'WHAT I LIKE ABOUT
Rabobank is the
OPPORTUNITY TO BE
AN ENTREPRENEUR'
16
talking heads
What'S News Issue 6 June 1997
As one of small but growing band of non-Dutch generai
managers, Antwerp's Willy Van den Houdt brings to the bank
specific and lengthy knowledge of his home market. And a
wealth of experience with global giants like Bank of America.
What he hadn't tasted in almost 30 years in banking is the
'incredible richness of this bank in that it gives you authority to
act.To me, that means you have to use it as wisely as you can'.
When Willy Van den Houdt was
invited to come and talk to
Rabobank about taking on the
generai managership of the bank
in Belgium, he was flattered. Td
been head-hunted before, but I
never really saw that as a
compliment,' he grins. 'In a
market this size, there must be
something very wrong with you
if you are not asked at least
once.' The previous time, Van
den Houdt had been
approached by Citibank and
admits there was real inner
conflict. Td been a BofA man
for almost my whole career,' he
says. 'You grow up with an
organization and you feel an
intense loyalty. In the end, the
decisive factor was that Citibank
offered me much greater
freedom of action.'
The move to Citibank came in
his mid-thirties. Van den Houdt
had married early and the family
had three children. 'So you have
responsibilities,' he says. 'Bank
of America had given me the
opportunity of working on both
sides of the bank - I'd started in
the back office and moved to
marketing via almost all the
various departments. Maybe I'm
a bit old-fashioned, but when
you have a young family, you
tend to prioritize stability. Once
they started to grow, I was able
to look more at what would
challenge me. I had a great time
at Citibank and climbed the
corporate ladder there quickly
quickly. Within a year I'd moved
from assistant manager to vice
president.'
But when Bank of America
asked him to come back, he did
not hesitate for long. 'What was
interesting at Citibank was the
options they took when a need
for restructuring and
repositioning became essential,'
he explains. 'I had been with
them three years when it was
decided to close down the
Antwerp office and move some
staff - including myself - to
Brussels. The bank was
subsequently divisionalized into
three very seperate units and
even cultures - investment
banking, corporate banking and
private banking, with the
underlying notion that these
were separate. This caused a lot
of internal problems, as you can
imagine. And even though they
corrected this structure later, it
was never quite the same.'
Van den Houdt had not been
back at BofA long when a
restructuring of both the Belgian
and Dutch operations was set in
motion. 'So, you will see that
I've been through my share of
this kind of shake up. It
shouldn't worry people - okay,
at Rabobank and specifically RI
we are currently in the process
of a far-reaching cultural change.
But this kind of environment can
be extremely exciting. I like the
focus strategy. If we can all pull
together, then it can work for us.
That's how I see my job. I'm
there to try and motivate people.
I also think I'm a realist - no
organization is made up
exclusively of prime-movers.
What you have to do is look at
your people and identify the
core group. If you can reinforce
that group from time to time,
with people who really want
progress and to tackle the issues
- both positive and negative -
then you'11 achieve something
and enjoy the process.'
While on a personal and
business level, Van den Houdt
hopes he is pursuing aims and
goals in this focused way, he also
thinks he fails a lot. 'One of the
things I don't always do at the
right time is say: "Well done,
you did a good job." Time
constraints are my only excuse,'
he srniles ruefully. 'You know, I
remember my first ever job. I'd
finished my military service and
we had got married.
Kredietbank, a big Belgian
commercial bank, had taken me
on in their Antwerp port branch.
At the end of my first year as
trainee, I knew I'd done quite
well because everyone kept
telling me that. We were hoping
I'd get a pay rise; "all" I got was
a pat on the back.'
Laughing at the memory, he
adds that rewards should take
both forms - recognition and
financial. 'That means you have
to make time to know what is
going on in the bank. I like to
walk around - though I don't do
it enough yet - to find out what
people are thinking. If you don't
know what they are doing, then
it's hard to recognize their
achievements or where they
need extra support. On the other
hand, I do have a tendency to
get bogged down on details. Just
how far you can allow yourself
to be tempted depends on the
job you're doing. In my position
at present, I need the big picture
as well as the detail. That
requires discipline, self-imposed
discipline. When I was younger,
i played basketball at semi-
professional level. That means a
five-man team puiling together.
You see, I'm back at that
"pulling together" concept.'
Sharing, whether on a personal
level at home with the family, or
at work makes life much more
fun, according to Willy Van den
Houdt. Fun is important,
enjoyment in the job, but he also
claims that this depends to a
major extent on discipline.
'What I'm saying is that
corporate life can learn a whole
lot from team sports,' he
explains. 'If you look at a
successful soccer team, then you
see it's usually due to having the
right person in the right spot.
That takes judgement, but also
discipline in decisions. You hav
to make sure people feel
responsibility, feel ownership for
what they undertake. That's
what I'm saying.'
Willy Van den Houdt: 'I like the focus strategy. If we can all pull
togetherthen it can work for us.