The same vision of running a business and things that are really important in it.

With a fresh cup of tea in hand, from the beautiful MELT building in Eindhoven, Paul Smilde enthusiastically shares his insights on the origins and mission of Paradise Shaper and leadership in the 21st century.

Paul Smilde, CEO of Paradise Shaper, and Dennis van Dijk, founder of Forp, met about two years ago through the networking club the Business Circle of Influence. “This is a vibrant network for leaders pursuing inspiration in the workplace, Paul says. The network fills the need for mutual connection, knowledge sharing and exchange of perspectives on leadership topics. So it is for spirited leaders, leaders who look beyond just making money and doing something for a customer. This is really about having a certain spirit, a team spirit where people really come into their own, people are given space and can develop themselves. And that very thing always translates into top performance for customers and company.”

Paradise Shaper was founded over two years ago by Paul Smilde and Rob Laarhoven. Paul has worked at Philips for 22-years in various management roles and a background with knowledge from finance, sales and supply chain. Rob co-founded and grew Techsharks. Techsharks is a company that places technicians in the technical manufacturing and process industry, truly job placement. Both men have great companies on their resumes but made a conscious decision to be at the controls themselves and get much more involved with people. As Paul himself says, “I have a huge passion for people and I also find performing and getting results very interesting. Just that combo.”

“Rob and I are really complementary to each other and we decided to create a club that looks at leadership in a very different way. We have developed, appropriate to these times, a whole new leadership style that is entirely focused on people themselves knowing how best to organize their work. People themselves have the most knowledge of what can be done better, smarter and differently. People also become enormously motivated by their own work, often find it very cool, can talk about it for hours. What you have to do as a leader is to take away everything that hinders them from doing their work well. So the role of a leader is not to determine everything, but to facilitate, remove obstacles and create frameworks. This approach creates space, freedom and growth, and that’s exactly what we at Paradise Shaper teach leaders and their entire organizations.”

“Paul emphasizes the importance of both the ‘top stream’ and the ‘bottom stream’ in an organization. The upper stream is basically what you’re doing all day. That’s your customers, your products, your processes and that’s the money you make from it so just the hard side of your business. But the undercurrent that is the energy that flows in the sense of how people relate to each other. How connected they feel to each other, what issues are going on, how motivated people are, how proactive they are in their attitude and tackling things together so really at the energy level. It’s in the upstream where you naturally get your results but whether that becomes successful or not is determined by the downstream. We have knowledge of both that’s what makes it so powerful. Now how are you going to make sure that people themselves embrace this, that people themselves can bring in their ideas and that people themselves tune in how they want to work together, these things need equal attention. So then you start combining that upper stream with that lower stream, and only then are you going to see that you’re really going to perform and really get results. You can save enormous costs annually because colleagues can think along very creatively how it can all be done much smarter and better.”

“There are many companies that do recognize that they want to take a hit and really want things to be different, but don’t know how to do it. At the start of a leadership program, it is important that you as a leader have an open attitude, that you dare to be vulnerable and that you dare to question yourself. After all, as a leader, your approach leaves such a mark on your team that you start with introspection, discovering your core what it is really all about, what the values are that you live by but that you also want to use to shape your company. Then it’s time to ask yourself the three essential questions of leadership: who am I, what do I want to achieve and how can I inspire others to achieve that goal? These questions are equally relevant to your team: who are we, what do we want to achieve collectively and how can we bring others along with our vision? And finally, you want to share this vision and influence and inspire people.”

“Personally, I find that in all the frenzy, taking a moment to look at everything is very important. After running and being busy, it is important to slow down. It is good to be aware of this and to teach yourself an attitude that suits you. This delivers so much because creativity comes when you are at peace and empty and relaxed.”

Paul continues enthusiastically: “I have had nice, fun and interesting conversations with Dennis ever since we met at the networking club. We immediately clicked and shared the same vision on running a company and the things that are really important in this. That you have certain concepts figured out and that you immediately get to work with them, so you execute things, sometimes make adjustments and learn from them. That is also a modern way of working together. I think it is cool that Dennis is really very innovative. That he is quick, takes action and acts immediately. Not doing business in the traditional way, but in an innovative way. This is exactly our way of looking at things and approaching things. Paradise Shaper and Forp can be complementary as partners. Together helping companies to grow, embrace innovations and realize the connection of the young generation. The essence of modern leadership with the goal of creating a paradise where enjoyment and performance go hand in hand.”