THE HISTORY
OF OCEANS X

The founder

OceansX was founded by Berend van de Kraats, submarine commander in the Royal Netherlands Navy. From his experiences during numerous missions, he has experienced how much leadership is associated with facilitating and creating space for talent and people’s individual responsibility.

Offering people an environment in which they dare to take responsibility, based on their own knowledge and expertise, connecting them with other experts and making resources available, creates an optimal starting situation for innovative insights and innovative and viable solutions.

Whereas these experiences still took place within the context of the defence organisation, Berend van Kraats found that bigger challenges require an organisation-transcending approach. For real change and sustainable solutions, it is essential to connect with people outside one’s own organisation.

“Where good leadership still adheres to the existing boundaries of a context in which people work, I believe it will be insufficient. In addition to optimisation, transition and reorganisation efforts, we must keep our options open. Spread our risks. After all, we don’t know what our VUCA world (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) has in store for us.”

This has led to the launch of OceansX in 2019 with the aim of providing individuals and organisations an environment in which they can collaborate with each other, without limitations of any predefined established organisational system. In this OceansX environment, we focus on meaning, vulnerability and connection. Based on our experiences, we can be confident that the OceansX environment will appeal to the attitudes and behaviours of a diverse group of people and generate creativity and ownership. This creativity and ownership creates a new standard of problem solving that enables OceansX to make an impact. Impact on themes that affect us all, such as the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. After all, the need for meaningful work is an emerging trend trend and is still what drives us as humans. The OceansX environment is about protecting what is dear to us.

“OceansX” – What’s in a name

How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean.

Arthur C. Clarke

OceansX is about connection: everyone is connected through our oceans. On the ocean there are no borders. OceansX is about movement and impact: a ripple caused by one human can grow into huge waves. OceansX is about adventure, freedom and autonomy: the ocean provides space to everyone for personal growth and choosing your own path. Our oceans are vital to the survival of the Earth and therefore embody the need for a sustainable future.