March 2022
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5 5 EDITOR’S NOTE STAY CONNECTED! Follow us on: EDITOR’S NOTE www.ceotodaymagazine.com Katin Hristo Editor All of this and so much more - I hope you enjoy the content in CEO Today’s third issue for 2022! Make sure you check out the full list of features and exclusive interviews over the next pages. If you want to stay connected with us until our next edition, visit our website for more, join the conversation on our Twitter (@ CEOTodayMag) and follow our LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram pages. Best wishes, KATINA HRISTOVA Editor CEO TODAY Copyright 2022 Circulation details can be found at www.ceotodaymagazine.com The views expressed in the articles within CEO Today are the contributors’ own, nothing within the announcements or articles should be construed as a profit forecast. All rights reserved. Material contained within this publication is not to be reproduced in whole or part without the prior permission of CEO Today. Disclaimer: Images used in this edition have been done so under the creative commons licenses. For details, see links below. creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-sa/3.0/legalcode creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-sa/2.0/legalcode creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-sa/4.0/legalcode Hello and welcome to the March 2022 edition of CEO Today! As we watch the development of the Russia-Ukraine conflict with heavy hearts and hopes for peace, we present CEO Today’s March collection of inspiration from some of the world’s leading CEOs and entrepreneurs, as well as our monthly dose of travel and lifestyle content! Here are some of our favourite stories from CEO Today’s March 2022 edition: International Womenʼs Day 2022 Celebrating Female Leadership Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill 12 88 104 116 4Ways to Elevate Your Fine Wine Collection Karl Lagerfeld & The ʻMe, Myself and Iʼ Phenomenon
6 CONTENTS International Women’s Day 2022 Celebrating Female Leadership 10 EXECUTIVE COACHING 12. Celebrating Female Leadership 18. How to be a Future- Ready Leader 24. 9Ways of Being in Leadership 30. What’s the Connection Between Being Grounded and Being a Great CEO? 34. Coaching Misconceptions Debunked 38. Why Leaders Need to Focus on Self-Development 44. How to Transition into Becoming a Leader 46. The Impact of Neuroscience on Leadership 50. How to Get the Most Out of Coaching 54. Systemic Coaching 101 58. Strategies for Becoming the Best Version of Yourself 60. The Value of Institutionalising Coaching as a Strategic Business Function in Your Company 64. The Importance of Having a CoachWhen Starting a Business CONTENTS 8 Monthly-Round-Up 12 68 When YouWant to Make an Impact, Leadership Coaching is a Difference-Maker
7 68. When YouWant to Make an Impact, Leadership Coaching is a Difference-Maker 72. Top Tips on Achieving Excellence as a CEO 82 THE DISRUPTORS 84. 5 Simple Inventions that Made Entrepreneurs Millions 88. Karl Lagerfeld & the ʻMe, Myself and I’ Phenomenon 112 An Interview with Meliá Hotels International 92 VISION & STRATEGY 94. Businesses Will Sink if CEOs with Short- TermMindsets are at the Helm 98. 3 Major Tech Trends That Will Transform Our Lives 76 THE CEO INTERVIEW 78. Tamara Mosidze CEO of Premier Care 46 102 The Impact of Neuroscience on Leadership 78 Karl Lagerfeld & the ʻMe, Myself and I’ Phenomenon 88 TRAVEL & LIFESTYLE
8 MONTHLY ROUND - UP N EWS The Stories Everyoneʼs been Talking about Rolls-Royce Shareholders Take Hit as CEO Steps Down Shares in Rolls-Royce plummeted over 17% after the British aerospace company announced Warren East is set to step down at the end of 2022 after almost eight years as its CEO. Rolls-Royce’s announcement came as the company returned to profit last year after meeting its restructuring targets a year sooner than anticipated. In 2020, Rolls-Royce saw a $4 billion loss compared to a profit of £124 million in 2021. Despite the crash for Rolls-Royce shares, analysts say the stock has recovered well since October 2020, when it traded as low as 34.70p amid the coronavirus pandemic. Following the announcement, Michael Hewson, chief analyst at CMC Markets, commented: “Today’s full-year numbers show Rolls-Royce eked out a tiny profit of £10m, after last year’s £3.1bn loss. However, this news has been overshadowed by the announcement that CEO Warren East is stepping down at the end of 2022, after eight years in the top job. This is a huge blow for the business at a key stage in the latest turnaround process.” “East played a crucial role in the turnaround plan that was launched at the start of his tenure, and he has been at the forefront of this latest one. The last thing the business needs in choppy waters is for its captain to abandon ship.” Meanwhile, Warren East commented: “With the advances, we have made, the momentum and energy we have shown and our firmer financial foundations, this is the right moment to look to the future. I am thoroughly committed to leading this business while we work towards a smooth leadership transition.”
9 Warren Buffett Bought $1 Billion Stake in ActivisionWeeks Before Microsoft Deal Billionaire Warren Buffett, who is currently the sixth richest man in the world, allegedly purchased a $1 billion stake in Activision Blizzard just weeks before the video game company was bought by tech giant Microsoft. According to the Financial Times, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Buffett purchased the substantial stake just weeks before the record-breaking acquisition, estimated to be worth $68.7 billion, was completed. In 2022, Activision shares are up 23% to $81.50, though remain notably below the proposed $95 per share takeover price due to potential antitrust concerns. In the past, Buffett has said his decades-long friendship with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates was a reason for him to never buy stock in the company. “I try to stay away from a few things just totally because the inference would be drawn,” Buffett once said at the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting, as reported by The Wall Street Journal at the time. However, in 2020, Gates ended his 16-year run on Berkshire’s board and, in 2021, Buffett resigned as a trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. MONTHLY ROUND - UP Christie’s Offers Rare Opportunity to Purchase $30 Million Basquiat Triptych For the first time ever, auction house Christie’s is bringing a painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat to the open market. Basquiat’s 1982 triptych Portrait of the Artist as a Young Derelict (1982) will be offered in Christie’s contemporary art evening sale. Bidding for the painting — which is almost seven-foot wide — will start at around $30 million according to a Christie’s spokesperson. However, an estimate is only available upon request. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Derelict is a threepart painting on a wood panel. The painting alludes to Basquiat’s fame with several references to death. At the bottom of the painting’s middle panel, the word “Morte” is written above the image of the Cross. In another section of the painting, Basquiat’s recurring motif — the outline of a crown — can be seen. Basquiat died in 1988 at the age of 27. In the past year, the prices of his work have seen a rapid rise. Only seven works by the artist have been auctioned for more than $30million, with three of these having been sold in the last year. While Christie’s contemporary art evening sale is set to take place inMay, the auction house is yet to confirm a date for the sale of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Derelict. Photo: Wikicommons - USA International Trade Administration
EXECUTIVE COACHING
For me, thereʼs nothing more rewarding than co-creating exciting journeys with fellow women who want to excel. 12 EXECUTIVE COACHING
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2022 Celebrating Female For our front-cover story this month and just in time for International Women’s Day, we had the pleasure to connect with Ridhima Dosani. Ridhima is on a mission to help ambitious women adjust the power dynamics that are hidden beneath the surface of their interactions with others to empower them to be recognised and treated as female leaders long before it’s announced. Leadership Ridhima Dosani Lead Coach (ICF - PCC)| Executive Coach Master Trainer Executive Coaching Bootcamp 13 EXECUTIVE COACHING
quality, high-impact coaching to their own coaching clients through the CEC’s ICF accredited executive coach training certification. And in terms of our ICF accredited executive coach training programmes, we work with those who are new to coaching and those with prior experience. Our programmes build upon the capabilities of internal staff coaches as well as external coaches looking to set up their own practices. Our ACSTH course option is an ICF accredited three-day intensive course to get you prepared and ready to hit the ground running and start coaching executives, leaders, managers, business owners, and up-and-coming talent. Whereas our second option, which is our ICF accredited ‘ACTP’ fast-track programme, puts you on the path to becoming an ICF accredited ACC or PCC coach straight away. Please introduce us to yourself and The Executive Coaching Bootcamp. I’m the founder of The Executive Coaching Bootcamp, an Executive Coach Master Trainer and an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC). As a training and coaching company, The Executive Coaching Bootcamp specialises in providing high impact executive/leadership coaching services (particularly for female leaders) as well as offering ICF accredited executive coach training programmes for both new and experienced coaches. Having trained the coaches of organisations such as SWIFT, BP and IBM, as well coaching their leaders, VPs and high-potential staff, I am an experienced executive and leadership coach, team coach and ICF certified coach trainer. My coaching clients include female entrepreneurs, ambitious trail-blazers, social influencers, executives and leaders looking to make even more impact and steadily grow their sphere of influence. Many women come to me because they’re tired of being overlooked for ‘perfect for you’ promotions. Some come to me with a drive to reach a new level - be that professionally in their career, organisationally or both. And others come to develop and execute gamechanging ideas that will provide the business and people they lead with a competitive edge. For me, there’s nothing more rewarding than co-creating exciting journeys with fellow women who want to excel. In terms of our coach training programmes, we are dedicated to teaching others how to provide highFirstly, as a female leader, can you please tell us a little bit about your journey into a field that could be considered maledominated? Having worked as a senior coach in the male-dominated field of agile transformations, I was very used to being the only female in the room. And as may be the case for many women, I’ve previously been underestimated or dismissed as the ‘token’ female in the group. But I don’t allow that to happen anymore because I simply don’t have the patience to slow myself down or hold myself back anymore. And I don’t want my clients to have to do that either. But what I’ve come to learn is that carving out a space for yourself at the top can actually be incredibly satisfying - even enjoyable. Especially when you know that you’re also paving the way for others. So I place a lot of importance on making sure that female leaders are on an equal footing with their peers right from the start because that’s what sets the foundation for truly great working relationships that are built on mutual respect from the beginning. And achieving that can sometimes require a conscious effort to become better aware of the power dynamics that might be hidden beneath the surface of your interactions with others and then adjusting those power dynamics so they work in your favour. This helps you to develop a communication style where you’re always portraying yourself as a leader and therefore being perceived as a leader. It’s a gradual process but it works. “ What Iʼve come to learn is that carving out a space for yourself at the top can actually be incredibly satisfying - even enjoyable. Especially when you know that youʼre also paving the way for others. “ 14 EXECUTIVE COACHING
15 EXECUTIVE COACHING Contact Ridhima Dosani Lead Coach (ICF - PCC)| Executive Coach Master Trainer Email: info@executivecoachingbootcamp.com Website: www.executivecoachingbootcamp.com
develop a communication style where you’re always portraying yourself as a leader and therefore always being recognised as a leader. And that’s when exciting announcements about promotions start to happen. I do this using my ‘Three Step Adjustment Technique’ which has been proven to help clients carve out their own space at the top and not only be heard but also valued for what they bring to the table. Measurable and concrete results are what my clients and I work towards and that’s the secret sauce behind our success in working together. It’s particularly effective for women who feel that they want to adjust the power dynamics between themselves and specific individuals/groups or those that feel they need to develop their skills in being heard. It enables my clients to reposition themselves as leaders by transforming the way What are your tips for younger businesswomen embarking on the journey you’re already on? Keep an eye on the power dynamic that your communication style creates when you’re interacting with people. You always want to be on an equal footing with whomever you’re speaking to, so that’s really important and sometimes you might be handing too much power over without realising it. It’s all about the way you communicate and carry yourself and practice makes perfect. Can you tell us about your unique ‘Three-Step Adjustment Technique’? Who is it aimed at and what are the results they can expect? In the work I do with my clients, I help ‘up and coming female leaders strategically adjust the power dynamics between themselves and other already established leaders in their organisation so that they are seen as ‘one of them’ long before it’s announced. I also help my clients to stand out from their peers so that they are seen as the obvious next choice for career progression and fasttracked leadership roles. My process involves firstly helping you understand the power dynamics that might be hidden beneath the surface of your interactions with others and then secondly by showing you how to adjust those power dynamics so that you stop being seen as someone with ‘potential’ and start being seen as someone who is already demonstrating themselves as a leader and is actively ready for more. Then we use those same power dynamics to they are perceived. Whether it’s about adjusting the dynamics in order to create space for their own voice or whether it’s about being properly recognised, we work on both communication as well as other more holistic aspects of how my clients come across. This helps my clients to be perceived differently and therefore treated differently…i.e. as leaders. For me, it’s all about helping my clients create a smoother playing field for themselves. Power dynamics are what drive every interaction, whether we realise it or not and by getting a handle on the way you’re being perceived, you can cut through the glass ceiling and forge a path for yourself. What are your most important tips on achieving success? I’ve found that strategicallydeveloping more powerful communication skills is the key to becoming an influential leader who commands respect in any room. Once my clients master that, it has a direct impact on their selfconfidence and they step even further into their own power. But humility is also essential. And being transparent when you’ve made a mistake or changed your mind is what makes a leader relatable and likeable so that’s the big difference between a leader people want to follow and a leader people have to follow. How can this be achieved while maintaining a good work-life balance and avoiding burnout? It’s definitely tough but being prepared to walk away from work Power dynamics are what drive every interaction, whether we realise it or not and by getting a handle on the way youʼre being perceived, you can cut through the glass ceiling and forge a path for yourself. “ “ 16 EXECUTIVE COACHING
and prioritise ‘you-time’ and family life is often what makes or breaks our success. The question is…have you set up explicit criteria for when it’s acceptable for you to continue working and when it’s instead reasonable for you to switch off your laptop and go and have an evening with your loved ones? Many people don’t proactively set up criteria to help them decide when to down tools but if you set up a policy for yourself and stick to it, then you have something concrete that you can base your decisions on without feeling guilty or as though you’re letting yourself down. But the key is to consciously plan for those moments when you might push yourself to do that little bit extra and you can do this by being aware of the triggers, having criteria already in place to help you decide whether to continue working or not and then sticking to your own policy. This means you’re consciously avoiding burnout by replacing older unhelpful behaviours with new ones and selfpolicing that through your own criteria policies. You’ve recently become the Western European provider of the Centre for Executive Coaching’s ICF Certified Executive Coach Training Programme (ICF ACTP & ACSTH). Can you tell us about this exciting announcement? Yes, we are extremely proud to be the Western European provider of the Centre for Executive Coaching’s ICF Accredited Executive Coach Training Programme (ICF ACTP & ACSTH). We decided to offer this incredible ICF accredited training programme because we kept hearing our clients telling us that one day they would love to become coaches themselves. And as someone who’s trained newbie coaches for many years, I really wanted to offer a programme that I knew came with the tools and resources to set new coaches up for real success in the market. It was also really important to me that we didn’t just teach people the academic side of coaching, but that our programme was packed full of practical experience so that students left knowing exactly how to start working with clients immediately. And I’m proud to say that that’s exactly what our programme provides. We also know how hard it is to differentiate from other coaches in this competitive industry, so we provide specialist advice on that and teach our students exactly how to start getting clients straight away. We also know that our students are busy people, so our programme is designed to be as efficient and as flexible as possible so that you can become an ICF certified coach with an ACC or PCC designation in as little as 3-5 months. We are fully accredited with the International Coaching Federation to deliver ACTP and ACSTH programmes. Our programme is also small and selective, with no more than 30 active members in the programme at any one time. The small size of the programme allows you to focus on YOUR specific goals and get the support you need to succeed. And when I say we set our students up for success, I really mean it. Because most importantly, our students get access to our specialist coaching toolkits which they can start using with their clients straight away. They’re able to simply rebrand them and use them as their own to add even more structure to their coaching and gain credibility faster. But this is a programme that I really enjoy delivering because helping talented individuals turn their knack for asking the right questions into powerful coaching prowess is something I really care about. It’s an art, not a science and so many people have the potential to be fantastic coaches and provide specialist niche coaching services based on own unique background and experience. And it’s my job to help people find their fit in the market. We also get lots of requests from organisations to help build the coaching capabilities of their management and leadership teams in order to help grow the coaching culture of their organisation. And that’s where we can start tailoring the programme to meet the specific needs of the organisation and their people. For example, we get a lot of requests for help with feedback conversations during performance reviews, as that’s something a lot of people find uncomfortable. But turning those feedback conversations into powerful coaching conversations is the key to inspiring real transformation in an individual. If you know how to leave that member of staff feeling excited and personally motivated to develop instead of deflated and disappointed, then you’re going to get the outcome you’re looking for…instead of disengagement. So that’s the kind of challenge we really enjoy helping our clients with and we tailor our programme to address those kinds of needs. 17 EXECUTIVE COACHING
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19 EXECUTIVE COACHING How to Be a FutureReady Leader Coaching Tips from TwoWise Women Sharon Eakes and Nancy Smyth Nancy Smyth and Sharon Eakes are the co-founders of Two Wise Women, globally acclaimed coaches, coach trainers and mentors. In addition to authoring their own books, they are contributors to the Arbinger Institute’s best-seller, The Anatomy of Peace. Between them, they have been coaching for nearly 50 years, supporting influential leaders from 28 countries to flourish, thrive and prosper from the inside out. We had the pleasure to sit down with them and talk all things coaching.
20 EXECUTIVE COACHING clients experience its power. Life coaching allows leaders, teams and organisations to live to their highest potential, to thrive and to prosper. How does coaching work? A coach and client meet, often remotely, every week or two. The coach creates a safe, confidential space for clients to explore their concerns and aspirations. The coach operates as a sounding board, a thought partner, asking questions, teasing out the client’s wisdom. The partnership is a laboratory for reflection, continued learning and expansion. Through asking powerful questions, coaching allows the client to uncover what is cloaked. This dynamic stimulates understanding, change, progress and transformation. The coaching relationship includes: • looking at the client’s life, including, but not limited to, work objectives • examining thoughts, perceptions, assumptions • creating clarity • improving relationships From your point of view, why has life coaching grown exponentially? Why do you recommend it? Coaching embodies hope, courage and a quantum shift in consciousness. Life coaching is about how to live, be totally alive, engaged and have relationships that work. Coaching helps clients embrace who they want to be and how they want to contribute to the world. In the 1990s, Thomas Leonard, a certified financial planner, found his clients needed help with their whole lives, not just their finances. Dubbed the father of modern coaching, Leonard called it “personal coaching.” It is now also referred to as life coaching. As the power of coaching to accelerate change and leadership development was recognised, coaches were engaged for high-potential employees. Coaching in organisations is now standard as an executive benefit. Awareness of professional coaching continues to trend upward. A study, as early as 2009, published by the International Coaching Federation, stated that 80% of people who receive coaching report increased self-confidence and over 70% benefit from improved work performance, relationships and more effective communication skills. 86% of companies report that they recouped their investment in coaching and more. With the relentless speed of life today, leaders feel an urgency to know, to act and react in the face of many uncertainties. Coaching creates a reflective pause: time to clean the lens, clarify situations, reach beneficial solutions and take action. Coaching has grown exponentially because it is effective. It keeps expanding because • testing ideas and • gaining the confidence to take bold action Who needs a coach? Why? Coaching is markedly effective with aspirational leaders - those who do well and know they can be even more effective. Leaders promoted to new levels of responsibility, with a broader scope of work, find coaching valuable in expanding their view and thinking in new ways. Leaders who need clarity to generate momentum or congruity also benefit from coaching. They know change is needed, but they might experience inertia, overwhelm, or confusion. They may have trouble seeing their contribution to the situation. Sometimes leaders simply need a champion, someone who sees and appreciates them. Coaching has grown exponentially because it is effective. It keeps expanding because clients experience its power. “ “ Ironically, two opposing realities are often hidden from self-view 1) what gets in our way and 2) the vast upside of possibility. Coaching uncovers both. “ “
21 EXECUTIVE COACHING Ironically, two opposing realities are often hidden from self-view: 1) what gets in our way and 2) the vast upside of possibility. Coaching uncovers both. A coach often supports the leader to think through the entire process of a challenge, not just the content. A typical benefit of coaching is a deeper understanding of what lies below the surface of issues. Leaders value having and strengthening this highlevel skill. To be successful as a leader, employee, or parent, seeing and responding to the humanity in others is key. With more awareness of themselves through coaching, a leader develops a nuanced appreciation for others. They are open to others’ perceptions of them. As a result, leaders often report that their internal shifts change relationships. Creative ways to collaborate arise from a fresh awareness and are unexpected. Leaders communicate better. A leader’s ability to be coach-like with others develops. They become more trustworthy. Their impact grows. When leaders change, the company culture transforms. When that happens, productivity increases and retention rates go up because people appreciate working in a collaborative environment and want to contribute. From all these ripe places, a leader engages a coach to get the desired results. The following experience recounts our client’s transition into the CEO role: Rhonda was eager to be at the helm of XYZ corporation, where she’d held a supporting role for years. Under waning and chaotic leadership, a belittling culture had developed. Rife with poor communication, little trust and looming DEI issues, barriers to success faced her on all sides. Rhonda’s coaching sessions focused on all the challenges she faced to prepare for the cultural turnaround she envisioned. We refined her understanding and clarified her vision. Fully committed, Rhonda knew she would be walking on the blade’s edge of a sword and had to be aware and awake during the entire process. With the help of coaching, Rhonda created a clear strategic plan. She bolstered her plan with additional insights, energy and fortitude. When the transition took place, she was ready. In the last 18 months, Rhonda has been able to effect a sea change, no small feat during the pandemic. She used coaching support to stay diligent and persevere, continually inviting alienated employees into the new company culture. She made curiosity and listening the hallmarks of her leadership. And, step by step, a seemingly miraculous turnaround occurred. What are the most important benefits of coaching? Leaders report feeling freer, happier and more resilient as key benefits of coaching. Life is more balanced. They experience being more relaxed and confident, even through challenges. At the heart of all profound personal change is increased self-awareness. Through the coaching process, clients frequently describe feeling more authentic. They like and enjoy themselves more. Their way of being evolves, as do essential leadership skills. It is a relief when selfmanagement, a new relationship with thoughts and emotions, replaces time management. A great coach always coaches the whole person. Not surprisingly, then, even when a coach is engaged in workplace issues, the perceptions and changes also affect the leader’s personal life. It is common for clients to report that their spouse and children find them more flexible, connected and fun. For these reasons, coaching is called the ultimate CEO advantage. “What grants life its beauty and magic is not the absence of terror and tumult but the grace and elegance with which we navigate the gauntlet” Maria Popova What characterises great coaching? Great coaching supports a client’s transformation and evolution. To facilitate such significant change, the coach enters a state of mind some call the learning edge, What grants life its beauty and magic is not the absence of terror and tumult but the grace and elegance with which we navigate the gauntlet. Maria Popova “ “
22 EXECUTIVE COACHING and discover instead that the leader has made a paradigm shift that encompasses a much broader perspective. This account illustrates such a shift: Roger sought coaching after he was demoted from being president of the company. Feeling humiliated, frustrated and angry, he wanted to vent. Respectfully, we took time to clear his feelings and face layers of truth. His perspective fundamentally shifted; he graciously accepted a lesser position and astonishingly, became the stellar leader the organisation and he had hoped for. A coach’s full presence is pivotal for the client. It allows true conversation, meaningful conversation, that invites the client to be most authentic and access their inner wisdom. A great coach sees who the leader is - grander than they ever dared to imagine. This confident stance invites the leader to actualise extraordinary possibilities, not only in projects but also in relationships integral to the projects. As top credentialed coaches, what are your tips on finding the right coach? Before you hire a coach, ask yourself this continually honing coaching skills to lead clients forward. The coach’s presence is equally crucial. It is an energetic force, alive to whatever is needed for the leader’s best possible life and contribution to the world. A great coach has an authentic presence, bringing themself — mind and heart — to each session. Leaders might think: “How could something like the heart be effective in a professional and competitive world?” Don’t be fooled! The powerful energy of the heart is like a laser beam that cuts through everything false to reveal the truth about what has been the cause of complications, disputes, or lack of productivity and revenue. C. Otto Scharmer, the influential MIT business professor, supports that notion and so did his colleague, Bill O’Brien, the late CEO of Hanover Insurance. Scharmer (2015) reported that in an interview, O’Brien said: “The success of an intervention depends on the interior condition of the intervener.” Scharmer continued: “We might say it this way: the success of our actions as change-makers does not depend on What we do or How we do it, but on the Inner Place from which we operate.” As the coach opens to be fully with the leader – mind and heart – in the deepest possible way, they facilitate progress. Their presence has a continuously adapting rigour – sometimes acknowledging and encouraging, other times firm and fiercely challenging. When the coach is expertly engaged, they can penetrate below the surface layers of a situation to its roots; the leader arrives at what is authentic and alive. It can be surprising to begin the coaching engagement with a specific goal in mind question: When my partnership with a coach is successful, what will be different? With the answer to that question in mind, do some research about coaches. Ask friends and colleagues to recommend excellent coaches. Look at the website of the International Coach Federation. Look at coaches’ websites or LinkedIn profiles that seem to match your needs. Check their professional credentials, but don’t let these alone make your decision. Make appointments to interview coaches (most coaches offer exploratory sessions without charge.) How you feel speaking with the coach is essential….is there good chemistry? Assess each interview asking yourself questions such as the following: • Does the coach listen deeply, probe respectfully? • Receive nuances below your words? • Do you sense they are 100% invested in you? • Can they make it safe to speak about anything, no need to edit yourself? • Are they someone who isn’t afraid to challenge you? • Do they inspire you to think in new ways? • Do they have the capacity to expand your reality? • Can they hold your feet to the fire? • Do they have experience working with leaders at your level? You will get a sense of these things in a oneto-one conversation. Close rapport, respect and radical curiosity help clients navigate current situations. When both client and coach are leaning in completely, the breadth of what is possible in coaching is astounding. As a shift in the client occurs, their responsiveness flows freely to the people in their lives, projects and the world in meaningful ways. A great coach has an authentic presence, bringing themself — mind and heart — to each session. “ “ For more information, visit www.TwoWiseWomen.org or email BeInspired@TwoWiseWomen.org
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24 EXECUTIVE COACHING Samia Shehadeh LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samia-shehadeh-77731830/ Websites: http://beinginleadership.com/ http://www.thecoachingpsychologist.com/ Ways of Being in LEADERSHIP
25 EXECUTIVE COACHING We hear from Samia Shehadeh - a seasoned Leadership Coaching and Business Psychologist with a track record that spans almost three decades. Helping individuals and organisations excel, she has empowered effective self, team and organisation leadership, and has worked internationally with blue-chip organisations, government and leading management consultancies PwC, SHL and IBM to deliver substantial change projects and leadership and culture development. Today, Samia coaches leaders and high-performing individuals, supporting them and their organisations to lead themselves and others to act and be a force for good. She believes that leadership of others begins first with the leadership of self and works diligently to connect her clients’ inner being to outward doing, so they can act with increased congruence, alignment and integrity through a renewed sense of purpose and energy. Samia has lived in seven different countries on three continents and travelled extensively, having witnessed social and economic disparity and substantial planetary ecosystem changes. It is through this lens of experience that she views complex contemporary issues and recognises the importance of empowering those around her. She is especially interested in enabling the Sustainability agenda to become systemic. As a PCC ICF accredited coach, Samia helps deliver internationally recognised Neuro-Linguistic Programming Practitioner and Master Practitioner courses, Applied Neuroscience and Coaching courses as well as Leadership and TeamWorkshops.
Now consider evolution… Evolution feels smoother and more natural; it just kind of happens. It’s fluid and more effortless, and if we add a dose of consciousness and well-placed intentions, it guides us where we want to go, in a smooth ‘rolling hills’ sort of a way. And what of this leadership revolution? CEOs and leaders everywhere are all at a crossroads, a critical juncture presenting one of the biggest challenges for generations: the survival of our species and the ecosystems we rely on. And somewhere in the enormity of that statement, lies YOUR SURVIVAL and the survival of YOUR ORGANISATION. Leaders today have more to contend with than at any other time in history. The economic models that seemingly reward us with wealth simply ensure that we continue doing what we’ve always done, systemically exploiting the finite resources of our planet and destroying the biodiversity around us. We live in ‘VUCA times’ (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) amid fast-changing headwinds and prevailing ambiguities. We understand now, more than ever, the interconnectedness of a multitude of systems at both local and global scale, and we constantly navigate the world around us in the face of overwhelming distractions and needs. Our organisations and our planet need intuitive, decisive leadership that empowers and inspires - a reliable beacon to guide the way. And what if that beacon was already in you? Emanating from an inner core of intrinsic potential giving rise to: • a deep and humble self-belief and determination • an understanding of what drives and motivates you • a feeling of congruence, alignment, integrity, authenticity • behaviours and actions that truly define who you are, energise you and others, engage people and teams, and provide you with desired outcomes and results • newfound peace and fulfilment. It is a well-known fact that leadership of others begins with leadership of self. While we may never be the perfect finished article (nor do we want to be), there are immense benefits to acknowledging and accepting this fact. And what about change, exactly? It is, after all, many things. Change has a certain imperative; an effort associated with it; we, our people, teams and organisations are oversaturated with it. It is an abundance of effort and can often feel like an end game; a fixed stopping point until we start again for the next cycle of change. As Einstein pointed out, we cannot resolve our problems with the same order of consciousness that created these problems in the first place. There is indeed a need to evolve our economic and cultural ways and repair the production and destruction model to better suit the needs of humanity and its ecosystems. How? As leaders of organisations that have a direct impact on today’s economic and cultural factors, the outcome of the question is on you. You are the being who does the doing and your ways of being in leadership impact your ways of doing leadership. Who you are on the inside - your very essence and the way you perceive, interpret and think about the world and yourself and your experiences - impacts your outward manifestations of self - what you do; while what you are doing becomes the actions you take and the outcomes you achieve. So how do we connect our inner being to our outward doing? There are vast numbers of leadership models to help us understand what it is that we need to do to be great leaders. They mostly outline the how-tos and tell us, for example, that we must delegate, we must consider the situation, we must transform, we must decide, we must work to goals, and we must motivate. There are as many great ways of being in leadership as there are great leaders. Just think about that for a moment. While we can be aware of ingredients, or perhaps experience some of these ingredients in others, how each of us THE LEADERSHIP EVOLUTION AND REVOLUTION! 9 Ways to be Intuitively Present in Leadership - A Framework to Raise Awareness and Support How Your Being Impacts Your Doing “ “ Leaders today have more to contend with than at any other time in history. 26 EXECUTIVE COACHING
chooses to mix them and cook them is purely a matter of preference. So where do you turn on your journey of Leadership Being and Doing? There is a framework you can use: an organic, personal roadmap that charts a tailor-made journey just for you, the Way of Being in Leadership model, with its nine constantly evolving Ways of Being. You travel in any which direction you choose, through whichever Way of Being you want to focus on. Each of these nine Ways of Being is contained within its own Fibonacci spiral, each connected and part of a bigger interconnected ecosystem. You learn to walk by falling, picking yourself up and trying again and again… and then before you know it, you can run. And leadership is like that too. Fibonacci spirals are omnipresent. They can be seen in the unravelling fern, in the galaxies, in the crest of a wave, in the nautilus shell, and in life’s experiences. The nautilus, a cousin of the octopus, starts life small; it lives in its ever-evolving Fibonacci spiralled shell, and as it grows it builds its shell one chamber at a time. As it outgrows one chamber it moves into the next, bringing its whole being to the next level and then the next level and so on. The chambers that come before are not wasted. In fact, they add to its buoyancy as it grows. Nothing is wasted. Everything is of value and of service. Leadership is the same! © Reproduce with Permission of Samia Shehadeh 2021. Find out more at TheCoachingPsychologist.com & BeingInLeadership.com 27 EXECUTIVE COACHING
28 EXECUTIVE COACHING Systems Thinker Your focus here shifts from internal to systems thinking, although this is still about your inner self. You are mindful of interacting with the larger systems in which you operate and influence—professional life, personal life and beyond—and you appreciate that there are impactful and (im) balancing dynamics across boundaries. Driven by renewed purpose and a valued sense of self, you are willing to explore and interact to push boundaries for the benefit of yourself, others and the systems in which you operate, including the world’s ecosystem and the health of our planet. Collaborative As a leader, you will rarely achieve systemswide outcomes on your own. Instead, you are open, willing and wanting to develop relationships that are cognisant of the various influencing and impacting powers, knowledge and experiences of different people. You appreciate the interconnectiveness of the system(s) and where they fit in. Here, generative collaboration produces a collective intelligence in the system(s) and creates solutions and innovations well beyond what is planned for. Outcome-Driven and Solution Focused You are aware of (possible) problems and work with a desire to focus on solutions. You are motivated to consider outputs and outcomes and use this to harness yours and others’ energies and motivations to action the needs identified, as well as possible needs not yet understood. Leader of Self At the core of the model is YOU, the individual leader and your inner self: your learning mindset, your motivations and how you perceive, experience, think, interpret and interact with the world around you and the systems you operate in. Your desire and mindset to positively impact the systems in which you operate guides you on this journey of development and lifelong learning and selfleadership. You will become more mindful of your inner self and what you stand for, what drives you, what you are connected to, and the impacts your being and doing have. This raised awareness of who you are powers the congruent aligns you to act in ways that are a force for good in the systems in which you operate, including for our planet. Purposeful and Intentional You are motivated and committed to identifying (a) need(s) – This could be at a systems level, team level or individual level. You are intent on setting positive intentions and are willing to create outcomes and consider the results you desire. This, combined with ‘you’ leading yourself, contributes to actions that are more inflow and congruent with who you are. Resourceful – Inner Qualities and Inner Strengths For action to happen, you are prepared to tap into your inner resources of courage, adaptability, autonomy, compassion, self-care and others. This will allow you to behave in desired ways, depending on the situations you find yourself in when addressing your identified need(s). Even if you feel unable to find those resources within you, your willingness to explore different sources and possibly dig deep to locate them will prove critical in terms of impacting the ways you act. WAYS OF BEING IN LEADERSHIP MODEL 9 ever-evolving inner ways of BEING that impact on DOING 1 2 5 3 4 6
29 EXECUTIVE COACHING Decisive You enable yourself and others to harness all the DIFFERENT parts of the model to power the decision making and action. You know and are willing to work with the fact that different situations require different decision-making styles and varying levels of input from people within the system(s) whilst weighing up risks, financials, possible paradoxes and other factors to benefit the system. Clear and Impactful Vast amounts of information need to be managed, processed, made clear and communicated. You purposefully gather information and realise clarity over the value of the information. You seek to share that clarity, in positively purposeful, impactful ways, with others who need it to achieve outcomes. You are aware of the impact of verbal and non-verbal communications and use that to positively and ethically influence. Regulator of Emotions You, as a leader, are the custodian of the emotions in your charge–that includes yours as well as others. In your quest to engage people, consciously and other than consciously, you create psychological safety for people operating in the system(s) you impact. This enables people and the teams you impact to be better equipped to achieve what you and they set out to achieve, and outcomes are delivered successfully and with more motivation and wellbeing. 7 8 9 This framework allows you to tap into your inner self, your inner ways of being and supports you in finding out what is important to you, what drives you. It takes you on an ever-evolving leadership journey. It does not proclaim to structure the seemingly intangible and amorphous self that has been at the centre of philosophical debate for centuries; it merely gives it a (temporary) form so that we can work with and better understand your inner self as it evolves with renewed intention. As you raise your awareness of your inner workings, you begin to feel more aligned with who you truly are, and this congruence changes the way you feel energised and what you act upon. As you explore this more in every domain where you are required to act, more alignment and authenticity ensue and actions flow more effortlessly with integrity. This better understanding of self provides you with a means to gain the ability to lead in ways that remain true to self. It also allows for your energies to be better divested to better support yourself and others to achieve and deliver on the needs of the organisation and the bigger, broader systems. You can expect heightened purpose, productivity, decisiveness, innovation, agility, positivity, happier you and happier stakeholders, increased impact. This energy exudes from you and draws people to you. It engages and inspires others to walk with you, as they sense the congruence, authenticity, purpose and drive in you. And as a result, more agile and adaptable individuals, teams, organisations and outcomes evolve. This leadership evolution creates a space for exploration and conversation—a common language and a personal mindset shaping tool. It is particularly suited to our VUCA world as it creates agility and flexibility with purpose and determination and sustainability, not just for ourselves, but for our teams and organisations. Bring it to life through a curious and inquisitive mind, a willingness to reflect and grow in mindfulness, and in taking the time to do so. Consider its 9 Ways of Being and use it to self-diagnose and develop. Ask those around you for their feedback. Be intentional. Seek a mentor, a skilled facilitator or a leadership coach. Be willing to experience an ongoing journey to accept the stage you are in. In the coming months, watch for my series of questions about each Way of Being. These questions will help you consider aspects of your Ways of Being to reflect and to set intentions, desired outcomes and pathways to act. Alternatively, contact me and let us explore your needs and walk the journey together once we feel we can be true journey companions. Unleash your Way of Being into ethical and worthy causes. Consider your drivers, what’s important to you and to future generations. Use your empowered, congruent self and your privileged position of Being in Leadership to act and fight for our planet and for everyone’s right to live a happy and healthy life within a flourishing world ecosystem in true equilibrium. What’s your evolution and what’s your revolution? And with that challenge, sustain yourself with a coach! I support leaders and organisations to sustain themselves and evolve in their leadership style so they can naturally and organically up their game, deliver and be a force for good. I also support leaders and organisations as they evolve in the current environmental and sustainability revolution. I’d be delighted to discuss how I can support your ongoing evolution with you! You can contact me on Samia@metatonics.com.
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David Galowich Founder of Terra Firma Leadership We sat down with David Galowich, Founder of Terra Firma Leadership, Chairman of 2 Vistage Advisory Boards for Chief Executives and Business Owners, and a Leadership Coach for high performing leaders and teams with Bravanti. Tell us about yourself and your mission. I really enjoy seeing the people around me succeed. As someone who enjoyed participating in sports, but never did excel at individual sports, I had to learn to be a valuable contributor to a team to experience success myself. What I learned in my early years is that succeeding jointly, as part of a team, is incredibly rewarding. My first real taste of this came when I was a freshman coxswain on a university rowing teamwhere my boat contributed to our university winning the Ten Eck (overall) trophy at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association championships. I was fortunate to have an incredible coaching staff that mentored me on the art of leading the rowers in my shell. As a coxswain, it was not my strength pulling on the oar and powering the vessel, my job was to steer, monitor and adjust the stroke rate (think RPM of an engine) of the rowers so that by the time we crossed the finish line 2,000 metres later each team member had used every ounce of energy in their bodies. I would later learn how important my coaches were in developing not just myself and my crew, but each one of our crews, so that the combination would lead to a national championship. The lesson I learned from them I call cascading leadership, they did more than just lead, they taught the coxswains to lead who were then expected to develop leaders within each one of our crews. I have learned since then that in the highest performing organisations, leadership can come from any level when you empower people to act. In those days “Leadership Coaching” was not an undergraduate curriculum that was offered anywhere that I was aware of. It was those early interactions on the crew team that steered me toward crafting my own curriculum by double majoring in Psychology and Communication Arts. The economy when I graduated was not job-friendly for recent graduates (interest rates in the high teens and record unemployment), so I continued to graduate school, obtaining a Juris Doctor degree and practicing law. Less than two years into the practice of law I started my entrepreneurial journey, founding my own law firm, and about 10 years later migrating to running multiple successful businesses. After a few successful exits from those experiences, I decided to dedicate myself to helping create the next generation of high-performing leaders. To shift gears from an executive role to leadership development I enrolled in Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership in 2014 and founded Terra Firma Leadership in 2016. All along my journey, I was fortunate to have great team members who mutually wanted to succeed in a cooperative way. Keep in mind that what I call team members are not necessarily employees or direct reports. On my “team” were mentors, vendors, customers, friends, family and sometimes even competitors. I am grateful for all that I interacted with and the lessons they taught me along the way. You believe that in order to be the best leaders they can be CEOs need to lean into who they really are. Can you elaborate on this? I named my firm Terra Firma Leadership because the most What’s the Connection Between Being Grounded and Being a Great CEO? 31 EXECUTIVE COACHING
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