In 2013 during the press conference to announce the mobile phone branch of NOKIA to be sold to Microsoft, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop ended his speech saying “We didn’t do anything wrong, but somehow, we lost”. When he said that some claim to have seen tears in his eyes. I personally doubt that since he was also pretty relaxed about laying of half the employees of Nokia during this transaction. Maybe his package of 19M€ has helped him to overcome his pain. Anyway, one year later also he was fired from Microsoft.

I have long been fascinated by the fact that some people bounce back and eventually thrive when confronted with a situation of own failure while others crack or permanently suffer. While at first this was a purely abstract and intellectual interest live gave me the chance to make my own experiences with failure. 

Recently, I described to a department head what happens during coaching. In response, he told me 
how he goes about handling his employees: he constantly must explain to them what they are 
supposed to do and how they should go about doing it. And how he would do all of this with the 
patience of an angel. Even the smallest, most mundane things, they can’t manage on their own, he 
told me. 

“We have 90 offices with 30,000 employees and more than €50 billion assets under management.” I interrupt the ambitious young real estate consultant’s presentation to ask: “Is this the first slide you will be showing in the major pitch you have been preparing?”

Networking
She was standing in the back of the room thinking to herself "Why am I doing this? I could be at home on my couch relaxing and watching my favorite TV show..." Instead she was struggling to take the next two steps into the room, locate herself at one of the tables and start a conversation with someone she didn't know. Ah, here comes the waiter with a tray of wine glasses - a secure haven at least for a few moments since the relationship and the mutual expectations are clear - a glass of wine in exchange for a warm ‘thank you’.