'Pledge for a corporate take-over of Belgium!'

Een reactie vanuit de VS op de laatste ontwikkelingen in België, door Olivier Smekens, voorzitter van de Belgian-American Chamber of Commerce:

Belgian leaders,

 

First of all I owe a little apology. For whatever it’s worth, despite my heart beating for those Flemings and Walloons who truly make a difference, I keep on writing in that one language that serves all uprisings. 

 

Whatever is inside of you, positive or negative, eventually comes out.

Your people, colleagues, children, spouses and friends will hear your words, but do they feel your attitude and passion? Only attitude, not words, make meaning. Words suck, Mr President.

The great thing about it is that it is not a function of personality or talent, but merely a function of an unselfish attitude that causes to put others first. Think about that.

That’s entrepreneurship, irrelevant if you’re an artist, a regular employee that just wants the best for his or her family, a businessman, a diplomat, an academic, a public servant or a politician. Only those who achieve this, stand out in a crowd. Deliver a footprint, or greatness.

Isn’t it all about that what politicians aim for? What you aim for?

Don’t you want to be the final harvesters and right transformers of our unique Belgian socio-economical DNA? Did you really fix the brakes, removed them?

 

What’s happening here, people? You keep on leaving the game-changers on the sidelines? I keep on being shocked how easy it is for you to keep on giving these massive slaps in the faces of our Belgian entrepreneurs.  18 unique months have been lost. It could have been used to turn unharvested Belgian positivism into results and a foundation for a prosperous Belgium.

Some entrepreneurs can change the world in a few months! Some Belgians as well. Obviously, harvesting and changing, is never possible without that great power, silently dormant but always present, called mojo. An energy that captured all stakeholders, living a dream. Think about it, mojo.

 

You don’t see these brakes here in the US, be it in the Bay Area, Boston, Detroit, or the Apple. Not with our Belgian corporate crowd. Belgians here have been working on new start-ups, a new hotel, promoting new artists, developing solar energy projects, attracting new talented trainees, expanding food empires, signing first seed dollars for young Belgian talent, yes even inaugurating  new Belgian chefs de cuisine.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to claim that the grass is greener here with 1 in every 11 Americans without a job. But there must be something thing with these Belgian people here in the US aka as `the secret of success`.

They want to live it, breathe it, and share it. So we, and you, can all become more successful. Values of success, or the rules of the game we play on a daily basis. We need these values, and live them, in order to make us win that exciting game.

 

The key value that unites all of these folks we see succeed, is without a doubt Passion. I never personally met most of you, but I honestly believe that at some point, you were driven by, and might possibly succeed, by passion. It is directly also the key reason why some don’t succeed, despite other intrinsic qualities.

Passion or mojo, it is so much more than a value, it should be your true engine of life. It makes you do the right thing, and do that thing right. By passionately doing this, you could positively and successfully participate in probably the most important dimension in life, called `creating value`. 

 

Belgian leaders,

 

We kept on dragging on, 530 days. That’s OK, we gave you some extra time. But extra time for what? Reinvent yourselves? If we and you are all really honest,  you have to admit that the time was actually up, game over. And that’s OK.

I know that it makes no sense scientifically to compare both, but we were close to the day our Belgian spread (for clarity, define thespread as the trust people have in you versus Germany) exceeds the number of day without coming to a consensus and putting your people in front of yourselves.

The difference in that trust with the reference of the eurozone (Germany), is 361 basis points. Fyi, that is identical as comparing the risk profile or trust of a global bellwether company (say General Electric ) with the local baker on main street. 89 basis points to go before you’ll finally have to bend over. Irreversible. 5.6/10 that Belgium won’t make it? You, our Belgian political elite blamed it on the eurocrisis. No comment. I hate to use the word blame. I love to use the word solve.

 

Thousands of  Belgians with their own little business (no I’m not referring to the Zuckerbergs of this world), even my own dad and brother as local entrepreneurs often stand alone, (mostly) supported by wife and kids, filled with doubt on themselves, and the decisions they make. Entreprendre c’est décider. Décider c’est rater.

 

Making strong and game-changing decisions. Agreeing on having a tattoo in your face. That’s what our Belgian entrepreneurs do.

You better be committed and take all the consequences.

Leaders, have a massive tattoo in your face, and stay remembered. Above all, set yourselves aside and propose to your people the build the strongest team of game-changers possible (scientists, entrepreneurs, sportsmen, artists, bankers, diplomats, yes even clergy). Oh, and don’t forget a lot of women in this team.

 

If one fails, in most cases this is because we are our own worst enemy, putting ourselves down and hence throwing ourselves into mediocrity, away from greatness. I am sure that you, have felt like this many times over the past 530 days, and you hated that feeling. The worst part about feeling that way is that it can get you so down that you cease to do anything and accomplish nothing. Not really helping the situation!

 

The realization that you can accomplish whatever you set our minds to, if and only if, you do not allow a negative self-perception to become your state of being.  It means your potential to success, and consequently our road to happiness!  Success and self-perception, the same thing, but in a different costume. Don’t get fooled!

 

Thanksgiving was yesterday, Christmas is tomorrow. I’m sick and tired of receiving your Gift of Hope.  I’m not the only one who is sick and tired of it.

We all love to see miraculous transformations. Did you really deliver this? Whether it’s your kid that goes from worst player to the top scorer in a single season at your local football team, a life-saving surgery for your mom, a little business that makes that one unique deal.

It all begins with the choice to outperform, to get tattooed and to never give up.  It may be that all the doomsayers are right. But I don't think so. At heart, we’re all positive and want to celebrate for the short time we are here. Step away from mediocrity, and fast.

Belgian leaders, please give the game-changers of Belgium that opportunity."When it's darkest, men see the stars" (Ralph W. Emerson). Give these men and women the opportunity to stand at the beginning of an entrepreneurial revolution that will permanently reshape our country as we know it and more importantly, change it for all who come after you.

One of your children might look back and marvel that when it was the darkest, his mom or dad saw the stars.

Olivier Smekens