Jaco Ottink

Members and friends of the Netherlands – Polish Chamber of Commerce had the opportunity to listen to an incredibly inspiring presentation by Jaco Ottink during our monthly business drink meeting in Warsaw. What made this talk stand out was that Jaco was able to take the whole audience with him to the mountain and made them undergo the joy and fear that he experienced there himself. A push in the back for our audience to dare to dream! And as well as the riveting talk, the cooperation with Jaco himself in organising this presentation was also excellent. He is a very easy-going person and great to work with. Thank you Jaco for being with us at our business drink and sharing your dreams!

Our goal was to create a Belvedere Collective from all the different brand managers and other key brand stakeholders around the globe during a 3 days Belvedere Immersion in Warsaw. The tactics Jaco used to bring the individuals together from the beginning were highly efficient and very engaging for all. Literally in a few hours the base for establishing the Collective was created. The inspiration of Jaco his personal dream has been superb which resulted in highly motivated participants during the team workshop activities. Jaco has a real talent to read the culture of the company and the atmosphere between the participants, which are absolutely key succeeding with the set goals related to the Belvedere Immersion. Besides leaving the group inspired and succeeded to establish the Belvedere Collective, Jaco has made 38 new friends, which showcase how good he is to connect with each individual. Still nowadays when I visit different countries, brand managers participated asks about him and tells how inspired they have been about his dream and capabilities to present and lead a group towards their goals. Obviously I highly recommend Jaco to each profit and non-profit organisation in order to inspire many more people and children. Na zdrowie Jaco!

We invited Jaco as motivational speaker for the kickoff of the new business year. Very inspiring to hear about his dream and his (long) way to fulfill it. During the 1 hour presentation the audience was highly engaged and afterwards he became the talk of the day. It inspired all of us to set up our own dreams and to start making them come true!

Jaco joined our extended Leadership session, organized to reflect on our Why and How in a context of an ongoing market transformation. He kindly shared with us his powerful story on how purpose and togetherness helped him to reach Mount Everest, the North Pole and other fascinating destinations.

His motivational speech reflected our company values of Joy, Care and Passion for Better and aimed to empower our team members to dream big and accomplish our goals, both individually and as a team. Jaco’s inspiring speech was a strong reminder that no obstacle should remain unchallenged and everyone can prove their passion and determination to accomplish even the most ambitious goals.

I appreciate Jaco’s proactive approach, openness and willingness to accommodate our specific needs in the process, which significantly contributed to the success of our event. I wish Jaco all the best for his next endeavors and together with UPC’s team we keep our fingers crossed for him to achieve his big dream to inspire 1 million people!

Jaco Ottink is an exceptional Mentor. I have the privilege to have Jaco as my Mentor since 2013. Since then, Jaco and I have met together every three months to discuss my professional and personal journey and goals. Jaco has the ability to be truly empathic and provide powerful feedback and guidance to both my professional and personal journeys. As a result of Jaco’s mentoring, it has allowed me to establish much stronger and clearer personal values and professional goals in my life.

Inspiration comes for many of us after being exposed to someone with passion. That is exactly what 1000 Randstad employees experienced in 2018 when meeting Jaco Ottink. Randstad is implementing a new brand promise ‘Human Forward’ in which the dedication and professionalism Jaco showed was a very welcome and natural part of the introduction of this program. In a very authentic and passionate way Jaco shared during 6 sessions his experiences as a mountaineer and his view on how to pursue your dreams. The audience became inspired by his accomplishments brought on a very natural way and the dedication and preparation behind it each expedition.

I would without any doubt recommend Jaco to any company to share his stories and I am convinced that he will leave the audience inspired and with a mission to find and or share their own dream.

We invited Jaco to be the keynote speaker for the American School of Warsaw bi-annual high school Career Fair. Our student body, along with quite a few parents and other professionals, were entertained and motivated by Jaco’s recount of his Mt. Everest adventure and his approach and insights into making and striving for personal goals. His talk was relatable for all ages and provided a great start to our day. In addition to his opening presentation, Jaco conducted three “break out” sessions called, “Seven Steps to Your Dreams.” Throughout, students were engaged and appreciated Jaco’s approach to having them think creatively and practically, at the same time, about their future goals and dreams. The overall success of his talk and workshops prompted us to invite him back to speak with parents from our ASW community. Thank you, Jaco!

Dear Jaco, on behalf of the entire school I would like to say ‘thank you’! The students enjoyed your story and together with the teachers they started to define their own dreams after your session. They will work, support and challenge each other on these dreams during the coming school year. Not only the students, but also many teachers like myself, came back home energised after your “Dare to Dream” presentation. One colleague mentioned to me that she had never met a person who was able to communicate a story in such a powerful way. And I fully agree with her! We wish you all the best with your dream to inspire 1 million people, as well as with your next adventures to the North and South Pole.

At the end of October, we had the pleasure of having 5 guest lectures done by Jaco. With these quest lectures we wanted to make sure that all our first and second year students (1.500) had the opportunity to listen to his inspiring story of how he managed to fulfil his dream and the lessons he learned along the way. We wanted to incorporate these lectures in our coaching-program so that we could challenge students to think about their own dreams and how to accomplish them.

Due to his energetic and passionate way of speaking he easily managed to win the attention of the crowd and keep them interested, even long after the actual lectures. He did so, not only with his entertaining style, but also by making people reflect on their own dreams. Now, a few weeks later, I can still see the effect.

Now, I regularly meet students with whom I have deeper conversations about their own dreams and how they want to accomplish them. Even during normal book-keeping lessons. As a teacher and as a coach I couldn’t have asked for more. Thanks to Jaco’s passion and drive to motivate others, he helped to get my students motivated, to make them think about their future and what would be necessary to make them happy.