Wholehearted Leadership Episode 9 – Embracing Failure and Unleashing Innovation with Jeffrey Schwab How should individuals or teams within the organization perceive failure in order to thrive? Is it possible to create a culture in organizations that embraces failure as a part of their innovation process? In this thought-provoking episode of the Wholehearted Leadership Podcast, …
“𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 1.5 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘋𝘢𝘺 1!” A female participant said to me at the end of a 3-day Program I conducted over the weekend. “𝘏𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘊𝘰𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦, 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 …
Beware these 3 Types of Risks of being a Part of an Event Panel and How to Mitigate Them As a speaker coach, I’ve a lot of clients who say to me, “This is not a speech, it’s just a panel, so it should be easy!” I always caution them to think again. You probably …
So we all know what happened at the Oscars. The slap that reverberated around showbiz and media platforms around the world. Initially when that happened, I had several thoughts about it. Why did Will Smith do that? How can somebody with such a clean image tarnish it all in just a few seconds of madness …
Continue reading “Did this “Psychological Bug” Bring Down Will Smith on his Moment of Glory?”
2021 has been a year of tremendous growth. My training business crossed the 10th year mark, and that coincided with the best year in revenue. However, more important than business growth, what really matters is how have I grown as a person? Who I have become through the course of 2021 that manifested the results? …
Continue reading “Powerful Lessons I’ve Learned in 2021 That Will Make 2022 Even Better”
It all started with an idea and great ambition. In 2012, Jamie Koh was a millionaire owner of two successful food and beverage businesses, ‘The Beast Southern Kitchen & Bourbon Bar’ and Chupitos Shots Bar. However, as a proud Singaporean who’s travelled the world, she wondered why there were no locally made spirits in her …
During a recent small group coaching call, a client on the call said exasperatedly, “Coen, I am a creative person. However, most of the time, when I share my innovative ideas with my team, they would often just disagree or be a wet blanket. I am frustrated that they do not understand where I was …
Deep in the middle of the Singapore Botanic Gardens on our morning walk, my speaker business mentor, Avi Liran turned to me and said, “Lead us out to Serene Centre, where we’re having breakfast. You cannot use technology to guide you, you cannot look at the directional signs. I will just follow you, and I …
Continue reading “Powerful Life and Business Lessons I’ve Learned From Walking with my Mentors”
While most people are busy creating their avatars with Facebook’s new feature, I found myself creating an avatar of a different type for myself! Having a lighter schedule this week, I’ve finally had the time to do the one thing I’ve been wanting to do but had to put off – To hire a content …
“Who did you reach out to for help in the past few months?” This was a question that was posed to me by the panel moderator at the Asia Professions Speakers Convention. I was invited to be amongst a panel of speakers on the topic of “Nurturing Relationships in the New Era“ The question made …
Keynote Speaker and Coach
Deputy Director, Academy of Singapore Teachers
Keynote Speaker, HR Summit Singapore 2016 & Raise Your Game Conference 2019
Coach and Start-up Community Advisor, Marketing Professional
Speaker and Trainer on Personal Development
This is an example page. It’s different from a blog post because it will stay in one place and will show up in your site navigation (in most themes). Most people start with an About page that introduces them to potential site visitors. It might say something like this: Hi there! I’m a bike messenger …
Leadership communications during crises can make or break an organization. According to Weatherhead School of Management Professor David Cooperrider, co-creator and creative thought leader of Appreciative Inquiry (AI), “How leaders lead during times of catastrophe has an outsized effect on the future of such things as corporate trust, collective confidence, resilience or brittleness, and strong …
Recently, I celebrated my Birthday, but I have to admit that celebrations took a somewhat low-key tone. Because of the obvious Elephant in the Room World. The world we live in seems to be facing more challenges. If anything, the negativity has been magnified by social media creating an echo chamber where the emotions of …
Continue reading “When Fear and Panic Is Around Us, Let Practice More L-O-V-E!”
“I love that feeling, of looking into the horizon, watching as the waves come towards me, relaxing my body, and paddling to catch the wave, and just being carried along. That moment when I caught the wave, I experienced the surfer’s high!” I sat across the table as I heard my friend gush about her …
Continue reading “This Surprising Skill may just be the Key to Peak Performance”
At the Applied Improvisation Conference, I’ve attended recently, I had the precious opportunity to have a chat with Dr. Thiagi, Sivasailam Thiagarajan as we were walking through the Conference Venue. One of the questions I asked him was “As consultants, business people, we are always looking to persuade and sell more. How can we differentiate …
Continue reading “Rethinking Wealth, Purpose and Change-Reflections from my Recent U.S. Trip”
Recently, I was invited, together with several other facilitators to a preview of a training methodology which the founders were hoping to introduce to Singapore. Towards the end of the session, we the facilitators had several questions for the speaker. However, every time we asked a question, the speaker immediately responded with an answer. I …
Continue reading “Forget Charisma! This Vital Skill Can MAKE or BREAK Your Sales Presentations”
I was feeling lost, demotivated and about to just give up on my goal! Four years ago, I have set out to write a book on Authentic Influence, and that journey tested me to the core. I had to put myself on trial, in order to write on this topic, I must first be living …
Continue reading “This Unsexy Habit May Help You Accomplish More In Life”
Recently, I had a conversation with a friend about social media. He shared that he’s staying away because it is full of noise, distractions and conversations that doesn’t stimulate him. Yet, he also knows that as an entrepreneur, it would benefit him to participate. He said to me in exasperation, “But people have been telling …
Continue reading “My Social Media Resolution for 2019 and WHY You May Want to Adopt It Too!”
You’ve all experienced this before. You’ve attended a great training program, and you’ve learned a lot of useful techniques and skills. You feel all motivated to apply what you’ve learned to your work/business. But nothing happens after that… What happened? People attend training to learn “HOW to”, and as I’ll illustrate in this article, “How …
I tried to speak, but nothing came out from my mouth… How could this be happening to me? I hate this feeling! Yet, there I was, facing my 2 partners on stage, and staring at my fellow classmates, speechless. This was the scene at an Improv Workshop I attended recently in London, and the teacher …
Continue reading “How Learning Improv Profoundly IMPROVED Me”
Eckhart Tolle, in his best seller <<The Power of Now>> started with this sentence: “I have little use for the past and rarely think about it.” He proceeds to explain for few hundred pages on why we only have to focus on the present for our power. I disagree, I believe that our past is …
Continue reading “Your Past Holds More To Your Future Than You Think”
I was stressed! I was recently invited to speak at a Seminar called Raise Your Game. The 18-minute speech I was going to give was a fresh keynote on a topic closed to my heart <<The Authenticity Code>>, which is also the topic I am writing about in my book. Although I have been a …
Continue reading “I was Stressed! Then… I Remembered These Lessons…”
Recently, I was called by a valued client to speak on a very interesting topic “Building Courage for Change.” Like most change management, the client’s company has undergone so many changes it’s causing cynicism among employees. “Another change, we’ve been here before. We all know how that conversation usually go… As I was reading and …
Continue reading “The ONE Thing You Need to Have to Thrive in a World of Rapid Changes”
Two weeks ago, I was conducting a small group communication skills coaching for a Venture Capital Firm. I was sharing about the power of storytelling to inspire, when the director, who’s been seated quietly with his arms folded spoke up. “I’ve heard this done by so many speakers and trainers, the Zero to Hero, the …
Whether you’re the founder of a startup or a self-employed salesperson, you’ll have to tell a compelling story of your business, of why you do what you do. I’m sure you’ve been to a seminar where they teach you to tell your hero’s journey story of how you’ve gone from rags to riches, how you’ve …
Continue reading “Google, Lego, Marriott – Storytelling Lessons from the World’s Best Companies”
A good friend of mine made a very interesting post a couple of days ago. He brought up the conversation of “fate”. He asked us to complete the sentence “I am fated to ______________ (Fill in the blank with common complaint)” That thought-provoking post triggered me to think of the stories I have been telling …
Continue reading “3 Types of Stories We Tell Ourselves That Keep Us Stuck”
I was recently at an industry conference when I witnessed this happened: The keynote speaker gave some statistics from the stage. A panelist going after a keynote speaker pointed out, “[Name] Your statistics are a decade old!” BURN! Okay, in all seriousness, I find the panelist’s comment uncalled for, and discrediting a fellow professional publicly …
Continue reading “This May Be How We’re Unknowingly Scr**ing Up Our Communications!”
The start of a new year, a time when people count down excitedly, pop the bubbly and enthusiastically greet each other “HAPPY NEW YEAR!” hugs, while exchanging hugs. For many people, it’s a new beginning where they renew their commitments, set new goals, and dare I mention the word… Resolutions. Pardon me for my cryptic …
Continue reading “Want to Set Goals That You Can Achieve and Be Happy About? Avoid These 3 Ps!”
I meant well! I have your best interests at heart! I was only trying to do the right thing… Do these words sound familiar to you? Do you think these words? This morning, I was chatting with a real estate agent friend who confided in me, “Coen, I always have my clients’ best intentions at …
Continue reading “When Good Intentions May Not Be Good Enough? Here’s Why!”
Recently, I sat in a talk by a highly respected speaker from the U.S. and the topic was about how small businesses innovate their business practices for breakthrough results. I was rather restless as his speech went on, and I noticed why. His talk was filled with examples from major companies like Google, Apple, and some of …
Continue reading “This is Why the Stories You Tell Don’t Work”
Over the past weekend, my fiancée and I finally made a decision on a hotel for our wedding next year. I have to admit that initially I wasn’t keen on spending time on this decision, simply going with an “Okay” hotel will do for me. I mean it’s just one night in people’s lives, they …
Continue reading “Priceless Sales Lessons I’ve Learnt from Planning my Wedding”
Business leaders and entrepreneurs are very busy people, and they usually outsource or delegate time consuming things like writing. However, there’s one thing that cannot be outsourced, is public speaking, not if you want to be an inspiring leader. The role of a leader of a group is to manage the meaning of the group. …
Continue reading “Five Types of Stories Leaders Tell to Inspire”
Growing up as a quiet boy who struggled to express myself, I had always envied people who were able to speak confidently in front of a large audience. That was until I discovered Toastmasters and developed my confidence in public speaking. I was on a roll! Taking part in speech competitions and picking up trophies …
Continue reading “What a 15-year Old Taught me about Public Speaking”
A client of mine today asked me “It must be so difficult for you as a coach, what if there are clients who are not open, not receptive, or even if they are, they don’t take action? Her comments got me thinking… Indeed, in my line of work, I have come across a fair-share of …
Continue reading “6 Creative Ways People Keep Themselves Stuck – Do you Do Any of These?”
Think about this simple question, if you are to pay good money to buy a service, to hire someone that would do something for you that you cannot do yourself, would you want to hire: Leaders or Salespersons? Yesterday, I finally settled on a package with a bridal studio with my fiancée for pre-wedding and …
Continue reading “Want to Sell More? Then You’ve Got to Start Doing This!”
In my final year in college, I attended a seminar that would change the way I view my life and my place in the world. I was so inspired to be a trainer to make a difference in other people’s lives, that upon graduation, I took on jobs in various training companies. However, public speaking …
Continue reading “How I Overcame My Fear of Public Speaking”
We all want to be better influencers. We continually work on ways to exert our influence, but we regularly fall short. We tell people what they should do. When we see other people acting in ways that don’t make a lot of sense, our tendency is to try to change their minds, to convince them …
Continue reading “This is Why your Verbal Persuasion Don’t Work! And What you can Do!”
Imagine for a moment, what kind of infographics would you be coming across when you think of “Chasing your Dreams”? Most likely, you will see something like someone at the mountain top looking triumphantly at the sunrise… Or maybe a really beautiful graphic of clouds in the sky forming the words “dream”, or maybe something …
You may be an expert in your work, and very competent at it. You may be at home speaking in technical terms about the project you are working on. However, when you’re speaking to your senior management team, or with your clients, speaking in such a way not only confuses people, it can amount to …
Continue reading “4 Ted Talks that you can learn from to improve your Technical Presentations”
As I was preparing a keynote on “Persuasive Speaking” to a group of ambitious and enthusiastic sales people, I pondered about a common remark that people say to me, “You have a way with words!” On the face of it, it’s a compliment that I appreciate greatly, but as I was preparing to teach this, …
“I am a graduate with Masters’ Degree but I have yet to find a permanent job for the past 2 years.” “Our director is a scholarship holder…but he doesn’t know what he is doing.” We have all heard such comments before, be it through the news, through conversations, etc. Evidently, schools have prepared students insufficiently …
You cannot get enough of that person. Your conversations can go on and on, even if it’s about nothing in particular. You find yourselves even completing each others’ sentences. That emotional high that comes from dopamine rush in the brain. You are in Love! However what really makes romantic relationships work? How do intimate relationships …
Continue reading “3 Real Reasons Why We Go Into Romantic Relationships”
I have met many small business owners who are so preoccupied with running their business that they do not see that they are the best spokespersons for their businesses. When they are given opportunities to share what they do, they launch into the details of their business without articulating what specific problems they help their …
Continue reading “3 Reasons why Public Speaking can Supercharge your Business”
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