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In the traditional sales world, Engaging and Interactive Meeting, a professional salesperson would prepare for, and focus on, commanding the room, the conversation and the sales process, and you would be prepared to maximise the chances of success at whichever stage of the sale you are because that’s how you win deals for an Interactive […]

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 a recent CIO article (Great IT Leaders Must Have This Trait)  talking about the traits of Successful Women in the technology world, it mentions the importance of being a connector. When you think about it, it doesn’t matter what your industry; being a connector has value in all walks of life. A friend of […]

Here are six ways to create psychological safety to re-engage and reassure today’s anxious, disengaged and lonely workforce.   Teams can be lonely places. People can feel vulnerable and exposed if they believe their teammates don’t support their ideas or appreciate their work. These interpersonal struggles intensify for remote workers who lack the support of a nodding […]

It is difficult to conceive that 11 months on from National Lock down on 26 March 2020, our tiny business survives and feels strongly that the tide is turning. What a significant time and mighty relief for us, acutely mindful that so many are struggling desperately just to survive. Despite it not being my natural […]

Rebel technologists thrive when a couple of key environmental factors are in place The first thing is budget.  Making sure that you can find the necessary budget to be able to instil these changes is an ideal starting point. If you aren’t working towards some kind of return on investment, somewhere along the line, why should […]

Lucy Bloom is often asked how to crack the speaker circuit by aspiring professional speakers at least twice a week, so to save you buying me a coffee, here are my top ten tips for how to get your story on the stage, paid. 1. We all have a story to TELL but are you […]

I realised everything you do is marketing after I recently stayed at a five-star hotel and found a major marketing problem lurking in the wardrobe in my room.   Upon check-in I was welcomed enthusiastically, and my membership status recognised with a room upgrade. I was even presented with a welcome gift to thank me […]

Value is the differentiator as Great businesses are not merely built on service but exceptional service and great customer experience; and an important element of their success is the VALUE IS THE DIFFERENTIATOR they deliver to their customers.  Great businesses understand that for them to thrive and survive, they need to be constantly focusing on […]

The Silicon Valley Unicorn craze is slowly fading, and in the dawn of the fourth industrial revolution, all eyes are riveting to startup in Africa, India, and South America as the new battlegrounds, yet people have no real understanding of the challenges faced by homegrown startups in these regions, trying to innovate in harsh environments, […]

I chuckled as I read the words in Kevin Kruse’s insightful book, 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management: “Throw away your task list.” In my time management and Juggling Elephants training programs I am continually surprised at the number of people who still use such a list as their primary guide for their […]

Ten years ago, I was retrenched from a marketing and sales position. My story is the same as many other people. Sometimes losing a job can point towards a better life and opportunities you never thought possible and now Ten Years as an Entrepreneur. After my retrenchment, I didn’t have an epiphany about starting a […]

Guide to Making Decisions can be daunting (just choosing a type of peanut butter in the grocery store can be a mammoth task), yet if we are to move forward in life and business we need to make decisions, and we need to make good ones if we are to navigate this chaotic world properly. In […]

According to leadership guru Warren Bennis, “leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” Rugby and Leadership captains have that innate ability to do just this, Rugby and leadership go hand-in-hand . Here in South Africa we have witnessed numerous leaders connected to the sport of rugby who have displayed such qualities. I 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 […]

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 […]

The old saying, “What got you here won’t get you there,” applies as a Skill You Need to Master to your professional life today. The world is quickly changing as well as the competitive landscape. Whether you are running a business or trying to increase your career equity, ramping up your skill set is important. […]

Are you guilty of multi-tasking during meetings? Unfortunately, being present during meetings, especially present-day Impactful Virtual Meeting, is so rare, I wish I could bottle and sell it. Here’s a few facts you can toss around the tele-conferencing office (Source: Prezi State of Attention Research): In any online meeting about 95 percent of the audience is probably multi-tasking. […]

I’m already working–virtually, of course–with clients on what comes after COVID and what the future may hold. One trend is clear: the “virtualization” of our world has greatly accelerated. Work from home, telemedicine, virtual shopping, distance learning, socializing, exercise: more activities than we might imagine will move to the virtual world during the rest of […]

Brands don’t have values or Employee Motivation. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pull the rug out from under you so quickly, but it needed to be said. Before you close this article thinking “that’s absolute rubbish”, just wait a moment. Dust yourself off. Sit back down, have some coffee. Ready? Brands do not have […]

I have heard I’m not really a water-person statement so many times. But what does it really mean? You come from water, you drink water, and it turns out – water knows you very well whether or not you want to be part of the relationship. We are all water people, you might just not […]

Do your Data-Driven Marketing efforts feel like a shot in the dark? It doesn’t have to be that way.    With the power of today’s abundance of data, brands can use a measured and data-driven approach to build an agile and compelling customer experience.   According to Tiffany Perkins-Munn, Head of Data and Analytics at J.P. Morgan Chase, […]

Something about being Attracted to the PAST seems much more romantic than the future so Are you more attracted to the PAST or the FUTURE?. Maybe it’s because the past is a time we can look back on with nostalgia, or perhaps it’s because the future is an unknown quantity. Whatever the reason, it seems […]

If we are going to do new things to survive in the Industrial Age, we are going to meet uncertainty. If we are going to meet uncertainty, we are going to discover risk. A show of hands… How many people, when you were 12, 13, 14 years of age, had a mother or a father […]

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 […]

Life has a such a unique way of giving us what we need (soul food) rather than what we want. Stop another dark night of the soul.   I have just come out of what can only be described as another dark soul of the night. Unable to see further than my fear and feeling […]

Have you heard about the mildly seductive and The Unbearable Pain of Pleasure extremely elusive ‘I’ll be happy’ game? I used to play it all the time. “I’ll be happy when I lose 10 kilograms.”, “I’ll be happy when I find a lifetime partner.”, “I’ll be happy when the millions come rolling in.” There’s an […]

The Best Employees are the Ones Who Understand the Bigger Picture   We often talk about the best leadership qualities, but we should be talking about the best qualities of an employee. The best employees are the ones that know their efforts contribute to something bigger than themselves. They see how their work has an […]

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 […]

Think about a baby’s laughter. It is one of the most contagious sounds when heard; you are bound to start smiling and eventually, break out in laughter, too. So, How to influence the workplace by bringing the right energy? Imagine if you could be like the baby’s laughter in your place of work. The one […]

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 […]

Sara Sutton Fell, the founder of 1 Million for Work Flexibility, and CEO and founder of FlexJobs, shares tips on how to negotiate workplace flexibility.   Workplace flexibility is not just an issue that impacts working women; working men are also eager for solutions that help them balance work and home, and a new survey […]

11 WAYS TO LIVE with a New year. New goals. New opportunities. #NOMATTERWHAT IN 2022 Welcome to 2022. 11 WAYS TO LIVE #NOMATTERWHAT IN 2022 What separates the high-achievers that actually reach what they strive for from those that don’t? Even in the face of assuredly new challenges, limits and obstacles… I’ll tell you – […]

Until someone creates a way to accurately predict the future and Beyond Disruption, there is no way to prepare your business for every change that will come its way and beyond disruption. Whether it is a pandemic that changes the economic outlook, societal trends that change consumption patterns, or machinery or infrastructure that breaks down, […]

I posted this about Hole in the Wall and Coffee Bay yesterday for Incredible Adventure Destinations . It’s a classic view of EsiKhaleni! This is a series of 9 episodes taking you on another Wild Journey into the heart of South African Adventure traveling. Follow explorer and adventurer Peter Van Kets and photographers, Jacques Marais, […]

When it comes to diversity and inclusion as a leader you need to understand one thing, you need to understand that; It is more than just activism, minorities vs the privileged, and correcting the injustices I’ve observed the efforts of many organizations and leaders when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion, to be more […]

Worrying is psychologically debilitating and The Opposite of Worrying Planning Recently, I helped a client eliminate the worrying component in his narrative which was causing serious procrastination. This is not unusual, and here are some thoughts for those who find themselves trapped in this wheel of hell. I understand worry intimately. I know those who […]

What’s Your New Year’s Addiction? Here are 6 Simple Steps To Avoid Changing Who You Are and Instead, Changing Your Addictions. It happened for years. Too often I would come home from work, open the refrigerator, then the freezer. I’d sigh and think, “F*ck, I have no idea what to make for dinner.” Sometimes I’d […]

Suddenly half the world is working from home and many of us have new workplace surroundings to adapt to. Remember folks, it’s not the most intelligent or fittest of the species who will survive, it’s those who can swiftly adapt to change. I’ve spent huge chunks of my career working from home, so here are […]

On Culture and Leadership, WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE SAFER THAN A RIGID RULE…? Can debate produce greater safety than rules? Isn’t the iron-clad rule a surer safeguard against disaster? We tend to think of organisations like NASA as having more or less the same basic character despite the passage of years. But it’s not necessarily […]

A common problem new pilots struggle with is avoiding a PIO or pilot-induced oscillation. So how do we Stop the Cycle as We’re all familiar with the concept of overcorrecting in a car. A deer runs out, you’re driving tired, you’re near the edge of the road, and you yank the wheel the other direction […]

LED performance and light technology continues to be a popular choice for corporate and private events and here are LED and Glow Performers That Will Mesmerize USA Audiences. The impressive drone light show at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Ceremony indicates that new entertainment technology has arrived. We have researched 5 LED performer for hire in […]

‘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 […]

‘Quick! The business is dying! Find me the humblest possible consultant to solve the problem!’ as Experts don’t disqualify themselves. Author Allen Weiss makes this tongue-in-cheek point in his book, ‘Million Dollar Maverick.’ And it’s a good one. As we strive to position ourselves as top-level experts in our industry, a demure and deferring persona […]

I want you to think about investing in yourself as you become more resilient. The work that feeds your mind, body and soul. Self-investment is the first step in your resilience journey   I want you to think about investing in yourself as your most important work. The work that feeds your mind, body and […]

When the brand fits, Define: giraffe. A tall, graceful mammal, Giraffa camelopardalis, generally inhabiting the society events, radio airwaves and cycling races of southern Africa. Nudge, nudge, wink wink – YES! Today, you’ll find it at the core of my personal brand identity, following an apt giraffe nickname from journalist and designer Craig Jacobs back in […]

Not all exercises are created equal. My grandfather, or gramps as we affectionately called him was a disciplined exercise man. It wasn’t so much the amount of exercise he did but rather the 100% commitment with which he did it. He never missed a day unless he was ill and flat on his back. Every […]

Your first time as a manager is a learning experience as much as anything else and what is the best way to build trust? How do you lead your team well? Who should you hire? Where do you draw the boundaries with former colleagues who are now direct-reports? WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO BUILD TRUST? […]

Excited to share the big news that I’ve been talking with many of you about already! The Launch You’ve Been Waiting For. How to Get Results #NoMatterWhat, It turns out there’s actually proven science around how to get results #NoMatterWhat. It’s all too clear that this is still a really tough time for many people […]

Corporate motivational speakers for team building and leadership development. 1   Why corporate motivational speakers are needed now more than ever I am a corporate motivational speaker and my real job is to directly address the major factors contributing to an organization’s successes and failures. As I’ve spoken around the globe, to organizations across just about every […]

In September of 2012, a freak failure of the dynamic positioning system of the vessel Chris Lemons Speaker was working under, resulted in the umbilical which provides him with breathing gas, light and heat being severed completely.   He was left on the sea-bed, in complete darkness 300 feet below the surface, with only the 5 […]

Do you remember what life was like right before you received the message of biggest trap in business that confirmed your appointment as executive? Or before you started your own business? Or before you took over the family business? Opportunities lay ahead like an orchard of fruit trees ripe for the picking and everything that […]

I have found that running gives me time to think, running give me time to introspect and running helps me heal so WHY ARE WE RUNNING?. I have embarked on all these journeys over the past 12 years for probably two main reasons. I suppose the first is the selfish side. It’s something I love […]

Killing Fish – A freedivers take on spearfishing from Hanli Prinsloo who is an inspirational and motivational sustainability keynote speaker in Cape Town. ‘STRAIGHT SHOOTER’ (First published in DIVESITE Issue 3, 2011 with photographs by Roger Horrocks, Jean Marie Ghislain and Jean Treason – please read updated thoughts at bottom of article.) It was a choppy […]