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A lot has happened in the past few years since my book, We’re Really All In This Together: Creating a Team Culture of High Performance, Trust, and Belonging, was first published in the spring of 2020. I completed the manuscript for this book (which was just released this week in paperback) at the end of 2019. I […]

Think Yourself Thin reaches no.1 Best Seller rank on Amazon VANCOUVER, July 19, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ – Nathalie Plamondon-Thomas, inspirational speaker and Life Coach, tops Amazon.com bestseller lists with her new book Think Yourself Thin. In Think Yourself Thin, Nathalie combines her experience in life coaching, fitness, nutrition and Neuro-Linguistic Programming into a system that shows you how to reprogram […]

Thinking of Self Care When Burned Out as i was Heading to Dallas from Kansas City recently, I heard the familiar tone of the voice over the intercom start up: “Ladies and Gentlemen, we’ve got a full flight to Dallas today…” Travel is BACK and flights are almost always full again, so I couldn’t be […]

Speakers in the virtual space during this pandemic we have heard the word pivot frequently. And now it’s typical to hear phrases like “all Zoomed out”. In the world of events and training we are seeing a mixture of virtual, hybrid and face to face. No one expected this pandemic. While we continue to navigate […]

Kevin Gaskell seems to be meeting more and more people in business at the moment who are concerned that the economy is a bumpy ride and unpredictable.  You can certainly feel a lot of turbulence in the air; Brexit, Trump, FX rates, inflation, Russia, Middle East, fake news etc. The truth is that if you […]

Last month Renias and I helped a game reserve start a leopard habituation project in the Waterberg and here is my MESSAGE FROM A WILDEBEEST. A Tracker Academy project to track, find and form relationships with leopards. For the benefit of ecotourism lodges in the area. During the day we tracked leopards. In the evenings, […]

Lift as You Rise is Bonang Mohale’s book, published during his tenure as CEO of Business Leadership South Africa. He is a highly respected South African businessman, who is known as much for his patriotism and his active role in seeking to advance his country’s interests as for the leading role he has played in […]

I attend a lot of WHY EVENTS MUST ALWAYS HOST all over Australia as a professional speaker and I have noticed a trend of WHY EVENTS MUST ALWAYS HOST WELCOME TO COUNTRY. When events are hosted by government, they are always opened with a Welcome to Country from a local indigenous person. At the very […]

This season is all about being thankful, even when you have nothing to Using Thankfulness as a Core Value. If your current situation doesn’t reflect the ideal person and/or life you want, it may be difficult to stay positive. However, when you look at everything you do have, as opposed to what you don’t have, […]

The key to unlock your personal POWER OF SELF-DISCOVERY lies in your identity, it all begins and end with you. Your Identity is your authority. Your life is the fruit of your identity. Success therefore begins with you! During my preparation of the 2nd installation of the #BIOConnect Vision Crafting and Strategic Planning Webinar that […]

Defining great brand values: Five practical pointers A surprising number of brands have values that are about as useful as a chocolate fireguard. Seriously. They do. Unfortunately, this only becomes apparent when brands try to bring their values to life via the experiences they want to build. Things grind to a halt because their brand […]

I once met this old man, whilst traveling. I guess as a tourist, anything goes. Owning your presence … by Lizette Volkwyn   His coat was tacky, his hair in desperate need of grooming, and his age betrayed by his body…but something pulled me back, calling me to start a conversation with this stranger.   […]

This post has taken me almost 8 weeks to think about posting, client is always the client. I have started to write and then, delete — delete — delete. Leave it for a few days and try again, but still my anger and emotions take over as I have tried to construct a well thought-out […]

I was fantasising about a new Outlook feature today. No really, I  am that sad! Here was my fantasy, Stop inviting everyone whenever you create a new meeting event, there is a little box showing the estimated meeting cost. This cost should double as you double the length of the meeting and also double when […]

As Gerd often says that we keep asking the wrong question i.e. ‘what will 2022 bring?’ Instead, we should ask ‘what kind of future do we want?‘ This is a key point Gerd also reiterates in his year-end interviews; below. The Hong Kong Economic Journal, asked Gerd to talk about the future and what’s happening in a […]

Are you hiring employees of the past or employees of the future and Do You Need People Analytics? How we think about employees and what they value has changed drastically over the years. Decades ago, employees were there to punch their time cards and climb the corporate ladder. Even just a few years ago, employees […]

In this article you will discover Emotional Management Practices. A person with poor emotional management in the workplace, or even in personal life, can have consequences such as being fired or failing to maintain a stable relationship. At work, those who do not have an awareness of their emotions are often someone who has difficulty appreciating and being appreciated […]

BEING MINDFUL OF MINDSETS and The Power of a Growth Mindset by Grant Driver In July 2019, I experienced one of the most significant and yet most daunting moments of my career as a professional speaker.  I had been invited by Discovery Healthcare to present a 3-hour workshop to thirty Neurosurgeons on my research into […]

As women we don’t actually talk about our periods that much. However, since I have been taking Peony Rose I have brought the conversation up with many of my friends. What surprised me most is how many women really suffer each month. Not just slight pains, but chronic mood swings, intense tiredness, pain that requires bed rest […]

The word strategy has become a word that often evokes fear, confusion, and in most cases stress as to how to Identifying and executing a winning strategy. The reason for it, is a strategy has often not been thought through, and the outcome has not been outlined. What I mean by that is, we often […]

We are all spending a lot of time inside our homes. How much do you REALLY need? For those whose homes are a disorganized clutter zone, this could be stressful and result in more anxiety than isolating already brings to the table. If you are constantly tripping over stuff on the floor, and having to […]

Communication Represents You and Your Future Perspectives and Communication Impacts Your Success Communication skills are skills you will use for the rest of your life. Positive improvements in these skills will have a positive impact on your relationships, your prospects for employment, and your ability to make a difference in the world. An individual with excellent communication […]

Lizette Volkwyn is also one of only two certified PEI human lie detector in South Africa! Meet Lizette Volkwyn, an energetic, dynamic and focused South African who believes that all you have to do today is to be 1% better than yesterday. Lizette encourages individuals to strive for self-acceptance and to appreciate their self-worth. She […]

Firstly, let’s take a quick look at the definition and statistics of Employee engagement in small businesses. Employee engagement is a property of the relationship between an organization and its employees.  An “engaged employee” is one who is fully absorbed by and enthusiastic about their work and so takes positive action to further the organisation’s […]

Emotions That Could Be Stopping You From Living Your Dreams and Hurtful memories can stifle your development and growth. How do we break through this insidious mental conditioning? How do we grow and develop beyond hurtful episodes that bury themselves in our subconscious and influence our lives? Do we change and grow so that we […]

‘There is no remote work for A TECH-DRIVEN WORLD POST-PANDEMIC. There is only work, THE NEW RULES’ futurist Mike Walsh said during a session on the future of the industry at the Schwab Impact conference. The pandemic has forced the working world to evolve technologically much faster than at any time in recent history, effectively […]

When I started in sales and Social Selling, I had to visit 8 clients physically, every single day. No jokes! In our wildest dreams we could not have imagined a tool like email, never mind social media and Building Relationships Online. Social media has created so many incredible opportunities for us, and it is about […]

How to Craft Powerful Stories that Can Drive Culture Change There is an old adage that says:   If you want to learn about a culture, listen to the stories. If you want to change a culture, change the stories.    I had a first-hand experience with this very early on in my career. The MD […]

#NoMatterWhat is a system to get results regardless of outside circumstances. A set of 5 practices to create transformational growth for people, organizations and companies. The world is more uncertain and more unpredictable than ever. We have a pandemic, civil unrest, tech disruption, misinformation and still brutal competition and more customer, community and family demands […]

Now that we are in the midst of the world’s largest remote work does not work experiment, it’s worth asking: what does it take to run a good virtual meeting? It is all too easy to just focus on what can be controlled and configured: security, bandwidth, platforms or devices. However, when it comes to […]

With all the recent fervor over the confrontation between Will Smith and Chris Rock at the Oscars® over a comment made about Jada Pinkett Smith, there’s one character I have yet to see explored in the aftermath to change your perspective: G.I. Jane.   Several years ago, when I was building my business as a […]

A sales slump is a time in which a sales pipeline loses its momentum, leads slow down, or stop coming in altogether, opportunities that are already in play begin to stagnate, and deals that we were sure to win we either lose to a competitor or to a lack of decision-making readiness from the customer. […]

Season 2 of review leadership highlights live is coming to an end with one final episode that celebrates a thrilling season of conversations, coaching sessions, and a few solos – 57 episodes in total! That’s something to celebrate. The big themes of the season are: Self-awareness Thriving through challenges Defining your leadership style with daily […]

The relentless pace and uncertainty of business today is taking a serious toll on all of us. Mental Health Leadership Priority might strive to be purpose-driven, impactful and innovative, but they are often hijacked by constant crisis management and the pressure to give everyone a voice. As if that’s not enough, add in the exhaustion […]

Can you imagine Say No To Revenue? It doesn’t sound right, does it? Ironically enough, that’s exactly what might be necessary to set you and your business up to achieve success. Anyone that knows chicken, has at least heard of Chick-fil-A and their famous chicken sandwiches served across locations in 48 states in the US. […]

Punch-drunk public runs out of faith in its leaders, article written by Tony Leon who is a Political Commentator in South Africa. Cascading corruption, sky-high unemployment, and state incompetence. This daily diet of misery is now so mundane and common that what once induced shock and outrage in us is shrugged off. We have, as […]

Executives are often presented with important staffing decisions to support the ebb and flow of their business plan and to use Event Management Company vs. Internal Team. Live events, whether it be a sales meeting or incentive trip, a user conference, or product roadshow, are often the topic of debate when it comes to staffing. […]

It is with earth-shaking sadness to share with you the Passing of Claire Janisch, our dear course director and facilitator, friend and colleague, has passed away peacefully on Monday the 7th of Feb 2022, surrounded by family and friends, at her home in the Midlands, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Claire brought Learn Biomimicry  team together, where […]

Getting absolutely clear about HOW TO UNCOVER YOUR PASSION is critical to your success as an entrepreneur. You want a passion that you are willing to shout from the rooftops—that you’ll share with everyone, even strangers at a cocktail party. Why is identifying your unique passion so important? Because passion is fundamental to your forward progress. […]

Be a Force for Good in the wake of some of the recent events in the world and in light of so much of what we’ve all been through the past few years, I’ve been finding it challenging to focus on the good stuff and Be a Force for Good, even though this is at […]

Odds are good that you’re doing 10 SMALL THINGS YOU SHOULDN’T SWEAT AT WORK things to proactively manage how you present yourself at work: writing concise emails, speaking up in meetings, and trying not to make your sentences sound like questions. But when you’re in the first phases of your career, sometimes understanding office etiquette […]

To Lead Yourself First when Elizabeth Hurley was in college in Chicago, she worked as a waitress at my favorite pizza place in the world, Giordano’s, slinging deep-dish pizzas — and also taking great care of customers and making lots of conversation. Her ease in connecting with customers prompted many people to suggest that Elizabeth […]

 “How you see yourself determines what you see for yourself, Are You Externally or Internally Driven?.” Veli Ndaba – ‘The NeuroEngineer’ Self-esteem represents an overall evaluation of oneself – the extent to which one feels positively rather than negatively toward oneself – and views oneself as a person of value and worth. Contingent self-esteem is […]

Did you hear the fascinating story of The Profitability of Integrity about the French mountaineer who found a box of precious gems and decided to do something most wouldn’t do? Read on! ~ Can you make money from your Integrity? I stand firm in the belief that people do business with those they TRUST, can […]

Here are 3 things I have now that a 6-figure salary couldn’t give me after I left my $500,000 a year job to start my own company, and I couldn’t be happier. On paper, everything about my career was amazing. I’d become the CEO of a large company at the age of 42. In less […]

Without exaggerating, there are literally hundreds of ways of becoming more self- aware, and hence be more Adaptable to embrace and think through opportunities and / or adversity. As a Preferred Partner in South Africa for the Six Seconds EQ Worldwide Network (in 174 countries), we talk about ‘emotions driving people, and people driving performance’. […]

In his book “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” Patrick Lencioni identifies the heart of dysfunction as a lack of trust and How to build trust. So, how do we build teams that trust each other, particularly in a hybrid environment? The first step toward achieving confident cohesion is to help your team members connect […]

Drink more water! About 60-70% of the body is made of water, so drinking enough of it helps maintain the body’s fluid balance. This assists in transporting the relevant nutrients throughout the body, helps to regulate body temperature, and is a vital ingredient in good digestion. Besides flushing out toxins and maintaining regular bowel habits, […]

“Consider how hard it is to change yourself, and you’ll understand what little chance you have in trying to build your teams” – Unknown. Being a leader means you need to accept responsibility. Not only for the team but for yourself too. I have attempted to be an authentic leader, allowing my team to see […]

What many people don’t realize is that they can actually Make Your Own Luck, by changing their beliefs about themselves and what will happen in their lives. This sounds absurd, but it makes a lot of sense once you understand the logic behind it all. People tend to think that luck is something that is out […]

Practice These Resilient Skills to becoming a Resilient Leader When my friend Petra was diagnosed with cancer, not once, but twice, life gave her no choice but to be strong. When she went into remission for the second time, she decided she was going to wake people up to the precious gift of time. Through […]

Leadership Hack: How Sticky Notes Can Help Your Career Sticky notes have been my savior. And I don’t mean in a “don’t forget the milk” kind of way. True, sticky notes are great for grocery lists, but what I’m talking about here is how a few small squares helped me become a better leader, and […]

Dayne shared, The Future of the Internet Is Video as I was sitting in the back of the room last week listening to Dayne Williams, the CEO of HR tech company PlanSource, kick off the firm’s Eclipse Conference focused on the empowered consumer and trends in the way we’re embracing video. He shared, The Future of the […]

I had a recent team meeting where I brought our Caring Inclusive Listening Leadership coaches together to discuss an idea regarding the community. The call ended up going in an entirely different direction, but ended up in an amazing place. As the conversation grew, many strong opinions came forth on all sides, but I trusted each of them […]