From Doing to Being: Buddha's teaching for my Retirement

As I prepare to hang up my boots at NN Life and Pensions, I find myself reflecting on an incredible journey. My time here has been filled with opportunities to challenge the status quo, explore new ideas, and witness the seeds of transformation take root. It’s not every day you get to impact a transition of an 182 year old enterprise from a Data at Rest culture to one embracing Data in Motion, and I am deeply grateful for having been part of this evolution.

During my time at NN, I had the privilege of contributing to the Innovation Department’s Proof of Technology—demonstrating how a Streaming Integration Platform grounded in Data Mesh principles could pave the way for replacing legacy integrations, unpacking batch processes, and inching closer to a real-time enterprise. These accomplishments weren’t without challenges, but they taught me invaluable lessons: pushing rarely works as well as pulling, and collaboration always outshines persuasion.

On a personal note, I became a Dutch citizen while at NN—a milestone that added to my sense of belonging and growth. I am incredibly thankful to my managers who supported me, even when my ideas ran counter to the prevailing strategies. Their trust gave me room to explore concepts like Collaborative Autonomy and the String Theory of Event Streams, both of which continue to inspire me.

And now, I move from Doing to Being. As a pensioner, I am free from bosses, policies, and deadlines—free to explore life without the constraints of having to work to live. My IT career, which began in 1984, has been a remarkable journey of growth, achievement, and fulfillment.

But this is not goodbye! I am excited to dive deeper into Colabraton, my post-retirement initiative aimed at improving Collaborative Autonomy capabilities. Its mission is to bring attention to the social and human aspects of socio-technological stories like Data Mesh and to enhance the quality of life for individuals and enterprises alike.

I invite you to stay connected and collaborate in building this vision. Together, we can create a world where autonomy and collaboration coexist harmoniously.

Thank you for being part of this journey. Here’s to the next chapter!