Born in the Netherlands, enjoyed classic Gymnasium ß, (grammar school) education with all the usual rebellion, began publishing immediately after graduation, serially dropped out of law, psychology, and Sanskrit at Amsterdam University while making a living as a journalist and translator, experimenting with psychedelics, and kicking off his career as public speaker at Leyden and Ghent universities for student audiences. At age 23 he joined IBM as technical writer, to be fired soon after on grounds of non-conformity; then joined FHV, the hottest ad agency in town, as junior copywriter.In 1968 he began a three year journey through the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent, described in High Across the Bedrock, collecting material for another work of non-fiction and feature articles, photographing for Syndication International, trekking and climbing in the Himalayas and bathing in the Ganges, studying sitar at the feet of Ravi Shankar's father in law, the 'violent saint' Ustad Allauddin Khan, and recording traditional music for the Elektra Nonesuch series, and for Moses Ash's legendary Folkways Records (now a department of the Smithsonian Institution). Both are represented in musicological collections world-wide.MidlifeUpon return to Europe in the early seventies Peter practiced his craft as a writer doing literary translations, journalism, advertising copywriting. He joined two art-directors in setting up the successful Hotshop boutique agency, writing campaigns for the same IBM that fired him a few years earlier. He dabbled in the visual arts, doing spray-painted geometrical works, and setting up Hotshop Gallery, which enjoyed a spectacular opening with Fong Leng models and inebriated celebrities, but soon went bust. He traveled on all continents, frequently returning to the Asia he loves, and started his collection of Indonesian ikat textiles, Pusaka, by now one of the finest private collections in Europe. In the mid-seventies he worked in Amsterdam and New York as a feature writer and interviewer, met the future mother of his children and life-long companion, and made his debut as a novelist. (See Bibliography.) Among those who allowed him in-depth home interviews were Salman Rushdie, Tom Wolfe, Paul Theroux, and the late Bruce Chatwin, with whom he shared a deep love for Afghanistan. In the early '80s he showed art photography in a GKf group show at the Stedelijk Museum, published his second novel, a comic drama about a consultant involved in international mergers such as, ironically, he would himself become thirty years later, soon followed by the Dutch original of Precious Possessions. (Available on Kindle), a collection of short stories set in the tropics, written during on a long journey through India and a month on Tabrobane Island, the private island off the coast of Sri Lanka that was previously owned by Paul Bowles. In 1984/85, as writer in residence, Peter taught creative writing at the University of Michigan, a granddaughter of Franz Kafka among his students, while writing a fourth work of fiction, based on A Fresh Load of Angels, a novella set in Peru, about a priest struggling with his urge to join the guerillas in the mountains. (Available on Kindle) In the same year he co-founded award-winning Amsterdam advertising agency Viegen, Vergouw & ten Hoopen. Built dreamhouse on the lake and collected dreamcars.Sabattical YearsIn 1993 he sold agency share and dream-properties, and took his wife and two sons, then aged 7 and 8, on a slow journey around the world, trekking through South and South-East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the USA, with a three year spell in New York's Westchester County, watching the deer in his backyard in between trips to the city, then back again to the old world - while writing a 'factional' trilogy on the mood and mind of the sixties. He spent much of the last decade on the family's rural estates in Southern Portugal, at 45 min from an international airport. A passionate ocean sailer fortunate enough to have yacht-owning friends, he has made several blue water voyages: multiple times up and down the rugged Iberian Atlantic coast, to the Madeira archipelago, and across the Atlantic to the Azores, both from Bermuda and from Lagos, the ancient port near stormy Cape St. Vincent where the Portuguese explorerers left for their voyages of discovery that gave us the world.MaturityIn 2000 Peter ten Hoopen established a consulting practice, and founded the virtual company Roving Star, serving clients in various countries, and 'Creating Winning Corporate Cultures'. In late 2006 he joined Trompenaars Hampden-Turner, one of the world's leading consultancies in the field of corporate culture, giving workshops on cross-cultural effectiveness on four continents, including stints in Iran, Syria, Dubai, Uganda, Sudan and several other countries in the MEA area. His 2005 publication, Geluk in Zaken ('Corporate Happiness'), shows how to achieve real success in business by optimal use of given talents, using insights and techniques that work equally well for individuals and organisations. The essence of the book's message is: 'Focus on work you can do wholeheartedly.' In 2008, with economist Marleen Janssen Groesbeek, he published Oh, wat zijn we creatief! ('Gee, are we ever creative!') an in-depth study on the factors that stimulate and hinder creativity in organisations, supported by Financieele Dagblad. The survey used Peter's own survey software. Addicted to programming since the mid '80s, he has developed scores of programs, surveys and websites, in a variety of languages, including C and PHP. His 2009 book The Enlightened Leader, with co-author Fons Trompenaars, explores the type of leadership that one might justifiably call enlightened, and with the 'Chakras of Leadership', inspired by Yoga philosophy, introduces a practical way to develop the necessary heightened awareness of personal qualities and of universal connectedness. It is supported by the Chakra Test, a survey by now taken by thousands from all over the world. In 2010 he went digital with Roving Star Press, publishing ebooks for Amazon Kindle.Speaking EngagementsPeter ten Hoopen is an engaging, inspiring, and often provocative speaker on a wide range of subjects related to corporate culture and corporate personality, creativity, diversity, and personal and organisational development. In his workshops he has worked with nationals of some hundred countries. Peter is quick on his feet, with a dry sense of humour, and comfortable with audiences of all sizes, from intimate settings to convention centres. He designs and leads seminars and workshops. Bookings are handled by Speakers Academy and other agents, but may also be made directly with the author.