The Dutch Company

We were surprised to see the EC required us to have over a hundred thousand dollars in the bank. We thought the local branch of our Dutch bank, would be happy to give us a loan . But, no! Our local bank president said he would be happy to keep our money if we gave him the hundred thousand dollars. What the hell? What can we do?

Early in my time in Europe, Soren Nipper, my friend and colleague from Denmark, and I collaborated in a wide-ranging study of the open universities across Europe. The study examined how each delivered its programs and how each was applying educational technology. The project was sponsored by the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities, headed by Nicholas Fox, and required us to interview important leaders in each of the countries. By the time we presented the report, we had an intimate knowledge of the state of distance education, had met leaders in the field, and established ourselves as knowledgeable experts.

The many open universities across Europe provided adult learners the opportunity to expand their knowledge and degrees, but they were delivering most courses in the early nineties, by way of text, CD’s, and occasionally, face-to-face. Few had experience with video transmission, computer-based delivery, or other multimedia techniques. When I left IBM, we were on the leading edge of video production and delivery of training programs. And EuroPace, where I worked recently, similarly, led the way to new techniques of distance education. So, there is a relatively small community of experienced experts across the world who can actually apply and implement technology-based distance education. That is the unique position our small company established in Europe.

After starting the Dutch company, we successfully landed important study projects for the European Commission (EC). We were winning over half of the projects on which we bid, unusually high for this kind of work. As a result, other experts in the field of distance education and education technology were eager to work with us. And, most EC work required collaboration from at least one or two of the fifteen countries of the European Union.

We conducted a series of research projects for the EC, Telematics for Education and Training (TET). Telematics was the term used to describe a combination of telecommunications and computer technologies. Each of these required organizing a team of researchers across the globe because the studies aimed to find out the status of educational technology in designated countries. We recruited important team members in each target country who helped us understand the local economic, technological, and educational environment.

For instance, Bill Weimer, now in the USA, helped us report on Telematics for Education and Training in the United States. We had other experts as we studied Canada, Australia, and the Netherlands. We published large reports to the European Commission on each of the countries.

Periodically, the European Commission in their “framework” programs requested research proposals in different technology segments, from organizations in the European Union (EU). When hundreds of proposals arrived, the EC assembled teams of experts to review and rank the proposals. I became one of the experts in the fields of information technology, manufacturing technology, and educational technology. We experts from all over the EU met in Brussels to select the projects to receive funding. This gave our small company an opportunity to meet other experts, build our reputation, and keep up with leading-edge technology development.

We eventually won a greater than three hundred thousand dollar EC project to help universities in Central and Eastern European countries (not yet in the EU) establish distance education systems in their respective countries.

When we received the contract papers, we were surprised to see the EC required us to have, in the bank, an escrow fund of a third of the total contract value — over a hundred thousand dollars. Ancolien and I thought our local branch of ABN/AMRO, an international Dutch bank, would be happy to provide us a loan for the escrow value, since we had a certified European Commission contract in hand. But, no! Our local bank president said he would be happy to keep our money if we gave him the hundred thousand dollars. What the hell? What can we do?

After sweating for a couple of days, I decided to use my Stanford University connections to find a way out of the problem. My Stanford U. alumni record listed a senior vice president of ABN/AMRO located in Amsterdam. When I told him my dilemma over the telephone, he said, “Give me three days.”

On the second day, he called me back and said, “Call Mr. Deckers at our Valkenburg branch. He’ll be happy to help you.”

“Thank you, sir, we deeply appreciate your help,” I replied.

Mr. Deckers laid out the red carpet at the bank the next day. We had our loan processed within the next hour. Our colleague, Soren Nipper led the project for us, successfully setting up new approaches to higher education delivery in several Eastern countries.

Of course, we were working with the Central and Eastern countries after the fall of the “Iron Curtain” and the Berlin Wall. Many of the newly freed country leaders were eager to join the EU, but EU officials were concerned that managers in the East had been too indoctrinated in communist thinking. Therefore, the Eastern countries should find new methods of executive development. The EC commissioned one of their units, the European Training Foundation to develop those methods and write a manual for the process. I was appointed as one representative to a team of fifteen experts to write the manual. My chapter, Technology in the Service of Learning was published as part of the book, Management Development for the New Europe.

As Operations Manager of our company, Ancolien handled all administration, accounting, contract administration, and translation. We paid associates in several different countries, which required electronic currency transfers and country fees. We continually prepared complex proposals requiring accurate cost estimates and maintained strict budget control of multiple projects and flawless tax accounting. Our success as a small business operating in a complex international environment depended on her competence and expertise.

Ger Jonkergouw, with whom I worked on projects with the Dutch Open University, became a good friend and trusted colleague. Ger, a philosopher, sociologist, artist, scientist, and writer was a creative, leading-edge thinker — a true renaissance man. He and I collaborated on many projects and idea development. Ger used painting as a way to open up new ideas for organizations that were creating strategic plans. He presented his ideas in many organizations around Europe.

We landed a project to study Japan but had no person fluent in Japanese to help us lead the project. We needed someone who understood the culture, was knowledgeable in technology and education, was a competent researcher, and could write in English. That was a big order. We bid on this project, thinking it was a long-shot bid. How wrong I was. Our success with the other projects must have swayed the EC evaluators. Our proposal expressed confidence we could find Japanese researchers. Yet, that was much more difficult than I expected,

A Japanese graduate student at Iowa State University initially joined our team but disappeared after he learned the scope of the project. After that, I asked my colleagues in Brussels to help me find someone. One contact suggested Mari Hyodo, daughter of the Japanese ambassador to Belgium and NATO.

I met Mari at the Belga Queen restaurant in Brussels. The restaurant was more upscale than my usual choice, but finding a competent researcher for this project was exceptionally important.

I saw, turning the corner, a Japanese woman with a flowing navy blue tunic coming toward me.

“Are you Grant?” she said, stepping toward me, smiling.

“Yes. You must be Mari. I am so happy to meet you,” I said.

She offered her hand and I clasped it gently.

“Thanks for coming. We have a reservation. Are you hungry?” I asked.

“Sure. This looks like a nice place,” she said.

She spoke English with a slight British accent. No one, hearing only her voice, would ever detect her nationality.

The maitre de showed us to the table while we continue talking, easily and fluently.

I learned Mari spoke five languages, had lived in nine countries, including the USA, was an accomplished pianist, and loved to read.

I explained the project to her, indicating it would take online, telephone, and possibly face-to-face research. She readily agreed, telling me she would be leaving for Tokyo in a couple of weeks to stay several months.

I explained how we communicate via email and telephone and our simple project progress report consisting of three numbers each week. On a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 is best, tell us your number for each of the following: 1. What is your confidence we will finish the project on time? 2. What is your confidence you will be proud of our work? 3. What is your confidence we can stay within our budget? We also agreed to a weekly telephone chat.

We had another breakthrough that has helped us in these early stages, a beta version of a Japanese-English translation computer application. With it, we were able to translate documents and websites into acceptable English. From these results, we were able to list some specific questions for Mari to answer. Mari returned to Tokyo, conducted her study, and wrote an outstanding paper for inclusion in our final report.

Stories from my book, Hand on the Shoulder: Finding Freedom in the Confluence of Love and Career (see Amazon), continue. I am posting these stories starting from the end of the book, progressing toward the beginning. If you want to go the other way, you can buy the book.:-) Thanks for reading.