15.000m2 and what it means
apart from just being a lot of space.
Last week, a TBB member called the TBB office; “Hi, i’m so sorry, but I am totally lost in the building and I need to get out to be in time for my next appointment, can you please help me to find the exit?” The first logical thing that comes to mind is to ask: where are you? But of course, he doesn’t know. Instead, I asked: what do you see? It turned out, he became very close to finding the exit himself, and within 2 minutes he returned to the free world.
Apart from the not-so-subtle hint that there is room for improvement on our signing, it gets you thinking about the ample amount of square metres we have at our disposal. What does it mean, these 15.000 square metres, besides from just being a very large number? What do we want it to be?
First of all, The Big Building will carry a different meaning and value for everyone entering it, my goal is to make people find their own and carry trough our core values. This is what the 15.000m2 mean to me:
It means people get lost sometimes, but it also means that people start finding their way.
It means we have a very large space, where people can build their own little place. Or a large empire, depending on who you will meet.
It means we have the luxury of having a huge playground, and a place where small ideas become large ambitions.
It means we have enough room to house so many different initiatives, but we don’t even have enough space to accommodate everyone who wants to join.
It means we have the freedom to accommodate the people who are not only seeing that number, 15.000, but see the value of the people who are also making use of it.
In the end, the reward of being part of The Big Building is when you notice that not only do I know where to find a company in those 15.000 square metres, but that others have found each other as well. Sometimes because their brand needs a new look and there is an awesome graphic designer under the same roof, sometimes because you don’t want to have lunch alone. And, sometimes, just because.
I think, The Big Building can do that for you. Without always wondering what’s in it for you, helping other people around you, knowing that your gain may come another time. Or maybe not, so you’ve just been a nice person. In the end, most people around you have the same goal; making their business (and the world) a little bit better than yesterday. Sharing a big building with so many others does not automatically mean there are a lot of nice people, it just means it is a little bit easier to be nice for someone around you. It also means that if you need an extra pair of hands (or brains) sometimes, it is okay to ask for it.
It is okay to get lost once in a while. It’s also okay to not find the exit by yourself. You will get very far on your own. In the end, all it takes is a little help from your surroundings to succeed.
