January 2023

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the interview, Marc shares his background and how he got some early wins which build confidence very early in his career. He also shared how he now pays it forward by helping those on his team get some early and easy wins. We also talk about the importance of celebrating small wins, measuring the process, the role of honesty and transparency in leadership, and why change is often hard but not impossible.

You can find Marc at the below links

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcmunier/

In the interview, Marc shares

• If you trust people with the information, nobody judges you.
• Celebrate the small wins. Celebrate the stages towards the end objective
• I’m a fundamental believer in the goodness of people. So I believe that people given the right information will make the right choice
• I always say that you can change behaviours, but you can’t change nature.
• As a citizen, we’ve got a responsibility to do more and so to help combat the effects.
• The way that I cope with that stuff is I kind of think worst-case scenario. So I go, Well look, if I in option A, if I carry on doing this and it completely implodes. You know, probably not gonna starve. I’ll have to go get another job, which will hurt my ego. But I’ll probably be. Um, but I would’ve done my best, I suppose.
• I love a soppy movie or a soppy series.
• If people aren’t willing to accept you for the way that you are, then that’s just kind of okay. That’s their problem
• I’m a massive believer in getting outside and just kind of breathing the air, getting away from the city
• Your brain needs that time to relax.

This is the Can’t Stay Silent series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

For most of my life, I have kept my voice buried beneath layers of fear and insecurity. In each episode of this series, I will find the strength to express myself from the bottom of my heart.

These short episodes will be filled with honest reflections, simple stories and metaphors, and some gentle provocations – all to help you Deploy Yourself in your own life.

Together, we’ll discover how we can create a world where all of us can show up as leaders. So, if you are ready to allow the leader in you to bravely listen to my call of leadership, join me on Can’t Stay Silent.

You can find more about me & the Deploy Yourself School of Leadership

• https://deployyourself.com/
• https://www.deployyourself.com/podcast/
• https://deployyourself.com/newsletter
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/sumit4all/
• https://twitter.com/sumitgupta4all
• https://www.youtube.com/@leadership-sumit
• https://www.tiktok.com/@sumitguptacoach

Show Notes

•  life Is the balance. between making things happen. And letting them happen.
• The moment we try to force or the moment anybody, or anything tries to force something. It creates friction.
• Nobody likes resistance. When we push people, they push back. 
• We can create anything which we are creating as leaders with or without force. And that is something I think, which is the balance between making things happen and letting them happen. 
• You cannot force music. You have to let it flow.
• If a musician is trying to force. The music. Or if a singer is trying to force the singing, it loses its beauty.
• Trying to control something or somebody’s always create friction because it is not natural. 
• You must learn to use the right leverage at the right time. You must learn to use the right action. At the right time. Or do the right thing. At the right time. Which is not forcing against anything, which is natural.
• You cannot force yourself to fall asleep. Now sleeping is as natural. As it can be. Everybody sleeps. But you have to let yourself fall asleep. Everything else works the same way.
• It doesn’t mean that you do not do anything or it is wrong or bad to do something. But you identify actions, would you use leverage or which flow with the natural flow of things and then you take them.
• And it is only when you stop trying to go to sleep, that you can fall asleep. And it is only when you stop trying to play. Beautiful music that the beautiful music. Can actually flow or happen through you. The best musicians are not who can play the fastest or the most number of hours in a day. The best are those who let the music flow through them. And let their action and their bodies be guided by that flow.
• Just because letting anything be or letting something happen is so uncomfortable for us to be there with our own self in silence and solitude. That we try to fill that gap with forcing something and that creates a  whole lot of problems on the outside.
• It is only in silence and in solitude with yourself that you can understand. What is yours to make happen? What is it that calls you? And what is it that deeply matters to you? 
• we can let go of wanting to be somewhere else. Where we are right now. Right. The whole point of music. Is what you are listening to right now, not what you are going to listen to five seconds or five hours in the future. The whole point of dancing is the dance itself. Not to get somewhere else.. So wanting to be anywhere else is forcing an idea. 
• this is a paradox, right? By trying to make things happen. We actually make it difficult for them to happen. 
• Stop taking things too seriously all the time. And it is only by stopping to take something too seriously that we can be serious. About doing the best that we can in any given moment. 
• For your commitment to be strong. You have to hold it firmly, but not too tightly. 
• There is no forcing or pushing when you’re fully committed to something. Your commitment has its own flow. Once you commit to something, it has its own flow. Just like everything else in nature. 
• We forget that work can be musical too, because work is nature and nature is musical just by its own nature. We forget that politics can be musical too. We forget that the biggest debates or social issues of our time. Can also be like music and nature. 
• Let it happen. Learn to use the right action at the right time. Learn to use the right leverage. At the right time. 

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the interview, Ian shares multiple stories about the lessons he has learnt as a leader. We talk about getting fired from multiple roles and how that shaped him as a leader. We speak about the difference between hiring the best people and getting the best out of people, and how he found out that everybody expects respect first of all from their leaders and organisations.

You can find Ian at the below links

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianfishwick/

In the interview, Ian shares

•  I believe that you don’t train people by sticking them in a classroom
• And I think people make the mistake of saying, let’s hire the best people. I get that everybody wants the best people, but what I say is, get the best out of people.
• We all have bad days. Let’s not pretend that I’m fantastic and I’m fantastic every day. It’s a bit like being a footballer. It doesn’t look like that. You need constant motivation and help, so the same people can be good, better an average. 
• I feel good about what I do, I’ll probably do a great job
• keep it really simple. Treat other people the way you want to be treated yourself, and you’re not gonna go very far wrong.
• those who get into management positions who then start to love the authority of it. You’ve lost it, you’ve lost it completely. 
• the higher you get in an organization, the more likely there are to be restructures

   

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the interview, Philip shares his background in statistics and finance, and how that allows him to be a better entrepreneur.  He also shares how being the youngest of five boys while growing up in his family has helped him have a high-risk tolerance and a spirit of competitiveness. We also spoke about the challenges that come with a startup growing very fast, and how he likes to run to calm and clear his system of stress to be able to make sound decisions.

You can find Philip at the below links

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnstonphilip

In the interview, Philip shares

• The essence of finance is predicting the future.
• I would say that I have an extremely high-risk tolerance. 
• Growing fast is stressful, but it’s also very exciting.
• What I do is I try and run on the day that I’m having the mania so that it kind of clears my system of these like endorphins
• I’m quite into standup comedy and podcasts
• Standup comedy makes you about 500 times better at public speaking.
• You can hack this whole entrepreneurship game. It doesn’t need to be as hard as it looks

   

This is the Can’t Stay Silent series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

For most of my life, I have kept my voice buried beneath layers of fear and insecurity. In each episode of this series, I will find the strength to express myself from the bottom of my heart.

These short episodes will be filled with honest reflections, simple stories and metaphors, and some gentle provocations – all to help you Deploy Yourself in your own life.

Together, we’ll discover how we can create a world where all of us can show up as leaders. So, if you are ready to allow the leader in you to bravely listen to my call of leadership, join me on Can’t Stay Silent.

You can find more about me & the Deploy Yourself School of Leadership

• https://deployyourself.com/
• https://www.deployyourself.com/podcast/
• https://deployyourself.com/newsletter
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/sumit4all/
• https://twitter.com/sumitgupta4all
• https://www.youtube.com/@leadership-sumit
• https://www.tiktok.com/@sumitguptacoach

Show Notes

• Can we get on the same side and talk about the challenge together, rather than sitting on opposite sides of their table and holding, holding onto our positions? 
• And I think what leads us to hold onto our positions is our fear of failure – that we do not want to face that we can fail, and that fear of failure leads and keeps us stuck in these endless conversations.
• Simply because of the fact that we are unable to deal with that we might fail, it leads to a mess on the surface. 
• There is nothing wrong with being scared of losing a position or disappointing those who support you but it keeps you away from playing fully on the outside. It keeps you away from having the real conversation on challenging yourself and others as well and talking about real stuff rather than getting lost in intellectual conversations.
• If you practice any martial art you will know that, uh, hesitation will get you killed. if you practice any sports. Hesitation will make you lose. , but this is what we are doing. our fear of failure and inability to deal with the mess inside is suffocating us from the inside, but also keeping us stuck on the outside.
• There’s nothing wrong with being scared and terrified, but to hide it, to not be okay with it is taking us nowhere.
• I must say I was terrified and I still am, but I’m not afraid of acknowledging it. I’m not going to let it stop me. I’m not going to let it hold me in a position and not see things from the other side as well. And I’m, I might fail as an entrepreneur. I might fail as a professional, I might fail in my career as a CEO, I might fail as a coach, as a father, as a husband, as a parent, as a friend, I might fail. But so what? I mean there is, there’s a world beyond I, right?
• I might fail, but what is better is playing a half-life is that acceptable? Certainly to me, it is not
• We would all be crawling if children would behave as adults behave. These days. If children would be afraid of falling, we would all be crawling
• This is how you get to any success, not by trying to be safe and hesitating, but by being fully willing to fail. The way you get to success is not by trying to be safe and hesitating but by being fully willing to fail, fully willing to fail is a precondition for your full commitment to whatever that you’re trying to achieve.
• Otherwise, you are always keeping one foot behind.  and you cannot take a leap of faith. You cannot take a jump if your one foot is still on the ground.

   

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the interview, Steve shares how travelling around the world as a child has shaped him into a curious and open person. He also spoke about the challenges of working with people of different cultures and how he learned to compromise and look for win-win solutions, and yet doing that without compromising on his foundational set of values.

You can find Steve at the below links

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevemidgley/

In the interview, Steve shares

• I was blessed to work on every, literally every continent of the world.
• Fortune had favoured me and I didn’t have any debt in my life.
• I’m a straight shooter. I’m very, you know, I believe authentic and transparent
• You have to be prepared. To stand up for what you believe in
• Sometimes you have to stick to your principles and it might mean that you have to step out, and that’s not pleasant, right? But that comes with the territory.
• You have to be extremely resolute and resourceful and make sure that you’re managing your own energies
• I have a personal dream, uh, to build a charity that will fundamentally change underprivileged children’s lives.
• I think navigating, uh, the ambiguity at the moment is extremely challenging.
• You’ve gotta let your team see the human side of you, uh, as much as possible.

   

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the interview, Marius shares about his childhood and how growing up in a family of 6 siblings set him up for learning continuously and leadership. We also spoke about the very critical role of purpose to keep everyone together in an unpredictable environment.

You can find Marius at the below links

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariusciavola/

In the interview, Marius shares

• Coming from a considerably large family, you can imagine that I had to fight for what I wanted or what was ours
• I’ve learned that the best way to learn is actually to teach
• When you create that environment people will not shy away from speaking their mind
• you’re entering an area of unknowns and you’ve gotta be comfortable with the uncomfortable
• you’ve gotta have trust in yourself and trust in the people that you are surrounded by
• What keeps us together is that common purpose
• The fear comes when you have an environment that’s commanding and controlling
• We don’t fail twice on the same thing. We don’t make the same mistake twice
• Some of the challenges we face are also self-inflicted
• You need to say no to so many things more often than you say yes to. But those things that you say yes to, you know you wanna do them really well, and that will help you stand out 
• I prefer to be the serving CEO than the commanding CEO.

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In a very candid and honest conversation, Bharani shares his life and how we wanted to shape his own destiny – even as a child. We spoke about growing up seeing your parents struggle, and how that teaches you to make the best out of what you have. He also shares how entrepreneurs must learn to change and shape their role as the company grows.

You can find Bharani at the below links

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/bharanidharanviswanathan/

In the interview, Bharani shares

• Somehow in my childhood days, I got this inspiration and deep motivation to shape my own destiny.
• my only philosophy to make the best out of what you can
• whatever you have, make the best out of it. when you don’t have much privilege and opportunities, you have to learn to make the best out of it and accept what you have.
• when you come from a lesser privileged background and when you suddenly get into a world full of opportunities and life, you will be overwhelmed. Um, and it’ll not be easy to adapt.
• You don’t have to do everything in one stretch
• you have to let go of a few things so that other people can take it forward and run while you can focus back and, uh, look at the big picture and take your time. So, it is very counterintuitive. It is not easy for people to let go
• it’s a very difficult journey to go through, you know because you will have an innate fear that, uh, nobody in the company will be able to operate at your level, right? As a human being. Most of us fall in that trap. Uh, but it’s important to realize that, et cetera. Otherwise, you are on a treadmill constantly. 
• It’ll be uncomfortable, but please go through it.
• I have invested in myself to understand more about myself. 
• I completely agree with this because money and title are hygiene, but people want purpose and culture and values beyond that.
• it’s important that you have some breathing space to reflect upon what is happening, otherwise, you are constantly Reacting to the world.
• Don’t worry about the outcome because you are given everything. The best will happen. Trust the process.

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the interview, Thomas very humbly shares his experience as an employee and how his journey to CEO has been. He talks about his family, balance, and a very different look at leadership. I am sure everybody who listens to this will be left deeply touched and moved.

You can find Thomas at the below links

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-van-eeckhout-b0b9ab2/
• https://easi.net/en

In the interview, Thomas shares

• I joined the company back in 2006 as an internal sales officer and made my way throughout the organization and took on the role of CEO three years ago. 
• I noticed that the more ambitious I was, the better my results became so, so quite fast. I started to work quite hard. Um, and I still believe that if you want to achieve something, you have to put in, you have to put in the work so that there is no secret 
• We really have a default YES Culture, whereas I think most of the companies have a default NO culture.
• we allow people to take ownership over their career and they can basically chase their dreams. And that’s something what I had the opportunity to do as well. 
• We need to create a context where people can be successful, a context, where people can actually be happy at work. 
• They have to have a vision. Um, we have to. Indicate where we want to be next year in three years, in five years and in 10 or 15 years
• It’s 50% or even more 60 or maybe 70% is about communication. You need to repeat and repeat time after time again. What we want to achieve, who we want to be as a company, why we want to do what we are doing where we want to end up with that strategy becomes more and more important.
• We need to have, as a company, we need to have a personality. People, both potential customers and candidates, people that, that might come to work with us. They really have to feel in what way we are different from other companies.
• We have 115 shareholders, 115 colleagues who are working at Easi that have decided to invest in the company, to basically become a co-owner of the company, which is something we want to continue. 
• The main challenge is to stay true to who we are
• I want every colleague. Who joins us needs to strengthen the culture we have. I want to be I want to have a company with the strongest culture possible. I want that or my dream is that  That’s the reason our customers have to work with us because they feel the difference 
• It’s about consistently putting our words into practice. We really need to practice what we preach
• I’m a father of two daughters. And it’s my responsibility to raise them as the people that I want them to be, um, in this world. And in order to do that, I need to balance Easi with the time I spend with my family and doing the things that allow me to do those first things in the best way possible. So I need to make sure that I sleep enough, that I do enough sports, that I remain, uh, healthy and fit as well.
• I believe culture can be managed. It can it, it should be managed.
• I might be a CEO at Easi. Whenever I’m at home  I forget the CEO part and I’m just doing whatever my girls want me to do. . Um, so I’m not very I don’t have much authority at home. I basically just try to raise. I try to raise girls that I’m proud of.
• The way I see it, the CEO is not the most important person in the company. That is, uh, that, that’s something that I’m very much convinced of.
• Whenever I experienced pressure, it was always pressure that I invented myself