I never lose. I either win or learn!

The beauty of a great experience is how we face and learn from it. Whatever has made us feel disappointed or even fail, has certainly given opportunities which, sometimes, we may have otherwise not seen. So, with some effort and reflection (I use LARA model*), you will certainly be able to see different angles to the same event. By doing that, I really consider that “I never lose. I either win or learn.”

This article was inspired by the famous quote “I never lose. I either win or learn.” Nelson Mandela.

Have you ever faced a situation in which you wanted something so much and it didn’t materialize? How did you deal with it?

A couple of years ago, I peered up with HR on a hiring process where we interviewed more or less 20 candidates. We aligned on a number of questions in order to take the best out of the interviews and one of them was for the candidate to describe the time when he/she has had to deal with a setback or disappointment in work life.

There was a wide range of response and examples on what they identified as ‘seatback’. How they dealt with that and the outcome. I will obviously not disclose any specific story but revisiting my notes to produce this article, I found many examples that what was seen as setback was probably an opportunity disguised as temporary failure.

It was a simple but purposeful question with the hidden objective to identify candidates’ ability to cope with seatback and show drive and resilience. Whatever is the source of the seatback, important is how we handle it. When facing a difficult situation, you can choose how to respond to it.

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My Morning Bike Ride

We live in a wonderful world, full of wonderful people with an abundance of opportunities that sometimes we fail to see because we forget to love this world. Let’s go and give our best and have an epic day.

I just woke up and start packing my stuff for the day. Take out my bike and check the lights.  It is very foggy this morning.  I Start my bike ride, take a deep breath and take one minute of silence to enjoy the scent of positivity in the air.  I clear my mind.  I thank God for being alive and strong enough to ride to work once again this morning.  I thank Him for having a job to go to this morning.  I thank Him that I have two children to support so I have enough motivation to work hard and excel in what I do. I thank Him for my brothers and their continuous support.  I thank Him for my friends who care for me, making me realize that there is an abundance of kind people in this world.  I give thanks to Him for my colleagues who boost my competitive spirit, teamwork and make my workplace fun.  I thank Him for my boss who doesn’t let me relax, always challenging me to do better every day.  I give thanks to Him for my team who gives me the opportunity every day to serve them as a leader. I give thanks to Him for the cold breeze on my face as I continue riding feeling alive and full of love at this moment.  Then I thank Him for my amazing life and my wonderful day ahead.

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Change is in the Air

As you lead your organisation through turbulent times; reorganising, repositioning and reframing, how willing are people to follow your lead?

Having spent a fair amount of time over the last couple of weeks in the air I’d like to ask you a question: how many times when you fly on a plane do you ask yourself, “might this be my last flight?” I know for me it’s at least four. Not including turbulence. Now I’d like you ask yourself how many times you ask the same question when you get behind the wheel of your car, or for those of you who don’t drive, when you sit alongside someone who is? Virtually never?

I drive a car far more than I fly, and while I know the statistics say that I’m far more likely to die in the car than the plane, logic and rational thought make no difference. No matter how many times I fly I still have the thought, this might be it. It’s illogical, it’s pointless and yet I can’t help it.

What is going on?

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About Work Ethics…

As leaders, we have a responsibility of coaching young executives in order to leave our legacy as part of their professional growth.

Let’s talk about work ethics. We live in an ever changing dynamic world where words like improvement, profit, market share, EBIT and success are sometimes more common than shopping lists and people’s names. Everyone wants to lead without having a clear definition of what it takes to become a leader. I have been listening a lot lately to talks about understanding the millennials and talent retention and I agree that we need to be more flexible going forward.  However, there are some rules that even if we change them in the way we explain them and drive for the teams by in, we must not change the basic essence of them.  As leaders, we have a responsibility of coaching young executives in order to leave our legacy as part of their professional growth.

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Flummoxed

“I’m flummoxed about why we’re hugely rewarding our organisational leaders to do what appears to me to be the wrong things”.

A favourite word of a US-based friend and business associated is “flummoxed”.  I rather like the word myself.  If you are as old as I am, you may recall a Monty Python sketch in which they attributed the characteristic of “woodiness” to certain words.  The was a positive appellation.  Flummoxed is a woody word.

I am flummoxed with what I see going on around me.  Although I am a Liverpudlian by birth, I will avoid our natural inclination to ignore the golden rule not to speak about politics and religion.  I am not going to slam-dunk popularism, nationalism or any other contemporary “-ism”, which suffix immediately makes a word “tinny” (see http://montypython.50webs.com/scripts/Series_4/23.htm).

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Life is Now

Our moment in life is now and we must take full responsibility of our decisions and the learning that comes from them.

I am a firm believer that we come into this world with an empty toolbox. As we walk along our path, we find tools along the way.  Sometimes the tools that we find are not useful immediately but one will always find a use for it down the road.  I always like to relate this to a TV series that I used to watch during my childhood called “McGyver”. It was about this very smart agent that collected several items during the episode and at the end he would save the day with a clever “gadget solution” made out of all the items he had collected.

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Leadership Interview: Tracy Zhi ‘My Experience as a Coachee’

What does the coachee’s experience look like? We see how a Key Account Sales Manager responds to being coached by her experienced Leader and raises her sales performance within a very short period of time.

This article is a first for me and for the Leadership Coach Blog. It’s also another chapter in an ongoing story about how coaching is Blooming in Shanghai. Exactly one month ago I published the article about Sales Manager Samson Zhou and the coaching he had been completing with his direct report Tracy Zhi. Now it’s Tracy’s turn to tell her story. For the first time we hear from the person being coached. So listen up Leadership Coaches; see what you can learn from Tracy’s experience as a Coachee.

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Small Gearings of a Big Engine!

What can a leader do to improve their gearing as part of the bigger organisational engine?

Today I would like to share some thoughts related to teamwork, cross-functional collaboration and accountability. Being in a small or big organization, all of us have at some point faced situations in which it was difficult to see the impact of the team or individuals to the overall business results. And that can give rise to frustrations or disappointment – especially when the team is manned by talented and high qualified people. Continue reading “Small Gearings of a Big Engine!”

How Can I Help?

Wouldn’t it be great if we lived on a planet where we ask every morning with a big smile on our face: how can I help?

A couple of years ago, I was struggling both in my professional and personal life. I started being over anxious about my future and so I was not enjoying my present. Does this sound familiar? Most of the time we get so immersed in ourselves that we fail to enjoy our life by missing out on those beautiful moments around us. I sat down and started thinking about what I could do to stop worrying so much and just allow things to be.

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Laser Coaching

When you decide to turn a question from a direct report into a coaching opportunity it’s time for some Laser Coaching.

Laser coaching sessions are short, to the point and get right to the heart of the matter. They focus on the blockage or opportunity to get the coachee moving ahead quickly. Laser coaching sessions can be 20 minutes or less. They are often called ‘Coaching in a Hurry’ or ‘Coaching on Demand’. They may be initiated by the Coachee asking a question or by the Coach making an observation. Either way, there is no time to prepare so I thought a couple of models might be helpful to guide you on your way.

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