Wim Sarens
In 2008, most companies were still reeling from the GFC. Wim Sarens explains how Sarens’ decision to expand its business globally gleaned great results.
Started in the 1930s in Belgium with one man and a horse cart moving trees, Sarens is now a worldwide heavy lifting and engineered transport company. The company was started by CEO Wim Sarens great-grandfather.
"The company slowly started somewhere in between the two World Wars when it was half between a farm woodcutting and transport company, and ultimately it was only after World War Two that the proper structures were put in place as a separate legal entity," Wim says.
While Wim now continues his family's legacy, he did not start his career with Sarens, but with another global company. I graduated engineering in 2002 from the Catholic University of Leuven; however, not to go into engineering but into management consulting. I then got recruited by McKinsey. Wim learned a lot from McKinsey, which he says formed his leadership style at Sarens. So a great part of my career, training, and coaching has taken place inside that company.