Fair Value: Reflections on Good Business

By Jozef Opdeweegh

Fair Value is unique-a book about business that serves not as a blueprint but as a reflection on our lives, and how we might live them better.

With courage to confront, and learn from, contemporary issues, Jozef Opdeweegh draws on thinkers past and present to show how our values shape the value we create. Taking u

• Language: English
• Publisher: Koehler Books
• Release date: Aug 24, 2021
• ISBN: 9781646634583

Jozef Opdeweegh

Jozef j Opdeweegh is an international C-suite executive with experience that spans the Atlantic and an outlook to match. Born to a family of educators in Belgium, Jozef graduated from the University of Hasselt and holds a master's in business administration, applied economics, business engineering, and quantitative techniques. Drawing on over twenty years' experience in developing companies in North America, the UK, and mainland Europe, he's an author and thought leader on the critical relationship between the values we live by and value we create. In a career that has included spells in global logistics, industrial real estate and e-commerce, he has served as CEO for Premier Farnell PLC, Neovia, Americold Realty Trust, and Syncreon. His multinational perspective includes professional assignments in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania.Opdeweegh is fluent in English, Dutch, and German, and has a working command of French together with a love of their wine. He currently resides in Miami with his wife, Jacqueline Miguel, and is the proud father of six children.

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PRAISE FOR FAIR VALUE

These essays are a treat to savor. Their quality lies not in prescribing a route to prosperity, but rather in gently prompting us to set our compass to a path that leads to fairness and value for all.

—Dr. Juan Rivera, Cardiologist, Chief Medical Correspondent Univision

"Fair Value is a must-read for business leaders who desire to improve corporate culture in order to more fully engage all stakeholders in maximizing value for all. Mr. Opdeweegh’s writings are a rare and honest look into the thinking and values of one of the preeminent global business leaders of our time."

—Mark J. Gendregske, Principal, St. Charles Holdings

Rarely do you see such a close coupling of an author’s reflections and how they live their lives—this is Jos! Reflective, philosophical, questioning, translating to practical implementation and refreshingly focused on all aspects of society as beneficiaries of vision and leadership.

—Gary Kennedy, Board Chairman, Greencore Group PLC

A different kind of management book. A soulful series of reflections on values and virtues in business, which manages to be at once both profoundly personal and yet universal.

—Jonathan Obermeister, Managing Partner, Change Agency

"Fair Value poignantly points to the key issue in many businesses today—how to win the mindshare and trust of employees, customers, and suppliers by treating them each fairly and with integrity."

—Tim Oglesby, Chief Technology and Transformation Officer, Santo Remedio LLC

tit

Fair Value: Reflections on Good Business

by Jozef J Opdeweegh

© Copyright 2021 Jozef J Opdeweegh

ISBN 978-1-64663-458-3

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior written permission of the author.

Illustrations by JB Hopkins

Published by

3705 Shore Drive

Virginia Beach, VA 23455

800-435-4811

www.koehlerbooks.com

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Finding

Why I Write

The Fair Value Equation

Gathering

The Value of Virtues

Fear and the Price Tag of Trust

Why Trust Matters in the Workplace, and Why We Should Care

Why Companies Make Harmful Decisions

Giving to Others—and of Ourselves

Assembling

Reflections on Doha

Disruption as the New normal

Analysis and Creativity—Fellows or Foes?

The Moral Maze of Decision Making

Nurturing Talent and Navigating the Road to Success

Building—and Blending—Talent for the Future

Shaping

Twenty-Twenty Vision

The Power of Clapping

Navigating the Middle Grounde

Leadership and Our Most Powerful Tool in a Time of Crisis

Light on the Horizon

Afterwords

The Coins in our Pockets

Turning the Tide

This book is dedicated to all those who live by values of respect, decency, and care for others.

History shows that the making of a better world is not straight forward—that while progress thrives on a respect for science and analysis, we must pay equal attention to our feelings and desires.

Throughout my career, I’ve been inspired by those who are able to put the collective good above individual gain, who are liberal and open-minded, who value intellect and analysis . . . but who also understand that some of our deepest concerns are not reducible to logic.

These are the tenacious seekers of progress—making contributions, big and small, neat and messy, to the collective endeavor we call life. The essays in this book are a homage to them and all they have taught me.

Jozef J Opdeweegh

FOREWORD

ON ARRIVING AS CEO at the electronics distribution company where I was Chairman, Jozef Opdeweegh encountered some significant challenges. Within two weeks, we received an offer to acquire the business, and after a bid battle with competing offers, eventually agreed a sale to a much larger US competitor.

During this period of both business and personal uncertainty, including the relocation of his family from the US to London, Jozef provided outstanding leadership, gaining the respect, and also the affection, of stakeholders and colleagues alike. Having been a CEO myself, and having served on many boards with capable CEOs over the years, Jozef is to be compared with the most talented—his grasp of the financials, his speed at getting to the nub of an issue, his authority, swift decision-making and indeed, his courage are all exceptional qualities. Jozef was a tough but fair taskmaster too, working all hours himself but with an empathy and good humor which endeared him to his colleagues. At his farewell party, following the sale of the company, they presented him with an English gentleman’s shooting outfit of tweed plus-fours, with which he was highly delighted, donning it immediately!

As a global business person, having worked in a variety of roles in Belgium, Canada, the USA and the UK, Jozef brings a breadth of experience to the concepts of fairness and trust. But above all, he brings to the debate—and to his writing—an openness and authenticity, which anyone who’s worked with him would recognize.

In reading Fair Value, I’ve rediscovered that refreshing approach, one which is highly thought-provoking, but which doesn’t propose prescriptive theories—something of a rarity in my experience.

The essays themselves are founded on the belief that core values should underpin our approach and decisions as leaders—and that our living and creating value are intrinsically linked. They also demonstrate an evolving mind-set, recognizing that our beliefs and values can change over time, rather than being fixed. The practical insights which Jozef offers strike a chord with me as they will with others, grounded as they are in his rich and varied experience.

While reading Fair Value, it reminded me that although many leaders can talk at length about values, they often sound glib or superficial, their words seldom straying from the corporate speak which by its very ubiquity often stifles debate.

Jozef, however, speaks from the heart. I recommend his reflections to all who wish to consider the world’s challenges more deeply – there is a lot to learn here.

Val Gooding, CBE

INTRODUCTION

HOW DO WE BEST create shareholder value?

Such was the question at the forefront of my mind when my career began. I’d been taught the pursuit was essential; that the purpose of a business was to fulfil its mission while delivering returns in excess of costs, providing a sustainable flow of profit and cash. The quest would not be easy, but it was more strategic than philosophical and I threw myself into the task.

Thirty years on, I’m glad I did. For in starting out, and in business in general, there’s a hands-on experiential element that no classroom MBA can teach. There’s also an essential truth in the axiom above: the competitive pursuit of profit remains the driving force of companies across the globe, and rightly so, for without sustainable returns our efforts will ultimately fail.

But if the pursuit of profit remains necessary, it is no longer sufficient. Over the course of my career, our understanding of the role and purpose of business has shifted. And with that comes