{"id":265,"date":"2026-08-15T18:47:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T16:47:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/heusje.nl\/?p=265"},"modified":"2026-08-27T21:53:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T19:53:14","slug":"observations-during-a-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heusje.nl\/?p=265","title":{"rendered":"Observations from a career"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
For all episodes about Career<\/em> in the correct sequence please follow this link<\/a>.<\/strong><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
This is the start of a main topic about my work career that started 1 February 1985 and will end end of March 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The most recent period, starting 1 April 2021 was with Covestro, a German chemical and materials company that was once part of the legendary Bayer, one of the great traditional companies of Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An observation arises when something catches your attention. Usually this happens because it differs from what you are used to, surprises you, or interests you enough to remember it and try to understand it. But it can also happen when something familiar confirms a pattern you already recognize. Or, alternatively, if you see a familiar pattern that fits a backdrop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Specifically the observations around my time in Covestro has three backdrops:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. My professional background.<\/strong> Until 1 April 2021, I had spent a long period working at DSM, where I had been trained in a particular company culture. I had grown up professionally in that culture and had been part of the journey that shaped it. Things I encountered at Covestro sometimes contrasted sharply with what had become familiar to me at DSM.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. My personal experience of Germany.<\/strong> My wife is German, born and raised in Cologne, close to Leverkusen and through her I have become familiar with German family life and culture. Working in a German company sometimes revealed differences between the Germany I knew privately and the Germany I encountered professionally. These differences became another source of observations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. The border.<\/strong> I live a few hundred meters from the Dutch-German border. Crossing the border is enough to encounter visible differences in everyday life. This has made me particularly conscious of differences between the two countries.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    My observations are about culture and ways of working, not about individual people. I have worked with many good and enjoyable colleagues throughout my career, including at Covestro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    From time to time, I was frustrated at Covestro. I see this primarily as my problem, rather than as a judgement about Covestro. My professional culture had taught me to take the lead in achieving relevant results and to use my own creativity to find the best way of getting there. I had come to believe strongly in that way of working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    My frustration arose when I encountered a different approach. Decisions taken by (higher) management were often treated as unalterable, even when they appeared not to work. Even raising the question of whether such a decision should be reconsidered could be difficult. The same applied to requirements, rules and norms: even when they seemed irrelevant to a particular situation, counterproductive, or sometimes inconsistent with other requirements, they were nevertheless to be followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Another source of frustration was the tendency to prescribe in detail what to do<\/em> rather than what to achieve<\/em>. This was particularly difficult when the people prescribing the solution did not have the relevant expertise and therefore did not necessarily see the consequences of what they were asking, while at the same time leaving little room for a discussion of the substance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    I entered Covestro with one set of assumptions about how an effective organisation works, and encountered another set of assumptions. The differences made me notice things that I might otherwise never have noticed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    In subsequent posts, I will describe some anecdotes that illustrate these observations and, hopefully, make the differences more tangible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    I welcome reactions and different perspectives; you can always contact me<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Outline of published and planned episodes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    Act I \u2014 The Covestro question<\/strong>
    What did I encounter, and why did it strike me as unusual?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Act II \u2014 The DSM backdrop<\/strong>
    Where did my expectations come from, and what did empowerment actually mean in practice?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Act III \u2014 Back to Covestro<\/strong>
    Now that the reader knows my reference frame, what did I actually observe and feel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Act IV \u2014 Farewell<\/strong>
    Put “observations from a career” into perspective and final remarks<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    For all episodes about Career in the correct sequence please follow this link. This is the start of a main topic about my work career that started 1 February 1985 and will end end of March 2027. The most recent period, starting 1 April 2021 was with Covestro, a German chemical and materials company that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_heusje_archive_order":10,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[19,18,21,23,20],"class_list":["post-265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-career","tag-career","tag-covestro","tag-dsm","tag-english","tag-work-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/heusje.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/heusje.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/heusje.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heusje.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heusje.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=265"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/heusje.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":453,"href":"https:\/\/heusje.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265\/revisions\/453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/heusje.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heusje.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heusje.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}