Editorial – Yes, you grow!

Growing in uncertain times. This may seem difficult. And yet, this could be the ideal time. Even if this “rentrée” is nothing like the previous one.

The summer holidays are supposed to give us the necessary rest and energy to fully recharge our batteries. But, without a bad word pun intended, how fragile and precious hasn’t our own energy become?

“Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien”. Bearing this motto in mind, we may have begun to wonder about an overly hot, overly sunny summer and its impact on the liveability of our planet. Just as we have gradually come to realize how our erroneously considered limitless access to energy resources now makes us so dependent on something we do not (yet) control ourselves. This too, undoubtedly also plays on our own, human energy source and ability to radiate dynamism and motivation.

Today we face a lot of questions. And then the thesis from 1929 (is this a coincidence ?!) by a physiologist called Walter Bradford Cannon resurfaces: what do we do, freeze, flight or fight? Talking about a tough choice… Fortunately, besides the limbic part of our brains that presents us with a reptilian multiple choice, we, humanity, also have another keyboard at the front of our brains, called the prefrontal cortex. There we can activate the buttons of logic, reflection, nuance and relativity. This is where creativity and the willpower to cope (intellect) with adversity and doom and gloom arises.

Therefore, this after-summer TIP-IM aims to provide all readers with some “food for thought” to give themselves their own interpretation of the term “growth”, be it personal, social, economic… And this is based on three angles and plenty of articles.

Beauvoir is back!

“Most of us don’t take full advantage of our freedom”. This is one of the key ideas of an essay by noted post-war French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir entitled “the Ethics of Ambiguity” (published in 1947). In today’s context, this thesis seems to me more than worth a quote. So, in this TIP-IM, we are going to delve into Beauvoir’s thinking for a while as a source of inspiration for the future.

The smaller, the bigger?

Everyone can effortlessly complete the adage “He who does not honor small things, … “. Today, we see how nanotechnology and semiconductors (chips) are playing an increasingly prominent role our daily lives, in macroeconomic evolutions and in the balance and interconnection between all continents. In this TIP-IM, we look back at the seminar we recently organized, as a partner of the Belgian-Hong Kong Society, on this burning hot topic.

New forces, growing enthusiasm

With the recruitment of Géraldine and Victoire, we welcome two enthusiastic new colleagues who will actively contribute to ADM’s further growth. We are therefore pleased to introduce them to you in this edition. Together our teams in Brussels and Leuven, they will form the link between Interim Managers who will contribute efficiently and diligently to the further evolution of our customers, and those same companies who entrust us with assignments to find the right profile to move up a gear in this uncertain but equally exciting global economy.

Happy reading and growing enthusiasm wished!

Resilience, according to the IT and networking world leader Cisco, describes an organization’s ability to respond and adapt quickly to disruptions or significant, unplanned changes that could threaten its operations, people, assets, brand or reputation. Both terms, therefore, point out the (will)power to resist and adapt simultaneously to a changing and sometimes hostile environment.