Hendrik de Lange

Full transcript: Hendrik de Lange on London Real

0:01 I am Brian Rose. My guest today is Hendrik de Lange, recent graduate of our Speak to Inspire course. Welcome. Thank you very much. Tell us, where are you from, what do you do? I’m from the Netherlands, I live in a city called Delft, and I work as a patent attorney. I have my own company, and I’m in the patent field for 20 years. Various roles. As an examiner at a European patent office.

0:27 As a patent holder, my first patents I wrote when I was 23, 24, for my own businesses. Some were successful, some were very in-successful, basically failures. I worked as a patent attorney for two of the major patent law firms in the Netherlands. One, I was the lead of one of their offices, and then I started my own office. I have a small office in Rotterdam, actually in Capelle aan den IJssel, and from there I have clients all over the world.

0:59 Okay. Basically, in the field of patents, for writing applications, writing licence agreements, negotiating licence agreements, and following the procedures of patents up to grants. And what was going on with you in your life, internally and outside, to make you come join us for the Speak to Inspire course? Well, that’s a funny one. It’s quite a long story, but I will keep it short.

1:29 A friend of mine gave me a book, or actually a colleague, at one of the clients I work for, gave me a book, and it was the book of Neil Strauss, The Game. And I recognised a lot of it. And one of his favourite mentors was Nick Krauser. And I saw an interview of Nick Krauser on London Real, but I couldn’t see the whole of it. So I had to put my email onto London Real and I sort of regretted that because then I was bombarded by your messages.

2:01 Really bombarded. I even made a video of it, I don’t know if you see it. I haven’t, and now you’re here. And this bombardment was like, I ignored it, I even wanted to cancel my email address at London Real, and then I saw the Speak to Inspire. One of these, how would I say, master classes, you talk about this Logos, Ethos, and Pathos, and suddenly I saw that one of these pillars were absolutely absent in my presentations. Why they were not sticking.

2:31 Why they were not, how would I say, not really good presentations. Now, that’s what made me decide, okay I’m on. And why London Real? Well it is, to be honest, you have a really strong, how would I say, you-exhale quality, in everything you do. The way you look, the way the studio’s arranged, the way the website looks, everything. And I liked it.

3:03 You have a very high standard. Okay. All right. Thank you. Yeah, it’s true. So you joined the course. First two weeks, you get hit with a lot of things, and I introduce you with 75 people who will soon become your friends and family. Yeah. Around the world, you’ve never met. I’m throwing video modules at you, and I’m asking you to come on live calls, the accountability doc, what was that like?

3:25 Well it’s weird, first of all, I thought when I saw all the first videos that people were posting, it’s like, am I going to learn here something? I was really hesitant about it. I was also the one who was commenting the most, basically also critically commenting. And I noticed that that’s my Dutch culture, because everybody’s very hesitant. On the other hand, everybody really likes being commented.

3:53 So it’s, but you saw everybody increase in their quality, in their, how would I say, their self-confidence. You really saw people grew in this course. But the first two weeks, actually I was like, hmm, is this a good thing for me? And then later on, yeah. And what was the concept on the course that you struggled with the most? What was the hardest thing I asked you do?

4:18 Well, I’m still struggling with is the basic message getting in? The structure and the three pillars. Okay. And that’s, yeah, that’s what I struggle with most and that’s basically why I joined also. Okay. What was the big win for you? What’s something you accomplished on the course that you’re happy with?

4:40 Well, I’m amazed this concept of the hero is as big as his antagonising force. I love it. I never realised it, but it’s true. That is really an epiphany for me. And the other one is the three pillars. I heard it before, but it never landed. And I think it now landed or it is in its process of landing. So Ethos, Logos, Pathos, which is the pillar you working on? Well definitely the Pathos, the Pathos pillar that is missing.

5:12 Right. The Logos and the, sorry the, yeah, the Pathos. Yeah. Ethos and the Logos is there. You have those? Yes. It’s just getting that emotional piece, and you’re gonna have something very strong. Correct. Yes. Yeah. And last night you pulled out the props. Yes. You were here at London Real headquarters. Thirty of your fellow students flew in from around the world, and you get up, and you give your talk. How did that go?

5:37 Not so good. I was not so happy with it, no. But I have also high standards, and I try to, I lost a part of my speech. I practised this speech a lot of times with, that I could put them in front of me somewhere. And I couldn’t, so I had to give them to people. And then I had to reach over, and it was, it was a bit, the interaction was different. What I heard from people is that they found it very good.

6:02 Well, I didn’t find it very good. And your critics were really spot on correct. Really spot on. Okay, so you can take that and use it and get better. Yes, definitely. The good news is, is that you have great energy. Yes. And you’re the most exciting and interesting patent attorney I’ve ever met, and you bring life to what you’re talking about ’cause you’re passionate about it.

6:22 So I think if we nail that structural elements I was talking to you about, you’re gonna have something very powerful. No, I think so too. Yeah, yeah. Yes. Yes. What was it like watching the rest of the students give their talks? It was amazing. I, well the greatest I found, Isla, that she really recovered, that she really got the courage to go up there. Oh, Inga. No, Isla. Oh, Isla, yeah. The girl from Berlin. Yeah. She was really lost everything. She tried to restart. And she regained.

6:51 And I think the person that had most yesterday night was she. Because she had clearly she had never been for such an audience before. It was really amazing to see. I loved it. For the rest, I missed some people that I really missed. I missed Fernando, really shame that he’s not here. I would have loved to see him.

7:18 I missed Valentine, I missed Jude, I missed Cy, and, there’s someone else I missed, yeah, Lee, of course. Yeah. And they would have made it even better. Tell me about this group of people that you didn’t approve of in the first two weeks. What are they like, and how have they become important to you?

7:47 They all showed me, including, although I’m not so good in that, their really deepest self. And that’s extremely powerful. And I was so excited to come here to meet people that you actually know better than some of their closest friends, and you’ve never seen them before. It is weird, and it is like, I told Julian, I don’t drink but I felt like I was drunk, yesterday night. Do you understand the feeling? Yeah. A positive way of being drunk. It was amazing.

8:22 I really soaked in all these people’s energy and it was great. And now we’re down here in the bar eating and drinking, it’s great, it’s really nice. And this is not only a course, it’s an experience. And I never realised that when I joined in, never realised it. And I don’t know if you realised, really, that it was such a big experience actually. Because it’s your first time also, I saw.

8:49 For the speaking course, yeah, this is our first one, but we know from the academy that these kind of deeply human connections happen, and people get very close. Yeah. Yeah, it’s really great. It’s a beautiful thing. What are your plans for the next 12 months? What are you gonna do with this speech and your speaking abilities?

9:06 Well as I tried to explain this, that the patent work is what I’m good at, and what I do, and what I earn my money with, but it’s not where my heart lies. My heart lies in development, designing and selling products. And production. And I want to move that direction again. And throughout my life I’ve been in these two situations. And I have one really big idea that is this flying on the power of the sun.

9:35 And I have another one, and that’s automating my own hatred, the stuff I don’t like from the working on the files. I’m now programming, step for step, everything to automate the whole patent procedure. From writing to the grant, all the communications, everything automated. This is bold, I made the first prototypes of the first piece, and that is easying up the search

10:05 and it’s magnificent, it’s just like if you have a screen and you have a figure, there’s all kinds of numbers in it, reference signs. And if you click on the reference signs, it states what it is, automatically, automatically. That is what is now working, and I want to pitch that. I want to get investors involved. I want to build a team around it.

10:27 Because all my life, and that’s a big, big mistake, I’ve done everything alone. I’ve always worked alone, and I want to stop that. Okay. I have a big sign on my desk saying it’s forbidden to do any projects alone, because it’s really my mistake. Yeah. And to do it, I need some investors, and I need some people, specialists to help me programme, to help me get over the barriers that I create myself.

11:00 Okay, good. So what I do in detail, I want to have four pitches ready in January. And the rest, some 16, for February and March. And I also put it in the documents. And by March I have my group of investors. Okay. That’s the most important thing. The man with the plan. I like this. Yes.

11:22 How have you changed? If we went outside and bumped into the Hendrik that didn’t take this course, on the street, how is that guy different than you? I’m a bit more self-confident, I would say. That’s the biggest change. Self-confident in human interaction. And it’s funny, the Speak to Inspire is not only speak to inspire but it’s also interact to inspire, and it is also make the interaction better.

11:49 I really stepped up a level in my social interaction, I would say. Yeah. And that’s really great. Yeah. You seem much more emotionally intelligent than even our first Zoom calls. Like you seem very much in touch with what’s happening, emotionally, with what’s going on with the people in here. Yes. Yes. That’s been, that’s powerful, very powerful.

12:11 Last question, to someone watching, thinking about taking the course, not sure, what would you say? If somehow you need to improve your speech, join. But join full. And join full I mean, really absorb the videos of others, and try to comment on your most critical way. And use the sandwich method. The which method? The sandwich method. Oh, which is what?

12:41 It’s like, if you give somebody a comment, and I made one mistake that somebody I gave not the sandwich method, and she was exploding. It’s that you have a positive thing, then you say the s***, and then you have a positive thing. The s*** I mean the critical comments. Right. Stick it in a sandwich.

12:59 And it is really funny today I realised that, in this book, The Game, they speak about neg. I don’t know if you read the book. Of course I read the book. The neg is like, it’s a, how would I say, it’s a, I don’t know the English word, but if you really abuse somebody, it’s an abuse of language, wrapped into a compliment. And the sandwich method is the same. And it is actually a way to socially interact with people. And it’s very powerful.

13:38 And yesterday night you did the same. All the comments you gave, probably you didn’t even notice, but you say something positive then you say the critics, and then again with the positive. I probably didn’t notice, but you’re right. It is the sandwich method and it is the neg. And it’s really cool. Great observation. It’s really cool.

13:55 Hendrik, it’s been awesome having you on this course, and I still remember our conversations on Zoom before the course, and you’re very unique. You’re unlike anybody else here, and you bring your own amount of incredible energy here, so thank you so much. I know you’ve already got plans for the team for the next 12 months. You’re already assigning homework. Oh you saw it? To everybody, yeah. I heard about this. Yeah. So love having you part of this whole course. Welcome to the family. Yes, thank you. And let’s do big things together, shall we? Cool. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. All right.