Introduction
Born in Middelburg in Mpumalanga on June 9, 1956. Completed high school at Middelburg High School at the end of 1974. Then five years of police service, seven years studying at the University of Pretoria, and 12 years as a
minister in the Dutch Reformed Church Witfield Wes. It was very enjoyable, but there comes a time in everyone's life to move on. After that, many things. Part-time lecturer, consultant, research, and more research. The majority of my time was spent on the building and development of Shadowmatch. Feel free to visit www.shadowmatch.com to see what it's about.
Hobbies
My overarching hobby is to start something new every year. I then do the
new thing for a year and afterwards, start with something else. Sometimes I
can't let go of my hobbies. Or they don't want to let go of me.
Here is a list of the things I have done as a one-year hobby:
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Woodworking – stopped after one year.
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Metalworking – stopped after one year.
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Rebuilding cars – three times. Not again. Stopped.
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Pilot's license – still flying. Own plane.
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Pottery – stopped after a year. Would do it again.
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Scuba diving – stopped after a year. Got bored.
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Ran Ultra Marathons. Did the Comrades – got bored. Stopped.
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Vegetable garden – stopped. Got bored.
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Pigeon racing – not again.
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Leatherwork – make genuine leather bags. Still doing it.
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Writing – I repeat this as listed above. Enjoy it.
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Learnt to play guitar. Took lessons. Not really doing it actively anymore.Was very enjoyable.
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Learnt to play the violin – still doing it.
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Learnt to play piano – still doing it.
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Learnt to play cello – still doing it.
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Learnt to play saxophone – don’t like it.
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Handwriting analysis – four years. Fully trained as a handwriting analyst. Really enjoy this.
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Mechanical watches – course and collector. Still collecting – but somewhat against my will. I can't seem to stop. I am no longer working on watches, it's boring.
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Took singing lessons for a year. Stopped. Didn't enjoy it at all.
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Did a Robotics course. Played with it a bit. Don't like it. Learnt a lot.
Sports and Favourite Activities
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Playing golf – absolutely love it.
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Playing squash – really enjoy it.
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Running and exercising to stay fit.
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Flying is probably one of the most enjoyable things to do.
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Playing chess and bridge when the opportunity arises.
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I never played rugby, cricket, or soccer. Never. Why not? I don’t know. Do I watch it? Yes, very much so!
More
Other things people usually want to know
I have three children. Corien lives in Australia, Jaco and Michelle in Pretoria. Married to Lizette. We play golf together, work together, run together, go to the gym together, play the cello together, and live happily together in Pretoria. I grew up on a farm. My parents were ordinary people. I was just a child in an ordinary primary school and an ordinary high school. Everything in my life is just normal and ordinary. It has become one of my life philosophies: an ordinary life is a very good life.
Life Overview
I was also just an ordinary, dedicated, and good student at university. I was an ordinary minister of religion with no, as in zero outstanding achievements. But I have a slight obsession. I have devoted my life to understanding human behaviour. This thing in me started when I was still a child. I have a thing with people. I read about human psychology, patterns in human behaviour, spirituality, and faith, and I marvel at the unexplained side of being human. This slight obsession led me to build the system I still work on, which has become my thing. It actually became my life. I am convinced that we can collectively improve the quality of our lives as humanity. We can alleviate sadness and pain to be much, much more bearable. Not take it away, but alleviate it. We can definitely reduce violence against each other. I don't know how, but I know we can. But I have another small obsession. I am convinced that it is only possible if we create opportunities for each other to be successful in what we do. We will have to change our society from one where we work competitively against each other to one where we work together for the success of all. There is no such thing as someone else's failure making me more successful. Or that someone's poverty will make me rich. I despise the saying: one man's death is another man's bread.
On a lighter note
There are a few things I don't do. Maybe more than a few. I don't eat leftover food from yesterday. I don't watch movies. I don't drink any alcohol. I don't eat cabbage. Also not asparagus or food that looks off to me. I don't like hollandaise sauce and I don't swim in cold water. I don't like being cold and I don't wear jeans. Also not t-shirts. Why not? No specific reason. I don't like them. But if other people wear them, it sometimes looks quite OK to me. I don't like perfectionism but also don't like half-hearted work at all. I don't watch sitcoms. Not at all. I don't like theatre. Not at all. Why not? I don't know. I don't like travelling. I get bored. Also, don't like hunting and fishing. Not at all. I can't really appreciate art because it all
looks the same to me. I don't drive around in the game reserve looking for animals to watch, and I don't have any pets. But I do feed the wild doves. I don't really know why.
The ordinary things
Then, of course, there are ordinary things that I like a lot. Besides the things I've already mentioned. Going for a walk in a nice neighbourhood. Not along the sea or in the mountains. Or somewhere in some exotic place. No. My first choice is to go for a walk in a nice neat neighbourhood. I like people. I love my wife, my children, my colleagues, family, and friends. And just all "nice" people. My favourite food is pap and boerewors – if you don’t know what it is: Google!. I know it's not healthy, but it's very tasty. My second favourite is steak, egg & chips. It's also not healthy. I know. I like sports; watching and playing. Love music. Especially the music of the sixties. I like reading poems. I don't easily read novels and storybooks, but I like reading short (very short) stories. I can marvel at beautiful technology. A beautiful watch, car, engine, aeroplane, computer, and large earth-moving machinery are beautiful. A nice lawnmower or the inside of a computer or mobile phone. All kinds of beautiful technology catch my eye. Even a nice sewing machine.
Any exceptional talents
None. But, there is something I do manage without effort. It's not a talent. It's just something I do easily. I listen very attentively to what people say. I have been doing this since I was a child. And if I'm not sure what someone is saying, I try to ask questions as best I can until I think I know what the person is saying.
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Face the Future (buy)
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Call Centre Effectiveness (no longer available)
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The Future of HR in an AI World (buy)
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Shadowmatch: The Full Story (download)
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Shadowmatch: Success for All (download)
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A Simplified Model for Understanding Behavior (download)
Afrikaans Books (not available in English)
In Publication Phase
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Sprokies wat Leef (fairy tales for kids between 5 and 12 years)
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Eenvoud
