Battling the Elements, Learning from Nature
Fred
Van Leeuwen - Terrific Techie in Town!
Interviewed by Adil
Ahmad (Octara Correspondent)
Fred Van Leeuwen is an international authority in the
field of Information Technology (IT). Together
with his son Joris, who was 19 years old at the time, he spent eight months (December
2002 to July 2003) sailing around the Atlantic Ocean in a voyage he calls a
Masterclass in management. When Fred asked Joris which university course he
would be following, he replied that first he was going to travel the world with
his father!
Ultimate Masterclass!
"Can you define management
as making important decisions based on limited information? Using scarce
resources to reach your goal? Balancing short and long term interests? If so,
then my trip was the ultimate masterclass. A few days into the main Atlantic
crossing you really realise how much your survival depends on a few metres of
sail and rope. We had enough fuel for just 500 of the 2,600 nautical miles
between Tenerife and Suriname. You can handle delays only as long as your food
and water supplies last.”
With a career dedicated to making IT work in companies,
Fred Van Leeuwen was in Karachi on his first trip to Pakistan, at the invitation
of Octara, to conduct workshops on his IT Leadership Development Program that
rests on the three pillars of Leadership, Strategy and Innovation.
Fred combines his knowledge of the content matter with
excellent skills in organizational change management and a wide experience in multicultural
management. His primary focus leans towards how companies can create more value
from IT.
He has lectured on nearly all the continents, to share
his experiences with IT Directors, CIOs, CFOs, COOs, Marketing Directors and
other Board Members.
Doubling
life’s experience in 8 months
“You can overcome setbacks if
you manage to keep channeling your energy and spirit in the right direction
whatever happens and without any outside help. Your decision to undertake the
voyage, with the supplies you have onboard, has become irreversible in every
respect. Everything you have ever undertaken on land seems insignificant. In
future, back on land, every decision will become easy to make. By effectively
doubling your life's experience in eight months, your capacity for intuitive
conclusions increases enormously."
On the 2nd of December 2002 on a cold winter
night Fred and son Joris sailed from the IJmuiden harbor in Holland and got out
of their comfort zone in a very big way, pushing boundaries to the extreme
during a eight plus months journey on his 10-meter yacht, rounding the Atlantic
Ocean, and returning to Ijmuiden on 30th July 2003.
During the trip
there were often opposing forces at work within the two-person Team, says Fred Van Leeuwen.
Total dependency on each other
“Individual
characteristics caused more friction than in a normal situation. Sometimes
tiredness could lead to neglect of details. At sea this can have serious
effects, nasty for each member of the crew. But we had to work things out
together because we were totally dependent on each other. We pitched in
together to form an extremely tight team, especially when the going got tough.
When one of us experienced difficulties, the other automatically helped out.
This applied to both of us, and was a very special experience, especially
between a father and his son.”
Agreeing on what
has to be done, and how, is essential. The margin for error is small.
"Back on land, only time will tell whether the pressure we experienced
will damage or strengthen our relationship. You're acutely aware of the
intricate interaction between process and result. But can you apply this new
knowledge in a results-oriented society? I think you can, because change
processes in particular require a deeper insight. My approach will be more
balanced, and the ‘narratives’ which grew in me will help me convey this
course."
As they
sailed into IJmuiden harbor in Holland they both felt like they
were approaching a country that was alien to them, seeing the high smoking chimneys
of the Dutch steel Mills, the continuous stream of planes from Schiphol airport
and all these nervous people ashore with their cars and mobile phones.
“After 46 days of
seeing blue waves only, we now felt a strong desire for having a coffee with
family & friends, taking in fresh water and sailing straight back into the
ocean... But then, university was waiting for son Joris and my job was waiting
for me. It took me almost 9 months to get more or less used to 'normal life'
and when I see these pictures of my trip it still feels like part of my soul
has remained somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean.”
Anthony
Hopkins, Dustin Hoffman, Christopher Clark & Charles Mann
Fred cites
Anthony Hopkins and Dustin Hoffman as his favourite actors. His favourite books are ‘Sleepwalkers’ by Christopher Clark, a thorough
analysis of the breakout of World War I, and ‘1493’ by Charles Mann which he
says is an excellent study that shows globalization starting in that year after
Columbus, as well as well as attributing the development and distribution of
power in the world to biological events.
Lebanese
cuisine
Fred enjoys all kinds
of food, but his favourite is Lebanese cuisine which is essentially Arabic,
with a touch of refined French cooking. “In every city of the world that I have
visited I can find outstanding Lebanese restaurants and will always pay them a
visit.”
Thank you for visiting
Pakistan, Fred Van
Leeuwen! And the next time you come we hope you will bring your son Joris along
with you.
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