Can a Coachee NOT be Coached?

My first challenge took me to a realization that marked a huge difference for me as a Leadership Coach.

Continue reading “Can a Coachee NOT be Coached?”

IF YOU DON’T WANT TO, DON’T…SAY NO!

Are you a “Yes-all the time-round the clock-person”? , Do you feel bad when you say No, so you immediately go to a “but” that opens a lines of real or unrealistics reasons to eventually say Yes?, Do you know why do you do it? Want to experience the “FREEDOM” that saying “NO” can bring to your life?, then let me share what I did to stop feeling guilty by really wanting to say no, and always ended up saying yes to everyone.

Continue reading “IF YOU DON’T WANT TO, DON’T…SAY NO!”

Leadership is wearing high heels shoes and stepping strong.

Do you classify jobs by gender? What is your first reaction when you learn that the General Manager of a Regional Marine department is a female? Continue reading “Leadership is wearing high heels shoes and stepping strong.”

Doubting yourself: Why actions not always lead you to results

You automatically push success away when you don’t believe in your capabilities and abilities. If your mind doubts your actions will not follow and you will not get the expected results, as simple as that. Continue reading “Doubting yourself: Why actions not always lead you to results”

Because We Believe – ‘Mi Panama’

Many people take it for granted that have been brought up with English as mother language. We can see the positive advantage in learning English for young people wanting to emerge from a background of poverty and deprivation. Even if they don’t seek to live and work abroad, it gives them a step up in their careers and their lives in their home country. It also means they can access and be inspired by business and social literature from a much wider pool. (by Trevor)

Today’s post is about a project being initiated in Panama.

Inspired by Simon Sinek, I will start this short post with my ‘WHY’. Why am I writing about it? It is simple, ‘Because I Believe! in it’

_I believe in this great project; It is a great cause.

_I believe in helping others to achieve their dreams;

_I believe that learning takes people out of poverty;

_And most important, I believe that learning can change lives and the world as a whole! (make right choices, educated decisions and vote consciously)

_ Another reason why I am sharing this article – I know Robert and that he conducts his business with his heart and this is a wonderful opportunity to help our kids in Panama.

What is this project about: Give the opportunity for less privileged students to learn English, develop themselves and increase their value & opportunity when entering to the job market. Continue reading “Because We Believe – ‘Mi Panama’”

Eight Things To Put In Practice In 2018

8 points for us to think about and maybe put in practice in 2018. They were shared by a great leader who I had the privilege to work for and who became a mentor and reference to me – an inspiration in many ways but mainly because he lives and masters them.

In a couple of days, 2017 will be part of the past and everything that happened during that, history. On today’s article, I want to share eight points for us to think about and maybe put in practice in 2018.

They are not mine. They were shared by a great leader who I had the privilege to work for and who became a mentor and reference to me – an inspiration in many ways but mainly because he lives and masters below.

  1. Winning Mentality. No matter what people say then it is just much more fun to win! You will need to deliver results, you need to clear bottlenecks preventing your team to lift their performance and you need to be result driven. Stay pragmatic while doing so as we will always face trade-offs which need to be managed carefully.
  2. Effectiveness. Everyone in your organization should look at you and be amazed on how much you get done at work. It’s not about being hard working and putting in long hours – but how you use the available time.
  3. Stakeholder Management. Don’t ever take that off your agenda…! Great stakeholder management will facilitate your work and make sure it is just easier to achieve results. Know your stakeholders and how important they are for you – and then manage accordingly.
  4. About Communication. Clear, short and to-the-point communication. This is about getting through to people with power and make yourself easily understood. You need to be able to tell a good story to make people buy into your key messages. You need to be able to adapt to the audience – and always remember that no matter which audience it is a privilege that they give you their time to listen to you.
  5. Cross Functional Working. Always be ready to assist cross functionally and raise your hand for new projects. Accept that far from all will fit into your KPIs and we have things we need to deliver as a leadership team. Assist and engage with your peers – both ways.
  6. Develop People. Get them promoted. Increase their market value. Make them feel that they grow with you. Provide frequent feedback and make sure to follow up via development plans. Invest in them – both your own time but also in learning when they can benefit from external support.
  7. Resource Utilization. Always be one step ahead to optimize your organization for the future. Take the right tough decisions to adjust. Move resources between teams if this is what is required to deliver the best possible results.
  8. Network. Create and develop a network. Nurture it and invest in it. Be a mentor to younger / less experienced colleagues.

The list carries on but I identified these 8 points as very strong and easy to remember/follow. Have you identified anything you could change and start doing in 2018?


Picture: I received this picture via whatsapp from a friend. Don’t know the source.

More about Space and More about Time

A couple of weeks ago I offered a playful connection between physics and communication. In this post, I intend to offer some insight into how to use Space and Time to improve the quality of our communication.

Before I do, though, it’s worth mentioning that this is tsp-uk’s one hundredth blog. In little over 18 months this community has produced a phenomenal range of content and insight. From the philosophical to the highly practical this space continues to be a dynamic and exciting forum to share ideas. Here’s to the next 100!

Now back to the topic in hand. My intention is not to give a class here, or offer some “top tips” but to explain how these concepts relate to my work and a couple of the ways I apply them in my practise.

Continue reading “More about Space and More about Time”

It takes a village…

‏In the short time since I last submitted a blog it seems the world has taken another step along the path to crazy. The scandals of Weinstein, Westminster, and Spacey et al say nothing good about the world in which we live…

Continue reading “It takes a village…”

Commitment Pays Off!

A committed individual contributor is constantly asking how he/she can support management in succeeding on the overall business strategy. A committed peer focus on the team overall goal and collective success. A committed manager works actively and genuinely in unison with management to bring outstanding results for the business, develop its people and help others to succeed too. A committed business partner thinks Win-win.

I like to share stories in my posts and on today’s post I start by telling a short one about a constructor called Lucas.

Lucas worked for several years on a company specialized into building houses. After a decade within the organization he reached management level. In different dialogues with the owner of the business, he expressed his desire to grow, earn more and to take higher responsibility.

Different opportunities appeared and he was not selected. The owner explained that he was not ready for some of them and that took a toll on him. Lucas didn’t cope well with setback. At some point, disappointed, Lucas decided to leave the company and explore new pastures.

Lucas then approached the owner and resigned.  Continue reading “Commitment Pays Off!”

The worse blindness is the one when we ‘deliberately refuse to see’!

I (all of us) have seen people missing opportunities and I concede, looking back, I may have missed a few too. And why we see it? Because we are watching or looking from a different angle. Like on the Indian-mythology, we often fail to recognize them because we cannot see it. Sometimes they come disguised of something like hard work, as a tedious job (those nobody wants to do), sometimes our own attitude and you name it.

Last week I met a good friend who used to be my direct report. He recently got promoted as general manager and has always been a great sparring buddy. Besides the fact that I feel extremely proud to see him growing and pleased to be part of it, I also find our talks and engagement inspiring myself as he always add something to the conversations which makes me grow too.

Among different things we spoke about, reminiscing about the time we worked together, the adversities we had – how we surmounted them as well as his/our current challenges, we also spoke about long term ambition and discussed ‘why some people get ahead on their careers and others, even being extremely bright, don’t go so far.

“Opportunities come disguised as hard work.” By Bernardinho (Brazilian volleyball coach and former player).

Then he brought in a very interesting analogy from Indian mythology

Continue reading “The worse blindness is the one when we ‘deliberately refuse to see’!”