WORTH MENTOR INTERVIEW: PAUL CELEN

This week we interviewed one of our WORTH mentors, Paul Celen. He is a business consultant and the head coach at IMEC in Belgium.

He has had a long career as an entrepreneur with business and management experience and extensive education including a PhD and an MBA. We interviewed him to find out what he can suggest to present and future WORTH participants and being an entrepreneur:

Your work with assisting entrepreneurs, start-ups and scale-ups realise their potential for growth is inspiring, why is this personally important to you?
• To exchange my experience as a successful CEO and entrepreneur
• To help our economies in creating work and enabling youngsters to mark their influence

What do you think it takes to be a creative entrepreneur and innovator in 2018?
• Of course a good idea, but more a validated value proposition
• Perseverance!!!
• Risk aware and measured control
• Discipline
• Preparation, analysis, strategy as a guideline for difficult moments

What would be your best piece of advice for WORTH Partnerships in regards to working in a team towards a mutual outcome?
• Complementarity, not technologically but mentally and psychologically
• Good and clear goalsetting : S.I.M.P.L.E. principle
• Good and clear agreements before starting, about all aspects of the project but also the future

What are your hopes for the future of the design industry with all the work you do to assist the next generation of innovators?
• That the creative workers within the industry learn a little bit about methodology and structure
• That the technical workers learn a little bit of creativity and flexibility

Find out more about Paul Celen here.