Man at the top
ft
16
talking heads
WHAT'S News Issue 3 March 1996
'Managing a big organization is like riding a horse.
You can communicate with it and it can
communicate with you. If you influence it correctly,
it will do everything by itself/ says the man now
holding the international division's reins. Hanno
Riedlin on the man behind the brand-new job title.
Hanno Riedlin has a way with
words and a penchant for
getting his message across with
humour. When he first arrived
in the division two years ago,
one of the first personal
possessions in his room was a
small placque askmg: 'Are you
here with a solution, or are
you part of the problem'. It
had the effect of making you
think clearly before you spoke.
His way with words and bone
dry sense of humour was also
evident from the 'No Smoking
Allowed' board that hung
above his conference table. It
meant, he said, lighting
another of his Dunhills, that
people weren't obliged to
smoke.
That particular sign is no
longer around, but the humour
and verbal lucidity is still very
much in evidence, whether he
is speaking Dutch, English or
German. 'I grew up with all
three,' he says. 'And my
parents tried very hard to
make me fluent in French, too.
A lot of my relatives were in
shipping and we were a
nomadic family, so it was
useful to have those
languages.'
The young Riedlin was
supposed to join the family
business. 'I made a conscious
decision not to,' he says. 'At
Leiden University, I read law
and economics. I wrote my
thesis on the development of
shipping and world trade
between 1952 and 1965.
Surprisingly, no one had done
that. I chose it because it was a
subject I had some knowledge
of, and some access to
information. What emerged
from the research was that
there had been, and still was, a
consistent oversupply of
tonnage in comparison to
world trade. When I'd
finished, I told my father it
wasn't likely I'd be going into
shipping. He didn't mind.'
After examining his options,
Riedlin finally decided on
banking. There was a lot
happening in banking in the
late I960s and early 1970s.
And ABN thought I would be
a suitable candidate for the
management training class. I
was interested in a posting
abroad, so they gave me one of
those psychological tests. The
results showed I was well-
equipped as a domestic
manager, but not suitable for
the foreign network,' he laughs
at the recollection. 'So, of
course, I immediately decided I
would get into international.'
At the time, the profile set for
international postings was very
different from the mind-set
and skills actually needed in
the changing world of
banking. 'You know, I was
only the second university
graduate to go into the ABN
international network. It's
surprising now, but it was very
much the reality then.'
His first assignment was to
Japan. 'I'd just turned 27 and
my wife and I were very
excited about the whole thing.
Our son was a year old when
we moved. We were in Japan
for around three years and our
elder daughter was born there.
Our second daughter was
made in Britain. Then my wife
said: I'm not going to make a
habit of having a child in every
country.' The Riedlins are still
a close family of five.
Every country would have
meant the US, Korea, Taiwan,
Germany and Singapore. 'And
I've managed to ride horses in
every one of them,' Riedlin
says almost smugly. Horses are
a passion. He rides his own
mount as often as possible. 'It's
stabled around two kilometres
from our home,' he says. 'I
enjoy a lot of other things, the
problem is finding the time for
activities, like skiing and
fencing. But I do play squash
with my son. And I love
cooking - Japanese, Chinese in
all its various forms. I've eaten
out so much in the last 20
years that I find I now much
prefer home-cooked meals.'
Asked what else he would do if
he had a full free weekend,
Riedlin thinks before
answering. 'Well, riding and
cooking, of course. And I'd try
to catch up on some reading. I
like history, economie history,
science. My wife studied
science and that interest is still
very much there. The last thing
I finished was Managing the
Future and I'm half way
through a book on re-writing
the timetable of Egyptian
history. It's fascinating.' Giver^
his passion for horses, it is
hardly surprising that Riedlin
also reads Dick Francis, 'but
only in airplanes.'
Fortunately, Dick Francis is a
prolific writer because Riedlin
spends a lot of time on
airplanes - also for family
trips. 'Over time, we've
developed a kind of tradition.
When we were overseas, we
spent holidays in the
Netherlands - it used to be
called home-leave. It would be
divided into a week for the
kids, a week for something
cultural, and a week visiting
grandparents, and so on. If I
think about it, that hasn't g
really changed. Last summer,
the five of us went to Moscow
and St Petersburg. It was a
fascinating trip, especially the
cultural part which now our
children are young adults has
become the main focus.'
'Culture' is an important part
of the Riedlins' life, although
they don't have as much free
time as they would like to take
in the ballet, plays and
classical concerts they enjoy.
But as another of Riedlin's
famous placques has it: 'You
shouldn't confuse activity with
performance'. In his free time,
he appears to prefer quality
above quantity. In that sense,
the man behind the job title isJ
very much the same Hanno
Riedlin who now occupies the
international chief's office.
