Clo Willaerts Interview

HyperThinker interview with Clo Willaerts, marketing manager Belgacom Skynet and an avid blogger.

Clo usually describes herself as bitch, lover, child, mother, sinner, saint, so we'll stick to her words and say no more. If you want to know more; her blog also carries a profile .

What role does the Internet and networking have in your life?
CW: I'm afraid I'm addicted to Internet. Or rather: to being "connected". I keep in touch with people I know "in real life" through instant messaging, e-mail and social networks. And I love meeting "online people", like bloggers or community members, at real life meetings. I don't really draw the line between offline and online.

Has this changed a lot in recent years?
CW: The behaviour of the user has changed: they like the idea of being in control. They used to browse and simply digest what publishers would offer them. Then they learned how to search, e.g. to compare the price of a ticket before booking a flight online. And now, most of us are getting annoyed by "information overload". So all they want to do is filter what and who comes in; or have a trusted party do that for them.

Do you have any unusual communication habits? (Yesterday I spoke to designer from California who has done 200 Skypecasts during the last two weeks)
CW: I'm moving away from e-mail: the multitude of spam messages that still get through no matter what spam filter you use, annoys me. I still use instant messaging a lot, but mainly through msn messenger. I use rss feeds a lot: every day I spend an hour or two reading my feeds - a total of 1,000 feeds. In 2005 I made about 100 podcasts for another site - I was tired of all these marketeers just talking about podcast, so I decided to "just do it" instead.

Do you read business books, or blogs by ‘thought leaders’, and if so; who are your favourite authors/bloggers/gurus?
CW: I really like Jeremy Zadowny's linkblog - it inspired me to start my own, back in 2004. I don't have gurus but I closely follow what e.g. Howard Rheingold, Seth Godin, Hugh McLeod, Jakob Nielsen are saying and doing.

Have you over the years developed a certain professional philosophy that you stand by or believe in?
CW: It's all about sharing. Don't hide your ideas: share them with everyone. They might inspire you, or you might inspire them. I'm not worried about people stealing: there's more where it all came from. I get new ideas every idea (and throw away most of them).

A key assumption behind HyperThinker is that it’s no longer a winning strategy to look for a good and safe job. The pace of change is too fast for that. Professionals need to adapt, and focus on how they can become a sharp and trusted networking hub. Do you agree? How are you trying to adapt?
CW: I'm a very passionate person. This also means that I'm passionate about my job. One of the consequences is, that as soon as the corporate environment I'm in changes for the worst, I'm always the first to abandon ship.

What do you think of the HyperThinker concept? Is it a useful model (or word) for you in your current work?
CW: It suggests "thinking out of the box", which is good. But personally I don't like the prefix "hyper" - it also suggests some kind of overload.

Colin Crook, the author of Impossible Thinking who we interviewed as well said that the ability to invent new words – like the trends that Trendwatching.com names every month , or words like wiki, blog and podcasting – is a crucial skill today; you need it in order to see new perspectives, to be flexible in your mental models. What is your experience with that? Have you invented any new words yourself?
CW: It's true that languages shapes the way we think. On the other hand, the fact that O'Reilly has copyrighted the term "web 2.0" just because he was the first one to use it, is defnitely not the way to go. I've invented a few words of my own, but they usually relate to a campaign, not to a marketing concept.

Your blog (babynox.blogspot.com) is basically a collection of links to other blogs, selected by you. Why have you chosen not to write and comment yourself?
CW: Well, I liked Yahoo's Jeremy Zadowny's linkblog and decided to do the same myself. Many people think don't start blogging or give it up because they think a blog should consist of well-written opinion pieces or personal stuff. That's what most famous blogs are about - but that doesn't mean you have to copy it for yourself. I know that many people read my feed http://babynox.blogspot.com/atom.xml because they often discuss what I posted with me when I see them during some blog event or so. For me my blog is more a public bookmark collection of things that I encounter during the day. My moblog, with pictures I take with my cameraphone, is more personal. You'll see the people I meet, the food I eat, my kids etc - and there's more comment there.

I have the feeling that if I go through the history of all your blog posts that I will at some point have quite a good overview of all the sites in your rss page. Do you think that your personal ‘mental toolkit’ - the combined collection of your bookmarks, rss feeds, favourite books, methods & work practices to stay efficient, flexible and creative – has commercial value? Would you be prepared to sell it?
CW: The blog has already paid for itself: it sold me :-) I got my last 2 jobs because of the blog. It tells more about my skills and interests than any cv could ever do.