ik mijn nagels er bijna af had gekauwd van frustratie, bleef de mevrouw aan de andere kant onnatuurlijk rustig. Is er dan niemand die een klant gewoon kan vertellen hoe het zit?