Tokyo, Japan - 24 October. Seventeen students and professionals from 14 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and South America joined the second Leadership for Sustainability course organized by United Nations University in Tokyo on 14-24 October. Led by Leadership Coach Wouter T. Lincklaen Arriëns of TransformationFirst.Asia Pte Ltd, they started out by exploring what leadership is, how to lead, and how to become a sustainability leader. 

Nassau, the Bahamas - 9 October 2014. Water ministers from Caribbean countries met in a high-level forum in the Bahamas on 9-10 October to advance their commitments for increasing water security. In his keynote speech on leadership for water security, Wouter T. Lincklaen Arriëns, Leadership Coach of TransformationFirst.Asia Pte Ltd and a member of the Global Water Partnership's Technical Committee, cautioned against objectifying goals and urged the leaders to make a personal commitment, arguing that we will not be successful in our work to increase water security unless we take it personal and transform into leaders who are influential change makers and who personally make a difference. Working with the strengths of people and organizations, nurturing their personal power to motivate and influence change, and taking incremental action, are going to bring the results we want, he advised. He also outlined 3 keys for success. 

Delft, the Netherlands - 5 September. "The most influential training in my life." Sixteen young professionals from 11 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and South America graduated from the week-long leadership course 'Becoming a Water Leader.'  The course was led by Leadership Coach Wouter T. Lincklaen Arriëns of TransformationFirst.Asia. The graduates developed their leadership awareness, knowledge and skills through an intensive program of 40 sessions in 5 themes: leading from your self, leading in practice, leading across boundaries, leading to cut through complexity, and leading in presentations. They also prepared an individual leadership development plan including a challenging leadership project. 

Stockholm, Sweden - 29 August 2014.  Putting water security in practice is the focus of the Global Water Partnership's latest background paper #20. Authored by GWP Technical Committee members Eelco van Beek and Wouter T. Lincklaen Arriëns, it was launched in Stockholm ahead of the World Water Week. In the paper, Eelco and Wouter outline a developmental approach to increase water security over time, and a risk-based approach focusing on managing risks and reducing vulnerabilities resulting from climate variability and water-related disasters. They show in examples how quantifying water security with smartly selected indicators and indexes helps to benchmark and compare experience, while such indicators will also guide local projects targeting specific improvements.

Narra, Palawan Island, the Philippines - 12 August 2014. Management and staff of PALECO, the Palawan Electric Cooperative came together on 12-13 August to strategize how to manage transition in their utility that serves rapidly growing Palawan, which was recently named the best island in the world by the readers of Condé Nast Traveller in their 2014 Travel Awards.  Led by Atem S. Ramsundersingh, CEO of WEnergy Global Pte Ltd and Wouter T. Lincklaen Arriëns, Director and Leadership Coach of TransformationFirst.Asia Pte Ltd, the workshop examined how rapid changes are affecting the demand and supply of electricity in the island, and how PALECO can adapt to these changes while building on its strengths and learning from its weaknesses.

Surabaya, Indonesia - 21 May 2014. Indonesia's Minister of Public Works Djoko Kirmanto opened the Stakeholder Forum for the Indonesia International Water Week in 2015 with a plea to explore innovative approaches to increasing Indonesia's water security in all five key dimensions (household, economic, urban, environmental, and resilience). Among the invited speakers, Wouter T. Lincklaen Arriëns, Leadership Coach at UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education and TransformationFirst.Asia Pte Ltd prompted the participants to discover investments in leadership development as the least-cost solution to Indonesia's water security challenges, arguing that leaders who have learned to work effectively across boundaries will be able to development partnerships to find and implement the necessary creative solutions more cost-effectively and efficiently. 

Manila, the Philippines - 24 March 2014. Young leaders of the Business Management Society of De La Salle University in Manila, the Philippines, explored how to kindle and sustain their leadership. The workshop was led by Coach Wouter of TransformationFirst.Asia. The young leaders discussed how to embark on the three strides of transformation (aspire, expand, and influence) and expand their worldview and situational awareness through challenging assignments. 

Mumbai, India - 22 March 2014. In his keynote presentation for the International Conference on Water Sanitation and Recycling organized by the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture (MACCIA), Coach Wouter highlighted the need for a blue revolution to increase low levels of water security in India and South Asia. Engaging national and city decision-makers to focus on leadership for water security is a new direction - a new paradigm – because water challenges were in the past seen as local, technical, and financial issues. The conference is on the right track with its call for a Blue Revolution – A Paradigm Shift. We need to shift our thinking to go beyond the technology, finance and training mindset to develop leadership that will create the revolution and make it work on the ground, in projects. 

Leadership Coach Jan Willem Kirpestein joined the TransformationFirst.Asia team in March 2014. He is known for helping multinational and local companies boost corporate performance through transformational changes in executives and staff. As a leadership coach, board advisor, and architect of organizational development, he generates breakthroughs in cross-cultural cooperation among leaders, teams and stakeholders. His clients are in the banking, insurance, manufacturing, and service sectors.