Erwin Schwella (first from left) listening to Dutch minister Johan Remkes in the Hague before addressing the audience himself.

Schwella of Synergus a keynote speaker in the Hague, The Netherlands
Professor Erwin Schwella of Synergus was one of three invited speakers who addressed an illustrious audience in the Hague when leave was taken of mr. Paul Nouwen at his retirement as Chair of the Board of the Dutch institute of Public Administration (ROI) during November 2006. The other two speakers were the Dutch Minister of Internal Affairs, minister Johan Remkes and the Chief Executive Officer of British Telekom, mr. Ben Verwaaijen.

Schwella paid tribute to Nouwen using the metaphor of a journey to illustrate Nouwen’s contribution as a leader at ROI and to society in general.Schwella stated that Nouwen pointed out the direction of the journey as a leader as well as served the needs of his fellow travelers as a servant leader on the road to visionary new destinations.

Nouwen, who has served the Dutch and international community in an exemplary way during a long leadership career as servant leader, expressed his gratitude to the ROI for the opportunities he had to support major changes that took place there in the recent past. He also complimented the current Director of ROI, Dr. Koen Becking for effecting a turnaround strategy at ROI.

A publication on Innovative Leadership edited by K. Becking and N. Hopman of the Center for Public Leadership (CPL) at ROI was launched at this celebration. Schwella contributed on innovative leadership for public purpose. Schwella concludes: “Innovative leaders realize the complexities and interrelatedness of the elements of the systems they have to deal with. They accept that there are numerous elements in the system including highly complex human factors that combine with physical and technical elements in synergies that have to be contended with creatively and productively as wholes.”