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My new website has an “About me” section. It covers some general facts and what I do, but it doesn’t say much about who I am or how I do things.
My roots: Suriname, Luxembourg and Canada
I was born in Suriname in 1972 and spent my entire childhood in beautiful Luxembourg. In 1987, I lived in Canada for a year, and that year had a big influence on me. At first I was very homesick, and I called my parents once a month. There was no internet back then, so we wrote a lot of letters. That year in Canada taught me how to express myself better. Almost every week I had to give a presentation about a book I had read. I also remember giving a talk about the difference between how young people dressed in Luxembourg and in Winnipeg.
Studying, making music and learning to present myself
After finishing secondary school, I moved to Wageningen, the Netherlands, to study environmental hygiene. A university education wasn’t for me at the time, so after two years I switched to a degree in hydrology and water management at a university of applied sciences.
During my studies, I loved playing in a band. Besides rehearsing, we were often on the road, performing at receptions and dinners. That’s where I learned to entertain people and to present myself.
I graduated in 1997, and you can read about what I did after that on my LinkedIn profile. Today I live in Rotterdam with my loved ones, and I still travel a lot for my work and my church.
In my working life, assessments have taught me a lot about who I am and what my strengths, talents, motivations, and weaknesses are. To give you a better picture of me, here is a short overview of the results of a few of those assessments.
DiSC: between influence and stability
DiSC is an assessment that looks at your preferred style of communicating with others. You can read this article for more information. I have taken this assessment twice, and to my surprise, I switch between an iS and an Si profile. Both times I was very close to the line. That doesn’t really surprise me, because I like to have influence (i) on a situation, but at the same time I have a strong need for stability (S). My key themes are action, enthusiasm, collaboration, and support. This shows that I like to work with and for people. And yet here I am, sitting at home alone writing. But once this article is finished, I’m off to the gym!
VIA: kindness, spirituality and gratitude
This assessment from the VIA Institute on Character is designed to help you discover your own strengths and explore how to develop them, as well as your lesser strengths. According to this assessment, my top character strengths are kindness, generosity, spirituality, meaning, faith, and, finally, gratitude. My lesser strengths are perseverance, taking decisive action (when something is wrong), and prudence. It still happens that I hesitate for a long time before making a decision, or say nothing because I would rather avoid conflict.
CliftonStrengths: Empathy, Positivity and Connectedness
The CliftonStrengths assessment is based on the characteristics of thousands of people and how they perform. I have also taken this one twice, and both times the result was exactly the same. The outcome is a unique talent DNA. According to this assessment, my strongest themes are Empathy, Positivity, and Connectedness. The themes that score lower are Analytical, Competition, and, once again, Deliberative (caution).
HEXACO: social and flexible
This is the most recent assessment I have taken. HEXACO is a personality assessment, and I liked it because it adds a sixth dimension to the Big Five: honesty-humility. According to this assessment, I am very social, flexible, and principled. My weaker side lies in structure and perseverance (!).
The Golden Circle: my WHY
This is my favorite assessment, and it involves no questionnaire. It is a conversation with a facilitator in which we explore the most important themes in your life. This WHY session is based on Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle. A session usually takes five hours, including breaks. Based on your life experiences, we uncover the themes that form the foundation of your unique contribution and its impact on the world. You can read here what a WHY session looks like. Of all the assessments I have done, the WHY session has had the most lasting effect on me. It gave me a statement (“I facilitate so that others can elevate themselves and experience more love”) that I say several times a day to work out what I can do best. It is positive, action-oriented, and timeless.
I now facilitate these sessions myself, together with Marius van Vlijmen. We have been doing this since 2021 for individuals and organizations. You can find more information at www.gowithwhy.com.
The common thread: connection, harmony and trust
I have done other assessments as well, and it’s striking how much the results overlap. The themes of connection, harmony, trust, and enthusiasm come up again and again. So do fears of being ignored or of offending others.
What does this situation ask of me?
The purpose of these assessments is to get to know myself better and to find out what I can work on to improve my relationships, find more balance in life, and perform better. The question is whether these strengths help me in every situation. Something new for me is to consciously ask myself what a particular situation needs and how I can best help someone. Is this the moment to be enthusiastic, or is it better to listen in silence? Should I address the conflict, or keep quiet for the sake of peace?
An inner journey of discovery
I am a student of Eckankar, the Path of Spiritual Freedom. Its teachings give me the opportunity to discover more about myself and help me truly live who I am: a unique, loving spark. It is an inner journey of discovery through contemplation (meditation) and dreams, with help from various inner and outer guides. It doesn’t involve filling in questionnaires. Instead, it’s a conversation with universal truth. It helps me understand why certain things happen in my life, so I can let them go more easily and get on with my life here on earth. For example, I no longer worry when I feel ignored.
And you?
Who are you, and what are your superpowers? Let me know in the comments below. Let me know in the comment box below. I, and other readers of this article, look forward to reading from you!
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