Edward J. Van Luinen

Thank you very much, Vince. I'm delighted. We're delighted to be here and grateful for this opportunity to chat with your worldwide audience. I'm Edward Van Lunen, and I always start my origin story this way. I was a United States Peace Corps volunteer in the 1980s.

Thank you very much, Vince. I'm delighted. We're delighted to be here and grateful for this opportunity to chat with your worldwide audience. I'm Edward Van Lunen, and I always start my origin story this way. I was a United States Peace Corps volunteer in the 1980s.

And I was sent to the Republic of Guinea in West Africa to be an English as a foreign language teacher at two high schools in a mid-sized town about 600 miles in the interior of the country. And on the first day of my teaching, I had two overriding emotions. One was fear. Edward, these students are listening to you. Are you making any sense? If not, you better start making sense really fast.

And I was sent to the Republic of Guinea in West Africa to be an English as a foreign language teacher at two high schools in a mid-sized town about 600 miles in the interior of the country. And on the first day of my teaching, I had two overriding emotions. One was fear. Edward, these students are listening to you. Are you making any sense? If not, you better start making sense really fast.

And then after about three months or so, I had that other emotion happen, which is, I think I like this. I'm enjoying this work. Fast forward 35 years to where we are today, and I am still making Keem's companies and leaders better. In between, I was privileged to work for some great companies and having been mentored by incredible human resources leaders, mostly female.

And then after about three months or so, I had that other emotion happen, which is, I think I like this. I'm enjoying this work. Fast forward 35 years to where we are today, and I am still making Keem's companies and leaders better. In between, I was privileged to work for some great companies and having been mentored by incredible human resources leaders, mostly female.

at Avon Products, at Heineken, at Sony, and at Disney. And I am really a talent development leader and grateful to be in this space and business and here speaking with you and Tricia today. So thank you for having me.

at Avon Products, at Heineken, at Sony, and at Disney. And I am really a talent development leader and grateful to be in this space and business and here speaking with you and Tricia today. So thank you for having me.

At Disney, working at Imagineering, I would say a talent leader who gets business. And I met Trish initially when I was new at the company and saw her in a meeting, and I thought, this is a business leader who gets talent. So as in a talent development role, You're always looking for business leaders who get talent as much as their technical or functional skills. And that certainly was Trish.

At Disney, working at Imagineering, I would say a talent leader who gets business. And I met Trish initially when I was new at the company and saw her in a meeting, and I thought, this is a business leader who gets talent. So as in a talent development role, You're always looking for business leaders who get talent as much as their technical or functional skills. And that certainly was Trish.

So I was delighted to meet her. So from a professional support and business relationship perspective now, I had a goal to lead talent development at Imagineering, which was to make sure that leaders and teams globally were working and successfully at building their next level up leadership goals. I could in no way do that by myself. So I was always looking for business partners.

So I was delighted to meet her. So from a professional support and business relationship perspective now, I had a goal to lead talent development at Imagineering, which was to make sure that leaders and teams globally were working and successfully at building their next level up leadership goals. I could in no way do that by myself. So I was always looking for business partners.

And Tricia was that business partner. And I was just delighted to that early meeting. We had a couple of meetings and I thought this is something that is a beginning of a collaboration that I think could be very promising.

And Tricia was that business partner. And I was just delighted to that early meeting. We had a couple of meetings and I thought this is something that is a beginning of a collaboration that I think could be very promising.

Absolutely. And such great memories and thoughts and feelings of how we got started. Absolutely. Really fun.

Absolutely. And such great memories and thoughts and feelings of how we got started. Absolutely. Really fun.

Yeah, I would say it was 20, 20, let's see, 14. Yes.

Yeah, I would say it was 20, 20, let's see, 14. Yes.

Absolutely agree with you, Trish. And I feel that what was fundamental but still unformed until after we left Disney were the five collaboration behaviors. And we demonstrated them, right? And then others also did. And that was how we first role modeled it and grew the team.

Absolutely agree with you, Trish. And I feel that what was fundamental but still unformed until after we left Disney were the five collaboration behaviors. And we demonstrated them, right? And then others also did. And that was how we first role modeled it and grew the team.