“It must be wonderful to work here” is what I hear regularly from people who visit the Priva Campus for the first time. For me, this is not primarily about the efficiency of Priva as a company, nor the efficiency of our building, but actually about the efficiency of our employees.

Bubble economy
The ‘people-centered’ approach is a movement that I feel is becoming stronger. The bubbles around us are popping, the energy crisis, the credit crisis, are all part of a world based on emotion. People are on the other hand part of the tangible world, the real economy. And unlike that unreal economy of bubbles, the value of people will always last!

Listed companies are driven by the issues of the day. Today you’re worth something, tomorrow nothing at all. By contrast, the real economy is made up of family companies, businesses close to the people, close to the market, companies that work with people as capital and not with bubbles. The value of people is tangible, touchable: real.

The power of Priva
For that matter we are living in a strange world. What is the reality? I experience our Campus as a part of reality. “It must be wonderful to work here”. An inspiring environment where you can develop a truly sustainable world together, by recycling, by minimizing energy consumption, which is indeed very nice. Woolly? No, Priva may sometimes have its head in the clouds, but always keeps both feet on the ground: you need to be big to do that. We will therefore be relying on our own strength in the coming year.

Gandhi said: “Strength has nothing to do with physical strength, strength comes from an indomitable will”. Priva’s strength lies in the indomitable will of the people who make Priva what it is. And I thank my colleagues for that.