As a team or company, do you have a goal in mind and need some inspiration to achieve it? Do you want to get everyone in your organization moving in the same direction? Or are you looking for someone whose life story gives you strength and who teaches you that it is not bad if you are not the strongest or the winner for once? Then Maarten is the speaker you are looking for. He talks about mental resilience, innovation and cooperation/team building.
Four days of swimming in cold, dirty water. Being able to keep motivating yourself mile after mile. Through all kinds of weather. Even when there are no people cheering at the side. Having to give up after 163 kilometers and then being able to bring yourself to try again. Getting out of bed every morning and into that cold pool or onto your bike. Training. Getting through the blisters. Fighting the mental battle with yourself. Pulling yourself through those lows, with resilience and perseverance. Maarten knows better than anyone what it means and what it means to be mentally resilient. And what it takes to be mentally resilient. How to deal with setbacks. Because life is not engineerable. And however you see your life, whatever goals you have set for yourself, things can always go differently than you had planned. How do you adapt yourself to that? How bad is it if you don't achieve a set goal or have to adjust your plans? Can you overcome setbacks? And how do you deal with showing your vulnerability in a world where everything has to be perfect? Do you dare to fail? Do you dare to try something again? Do you dare to show that life is not always bright and sunny? But can you get the most out of yourself? Do you know your own excuses and know how to break through them? Do you dare to build a team with people who keep you focused, motivate you, but also contradict you? Maarten will lovingly hold up a mirror to you and help you build that mental strength and a positive mindset!
Innovation runs like a thread through Maarten's life. It was innovative therapy that saved his life. It was innovations that made just that difference that won him his gold medal at the Olympics. The way he continues to reinvent himself, with new challenges and new sports, can certainly be called innovative and creative. And also earlier in his career, he chose companies that are at the forefront of new products. Trendsetters in the market. What is the importance of technological innovation? Does the benefit of being ahead outweigh the risk of investing in the wrong technologies? How do you give innovation and creativity a healthy place in your company? What does it take to keep developing as a company and as a human?
You have a dream. A goal in mind. But you know you can't achieve it on your own. How do you bring other people into that dream? Everyone knows the importance of team building and working together, but how do you do it? Maarten teaches you how to work together effectively and better. How do you find the right people around you to work with you towards that goal? How do you maximize everyone's strengths? This is a process of taking people with you, showing leadership, but also daring to let go. Being clear, working together, taking final responsibility, but at the same time being able to bind a team to you. The large projects that Maarten has made successful were about much more than swimming. Permits, contracts, village festivals, TV broadcasts and safety protocols. A collaboration between a swimmer, his coaching team, sponsors, thousands of competing athletes, a financial organization and a medical board. The collaboration of all these people in all these areas led to a multi-million dollar profit. With a stretch of swimming. Can you imagine what results the same effort could lead to in your business. Maarten takes you through it in his own inspired way.
