‘Let’s make the Netherlands great again’ doesn’t resonate here

I had the great opportunity to live in Amsterdam for one year, a truly rich experience that allowed me to better understand the Dutch society and culture. The business newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad invited me to share some thoughts on the Dutch way of living, the cultural differences and common values that have shaped Europe, and the importance of leaving your comfort zone to meet, talk and listen to people with different backgrounds.

You can read the full article here: https://fd.nl/weekend/1307226/let-s-make-nederland-great-again-vindt-hier-weinig-weerklank

Below, you'll find an English translation:

‘Let’s make the Netherlands great again’ doesn’t resonate here

He learned that the Netherlands is more a contractual society than a national collective. And that Amsterdammers have no idea what air pollution is. Euronext CEO Stéphane Boujnah on his ‘adult gap year’.

If it were up to the daughters of Stéphane Boujnah, they would have stayed in Amsterdam. The family of Euronext's chief executive, the parent company of, among other things, the Amsterdam stock exchange, lived a stone's throw away from Vondelpark for a year. "An adult gap year," Boujnah calls it himself, which came into view when his wife was offered a PhD at VU University Amsterdam.

"My daughters don't want to leave," says Boujnah (55). "They realize that their lives are changing. Not only because they have to leave their friends here. They also know that it's over with cycling to school and walking to the supermarket independently. "

Yet the family, including ten-year-old daughters, has returned to Paris at the end of the school year. Boujnah would like them to go through the French education system. Not out of nationalistic sentiment, he emphasizes. 'It is extremely important that children have a command of at least one language. That is their access to literature, culture, history and science. I see English more as a skill that allows you to communicate with other people almost anywhere in the world.’

Boujnah returns to the subject several times during the conversation in his office, overlooking Beursplein 5. On the one hand, it is very convenient for his French family to be able to speak English throughout the country, whether they are on the Wadden Islands or in Maastricht. On the other hand, according to Boujnah, a small country fully involved in globalization and internationalization runs the risk that the identity of younger generations dilutes, because they no longer know their own language and history.

"Of course I am privileged," Boujnah says several times, sometimes almost apologetically. He lived for a year in Vondelstraat, in the chic Oud-West neighborhood, "a kind of pleasantville where it feels like everyone is 33, has a beard and is healthy."

So he can laugh when he says that his car has been towed twice because he had misunderstood a Dutch traffic sign. Boujnah regards the € 373 euro that he had to pay twice as a donation to Amsterdam. The city may be very international, but at moments like this he still feels like an outsider. As he does in the Albert Heijn, where he uses Google Translate to find out if there should be eggs in the pancake mix.

What was the biggest eye opener?

'I think that many people underestimate how well the basics are arranged in the Netherlands. The water that comes from the tap would be called mineral water in other countries. Amsterdammers have no idea what air pollution is. Maybe it's because everyone cycles, or because of the wind from the sea, I don't know. The transportation is easy. You cycle, walk or use public transport. The Amsterdam tram is one of my best public transportation experiences in the world: efficient, and the transport company has done something smart, namely leaving a person in the middle of the vehicle. It makes a big difference that you can talk to someone if you have a problem with your ticket. The food is different than in France, that's true, but you can buy high-quality vegetables and fish at relatively low prices.

Furthermore, this city is a celebration of the triumph of individualism and privacy. There are no large cathedrals, palaces or boulevards, there is little police on the street, only on national holidays are flags displayed and whole days pass without Prime Minister Rutte being on television. Compare that with France. Dutch people are very concerned about their privacy. "

How do you notice that?

'People hardly come home together. In my home country we are quicker to invite people, including strangers, to a drink or dinner. Here people find that uncomfortable. The Netherlands is more a contractual society, a collection of individuals with clear mutual agreements and rules, than a kind of national collective. "Let's make the Netherlands great again" has little resonance.

You notice the craving for rules in many places. Often restaurants have a lunch menu that is available between 11 and 2. If you come in at half past two and try to order something from that menu, the waiter simply says that you are late. In the beginning we tried to negotiate, but that sometimes felt like you were breaking the Geneva convention, haha. "

Did you not notice that before? You have been the top executive of Euronext since 2015, the owner of the Amsterdam stock exchange, and have therefore been working with Dutch people for a long time.

"I saw it, but did not understand where it came from. People are not stubborn, but they like predictable patterns. The country is prosperous, there are fewer social tensions than in many other countries, so the system seems to work. We had to get used to it. My wife often says: Stéphane, we are a guest here, so we behave that way too.

What also took a while before I understood: all European countries are trying to exert more influence on the world than the size of their economy would justify, but the Netherlands succeeds to an extreme degree. That was true centuries ago. For that you have to work hard, have a vision and be ‘vastberaden’, as the city of Amsterdam's motto says. I find that difficult to reconcile with the relaxed lifestyle that people have here. "

Is that ‘vastberaden’-ness a thing of the past?

'No! I think this country has both sides in its soul: relaxation and thinking big. When you visit the Philips Museum in Eindhoven you realize that this company was the Apple of the last century. That tradition still exists.

Look, the macroeconomic figures for the Netherlands are much better than those for France. My first explanation is that the country is more diverse. People are more productive. I see them coming in here at the office, they go straight to work and spend only half an hour on lunch, or rather: what you call lunch. In many other countries that takes at least an hour. Meetings are shorter, there is less 'bla bla' from people who like to listen to themselves. That efficiency really exists. "

What did you learn as CEO from this year?

'I understand the Dutch part of the company better, although Euronext is becoming less Dutch and less French. (The stock market operator took over the Oslo Stock Exchange earlier this year for € 675 million, ed.) I realize that we underestimate cultural differences. We think we are all the same because we speak a few hundred words of English, but cultural differences are deep. At the same time, we also underestimate how united Europe is when it comes to fundamental values. That is amazing. Freedom of expression, democracy, gender equality and the rule of law are the same everywhere on the European continent. "

If we are so identical in essence, why do many international projects fail? Just look at Air France-KLM.

'If cultural differences take over common values, then you have a problem. If it is the other way around, you succeed. '

How do you do that?

"It's very simple. You meet, talk and listen. Then you do that again, and again. You must be physically in the same room, eat together. Spend a weekend together. Don’t arrive in the morning and depart again in the afternoon after the meetings. Only then will you build mutual respect and discover where common values lie. It sounds conceptual, but believe me: that's how it works. If you stick to the surface and say that the Dutch are stubborn and the French arrogant, you will get nowhere. But if you try to go deeper, you see that the French may not be arrogant, but ambitious, and the Dutch not stubborn, but professional and demanding. "

And Air France-KLM?

"I sometimes feel sorry for this" kingdom of misunderstanding. " There is a good idea behind it. You take a very efficient Dutch airline with a strong identity and combine that with an ambitious, large company that has operational problems, but who have a vision of how it wants to position itself at the top of the market. You should be able to unlock so much value. It is therefore a shame that sometimes the misunderstandings predominate. The people there probably don't meet each other enough, don't listen or talk enough. "

Will you encourage your fellow board members to take a ‘gap year' too?

"They should, but do you know what's funny? People don't really want to move. They find their life just fine as it is, or have a partner who is not keen about it. The English have a wonderful saying: 'happy people don't take the boat'. Despite all the practical objections, a gap year is the best thing that can happen to anyone. "