Kicking off the series of podcasts all about 'Self help Classics', put together by @Tom Butler-Bowdon, is James Allen with As a Man Thinketh. He is not the first to say that we are can be the master of our thoughts but he says it eloquently and is often quoted. Listen to this short introduction to the book which I hope will either move you to read it, or if you already know you can master your thoughts you move onto 'how can I do that?'.   

Hello everyone Ready to listen to the latest episode of The Leadership Woman podcast? I have put my head above the packing cases for a while to give you an update of what is happening in my life and introduce a new series looking at self help books over the years.  I am calling it the GOLDMINE series and I wish I could coin a different phrase other than 'self-help' because that implies we are below par.  However, all of the books I will talk about will come from a more positive perspective of unlocking possibilities to be even more capable and successful! Have a listen and make sure you click on the like/subscribe button in order to be notified of the next episode.    

Episode 60 of The Leadership Woman podcast and I am thrilled to have interviewed one of my mentors and a great coach, Ed DeCosta. I met him in 2012 when he was working as a Faculty member for the John Maxwell Team and even though we haven't met for about 7 years, he was so easy to talk to and we had a good conversation. So good in fact that I had to break this into a few podcasts! Here is the beginning where he talks about being called 'smart' at school and being upset that that meant more work not less!:-) For the people in the Aspiring Leaders group, this is the "Plan the Work: Work the Plan" guy that I promised you.

The latest podcast interview is here! Many people in Luxembourg will have met Orsolya at the beautiful office solutions space - Gingko. Few of you will know how she came to be in Luxembourg in the first place.  She just came for a holiday when she was 19 and an accident confined her to a hospital bed for weeks.  Hear how she turned that experience into a positive life and how Luxembourg became her home.  

Here is the latest episode of The Leadership Woman podcast with the Head of Behaviour Change at SUSTRANS in London, Ruth Chiat. What would it take to get you to move from your car to a bike? How hard would it be to make that change?  It's more than supplying more bikes to rent, you have to change hearts and minds and remove barriers. Listen to Ruth's journey from quiet school girl to passionate activist and finally working to make change from within communities. I am even considering having another go at learning to ride a bike!  

Listen to the latest episode of The Leadership woman podcast! This is quite a personal one as I have had a few weeks of radio silence and here I explain what I've been doing and the gifts I have found.  Also excited about guests I have lined up in the next few weeks!

Episode #56 of The Leadership Woman Podcast! I met Jess Majekodunmi some years ago when she was brand strategist for Girl Effect in Ethiopia, trying to impact the lives of 14 year old girls. She is now Director of the Human Science Studio of Accenture based in The Dock, Ireland and she got there by taking on roles she had never done before and being a beginner in the room. She also works with leaders to ask different questions. Not the usual 'how can we?' but asking 'should we....?'  For example, should we automate this activity? Listen as she talks about growing up in England with Nigerian and Irish roots and how she learned to accept that there are many ways to be creative.

I thought a lot this week about what could I speak about as we all try to understand and manage what is happening in the world. I have been in many conversations this week and people wanted to talk about the events and their effect. As well as directly affecting Ukrainian people, Russians who I know in Europe are being treated differently and sometimes blamed for Putin's actions. In the end, I decided to mention The Gift by Edith Eger, an Auschwitz survivor who spent decades feeling guilty for surviving when others didn't. I think many of us are feeling sad, helpless and guilty that, by and large, we are fine. Our lives are continuing and we can still enjoy life. Listen to my thoughts pulled from Edith Eger and Shirzad Chamine's book Positive Intelligence as I explain why we need to keep ourselves positive and energetic more than ever. It is not a time to wallow in negative thoughts. They help no one. In times like these, we want to be around hopeful, passionate and probably humorous people who keep our spirits up. What I want for us all is to strive to be those people. Thank you for reading and listening.

Et voila! The latest episode of The Leadership Woman podcast. I have been going through John Maxwell's 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth with the Aspiring Leaders Group and thought I would share my thoughts on the law of Environment. You (like an acorn) can only thrive if you are in the right place. Have you known people who do really well in one team and then when they transfer, they seem to go downhill fast? Or maybe you have had that, or the opposite, experience?  It is all to do with the Environment, particularly the people around you. Listen to the 33% rule and decide which 33% are you in? And as important, which 33% are the people you surround yourself in?

A week after International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, I spoke to Myriam Mhamedi to discover what led her to her role in End FGM EU. Born in France and raised between there and Morocco, she talks about the challenges and gifts of being part of two cultures and how they shaped her. Talking about FGM, she says 'everyday people are the ones who are going to change the world'.

Today in The Leadership Woman podcast, I am back to my theme of personal growth and give a quick outline of what I am doing at the moment. Curiously, I forgot to mention my daily Positive Intelligence (PQ) practice which tries to reduce my saboteurs.  The rest is here though. I mention the two weekly leadership groups; the Influencers and Aspiring Leaders, who make what I do all worth while.  What are you doing that will change your life for the better? Have you set the intention?  To quote the ever quotable John C. Maxwell: "Change is inevitable, growth is optional"

A fascinating podcast in which I had my preconceived notion of Siberia challenged:-) Listen to Evguenia Jeitz as she explains how an exchange programme, fully funded by George Soros some years ago, took her to the USA for a year. Far from being a waste of a year which would delay her career, it was the springboard to her moving on into Europe; Paris first and now Luxembourg. If you need inspiration to change direction and follow your interests, this is the podcast for you.    

As this is the 50th episode, I thought no one would mind if I hogged it and talked about 4 things I learned when I was an employee. 1 Promotion is the only way to develop 2 You don't have a right to a career 3 Leaders come in all shapes and sizes 4 You need to be INTENTIONAL to get different results I will begin a new Mastermind Group on the 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth in February. One hour a week for 5 weeks on Saturday. There are people signed up from Iceland to India (a real stretch of timezones). Let's have a chat if you want to know more or send me a message.

What a way to begin the New Year.  Let's all expect 2022 to be our best year yet! And to get us in the right frame of mind, here is my great friend, Fabiana Mariano Green, talking about her life that began in Brazil, took her to many other countries and now happily settled in Geneva, Switzerland. Hear how a career path can not only go sideways, there are times you have to take a step back to get realigned with who you are. If you want to know more about her, here is her website https://www.leadinlife.com/company/  

We have come to the end of the year for guests and what a note to finish on! I had the privilege of meeting this young man soon after his arrival in Luxembourg.  He asked if he could join a Mastermind group I had advertised on Meetup as he wanted to learn to be a leader.  Although he struggled with the language, he showed up every week, determined to learn. He had decided not to be a refugee who complained, he wanted to integrate into the country that accepted him.  He began to advocate for other refugees and began an association that reached out to other nationalities of refugees. The association also gained money from Mateneen and they trained 400 refugees in the importance of having a calm mind. Listen to his promise to his girlfriend when he had to flee. Worthy of a line in 'Last of the Mohicans!'

We have reached almost one year of The Leadership Woman podcast and I have loved every interview. Listen to Episode 47 with an inspirational young leader, Joy Bonsu Schmutz, who asks herself what are the problems that she can bring solutions to. And at the same time, how does she make those solutions sustainable in a human way? She uses technology to scour the internet to pre-empt possible human trafficking, for example. One thing she said stayed with me. If we don't end treating women as a commodity to be sold, a generation of children like hers may grow up with the wrong perspective of women. That is not the way to be sustainable. Listen to how she takes various ideas and 'just starts!' https://abeyiestudios.com/ Traffik Alert www.traffikalert.com  

Latest episode of The Leadership Woman podcast with Darren Robinson and it is easy to see why he is in the top 100 expats in Luxembourg! He takes us from his fun childhood in Leamington Spa to his career shock in 2018 which pushed him to set up Anderson Wise.  He credits his success to the people around him and is honest about his change of heart over remote working since the pandemic forced change onto us all. We had fun recording it as you will hear from the outtakes :-))  

Latest Episode of The Leadership Woman Podcast! I was curious to know what inspired this well-educated young woman to return to her native Albania and do her best to make a difference. Listen as she describes her family's journey across mountains to Greece when she was 4 years old after traffickers who they trusted stole their papers. We often find it hard to put ourselves in the shoes of people who lost everything and stories like this matter. Anxhela used her experience to go back to her native Albania and see what good she could do, rather than follow the path she was on. Inspiring woman.  

What a treat for the latest episode of The Leadership Woman podcast! If you have a soft spot for a Scottish accent it is an added bonus.  Neil Cocker of Vodafone and Tomorrow Street talks about his early life in a castle (I kid you not), which ignited his imagination. He mentions various roles which created his 'messy CV' and how he fits his novel writing into the hectic world of innovation. Have a listen!  

Welcome to The Leadership Woman podcast! Episode 43 was inspired by a workshop I gave for #Empowerfull on Saturday - a non profit in Albania working to benefit women and girls, founded by the inspirational @Anxhela Bruci. I paused to reflect on some of the skills I have developed over the years that enabled me to give the session.  As you listen, think of the different parts of your life and what you learned. What did you bring with you on your journey that was the most useful? How did you add skills together to create something different that you originally didn't know you could do?