Ariane Roos

Actually, we all know it. Global warming, plastic soup, nitrogen. And in the social field; poverty, polarization, loneliness. Ask yourself: does my organization contribute to these problems or to the solution?  The honest answer is probably not the one you want to hear. This can and should be different. This keynote will give you insights and tools on how to make your organization an impact organization.

Many organizations hire expensive consultants to predict the future. What will the market do, what are the trends and analyses and how big can our market share become? In doing so, they assume that the future will happen to us. Impact organizations do this differently. They do not wait for the future but build the future themselves. This starts with a very clear dream of what the future should look like, and then a concrete plan on how to achieve this future. In this keynote, I will tell you how.

When you ask people about their best team experience, you often get the same answers back. You have a common goal, everyone has a clear role, everyone is equal, gets and gives trust and there is positive interaction. Usually, people think of an athletic experience or an active holiday. Rarely is work seen as the best team experience. How can you design the work environment to create the best team experiences there too? I share this with you in the keynote ‘Leaders for Good’.

14 years of research into inspiration (www.inspirerende40.nl) have given us a lot of insights. Using catchy examples, I can tell you how you can harness the mechanisms of inspiration for your organization. After all, inspired employees are more than twice as productive as satisfied employees (let alone dissatisfied employees…) No operational excellence program can compete with that!

Until I got cancer, I always thought I was blessed with a strong body, and that that was the reason I always kept going, even when I didn’t feel so good. When I had to decide to take preventive chemotherapy, I decided that this was not going to have an impact on my life. And it did. With a strict diet and lots of walking, you can lead a normal life even with chemo. Then again, it is important that work gives you more energy than it costs you. What would you do? Carry on working or call in 100% sick straight away? If you choose the former, then you know you have inspiring work that gives you satisfaction. In this very personal keynote, I tell you more about the conditions for a powerful mindset.

Ariane is convinced: it can be done! She already shown in her book that any organization can be an impact organization and she firmly share this conviction on stage – as a (keynote) speaker, interviewer, chairperson, or workshop facilitator.

A quote she regularly ‘borrows’ from Tristram Stuart, food waste activist, is “If you want to save the planet, you have to throw a better party than the ones destroying it”. And there’s something to that; how do you convince the skeptics, cynics who only associate sustainability with expense, and sacrificing everything that makes life fun? Ariane gives a sneak preview in advance.

Although her message has a sharp edge, the future perspective she outlines is hopeful. She inspires and activates people and organizations to take steps towards a sustainable and fair society. Ariane shares eloquent and recognizable real-life examples and immediately provides practical tools to make the change to ‘doing business for good!’.

Her personal story about her illness does not leave you unaffected. She tells it because it shows that as human beings, we can all gain strength from doing something that gives satisfaction and meaning.

Ariane’s message can be targeted to any group, because really anyone who will do something good (or better) for people and the planet is valuable. As far as she is concerned, this also applies to organizations. “What matters to me is that the right intention is there, not how well you are already doing,” she says. After all, you have to start somewhere.

“Doing good for people and planet, something that sometimes seems at odds with each other, because simply not everyone can afford sustainable and healthy choices. I therefore believe in both better wealth distribution and sustainability. As far as I am concerned, the highest income in an organization should be a maximum factor of 10 compared to the lowest salary.

For me, business for good is about people and nature. Incidentally, it is strange that we make this distinction, because as humans we are nature. Although we seem to have forgotten that a bit.”

“I speak the different ‘languages’ of an organization and am good at making connections between them. As a result, I also easily tailor my message as a speaker to my audience. Moreover, I have a wealth of experience and draw on practical examples that evoke instant recognition in people, at whatever layer of the organization they work.”

“Wubbo Ockels’, legacy still inspires people, and me too. He could make clear like no other how fragile the ecosystem we call our earth is. A tiny ball in the universe, with a thin layer of atmosphere that protects us from the sun’s immense radiation. We have to be careful of that.”

“During each lecture, I obviously hope to inspire as many people as possible to make the turn to business for good with their organization. I am very happy even if   I only reach a few people who then start making an impact.

I also truly believe that people can change; you are never too old to learn and adjust your views. For instance, I have completely adjusted the image I had of second-hand clothes. Buying second-hand has become normalized, partly due to the advent of a platform like Vinted. I now only buy second-hand clothes. What we consider normal we decide for ourselves, just like the future. You can let it happen to you, but you can also help build a brighter future, which is cool, right?”