Bruxelles-Brussel-Brussels-Brüssel

It's not in a name, it's in an attitude. Brussels is a really laid back city, possibly too laid back for my taste, but in a good way. I know that I'm here in august and tens of thousands of EU representatives, officials and lobbyist are not, but I believe that the lack of them is actually bringing out the true spirit of the city.

And in the spirit of that laid-backness, not sure if that is a word in any language, I witnessed today an example of how businesses that could compete against each other can co-exist and co-operate in a perfect harmony.

Not far from the Square Marechal Montgomery where I'm staying, thanks to my good friend who was kind enough to offer his place for my accommodation, is Place Jourdan. An oddly shaped city plaza that has parked cars in a middle and is circled with cafes and bars on the outside.

Except for the parked cars there's something else in the middle. Maison Antoine is basically a kiosk that serves the best tasting french fries in Brussels. It doesn't matter what you call them - frites, chips or fries - one thing is for sure, everybody loves them. No surprise there.

What is different and maybe even special is the fact that not only do all the cafes and bars allow you to eat their fries sitting at their tables, but they encourage it with posted signs. It clearly states in French and Flemish that you are welcome to enjoy Antoine's frites at their establishments.

At some point they figured out that instead of taking on an impossible task of trying to compete with Antoine's fries they are better off supplying drinks to every thirsty Frites lover. You got to admit that this is somewhat unusual. Situation where everybody wins.

Maison Antoine is probably selling more fries because people know that they can enjoy them sitting down at the surrounding cafes and socialize with their friends while stuffing their faces with little sticks of heaven. Cafes and bars are probably selling more beer, coke and coffee because people who wouldn't visit them for no reason are there for the fries. Plus people are probably buying more fries and beer and coke and coffee than they would if they'd known that they would have to take the fries home. That's something that would rob the whole social aspect of dinner from them.

So here it is - everybody wins and everybody's happy. Perfect harmony. It's not that hard. It didn't take thinking outside the box or creating a Tipping Point for a Purple Cow swimming in a Blue Ocean. All it took was simple logic - if I let them do what they are good at and I keep on doing what I'm good at, everybody flourishes. Simple.

Now try to imagine an attitude like that with Mobile and Internet Tech businesses of Estonia. Impossible? Why not supply the users with free Wi-Fi wherever they go because of the potential traffic that will happen just because of the availability of free Wi-Fi? It's not that hard. Let's not forget that everybody loves fries. We do.