Highly esteemed

Thanks to my loving wife Karin and children Liedeke and Dick, I’m able to develop my own personality and hopefully theirs. If you want to know more about Karin, check out her activities:

Learning children typing skills:
Her passion for cooking:
Being the hostess for:

There are a number of people that stand out for me. I mostly admire people that follow their passion and have the enthusiasm and courage to do what they believe in. It is great to see their unique talents and to learn from what they do, for the benefit of my own aspirations. Below, I like to list a few people that I respect in particular.


George Rhoads

George Rhoads followed his passion regardless of money and opinions from others. I am still fascinated by the impressive rolling balls sculptures he designed, like the one in New York City you can find on Wikipedia. In addition to the sculptures, George was a great painter. Up to his age of 95 he painted every day with full passion, that is absolutely admirable. I am pleased that I could meet George a couple of times in Ithaca (NY), USA. If you like to know more about his life, his sister Emily wrote an interesting book about his creations: Wizard at Work.



Dido Armstrong

Without exceptions all Dido Armstrong’s songs are good, at least that is my opinion. What really excites me is that she always sings with herself in the lead, not as a victim of somebody else. She addresses many different topics like, abortion, dementia, depression, suppression, love and freedom. Her third album “Safe Trip Home” is dedicated to her father. My father died in 2015 and was a wise and respectful man. We used the song “Grafton Street” at my father’s funeral because it was so applicable to the situation. I hope to meet Dido one day.


Ton Schulten

It is great to see how Ton Schulten developed himself and what he achieved today. Driven by his passion to do only creative work he is, after being active in creative industry, a famous painter now. I’m delighted that he talks about his stories and realize that it is not only glamour that brought him this far, it is mixture of achievements, fallbacks, disappointments and successes. Together with his wife Ank they form a strong and complementary couple. My wife and I are happy that they have been neighbors for about 25 years and still they still live in the area.



Stephen Covey

A lot is written about human motivations, personal and team development. All of that might be true and useful but often the matter is presented too complicated. Speaker and author Stephen Covey said that he did not add new insights but organized the available material in a concise way such that it is easier to apply in daily life. I think he did an outstanding job in this field, Furthermore, I like his academic approach. Another favorite speaker and author is Brian Tracy. His Canadian background distinguishes him from American speakers in presenting more modest, which connects better to the European culture. Menperium wants to contribute to the 8th habit Stephen Covey wrote 8 years before he died, "Find your voice and help others find theirs" which is somehow similar to "Inspire to Aspire".