“Wow, I can see the whole world from here.”
Our four-year-old grandson stormed into the room, looked out of the window on the 15th floor of our apartment hotel in Amsterdam and was speechless for a moment before this sentence burst out of him.
To my wife and me, it sounded like an echo from our own past. Between 2015 and 2019 we had lived in Amsterdam. A time that enriched us personally and carried me professionally.
Years later, we returned with our family and two of our grandchildren. It felt like a visit “home.” Beethovenstraat, the Concertgebouw, the Van Gogh Museum.
From the window of our aparthotel, we could see the World Trade Center near Zuid station, and also the office building where I once worked.
That our grandson spoke precisely this sentence was, for me, more than coincidence. His exclamation distilled what I had felt back then: the sense of perspective, of openness, of horizons waiting to be expanded.
In every place where I have lived, a piece of my heart remains. And sometimes, a single sentence is enough to bring that connection vividly back to life.
And now I’m interested: Which city has shaped you, so that a piece of your heart has stayed there?
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I am Bernd Scharbert and I support you as a leader in implementing intercultural guidelines in your everyday life. It’s about using cultural differences not as a hurdle but as a strength, and creating real connections in globally composed teams.
If this topic resonates with you, let’s talk.
#Prepare4Landing #LeadershipInBalance #InterculturalLeadership
