The pendulum of work-life balance is always swinging back and forth, but to Derek Vander Linden, the key to achieving balance is feeling comfortable taking advantage of whichever direction the pendulum happens to be swinging. For example, when his project load is heavier or he feels a calling to “take the reins” on a system or process, he devotes more time and energy to work, knowing that the pendulum will swing the other way eventually and allow him to loosen his grip and shift some of that attention back to non-work priorities.

Vander Linden is currently a strategic projects business analyst at Key Equipment Finance and has been with the company for 11 years. He says he has been fortunate to grow his career both vertically and laterally, occupying many roles across a wide array of disciplines. According to Vander Linden, his “unorthodox career path” has helped him increase his overall understanding of the business at Key Equipment Finance. This unique set of knowledge has proven to be an invaluable enhancement to his ability to lead in various aspects of his current position.

As a strategic projects business analyst, Vander Linden supports strategic initiatives through project management and product ownership. More generally, he believes that leadership is just as much about the journey as it is about the destination. With the advent of new technologies, shifting priorities and an ever-changing economy, the business world is evolving and Vander Linden says the skills leaders of the future will need are different than the skills of today’s leaders. Because of that, he says current leaders need to start looking at how lessons from their management, mentors and peers can help to forge their own authentic path instead of looking for a well paved path.