Coaching is all about the client’s big WHY, what is he or she looking for. But coaching is also about something else, my own big WHY. I’m in this coaching business to learn from others and let others learn from themselves. That is a wonderful journey for the both of us but let me focus on mine for a change.

I’m in a different country with different ideas, moral codes and ethics, in short: ‘values’. Talking to people, whether in a coaching relationship or just having a coffee, is a wonderful way of learning about these different values. But in a coaching relationship it’s more intense. Clients open up to us coaches like daffodils to the sun, showing great trust in us as coaches. And in this particular sharing is my learning.

They tell me about their struggles of having an extended family. They tell me about the troubles of setting up a company, finding qualified staff and getting the funds to make it grow. They tell me about the endless regulations that limit the speed of doing business and of course they tell me about the ever-present fight against corruption.

But most of all they teach me how to survive and thrive in these situations. Because all of these entrepreneurs have a remarkable innate resilience and trust that it will all end well? And it is just that what we in The Netherlands have forgotten about: The believe that sometimes we don’t have to do anything to make it right. Call it inner peace, call it a divine intervention, call it whatever you want but to me that is the place where I earn the most.