And why Dutch girls are the most beautiful species in the world...

The Netherlands is doing pretty well ... internationally, it's even better! In this article a few examples that go beyond the average opinion in which we, the Dutch, are called 'direct', 'rude' and 'cruel'.

Peter Spaans has been working in sales for 23 years. And next to his sales routine, he has been training students and employees on the field of communication and the 4 personality types, and he enjoys writing... This article addresses cultural differences between the Anglo-Saxon and the Rhinelandic management model.

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Barbara Hannigan

We do not watch TV so often at home. Just not that interesting for us. But sometimes it’s fun to watch particular programs. For example, after the Remembrance of the casualties of WW II at the 4th of May which we watch every year, we sat waiting for a documentary about three Millennials who followed the trail of three Allied soldiers during D-Day. Very interesting for my 10-year-old son who plays FortNite every day for 1 to 2 hours, and who is heavily interested in WW II. Barbara Hannigan came into picture while we were waiting... A nice smooth, sometimes somewhat recalcitrant lady who is also a very good soprano and conductor.

Offended & rude

Barbara is Canadian and she has been working with Dutch people for a long time. What surprised me was that she told about her acquaintance with the Netherlands. She was then offended by the directness of the Dutch and displeased by the 'rudeness' in communication...

However, in a reasonably short timeframe, she also saw the benefits. She experienced that the Dutch were deleting the 'niceties' and were poking through the 'extrapoliteness'. In other words, the Dutch do not beat around the bush, do not pack the message too much and come to the point. 'This is going well, this is going badly, and that is why we are going to do this differently now…’*

Barbara said that this brings something up that is scarce: team members who all actively participate to do well, who are committed and involved. And thus create a high-quality end result. She is now a huge fan, and very positive about how the Dutch work attitude.

Now an opposite experience to show you that this working mentality is not around everywhere ... the experience of a Dutch 'Angel Investor'.

Work culture: the United States vs. The Netherlands

My kids are at school in Bilthoven-Noord. (For everyone not being familiar with the Dutch cities: this is a residential area in Bilthoven, near Utrecht, where the upper income resides. A primarily ‘white, high educated’ area.) Here you regularly meet people in the schoolyard who – from a materialistic point of view- have it sorted out very well. For example, there is family having a garden of the size of 3 soccer fields.

Recently I spoke – also through the schoolyard - a successful entrepreneur: graduated in Applied Physics after which he founded a company which he sold 9 years later to 'Silicon Valley'. One of the consequences of the deal was that he had to reside 2 years with his family in the U.S. to secure knowledge as CTO.

He told me that he did not enjoy the working culture in the States. Firstly, he had built up his business in the Netherlands and he himself had hired all of his technical employees. Working together with these (Dutch) colleagues went very well and they regularly corrected him when he was 'wrong'. That made everyone, and he especially, sharp in doing the right thing. (Do you remember Stephen Covey and his motivational story about ‘having the ladder stand against the right wall?!’)

In the States it is different: there they have the 'command-and-control' working culture. There you do what your manager says. One of the consequences of this is that employees are less involved and offer little resistance to a manager. He said that if something went wrong, the employees shrug their shoulders, point up and say that "the boss has said it like that".

So just say ... what's more fun? And most importantly, what is better ?!

Dutch and American baby’s.

The British newspaper The Independent wrote an article entitled "Is it time you go Dutch?" This article is about satisfaction in babies: in the study the newspaper cited, was a comparison made between babies born in the U.S. and in the Netherlands. One of the most important observations is that Dutch babies are more satisfied: they laugh, smile and hug more than the American babies. Other observations are that Dutch babies are easier to comfort, while American babies exhibit more often, sadness and frustration.

Cultural Dimensions

The above is also interesting to analyze with the Hofstede Cultural Dimensions**. This study, in which 'culture' is subdivided and measured in 6 dimensions, provides a clear insight into the differences between countries. In the meantime 80 countries have been investigated: on their website you can make comparisons between countries and then visualize them in an attractive graph. One of the important differences with the Netherlands is that the U.S. is much more 'fear-oriented', and that Americans are looking for much more security. This seems to match with what is written about the babies ...

The Netherlands in the top 5 lists

To conclude: the Netherlands (together with the Nordics) is high on international happiness lists! The Netherlands is (again: just like the Nordics) very democratic, has a very active government and has a small income inequality (compared to other countries). Conclusion: the happiest people live in the countries with the highest taxes. (One of the readers of the Dutch article, Bas, replied with the remark that these countries also are kingdoms.)

And now really last. And this time I quote the explorer-writer-biologist Redmond O'Hanlon while he is walking around in Amsterdam: 'Luckily I see girls as well. Dutch girls, the most beautiful species in the world. Why do they come here? What brings them here…?'

Well, that's why you have to go Dutch...

* One of readers of the Dutch version of this article who has been living in Canada for quite a while, stated that her employers in general experience her Dutch attitude as ‘positive, old fashioned, great work mentality, committed and ready to take initiative.

** If you want to visit the Hofstede site and compare cultures: https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/. Type in Netherlands and f.e. Canada and you will have the two countries compared with each other