During our visit in Texel Island, we noticed that although the people are very hospitable, active, innovative and creative, most of their achievements are kept as “secretes” or as hidden information (sometimes trying to protect them). As a water cycle sub-system, all these period we were trying to find information related to the water treatment facility in the island searching through the Internet and literature, but it was really hard. Going there, Mr. Nico Tessel from HHNK Water Management explained us step by step the whole process and we were impressed by the natural and sustainable methods that they use for the water treatment. Nevertheless, all these innovations stay in the boundaries of the field.

 According to these and some other relevant events, I start thinking about the importance of shareability, trust, transparency and connectedness and how all these influence the value of sustainability but more general a place and in our case the Texel Island.

 Transparency: Of all the key open business concepts, transparency probably scares business leaders most of all, but it shouldn’t. Transparency can be a significant driver of productivity.

Shareability: Shareability is the packaging of knowledge for easy and open sharing, both internally and externally. It is the cultural key to collaboration, flattening hierarchies and distributing responsibility.

Connectedness: The other side of collaboration is connectedness. Connectedness is, at its simplest level, the wiring that connects ideas and people within and without an organization. Executed well, it replicates the innovative power of the web, which connects people and ideas like nothing ever has in history. The combination of shared information and worker connection creates fluidity and potential within an organization. Connectedness and sharing combine to package knowledge in their most shareable forms, creating more opportunity for the recombination of ideas.

Trust: Transparent organization, shared information and employee connection all help to build trust, an essential quality in today’s web-led world.