In a remarkable and passionate speech, Geert Van Mol presented his book “Rebel Rebel” before some 80 guests in Brucity, the new administrative headquarters building of the city of Brussels. It was the first afterwork meeting of ‘De Straffe Mannen’, the organizers of the CDO of the Year Awards.
Geert Van Mol is the former chief digital officer of Belfius and also the first CDO of the Year in 2018.
Today he is CEO at Steenoven, but he has always kept his enthusiasm for digitalization, along with his passion for music. So in his book “Rebel Rebel,” subtitled “Rock’n roll and false notes in digital,” he seeks the parallels between musicians and CDOs, from Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Zappa, Nirvana to Queen and many others. They all more than pushed boundaries with a clear vision. As such, the entire book is peppered with various music clips. “Like those musicians, CDOs must also be somewhat rebellious, pushing their way and vision, not allowing themselves to be led by corporate stagnation. The magic of music should also be the guide in the digitalization process.” He also referred to the ‘egov.be’ app as a complete failure but praised the work of Régis Pitolet, the current CDO of the year. As head of I-city, he knew how to manage the complete digitalization of the Brussels headquarters like no other. ‘A real tour de force’ also told Brussels alderman Fabian Maingain.
The official presentation of ‘Rebel Rebel’ will take place in Ghent in November but attendees at the CDO of the Year gala will receive it for free during the event on Oct. 17 at the Docks event hall in Brussels.
Have a look at the pictures taken during the the first afterwork meeting of ‘De Straffe Mannen below:
pictures by Tanguy van Eeckhoudt
