About ArrowHead
The People
Behind the
Training
ArrowHead combines 25 years of expedition leadership with 20 years of global people development at one of the world's largest HR organisations. Fred Van de Walle and Sofie Maervoet bring experience that most leadership trainers simply do not have.
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The Founder
Fred Van de Walle
Fred Van de Walle has spent 25 years leading specialist teams in conditions where poor leadership costs millions. As Director of Conservation at Odyssey Marine from 2008 to 2014, he oversaw 17 deep-ocean shipwreck projects at depths to 4,695 metres — managing multinational crews far from shore, where the gap between the office and the field is measured in thousands of metres of water.
That experience — watching what actually happens to teams under sustained pressure, far from comfort zones, with no place to hide — became the foundation of ArrowHead. About 15 years ago, Fred noticed a pattern: in less than three weeks after a leadership training, 90% of people return to exactly how they worked before. ArrowHead was built to solve that problem.
Fred is a certified Management Drives trainer since 2019, a certified leadership coach and management assessor, and delivers all training in English, French, and Dutch. He is based in Greifensee, Zürich.
The Co-Trainer
Sofie
Maervoet
Sofie Maervoet has spent more than 20 years building, developing, and leading people at Randstad — one of the world's largest HR and staffing organisations. Since 2018 she has been VP Business Concepts at Randstad Global, partnering with leadership across 12 countries including Switzerland, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and beyond.
She knows from direct experience what it takes to build high-performing teams at scale — and what gets in the way. Her master's thesis at IU University of Applied Sciences (M.A. Human Resource Management, 2025) took that experience into peer-reviewed research: 77 interviews with managers and direct reports across 9 countries, identifying the 23 specific, coachable habits shared by the best managers regardless of geography or level.
Sofie brings the operational reality of global people leadership to ArrowHead's programmes — not theory, but decades of practice in the field. She delivers training in Dutch, English, German, and French.
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Why We Built This
The Beliefs Behind
ArrowHead
Information fades. Experience sticks.
In less than 3 weeks after a training, 90% of people return to exactly how they worked before. ArrowHead uses outdoor pressure to anchor leadership insights permanently — not in memory, but in habit.
Know yourself before you lead others.
Every ArrowHead programme begins with a Management Drives profile. Without knowing what actually drives you — and what drains you — leadership development is guesswork.
Leadership is a set of learnable habits.
Sofie Maervoet's peer-reviewed research across 9 countries confirms that high-performing managers share 23 specific, coachable behavioural habits. Leadership is not a personality trait. It is a practice.
Discomfort is the point.
Confucius said: I hear and forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand. ArrowHead adds one line: it works even better out of the comfort zone.
Languages
Training Delivered In
Four Languages
ArrowHead serves multilingual corporate teams across Switzerland, Belgium, France and the Netherlands.
Fred & Sofie
Fred & Sofie
Fred & Sofie
Sofie (incl. Swiss German)
Partnerships
Our Partners
Element X — Belgium
Element X is ArrowHead's outdoor logistics partner for international expedition programmes. They handle all physical infrastructure — logistics, accommodation, equipment, and safety — for programmes in Swedish Lapland, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, and other destinations. Fred Van de Walle delivers the leadership methodology and profiling. Element X delivers the outdoor framework.
elementx.travel →Management Drives
Management Drives is the certified profiling methodology at the core of every ArrowHead programme. Fred Van de Walle is a certified Management Drives trainer since 2019. The system maps individual and team motivators, blind spots, and behaviour under stress — giving ArrowHead programmes a scientific foundation that most leadership trainers do not have.
management-drives.com →