“Experience is, for me, the highest authority. The touchstone of validity is my own experience. No other person’s ideas and none of my ideas are as authoritative as my experience. It is to experience that I must return again and again, to discover a closer approximation to truth as it is in the process of becoming me.” – Carl R. Rogers, On Becoming a Person, 1954 1 – Talk about “Problems” to Find a Solution When I was a teenager, we had set meal times and would sit at a table together at least twice a day. Our Sunday family brunch often led to a conversation about a “problem.” My dad was studying to be a Carl Rogers client-centered therapist […]

As our workplaces rapidly embrace international professionals and multiculturalism and become more diverse, an interesting development has come to light that I feel needs to be addressed at the earliest: the process of feedback in an intercultural context and how to tackle its many flaws. These days there is this idea made common in several industries, particularly the tech sector, that abrasive, instant feedback is a way to stop beating about the bush and giving it straight to the recipient, sometimes even in public spaces. The idea being that the pressure created by the ‘tough love’ will motivate employees into bringing out their best, something that even Hollywood has glamorized with films like The Devil Wears Prada. The reality is […]

I want to brief you all about the Global Competency Model and how it determines the growth of skills in international professionals. As I also describe in The Global Mobility Workbook (2019): “Global Competency is the ability to work effectively in a global, complex environment with a high level of stress, while achieving goals sustainably and in accordance with your own resources”. It combines knowledge, attitude, skills, reflected experiences, and body learning. What are these skills? A diverse set of abilities can help your global competency, from developing your language skills (learning a foreign language is excellent!) to effectively using digital media (Social Media platforms & video conferencing).  Skills like analytical thinking, problem-solving, and communication also help cement your Global […]

The RockMeRetreat will help you build up your Emotional Intelligence. Drawing on the Boudewijn Vermeulen® method, I recommend working with “body sensations.” The key point to note here is that being an effective leader requires understanding one’s own emotions to influence the emotions of others. Therefore, I’ll be talking about ways of developing a better brain-body connection and how that sort of learning can enhance one’s sensitivity and consequently, their leadership skills. Emotions manifest in various ways, like moods, perhaps even as physical ticks. Sometimes you don’t even know that you’re feeling a certain way, yet your body does and is tensed accordingly. Listening to these signs given by your body, therefore, allows us to develop a conscious language of sensation […]

When your colleague Paul tells you he has get home at 6 pm to see his children he throws in that your boss asked for a report she needs to have on her desk at 7 AM tomorrow. You cringe and call your partner to tell him you will need another 30 minutes to finalize the report. Your stomach feels hot and red. You are angry. Your colleague manages to get away. Why does he not have a deliverable here? Why is this team effort on your shoulders now? You think you could test if the boss was serious about 7 AM but you know you won’t get away with it. Another messed up night. Your partner will be angry too now. You strip out […]