SOE Oct. 20, 2015 The Global Environment Top Talk was held on the afternoon of October 15, 2015. Mr. Wouter T. Lincklaen Arriens, a leading water specialist who used to work at Asian Development Bank for over 20 years, was invited to the interview. The interview was chaired by Professor Gang Yu. More than 20 students of Global Environmental Program (GEP) attended the interview.
The interview started with an introduction of leadership. Leadership is a process of influencing for better outcomes and is closely related to communication. He introduced the two sides of leadership training: from inside-out and from outside-in, and three styles of leadership: directive, empowering, and as a team.
During his service for ADB, Mr. Arriens gradually realized the deficiency of some technicians and engineers in communication with people from different background, which laid heavy burden on projects he worked on. Then he decided to take leadership training as his new duty. He advised students to listen to others and to build inter-culture awareness, so as to have effective communications. He also suggested GEP students take longer internships at the government or intergovernmental organizations, so as to get exposure to important projects at an early stage. Prof. Yu summarized and commented on the interview.
Mr. Wouter is a coach and advisor on leadership, water security, and sustainability. He had been a leading water specialist of the Asian Development Bank for more than 20 years. Now he coaches and advises UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability, Network of Asian River Basin Organizations, and Tsinghua University Asia-Pacific Center for Water Security. Mr. Wouter earned his Master of Science (MSc) degree from Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
