In my last #LifeAtVeritas interview I caught up with Amy Dugdale and this week I had the pleasure of chatting with Tim Van Honste, Country Manager for the Benelux Region (Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg) here at Veritas. Tim has been with Veritas for almost 17 years. In this interview, I asked him about how he started out in tech, progressed his career, what it’s like working in tech and what’s his leadership style. Below you will find my interview with Tim, I hope you enjoy it!
Tim: Without any doubt, the constant innovations, the omnipresent changes and the understanding that technology is driving the world and I wanted to be part of trying to help to enable that. Never a dull moment!
Zoe: I agree there is never a dull moment working in IT. What advice would you give to those trying to secure their first IT role?
Tim: Go for it and embrace every moment and never ever stop learning.
Zoe: Taking a risk and lifelong learning will always put you in good stead in your career. So, what do you enjoy most about your role at Veritas?
Tim: Being part of a bigger story and having a very versatile day to day role speaking to customers and partners, coaching and enabling the local team to achieve our goals. Interacting with a lot of people from various countries, being part of a great team and working for a company that has great technologies and that absolutely deserves our leadership marketplace are reasons why I enjoy my role at Veritas.
Zoe: Talking about leadership. What leadership traits make a good leader? And what’s your leadership style?
Tim: Where to start… a good leader is defined by a lot of things, but it’s the combination of knowledge, understanding, drive, passion, integrity, inspiration, encouragement, focus, clear communications and a motivator, to mention a couple of the things that come to my mind. My style? I hope to possess some of the above but mostly lead by example.
Zoe: Who are your role models and influencers?
Tim: No known gurus, famous people or world leaders, but it’s about trying to spot greatness when you see it, and opening up to learning new and better ways of doing things. When I look to my favourite quote of all times, it’s Albert Einstein’s “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
Zoe: Wow, a powerful message in that in the quote from Einstein. What motivates you?
Tim: The feeling you get when you realise you made a positive difference and or impact and when the right things get done.
Zoe: Tim, the Veritas South Team has had a fabulous year. How do you define success? And how do you build successful teams?
Tim: Success is absolutely measured in a lot of different ways, and it’s the ability as a team to deliver upon the goals we have been given, and beyond. Successful teams are built upon great people with the right mindset and attitude, and not losing sight of what we want to achieve, all the rest is hard work, but never forgetting about the individuals behind it all, from all divisions, roles and responsibilities.
Zoe: Why should people choose to work at Veritas?
Tim: It is a great company to work for since not only are we sitting on the best technology, but it’s also about the fantastic people. The proof is with the number of people that have a long tenure at Veritas, like me, or even now with all the “boomerangs”, they are re-joining us for those reasons.
Zoe: What’s your favourite Veritas solution? Or product?
Tim: I never had a favourite. Everything that we can put under our Availability Protection Insights message.
Zoe: Describe Veritas in one word?
Tim: Relevant
Zoe: Tim, what do you like to do in your free time?
Tim: Spending quality time with my wife and two daughters, cooking, music, catching vitamin D in the summer and skiing in the winter.
Zoe: Finally, what technology can’t you live without?
Tim: That would be my mobile phone not as much for its smart features, but I prefer to call and speak with people instead of writing books in email, but I don’t mind all the other features since they keep us very connected.
That concludes my interview with Tim Van Honste, it was great catching up and thank you for sharing your experiences and thoughts. What stood out most from this interview with Tim was the quote he mentioned by Albert Einstein “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” a powerful message about change and call to make changes if you want different results. Tim, thank you for sharing this quote, your thoughts and giving us an insight into how you’ve progressed your career into a leadership role at Veritas.
If you enjoyed this Life at Veritas blog post with Tim Van Honste, then do stay tuned as there will be more interview-style posts from other people at Veritas. And if this has inspired you to join our team, then check out our job vacancies on LinkedIn and apply here.
