2/12/2009 – ADM’s activities for 2009 ended on a high point. Over 100 people attended the ADM Foyer, where brothers Chris and Marc De Hous compared their experiences of coaching people. Chris is CEO for the IT consultancy and services company Trasys and Marc is a tennis coach (for Kim Clijsters and Kirsten Flipkens among others). The discussion was led by VRT journalist Freek Braeckman.

Different people have differing characters and obviously they have different ways of dealing with issues and people. But the core principles valued by both brothers are pretty much the same:
• respect for people
• let the individual/team discover and show their best sides
• attitude, confidence and trust are essential values
• competences can be learned

Freek Braeckman asked Marc and Chris to describe themselves. The brothers then looked intrigued as they listened to taped interviews with people they work(ed) closely with. Mieke Jacobs (Trasys) described Chris as someone who has a lot of passion for everything he does, inspiring others, aiming for perfection and being very persuasive (a “seducer”) when getting things done. Kirsten Flipkens talked about Marc as a father figure who puts himself in second place and adapts himself to the people he is working with. She also said he has a great sense of humour (something we witnessed during the evening).

The number of people present and their high-level profile ensured an excellent networking opportunity after the session.
It was an extremely good way to end the year!

In April 2009, Data News published an interview with Chris and Marc, talking about the same topic. You can read this interview here in Dutch or here in French.

Pictures capturing the atmosphere of the evening can be found in the Photo Gallery on the ADM website.