Trust… What a big word it is! Whether in business or in life, trust defines how we show up, how we approach our work and take up our relationships. More and more business leaders are starting to understand the critical need to build trust. Where hierarchies are being dismantled, structures are being distributed, demographics shift and work opportunities become endless in today’s digital and global business environment, a people leader can no longer rely on his/her role to assure respect and trust. We are obligated to reciprocate. In PwC’s 19th Annual Global CEO Survey more than half (55%) of CEOs reported being concerned…

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One of the most frequent questions I get regarding our mission and statements we are making about the future of work and workplace is why the 21st century organizations need be built on trust (and integrity, which we will discuss another time). When we think of ‘business’ today, we imagine huge, complex, multi-layer, multi-geographical and cross-functional organizations. True. Today’s businesses – in some – have become massive in scale and form. True. The focus has shifted towards ‘mass production’ vs. ‘quality’. Also true that business leadership became an elite profession, dominated by those nominated at ranks, working hard to manage (or…

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In today’s business environment, all organizations – for and non-for-profit – want to stay in the “game”; all business leaders want to achieve higher productivity and profit; all employees want to create greatness that leads to higher results and innovation. The question is who is willing to challenge the status quo?! At the speed of continued digitalization, globalization and democratization of workplaces, we all have to change our ways of ‘being’, ‘doing’, ‘relating’, but majority of us are afraid of the challenge because it would mean we have to denounce our power and find alternate, unknown methods of ‘being’, ‘doing’…

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Last week, following a challenging conversation, someone asked me if I should consider “raising my voice” more often. Communicating in a more aggressive tone may lead to results sooner in situations and it may certainly lead to a temporary emotional relief – yet, as a psychologist and organizational effectiveness expert, I happen to know sustainable results (and modeling) is in capsulation of self transcendence. Back in 2007, ‘transcendent leadership‘ was introduced as a global initiative at the World Economic Forum. I was living in the US and working for a technology giant as a HR professional then and I remember being…

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As the world is at the cusp of re-visioning self with the power of digitalization, globalization and democratization, there are two major trends humanity is dealing with on a day to day basis: Organization’s immense effort to stay relevant, Human beings’ immense desire to find meaning. Across industries, sectors and geographies, and regardless of scale and maturity levels, all organizations and their leaders share similar questions regarding the future: What will we refer to as ‘work’ tomorrow? Who will make up our workforce? What skills and capabilities will be needed? How will we integrate AI, robotics, infotech and biotech? Who…

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“It’s not personal, it’s business.” How many of us have heard this statement in the workplace and/or have cited it ourselves? Well, I not only have heard it, personally used it many times earlier in my career. If you find yourself saying “What’s the matter with you, Sesil? Of course, business is business, it has nothing to do with who I am at home!”, here is a set of statistics for you to contemplate on: According to OECD, in the last 50 years, productivity has not inclined over 1% in EU and has been ~2% in the US – No…

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At Whirling Chief, we are keen to get our broader business community acknowledge that the current work experiences we reside in is neither well suited for our human nature nor complimentary to the 21st century life experiences we want to be a part of, and, engage new age leaders in a regenerative process towards re-envisioning future and building the kind of work experiences we want to be a part of. We seek inspiration, a spark, a purposeful task that makes us jump out of bed. We seek meaning, knowledge and comfort to know our work effort makes a difference somewhere….

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We, human beings, have a strong conviction that we are rational. We believe once we have formed an opinion through learning and have had an opportunity to put that learning to use regularly, it must be true. In psychological terms, rationality is really about two things: what we know of to be ‘true’ and what to do (Manktelow, 2004).  In order for our beliefs to be rational then, they must be in agreement with evidence. In order for our actions to be rational they must be conducive to obtaining our goals. Human brain works on comparison and to master our day…

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A few years back, during a very difficult conversation around portfolio divestment, one of my colleagues in charge of our group facilitation asked us, a room of corporate executives in charge of 55B USD core industry business, what may be the essence of our leadership… It was a difficult question to answer then, and it is still today. It is difficult because the concept is embodying so many beautiful opportunities. Yet, over the years, I have come to learn, understand and experience there is an essence to leadership. There is a core. Before influence, leadership is a choice one makes. A choice…

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I was returning from a recent business trip and my flight got delayed an hour. Instead of going back to the lounge, I decided to sit by the gate and get some reading done.  The sweetest gentleman sitting next to me started chatting up… First, he asked where I am headed, then, he recognized my accent and asked where I am from, and finally, what I do for a living? “Industrial and organisation psychologist?! I have no idea what you people do!” he said cheerfully. I tried to explain, picking my words carefully. He listened attentively. At some point he…

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