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

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, we talk about entrepreneurship as a mindset and whether entrepreneurs are born or made. We talk about the transition from a functional or technical role to working with people, which every entrepreneur has to learn at one point. He shares the importance of appreciating people, self-awareness, and to have a healthy relationship with standing out from the crowd.

You can find Karl at the below links

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

In the interview, Karl shares

• Entrepreneurs are born and not made
• You could probably make a natural entrepreneur a little bit better, but I’m not sure you can train them from scratch. 
• My PhD thesis is that, um, entrepreneurism is an undiagnosed spectrum disorder. Uh, a little bit like autism or one of the other, um, psychological trades.
• My parents, uh, my mom and my stepfather, uh, in the end, took three jobs each in order to pay for me to get through school. Um, this led me to really, really want to succeed, but I think I had that natural drive.
• Rubbing shoulders with people that had got lots and lots of money when we didn’t, made me aspire to have more than I would’ve normally aspired for.
• It’s more about appreciating the people that are around you. And it’s definitely about enjoying the. Um, the destination, growing a company and then selling it.
• The growing is where all the fun is and, uh, that’s almost always about the people that you either work with as customers, as suppliers, or as your colleagues in the business. 
• The thing about building a business is always about the people, and you’re gonna need to employ some people that maybe have different skill sets from you and therefore different ways of communicating. But that still means you need them in the business, and you’ve gotta be able to identify your own weaknesses and recruit people that complement those.
• The thing about being an entrepreneur is you really got to believe in yourself. Um, in many ways being a CEO and being an entrepreneur are similar in that they’re both very, very lonely jobs. 

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, we discuss how growth and growing hurts, and why is it important to be aware of that. He also shares the importance of staying balanced and having the support of a coach, and taking small breaks, and taking the right steps at the right moment when it comes to fast growth.

You can find Gernot at the below links

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/gernotschwendtner/
• https://www.wegrow.company/

In the interview, Gernot shares

• Growing hurts. So this is something I think it’s important to accept it and be aware of it. 
• It is important to stay balanced.
• We did one very useful exercise for ourself. We killed the company mentally, right? So we went through that process and said, What if, you know, like what would still be left? And we discovered a lot of network know how, personal assets, experience et, et cetera. So we could easily scale. Again, that set us mentally free and gave me a lot of freedom in saying like, Okay, now let’s buckle down all hands on deck.
• Yoga and meditation help me in a way where I can recognize my own stress level. So I become aware of it and I can try to let it go, or sometimes I need to live through it. And sometimes I had meetings where I need to get up and say, Excuse me, I really have to take a break now. And then I take, uh, five minutes, walk around the block, do the breathing, and then I come back and I say what I did, and we laugh about it.
• I can be like spiralling out of into the future and I’m, or around the other street corner and. I became aware in that moment of a pattern. So this is a strength but also a weakness. So what helps me is I need to have people around me who can help me keep the connection with the team and sometimes shake me and say like, Hey, Gernot um, the team needs that, has those issues, whereas I’m mentally maybe already a year or two years ahead.
• Fear is natural reaction, right? There are also some good things in it, um, in a way. That might make you aware of risks that you were not aware, but fear is one of the worst, uh, counselors if you make decisions based out of fear. They will never, never never be good decisions. You run away from things or you avoid things or whatsoever. 
• What helps me is, um, is a technique that I also learned in the last couple of years is it’s called shadow light on your fears or look at the monster under your bed, right when we were afraid, uh, maybe as kids that there was a monster, your bed, and then maybe our parents put the nightstand lamp and looked with you together.

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

• how often we numb ourselves down. Not to see the pain or the joy. in the person who is right next to us or in front of us. like, how often we numb ourselves to the pain and joy. of our closest friends of our Spouses. Of our. Children or parents. of our team-mates, of the people who report to us, or our own managers and bosses. And to take it a step beyond our customers. Our investors. Any other person, who is a stakeholder in what we are doing on a day-to-day basis.
• We busy ourselves about work about being smart about. Competing. With each other about beating each other, coming one up. About proving ourselves, right. Or proving somebody else wrong. And that we lose touch with what connects us are our hearts. and emotions 
• Because no matter, what you’re doing, the starting place is that connection. Right. The starting place of a family, the starting place of a team of an organization. Or a community. Is that connection? It is through that connection that we build a team. Not through a goal, which we set for the team. The team is created by that. Connection among people. Who can laugh and cry together. And then they can go after whatever goal they want to go. But it is our hearts and our emotions, which connect us as human beings as leaders. 
• And we talk, we plan, we discuss, we analyze, we do all of that. We talk about diversity. We talk about inclusion, emotions, emotional. Uh, intelligence trust relationships. Mental health these days. And yet we forget that trust relationship, inclusion. Empathy. Are all matters of the heart. 
• You cannot plan. Strategize. And analyze and create a trusting relationship. You can not build inclusion and empathy just by planning, strategizing. It is about being human. It is not about being smart. It is not about being intelligent. It is also not about being right. It is about being human. And realizing that we are already connected through our joys, our pains, our deepest desires, what we care about about most deeply. 
• Any result, If that takes you away from being connected as individuals. Then It is going to Impact the result that you are trying to produce. I, because it is so paradoxical that we get lost in the achieving, in the doing of the work that we ignore the foundation of that work. In the first place, which is that connection that we all have, which creates teams relationships. And then even organizations. 
• Whenever we feel whenever you feel, the pain and suffering, or even joy or celebration of somebody else. either sitting next to you or. sitting on another continent, It is a call and a reminder to your humanity. And by extension to your leadership. 
• It is important to move forward. That is what leadership is producing results. But. Not while forgetting that. The foundation of that, of any team, any business, any relationship, any result? Is that connection that we all have; is that emotion, that empathy that we have. And in moments like these, when we are talking about a tragedy
• And this is a wonderful In this case also painful reminder. That we are all connected. Our pain and suffering. And at the same time our joys and celebrations, unites us. That is what makes us human. That is what makes a team, a relationship and organization. And by extension all results. which you have committed to producing as a leader. 

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

• We have the same two choices we can. Uh, we can look down and we can be afraid of falling. Or we can look up. To where we want to go. And. Take a flight.
• Looking at the sky, but not taking the flight. Serves no one. It doesn’t serve me. Doesn’t serve those around me.  Doesn’t serve the companies that I’m working with.
• There’s nothing wrong with it. There’s nothing wrong about it. Uh, feeling fear. There is nothing wrong with wanting security. Uh, but at the same time, it doesn’t help you get where you say that you want to go.
• obviously, in the physical world, we do not have wings like birds. Do. But I am talking from the context of leadership and in the leadership world. We do have wings. And perhaps we have never opened them. Perhaps we have never believed that we can fly. 
• Another way to ask this question. If you had wings, where would you fly to? Or if I stop using metaphorical language and use more direct language I can ask you – If you could not fail. What would you do? Or if you had complete freedom, what would you do?
• it’s not like the bird who flies doesn’t have fear. And it is not like, like the entrepreneur leader who goes after the impossible, and doesn’t have fear. But I don’t think I have been. More fearful. Uh, I have experienced fear more this year than any other year. 
• But at the same time, I have not stopped myself because of the fear. And that’s the difference between fear and courage or the fall or flight like the flight is acknowledging that. You can fall and still. Flying still opening up your wings and flying. 
• And it’s a choice. It’s a choice, what do you trust more? Do you trust gravity more or do you trust your commitment, your skill. That even if gravity wins it’s okay. Like, even if you fall down, you will get back up.

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, Simon spoke about the importance of respecting other people’s opinions, even if they are opposing ours. We spoke about continuously learning, the art form of working with people and building relationships, and how people are always wanting to do good, look good or feel good.

You can find Simon at the below links

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-godfrey/

In the interview, Simon shares

• I’m a serial learner. I love to learn things and read.
• My thirst for knowledge Is really what drives me.
• No two people are the same. People might dress similarly and look similar, but actually their motivations, their backgrounds, shape who they are really.
• People generally have three sorts of main motivators. They either want to do good, look good, or feel good about what they’re doing. 
• I take every interaction very seriously. One should always do one’s homework and make sure that one understand the people you are dealing with, whether that’s governmental, whether that’s political, whether that’s industrial or otherwise.
• You’ve gotta be likeable. I mean, you’ve got to, you know, genuinely show interest. You’ve gotta be inquisitive in your nature and you’ve gotta ask lots of questions that aren’t deeply personal necessarily, but are informative.
• The evidence really matters and being authentic and then saying to people, Here’s my evidence trail or my vapour trail of evidence and things I’ve done. So judge me on that. Don’t just judge me on what we’re doing here right now.
• I write a lot of poetry. Um, and I find it very therapeutic. I dunno, I must, I’m 200 poems some of them are brilliant in my own mind. Some of the just are slightly average, but nevertheless, they’re all heartfelt and they were all written with a purpose in mind.
• I enjoy language immensely. Um, and I enjoy playing with the words. That makes me happy.

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, Andrea spoke about constantly moving across continents and how that has shaped her attitude to flexibility and adaptability. She spoke about a key moment while leading a team at Fresh Direct in which she showed up a leader in an emergency situation. We also discuss confidence, finance, creativity, and storytelling from a leadership perspective.

You can find Andrea at the below links

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-fernandez-coto/
• https://joinvitamin.com/en

In the interview, Andrea shares

• I always had like a very big interest In the world in general.
• I think there are many different things you pick up, uh, when you live in different countries. I think you become very flexible. Um, because, and adaptable, because you have to do it every so often. Um, I think you also, um, learn appreciation actually because you learn to appreciate like the different things in different places.
• because you are faced with making new friendships from start, so, You actually kind of get skills in how to understand people, in how to deal with different kinds of people, obviously languages and the ability, to communicate with people at different levels.
• at the end of the day, leadership is about dealing with people 
• I’m not doing it because I think it’s a fancy thing to do. or a, let’s say timely thing only. It’s like a trendy thing to do, rather, That’s the right word to use. It is a real problem in society. 
• there will always be doubters like, there will always be doubters on anything you do, so you might as well just find the ones that believe in it and go for those and, partner with those people.
• I’m a strong believer that there are new ways of managing and leading than I think the ones that I have seen used many times in my career.
• I’d like to refer you to a professor that I had at Harvard. Her name is Frances Frei, she uses this methodology. It’s a triangle that she says that it is really critical factors in leadership if I remember them correctly. It’s one authenticity two empathy and three logic and basic ability to do what you to do, to execute, to think, to put your mind, uh, and develop interesting solutions.
• I have seen many times when people leave companies and are very destroyed because of management styles, and leadership styles, and I think that’s a pretty bad outcome for an organization. if we would measure things a little bit differently, um, then we would lead differently
•  if you have a person come to work and being fearful, uh, scared about the reaction of the manager or the boss, uh, insecure about what he or she’s bringing to the table, you may not get to listen to really great ideas that can change the outcome of a project, you may not get to experience a great team, an environment that can actually create different outcomes. So I think there’s much more to be done on that side still in the world of business 
• I think children are a great source of creativity and like really, like it almost feels, um, weird, but when you spend time with kids, I think you really. Kind of disconnect from the day-to-day and therefore kind of a new window opens up in your head.

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, Paulina opens up about her mental health challenges and how life has prepared her for what she does rather than any formal education. We spoke about her unusual background, and how she continues to draw lessons and inspiration from that – for herself and others. We spoke about the role meditation plays in her life, and the value of nourishing important relationships.

You can find Paulina at the below links

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

In the interview, Paulina shares

• the biggest challenges for me will always be related to things I care the most about, and that would be my relationships with people that love me and support me.
• when we talk about choosing leadership, I would kind of bring it to choosing inner or self-leadership first. How you want to show up?  Is what you’re doing aligned with your values? 
• And if it is, it almost doesn’t matter whether your message is heard. Two people or 200,000 because that authenticity means everything.
• I totally believe that if you choose to show your authenticity and in your self-readership over and over again, sooner or later the world will pay attention.
• I would say come back to what feels really good in your body. So when you are doing it, it feels meaningful. And after you’ve done it, you get this internal feeling of satisfaction and prioritize these things like taking courage enough to prioritize yourself, your desires, and your passions. 
• Just be prepared for the fact that some people love you, some people will be neutral and some people will hate you. And that is the journey of any person that chooses to be real In the world. 

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, Faisal shares how he himself financed coming to America at the age of 17 from Bangladesh, and the wisdom he learned from his supervisor when he was working as a janitor. He shared the health challenges of his mother and son, and how he derives meaning from what he does. He shared about travelling to Japan and being influenced by Zen meditation – and the role and relevance of meditation for today’s leaders.

You can find Faisal at the below links

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

In the interview, Faisal shares

• The definition of entrepreneurship is at the end of the day. It’s taking care of Your, financial well-being with your own venture.
• Life is a journey and you have ups and down, you have failures after failures, and then you have few successes, and then you have failures. So it’s never like a straight line.
• I’ve always been a dreamer, but I’m pragmatic and now I prepare for the worst-case scenario with a pragmatic mindset.
• You connect with what’s your true calling and try to make an impact. So it’s evolution, and it’s a journey and I, despite the ups and downs, I totally enjoy it. 
• Experience is the best teacher.
• If you want to lift others first you have to lift yourself. 
• Because of technology, today’s also an opportunity to make an impact, to be able to connect with people wherever and able to really take advantage of whatever gift that you may have.
• You can’t follow somebody else’s path. It’s your own unique journey. 
• Inspiration can come from anywhere and everywhere.
• Life is somewhere in between letting it happen and making it happen. There’s a fine balance.
• A lot of people think mindfulness is about – you meditate and completely emptying your mind and you get lost and as a result you connect with yourself. That is a method, that’s a formal method of practising meditation, and then as a result you achieve mindfulness. But, since you mentioned Zen Buddhism, the monks two activities they treasure and practice repeatedly is sweeping and cleaning and cooking. The definition of mindfulness is really just focusing on the present moment.
• Let’s not get confused that you can make things happen without systemic execution. This combination of mindfulness and being empathetic to other people’s needs and where they are, combining those two things, that’s the hallmark of new leadership.
• We have absolutely entered into a creative innovative phase of evolution where mundane work is being taken over by automation and the real value comes from creativity and innovation.
• The best leaders are very mindful and they’re also very empathetic.

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, Colleen opens up and shares about her early fascination with tech and data, and how she has continued to be an innovator. She also spoke about her health challenges and what has that taught her as a leader. We speak about the importance of having hope, facing our own fears,  and the importance of holding ourselves accountable.

You can find Colleen at the below links

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

In the interview, Colleen shares

• Whether it’s the smallest thing in the world or the biggest objective, I think, Learning to have hope and being in that mindset of, I can do this, I see that this can be overcome is a really big part of it.
• I’m so grateful, certainly not for going through difficulties with health, but I’m certainly super grateful for that silver lining of what it taught me.
• Holding yourself accountable is so much half the battle. , Because if you continually hold yourself accountable and end up experiencing success, you’re gonna associate success with holding yourself accountable.
• Having my ups and downs of coping and yet, still being able to go out there. And focus on achieving the overall goal. It was coming not necessarily from this place of confidence, but I  was doing confidence-building things along the way that I think, with that momentum eventually added up to something.
• If you keep your agreement, that’s one thing. But if everybody keeps their agreements now, that’s the story. 
• I think leadership isn’t something with a small l it’s something with a capital L and we each need to figure out what that capital L looks like for each of us. Stepping forward because leadership is not, also not something that comes with the title.

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 our conversation, we spoke about how moving from Macedonia to the UK has shaped her as a leader. We talked about resilience, persistence, and the difficult choice she had to make once she moved to the UK. We speak about how people are often surprised by her determination, and how she has learned to show vulnerability as well as be open to criticism.

You can find Radmila at the below links

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

In the interview, Radmila shares

• Even if you are a successful person at what you did, There’s always something that you can train and do a little bit better.
• If you have a passion, if you have ambition, don’t give up on it. It doesn’t matter when it’s gonna pan out, it will pan out in the end.
• I also show that I’m vulnerable as well. I do mistakes and I honor them, and I also am open to criticism whether it’s negative, positive criticism. I’m open to it.
• I am looking at everyone’s on a level that we are all people, whether we are leaders, whether we are all working together for someone’s objective.
• If there is a friction. You need to work on that section. Never let it go. Never let it just under the carpet because at some point in your life or your working career will come back and bite you.
• I guess the combination of my determination and openness to listen to other people in their opinion, I think that’s the combination that makes me a good leader.
• And I think one of the key things is that also, even if you are in a boardroom and you’re talking to your board and you know that you want to say something, but you are fearing to say that, say it’s better to be said and done rather than keep it to yourself.

   

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, David shares how he grew up with a love for Math and Physics, and how that changed once he started managing people. We spoke about mentoring and coaching, and the important role of emotions and empathy in building strong relationships. He shared an example of how playing football led to a breakthrough in conversation which was not happening otherwise, and that led to an interesting conversation.

You can find David at the below links

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-jayatillake-9962748a/

In the interview, David shares

• A lot of people who go into leadership for the first time still think they need to be firing on all cylinders as an individual contributor as well. And really, once you’ve got a team of three or four, that’s actually the minority of your time, the majority of your time is looking after your team.
• And then, suddenly I’m looking after a team of three or four, and I’ve learned to that I’m supposed to be delegating a fair amount. I think that was helpful for me.
• You need to be doing organizational impact work. And if that’s not there, you begin to feel a bit lost.
• if you’re not involved, you just get isolated. There’s, it’s very difficult.

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, Jami shares about the people who have impacted his journey, the importance of clarity and self-leadership, and how that allows you to move forward with purpose and courage. We spoke about his dreams and ambitions, how he deals with change, and the power of choosing to do something instead of it being an obligation.

You can find Jami at the below links

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/jami-kiran-7a0b1324/

In the interview, Jami shares

• We have to have very good clarity. Clarity is very important and having core clarity helps us to understand who we are while we are, making choices.
• Leadership is part of life, it is not only related to the business layer but also to the personal layer and on the social and civic and every aspect of it.
• Leadership is not only from driving value, it’s also about the identity and also how you advocate your ideas and how you boldly take the decisions and how you stand for yourself and for others, and how you develop and hope you double up and drive the influence, not only with your connection, with your community, but also how you support to build trust, which will act as an enabler.
• Multi-lateral communication is vital.
• Leadership need two things. One is mind and heart, but now it is heart and mind together. 
  

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.

Kevin spoke about the lessons he learnt from that experience, the value of transparency and honesty, and putting people first. He shares his vision for Nostra for the next 10-15 years, while at the same time expressing gratitude to his family and everybody he works with.

You can find Kevin at the below links

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevino11
• http://www.nostra.ie/

In the interview, Kevin shares

• Our key strategy has been getting a customer, look after everything to do with it, including the supply of people, if they’re required and then keeping the customer for as long as you possibly can.
• We very rarely lose a customer.
• I’ve learned that my wife and kids are far more important than any of those things.
• People’s happiness comes from the people that are around them. And one of the things, that I’m blessed with is having a great family, a very supportive wife, and amazing kids who are all flying. 
• Every business is about people and you have to get yourself in a place that you’re in a good place personally. And then you can grow a business 
• The number of times that the directors and the company had to have their salaries delayed for the following couple of years, it was very difficult, but the learning, it was, we learned. How to survive. We learned how to negotiate.  We didn’t lose any people during that period. And, we even had some of the internal staff saying, listen, I’ve got a credit card. If we need to use it to buy things, I had unbelievable support from everybody.
• One of the reasons our accounts were so bad was I wanted to look after the people. So at no point was I gonna let good people go that I cared about, we would carry everyone.
• There are lots in companies that is left unsaid and left undone. And for me, it’s, if you’re not enjoying leadership, there’s something wrong. Go find it, figure it out, have the conversation and deal with things as they come up.
• We said we would get through which we did. And then we’d move on. And that’s something I’m very proud of.
• No matter what challenge or headwind comes out at an organization, there is always a way out.

   

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, she talks about being a women in a male-dominated tech world, and how her mother inspired her to be her own self. We discussed how knowing who you are and trusting yourself first is the key to move forward in a world where you do not feel like you fit in or understand what you are permitted to do. She gave a powerful message of not giving anybody else the permission to make you upset, stressed, or impact your mental health. I loved interviewing her, and I am sure you – the listener – will take a lot away too from this interview.

You can find Nermeen at the below links

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/nermenghoniem/
• https://helloada.ai/

In the interview, Nermeen shares

• I’ve continued to live my life from a very young age being a hybrid between I like to be involved in storytelling and impacting people’s life.
• At the same time, I’m also very much a scientist at heart and to sit down and really nerd out the technologies. So I think  I have always been balancing these two 
• The technology world is very male dominated and I’m also currently based now in Silicon valley and it’s also very male dominated.
• I realized that there is a really big gap in how we communicate these fields to women.
• I want more women in technology and especially more women in AI engineering
• More women are working and more women are taking into leadership positions. And a lot of men are welcoming to it and some are less welcoming to it. But that’s part of the journey.
• Unapologetically, be yourself because I think confidence comes up from within. And you can strongly believe that you are being your best self and at the same time also allow room for constructive criticism.
• I cannot dictate what other people will say to me. I cannot dictate how people feel about me, but I can dictate how I react to it.
• I don’t think it’s worth getting personal
• You can control how things affect you. You can control what you want to hear, and if it doesn’t serve your purpose, if it doesn’t serve your growth, it’s not worth putting your energy in. 
• We become too sensitive as the generation sometimes. And if we consider everything to be a negative message, then we will not grow.
• And if you trust a little bit more, I think you were able to do whatever you put your heart to. 
• You are also much more powerful than you think you are. I think a lot of women sometimes put themselves down and don’t think they’re good enough for the job or good enough to get into the engineering field or good enough to start their dream.
• I can do whatever I want.
• I think people don’t realize that I am a work in progress to get to this place. And there are moments where I feel insecure and where I’m like, I don’t know what I’m doing, where I’m going and it’s okay.

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 our conversation, we talk about nature vs nurture, how we are shaped as individuals, and how growing up in an entrepreneurial family shaped him. He shared a couple of serendipitous moments which have turned out to be instrumental in his journey. We touched upon the important role of meditation in helping him stay balanced as a leader, and how his leadership style has evolved over the years.

You can find Ennio at the below links

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/enniosenese/
• https://twitter.com/enniosn

In the interview, Ennio shares

• I believe that people have to be self-supportive. But if we can’t be, if they can’t be self-supportive, then we as a state or as a society needs need to help those people in moving along.
• There are so many books about leadership. If you have read them all, the risk is that by the end, you still don’t know what leadership is.
• Some bits of an ego you need to have in order to move on because otherwise, it becomes a very passive life, 
• So I’m very grateful for the fact that I’ve been able to fail. On a couple of occasions, which gave me the opportunity to learn and to see that there are better ways to move on.
• I think it’s about balance first thing. So that’s a key word balance.
• In the end, you need to ask yourself, what am I doing? Is that what I’m contributing to? Is that really something that is contributing to, the better of mankind, to improve the world to have some, another type of gold than just purely commercial?
• Those types of existential questions. I think if people would dedicate more time without having their relatives or loved and dying around them but dedicate more time to think about those types of existential questions. I think, first of all, we would live in a better world for sure.
• I always recommend also to people who work with me to do a bit of a retreat for a couple of days in complete silence and just think about, the purpose of life, things that you are grateful for, things that you have experienced, lessons learned, over a period of time.
• I meditate but sometimes events happen. Also, unexpected events, which basically prevent you from, from staying calm because it’s easy to stay calm in a very calm environment where there is no pressure, et cetera, et cetera.
• In the end, it’s always about reflection and the ability to see how unimportant you really are.  at the end.
  

   

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, we speak about how starting JetRockets was not planned but accidental, and why she is running a TEAL self-managed organisation. We spoke about her views on leaders, some of the recent mistakes she had made, and her commitment to her employees was evident from how they moved their employees out of Russia because “it was the right thing to do”.

You can find Natalie at the below links

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/nataliekaminski/
• https://jetrockets.com/

In the interview, Natalie shares

• I had to take a step back and learn to delegate. And to learn to focus on working on the business, not in the business.
• You can accomplish a lot more by being an empathetic leader as opposed to being a demanding manager
• if a mistake is made, it’s okay. It’s a learning, it’s a learning opportunity and I actually encourage my people, my employees, to go outside of their box, their thinking box, to try new things because that’s what contributes to creativity and improvement over time.
• You have to treat your employees as children in a right and you allow your children to make mistakes, and that’s how to learn to walk.
• I’ve learned a lesson never to try and address the issue immediately. So if something were to happen, you gotta take a break of a few minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or even an hour is not going to change anything dramatically in terms of your response, but it will definitely, in terms of your response time, but it’ll definitely have a drastic effect and quality of your response.
• I want to understand what happened instead of coming to that employee and being, How could you have done this? The question is, what do you think went wrong? What could you have done differently?
• If they take ownership, There are two things that happen. First of all, they see that you’re trying to help them grow. Second of all, they remember that lesson and it, they retain it in their mind. So the likelihood of the same issue occurring again decreases dramatically.
• Ultimately your goal as a leader is to build that relationship with your team so that they come to you. It has nothing to do with fear of punishment or repercussion or anything like that.
• We’re business. We’re not an army.
• So it’s my job to serve them, to empower them to then service our clients, which in turn helps me accomplish my goal of building a, larger and more successful organization.
  

   

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, Tauseef opens up about the very personal loss of his mother and cousin and how that inspired him to start a company to make healthcare easier to access for people from their homes. The conviction in his voice, despite all his challenges, was very strong and decisive, and that is a lesson in the embodiment of a purpose for anybody listening.

You can find Tauseef at the below links

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/tauseefahmad1/
• https://sprintmedical.in/

In the interview, Tauseef shares

• We have a great mission. And that mission Is the only fuel that we have right now. 
• I am changing The culture and the standard of healthcare in, especially in my community. And I think I will continue to do that. No matter 
• Capital deprived? Yes, we are. Are we worried? No, we are not
• My biggest fear is if you raise venture capital dollars, okay. And five years down the line, I will. I’m sure that we will be very valuable. Okay. And there would be times when people want to acquire us. People wanted to change the direction that we are presently in right now.

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, he spoke about growing up in Iran and the importance of a multicultural approach to leadership today. We talked about the role of chance and serendipity in our journeys, the new skills required when any individual contributor grows to be a manager, and the importance of balance in life.

You can find Shahram at the below links

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahrammaralani/
• https://www.amazon.com/Shahram-G.-Maralani/e/B08FCN8GFN

In the interview, Shahram shares

• The balance between taking the opportunities as they unfold, But also planning your career properly is quite important in shaping a successful career. 
• You will never be a hundred per cent correct. Maybe you are only 50, 60% correct. But being able to assume how people perceive how people are seeing their own situation and what are their opportunities and challenges is quite important as an authentic leader. 
• Culture is like the operating system of our brain
• On the other hand, the operating system, which is loaded in our body, which is our culture and the way we grow up and what we experience in life shapes most of who we become as a person, as a professional, but also as a leader.
• But I think in, as a leader, if you want to be successful, maybe the exact opposite is the honest advice because you need to a bit dismantle yourself from the culture you belong to and analyze the situation with the different views you have. 
• And as a leader, you need to understand that and be flexible and allow people to basically express themselves properly.
  

   

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.

Vinod shares in the interview how he and his wife started a coffee house in 2015 to provide a sip of happiness to every customer, and to enhance the experience around coffee. He shares how they navigated covid and are now looking to expand, and how they have leveraged technology during covid. He also talks about caring for people and building a team on a solid foundation of values.

You can find Vinod at the below links

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/kvinod77/
• https://www.vinodkumar.me/

In the interview, Vinod shares

• We knew immediately that was the first opportunity that we gotta pursue it. So we put our eggs in that basket and we went forward with it.
• It took me five years to find the connection and when I found it, It clicked immediately because we were then able to leverage my background.
• Most business schools don’t necessarily focus on running a small business. This is what we realized.
• only when you make an attempt to actually get closer to the customer, understand the customer, you understand the challenges in it and the actual value of why it is so important.
• We never thought we will be delivering a cup of cappuccino. Pizza is one thing. But delivering a cappuccino is a totally different problem that we never thought we’d be delivering a cappuccino, but now we do. 
• In hindsight, everything is easy and clear, but when you’re going through the process it’s a mess.
• The second thing that motivates us is we feel like we need to take care of the people That work for us. And it’s important to take care of them because quite literally, their livelihood is dependent on the business.
• an entrepreneur needs to be very comfortable with ambiguity. I think that’s the thing. You have to be comfortable with ambiguity and you have to be comfortable with things going wrong and things not going according to plan. 
• And you have to know what the non-negotiables are, You have to pick the right fight, cuz when things go wrong and you have to fight the circumstances, it’s easy to lose energy.