We proudly present:

Diederick Janse

Diederick is a Holacracy coach

Diederick is our most famous Partner. The book ‘Getting Teams Done’ he wrote together with Marco Bogers already sold over 3000 copies. He is one of the two founders of Energized.org and was the first Holacracy coach in the Netherlands.

Let’s have a chat with Diederick

You were one of the Energized.org founders. What’s your happiest memory regarding Energized.org?
Sitting on Concept7’s roof terrace in Groningen, drinking a beer and enjoying the sun at the end of our team retreat day (and just before continued to paint the town red that evening)!

Talking about Holacracy, remember when you first fell in love?

It certainly wasn’t ‘love on first sight’ – I actually wrote a somewhat critical blog post after reading the first whitepaper back in 2006. However, during the workshops that I invited Brian Robertson to give in Amsterdam in 2007, something clicked for me. There was a deep sense of integrity and freedom about separating role and soul, and about putting purpose at the center. That’s when I fell in love with Holacracy.

Who inspires you?

Entrepreneurs, for putting their money where their mouth is and for taking a risk to achieve something they believe in. Also anyone who has the guts to really look in the mirror and see where you’re bullshitting yourself. I have a hard time thinking of specific people, somehow in the past few years I lost my ‘heroes’, I don’t know why! I should go and find some new ones!

Which Holacracy related video did you really enjoy?

This is one I really enjoyed.

And this one is more solid:

And I found this one really awesome too (only the last couple of minutes are about Holacracy, but the rest builds up to it in a really personal and powerful way).

Can you share a top of awesome books and articles?

Lord of the Rings, by Tolkien
Crossing the Unknown Sea, by David Whyte
The Road Less Travelled, by M. Scott Peck
Conscious Business, by Fred Kofman
For a New Liberty, by Murray Rothbard
And the runners-up: Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, by Ken Wilber. The Self-Organizing Universe, by Erich Jantsch. Getting Things Done, by David Allen. Reinventing Organizations, by Frederic Laloux. The Glass Bead Game, by Herman Hesse.

I could go on and on. I love books!

What book are you currently reading?

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley. Autoriteit, by Paul Verhaeghe. And a few others – I’m always reading!

What is the most awesome thing about being part of Energized.org?

That I don’t have to make a choice between either having freedom and autonomy (as a freelancer, for example) OR being part of a great team working on some larger purpose (as an employee of a company). Instead, thanks to Holacracy, I can have both: I have huge autonomy and freedom AND I get to work towards a deeply meaningful purpose together with an amazing team.

What is the nicest characteristic of your colleague Paula?

How Paula can quietly listen, ask questions, and then BOOM, capture the essence of a story, whether of Energized.org or of a client. That is awesome.

What is your most recent learning?

That it’s ok if I don’t know, and to ask for help. This is a lesson I apparently need to learn again and again. And again.

What can we wake you up for at night?

Ben & Jerry’s chocolate ice cream! Cuddling my daughter Marijn! A good book!