Leadership Interview: ‘My Coaching Journey’ Richi Mock, Cape Town

Prioritization, patience, listening and accountability – these are the key skills Richi Mock believes he needs as a successful coach.

I usually start off these ‘Leadership Interview’ articles by explaining how and when I met the subject of my interview, and how we have worked together on leadership coaching projects. Not so with Richi Mock. So far I have not met him face-to-face. Yes, we have spoken by phone and had an extensive exchange of emails. Someday I hope our paths cross. As a Guest Author  he has contributed eight rich and varied articles to this Blog since last summer. Richi describes himself as: “An experienced problem solver with a pragmatic approach who continuously evolves by facing new and interesting challenges. A passionate coach who leads a successful team and fills his heart with this wonderful experience”. I can’t disagree with that. Let’s find out more about his coaching journey.

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The Celebration of Life and the Pursuit of Happiness

The celebration of life is the fuel that will keep us happy in the process of achieving our goals.

This article has been written at a time when most of us have given up on our new year’s resolution. And now we need to ask why it is so common that we fail in our resolutions? We set measurable objectives and we make a plan to achieve them.  Then what is missing?  Most of our plans miss two crucial aspects:  preventative plan for relapses and a plan to ensure that we enjoy the process.  The main reason we miss this is that there is a general belief that in order to achieve our goals and ensure happiness, we need to put ourselves through hell while we pursue this happiness.  We tend to compare hard work with being miserable.

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Leadership Interview & Coaching Case Study: Samson Zhou, Sales Manager Shanghai

A case study about coaching for sales performance: building a closer relationship with the customer decision maker to drive more volume and meet sales targets.

Back in October 2016 I published an article ‘Coaching is Blooming in Shanghai’ about General Manager Sales, Allen Tu and his team. Allen attended my Coaching Master Class programme in 2011. Much to my delight he kicked off a coaching programme for four of his sales managers in 2016 using my material. He promised to keep me in touch with their progress. Here is the first coaching interview and case study.

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Leadership Interview: Cynthia Li ‘My Coaching Journey’

We follow the fortunes of a senior leader in the shipping industry in China over a five year period as she learns and applies her coaching skills in progressively more senior job roles. She changes companies and ends up Head of Commercial for mainland China and Hong Kong.

I started working with the Top Team at Maersk Line East China Cluster (PRE) in Shanghai when I visited them in April 2011 to kick off the Coaching Master Class program. Cynthia Li was Customer Service General Manager and starting out on her coaching journey.

Here she reflects on that five year journey. In 2013 Cynthia was promoted and moved from Customer Service to sales as Key Client General Sales Manager. In 2016 Cynthia jumped ship (pun intended) and joined Swire Shipping in Shanghai as Head of Commercial for mainland China and Hong Kong. What has Cynthia learned from her broad experience as a senior leader in the shipping industry? What can we learn from her coaching journey?

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