RSS
 

Posts Tagged ‘Australia’

INTERVIEW: How Suzanne Beveridge, executive coach and leadership strategist, is helping people to “Get Ready to Lead”

25 Oct

Suzanne Beveridge is  a former international business executive who left her corporate career to help others succeed in work they love. She speaks, writes and coaches about how to be a better leader. She is an executive coach and life-leadership strategist, founder of the Get Ready To Lead Institute and author of the Confident Leader Curriculum. 

Here, she talks to Robert Dennis of Network Milan, the online news magazine of the Milan Business English Network, about her life, work and the passion she brings to her unique coaching and leadership workshops and programmes.

INTERVIEW: How Suzanne Beveridge, executive coach and leadership strategist, is helping people to “Get Ready to Lead”

Suzanne Beveridge, Executive and Leadership Coach

Network Milan: Suzanne, thanks for taking the time to talk to us! Tell us a bit about yourself: where are you from and how did you end up in Italy?

Suzanne Beveridge: Thanks for the invite! Well, I’m Australian by nationality. But with all the moves I’ve made, I guess I fit the cliché “Citizen of the World”. I came to Italy 10 years ago – at first on a student visa to study  Italian and design when I took a sabbatical year from my work in the United States.

My husband Earle and I planned to return to Australia at the end of the sabbatical year – our household goods had already been shipped there from San Francisco! But then the Italian dream got to us. And we found an old farmhouse on the rolling hills of the Marche region. Correction – I call it an Italian country garden that just happens to have a house in it!

I’m the eldest of four. My Dad is a master builder and he and my Mum ran our family home construction business. I was (I think) the first in many/several (ever?) generations to leave school and go to university where I studied science. That was my first career but my heart really wasn’t in it. My business instincts eventually came to the fore and I left to work in the medical and pharmaceutical industry.

Like many Australians I had a deep yearning to see distant places and experience their cultures. As my income grew, so did my trips abroad. At first in nearby Asia and then Europe and America.

NM: What is your professional background? How did you get into coaching?

SB: I think both my love of travel and my sales and marketing business passions influenced my International marketing major in my MBA. As soon as I completed it, I was offered the chance to run the business development efforts in Latin America for the global company I was working with at that time. It was a dream come true.

My husband and I packed up and moved to the Los Angeles area where the company headquarters was located. After a couple of years, it turned out I was good at telling the story of the business and I was offered a job in investor relations. From there I was recruited to a small biotech company in the San Francisco bay area to run their corporate communications department.

I left following a corporate buyout. And that was when my sabbatical year began.

After buying our house in Marche, I set up a business as a freelance public relations professional and worked in the Milan area for a couple of years. In 2007, I was offered the chance to head up public relations for an international organization in Germany. It was a fabulous opportunity to build on what was already there and expand the function. What made it so great were the people.

After 4 years, I realised that my life balance was out of kilter. And I sadly decided not to renew my contract. It was a major wrench to leave the fabulous team I worked with. As I worked up the courage to tell them that I was leaving, I searched for what it was I would be doing after I left.

It truly was like a bolt of lightning that jolted me into finding the passion that had been underlining all my career moves: I loved seeing other people become great at what they do. And I had worked out early in my management and leadership career that ‘telling’ people what to do did not inspire action. When I included them in the project from the beginning and made them equal partners in our success, that’s when they could find the confidence to let their own brilliance shine.

The very day I worked that out, I enrolled in my coach certification course and started planning my business.


NM: What exactly is coaching? What does it involve?

SB: More and more people are aware of how partnering with a professional coach can help them achieve what they really want, both at work and in life. It’s no longer something reserved for executives from large corporations! In my own coaching business, I work with both corporate clients and with people who choose to partner with me privately.

When you enter into a coaching partnership, you begin an inspiring and empowering journey that helps you connect your deepest internal passions and desires with external strategies and behaviours so that you achieve the success you are meant to have in life.

The reason coaching works so well is due to the powerful synergy that happens in the relationship with your coach. Your coach has only your interests at heart and stays true to what you want to achieve in each session and for the entire length of your partnership.

Coaches don’t give advice – they help you find the answers. Your coach helps you work out how you will achieve what you choose to do; helps you develop plans to do it; and holds you accountable for what you say you will do. Your coach is your biggest champion, cheering you on to success. And your coach is there to celebrate every small achievement with you. 

INTERVIEW: How Suzanne Beveridge, executive coach and leadership strategist, is helping people to “Get Ready to Lead”


Network Milan: Who are the sorts of people who benefit from coaching?

Suzanne Beveridge: Professional coaching can help in many situations that people struggle with at work and in life.

It is important to note here that coaching is completely different from therapy or counselling. Coaches are trained to recognize behaviours of people who are best served by psychiatric therapy and counselling. Following treatment, some of these people can and do begin coaching partnerships.

Most coaches specialize in helping people who struggle with specific issues in their life or work. There are divorce coaches, time management coaches and parenting coaches, for example.

I am an executive and leadership coach, which means that I help people who are taking on increased responsibility in more senior roles at work or people who are choosing to step up and expand into bigger roles than they have previously had in their life work.

NM: How do you prepare for a coaching session?

SB: I’m glad you asked this question. Because it’s key to a truly powerful coaching session. I choose to be 100% present for my client in each session, so before each session I take time to put everything else out of my mind. I use practices that focus me completely on the present moment. I think deeply about the person I will be speaking with in a few moments and try to see myself in their position, their situation.

As I begin each call I am then able to ‘listen’ with all my senses to what my client has to tell me and what they want to achieve in our time together. Most people feel no-one hears them properly. Many of my clients tell me that for the first time in their lives they feel they are talking to someone who is really listening, who really gets them.

Staying present with the client and their agenda is a key competency for a coach. My own experience and knowledge are not relevant. If, during my time with a client, I notice my own ideas bubbling up I have a little mantra ‘it’s not about me’ that I repeat in my head to bring me back to my client’s agenda.

NM: What happens in a coaching sessions?

SB: When I partner with a client, I help them understand how every thought they have affects their emotions which, in turn, determines the actions they take. Together we build a roadmap for them to choose a higher level of conscious thought that is constructive instead of destructive. Thoughts drive our energy. So if our thoughts are focused on building, then we are directing most of our energy to creating new possibilities.

And those thoughts can be conscious – we are aware of them – or unconscious. Both drive emotions and actions. I help people get super-aware of both types of thoughts and how they are influencing their actions and the results they may or may not be seeing in their lives and work. Together in the safe space of our partnership, we explore how those thoughts are really serving them and what life would be like if they were to have a different thought.

This is where the magic starts to happen in a coaching session – when you realize what has been holding you back, see another way forward and the commit to action with life-changing and amazing results.


NM: What can people expect to come away with after the session(s)?

SB: Most coaching sessions are 60 minutes duration. We work towards what I call ‘moving the action forward’. Whatever my clients agenda is for the session, I am always looking to raise their energy which means shift them to a higher level of conscious thought so that they leave the session inspired and empowered with an action plan to make the step or steps they choose to make while we are together.


NM: Tell us about leadership: what is it? Why is it so important?

SB: Leadership happens in any interaction where influence occurs. Of course, it can be positive or negative. And we lead both consciously and unconsciously. And our leadership impact can range from minimal to optimal depending on our level of conscious intention for what we want to happen as a result of the interaction.

So, a leader is the person in the interaction who knowingly or unknowingly has the greater influence on the other person.

This leads to my favourite leadership quote from John Quincy Adams: “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, become more – then you are a leader.”

Going back to what happens in a coaching session, you can probably now understand how coaching helps people step up and take responsibility for their lives and lead themselves to achieve the success the truly are meant to have.

And this is important because if we are to create a world that works, then each of us has a role to play in some way. By raising our consciousness, leadership that is ineffective or has a negative influence will be replaced. Margaret Mead said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”  Let’s make sure that change is better!

NM: Are leaders born or can they be made?

SB: We all lead – many people are surprised to hear that. They think of leaders as being public figures or their bosses at work, perhaps their parents. But we do all lead in some way, in some situations rather than others, for a certain period etc.

Sometimes we lead by default, meaning we take on the role when no-one else is available. For example, when your boss leaves and you need to step up to run your department.

The most significant leadership role each of us plays is self-leadership.

Trusting in our intuition is key to leadership. I call your intuitive self your ‘leader inside’. Many external situations in life, at work and in business divert our attention from what our leader inside is telling us. I help people find and get in touch with their leader inside, to trust it like they did when they were children, and allow it to guide them.

INTERVIEW: How Suzanne Beveridge, executive coach and leadership strategist, is helping people to “Get Ready to Lead”

Network Milan: Are there any inspirational business leaders or leaders in other fields that you admire?

Suzanne Beveridge: I honour every single person as the leader they are. Wherever, however they lead. And I admire each of them for specific actions that highlight their greatness.

NM: How do you help people develop their capacity for leadership and leadership skills?

SB: I help people step up and lead by raising their awareness of the thoughts that are driving their actions and how they can change to get the results they want. The key way I do that is with the Accelerated Leadership Roadmap – an online assessment that tells you how likely you are to accelerate out of short-term distraction, reactivity and overwhelm & gives you a roadmap to steer your course so that you lead in your full and true potential.

During the personal debrief of your results, you can build your own personal roadmap to help you develop in the areas you choose in order to lead yourself and others like you want to.

It’s an incredibly powerful tool. I use it everyday. My clients get amazing shifts in consciousness just from taking the assessment. And when they choose to continue on with a coaching program over a number of weeks or months, their transformation is inevitable!

NM: What is the Get Ready to Lead Institute and how does it help people develop their leadership skills?

INTERVIEW: How Suzanne Beveridge, executive coach and leadership strategist, is helping people to “Get Ready to Lead”

SB: The Get Ready To Lead Institute is at the centre of how I help people be better leaders. You will find loads of free resources and tips about leadership, especially for people who are new to leadership at work, in their communities or simply want to get better at leading themselves and their lives. My weekly blog articles are there.

The Confident Leader Curriculum is my key and **FREE** resource for people getting started on leadership and also for people to understand a little more how I work with them.

INTERVIEW: How Suzanne Beveridge, executive coach and leadership strategist, is helping people to “Get Ready to Lead”When you register for the Confident Leader Curriculum, you get instant access to a workbook to help navigate your leader’s journey – there’s a Star Wars theme going on, so be ready for it!You will also start to receive the Institute News each week and 12 **FREE** tutorials to help bring out your leader inside and transform in the perfect time and place for you.

NM: Tell us more about the workshops you are organising in Milan.

SB: I speak, write and coach about how to be a better leader – which really means I help people get out of their own way so that they live their calling and succeed in the work they love. They share their gifts to live and lead a life that is more connected, more fulfilled, more meaningful… more loving.

A brand new programme that I have to help people to take the lead and expand into bigger, more wonderful roles in life and work is called re-WIRE-ment: The Start of Something That’s All About You!

It’s two live workshops + 21 days of inspired connection. The workshops will be at the fabulous co-working space piano C in Milan (not far from Porta Romana) on Saturday 26 October and Saturday 9 November.

Here’s where to find out more and sign up: http://getreadytolead.com/go/re-wire-ment/

INTERVIEW: How Suzanne Beveridge, executive coach and leadership strategist, is helping people to “Get Ready to Lead”

Network Milan: Suzanne, it’s been great talking to you! We wish you all the best with your coaching and leadership programmes.

Suzanne Beveridge: Thanks! I’ve enjoyed talking to you too – and I’m looking forward to meeting members of your network at our workshops and your events soon.

Interview by Robert Dennis, CEO and Head of Innovation at Riverstone Language & Communications and founder of the Milan Business English Network.

***************************

You can find out more about Suzanne Beveridge and the Get Ready to Lead Institute here: www.GetReadyToLead.com

For more information about the Accelerated Leadership Roadmap click here.

There are still a few places available for the Re-WIRE-ment workshops in Milan on the 26th October and 9th November. Find out about the workshops in Milan and book your place here!

The Get Ready to Lead Institute is also on FacebookLinkedIn and Twitter.

 

 

 

 

Share and Enjoy

  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
 
Comments Off on INTERVIEW: How Suzanne Beveridge, executive coach and leadership strategist, is helping people to “Get Ready to Lead”

Posted in Contact

 

SPECIAL FEATURE SERIES: People and Wine

11 Feb

This month on Network Milan we are focusing on people whose businesses are connected to wine. We talk to Isabella Poggesi, a freelance translator and young mother whose uses her background in winemaking to provide a specialised language service for her clients. We also chat to Bradley Mitton, a man who has built a successful career from bringing the wines of the New World to Europe. Bradley has also created a number of wine tasting and gourmet food clubs which host regular networking events. And we will also be speaking to Helen Fish of Riverstone Language & Communications who combines her work at the fast-growing English training and networking organisation with promoting a range of Italian fine wines and luxury holidays.

SPECIAL FEATURE SERIES: People and WineInterviews by Robert Dennis, Milan Business English Network founder
and Head of Innovation at Riverstone


…………………………………………………………………………..

SPECIAL FEATURE SERIES: People and Wine

A Club Vivanova event organised by Bradley Mitton, who talks to Network Milan…

…………………………………………………………………………..

Translating the experience of making wine into a successful language business: Isabella Poggesi talks to Network Milan

SPECIAL FEATURE SERIES: People and WineIsabella Poggesi, a busy freelance translator who specialises in the wine industry and agriculture, draws on her background in winemaking while balancing her family commitments as a young mum. She takes time out from her work – and her hobby, rockclimbing – to talk to us about her life. 

Click here to read the interview…

…………………………………………………………………………..

Bringing New World wine to Europe: how Bradley Mitton is building networks through wine tasting and gastronomy events

SPECIAL FEATURE SERIES: People and WineBradley Mitton, founder and Managing Director of Mitton International Wines talks to Network Milan about his specialist importing business and wine tasting clubs that introduce wine from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa to various European trade and private markets.

Click here to read our interview…

…………………………………………………………………………..

COMING SOON…

SPECIAL FEATURE SERIES: People and WineHelen Fish of Riverstone Language & Communications explains how she is using her marketing skills to help a traditional family-run Italian winery to access new markets.

 

…………………………………………………………………………..

SPECIAL FEATURE SERIES: People and Wine

 

 

 

CLUB VIVANOVA IN MILAN!

The Milan Business English Network is delighted to be involved with Bradley Mitton and Club Vivanova in publicising this exclusive pre-Valentines day event:

Bringing boutique New World wine to Europe: how Bradley Mitton is building networks through wine tasting and gastronomical eventsClub Vivanova
WORLD CLASS Australian New Zealand Degustation
Chateau Monfort Hotel, Milan

Five Boutique Australian and New Zealand Wines

Wednesday 13th February 2013, 7pm
Exclusive Tasting with Sommelier Michele Garbuio
EUR 48 per person, fully inclusive

Join us for a gourmet night of boutique Australian and New Zealand wines and exceptional Italian contemporary cuisine in the exclusive wine cellar of the charming and deluxe five star Chateau Monfort in Milan, the fashion capital of Europe.

This fun, informal, networking evening is being promoted in conjunction with Riverstone Language and Communications and the Milan English Business Network. Attendees will be guided through a fabulous viticultural journey presented by New World wine professional Bradley Mitton and chef sommelier Michele Garbuio.

Premium Wine Selection
Sliding Hill Sauvignon Blanc 2011, Marlborough, New Zealand
Bellvale Chardonnay 2009, Gippsland, Victoria
Sliding Hill Pinot Noir 2010, Marlborough, New Zealand
Two Brothers Cabernet Merlot 2010, Margaret River
Hundred Tree Hill Shiraz 2007, Pyrenees, Victoria

Gourmet Flying Buffet
Olives . Amuse Bouche
Cream Cheese . Vanilla Madagascar Pears
Polenta Cubes . Cod Fish Mousse
Parma Ham . Parmesan Cheese
Beef Tartare . Capers and Pickled Onions
Milanese Risotto . Crispy Sausage

Reservations
Tickets will cost EUR 48 per person. The ticket price is subsidised by the organising partners (normal price EUR 85) and includes all wines, menu, coffee and water. Please book by sending an email to [email protected]. You can also contact Helen Fish ([email protected]) or Robert Dennis ([email protected]) at Riverstone.

Please note that members and non-members alike may book for our events, which are always well attended; early reservations are recommended.
…………………………………………………………………………….
EXCLUSIVE OFFER for members of the Milan Business English Network and friends of Riverstone Language & Communications…
Enjoy a free cocktail or glass of champagne – and an invitation to join us later at a VIP party in the sumptuous Japanese-themed surroundings of the Armani Privé nightclub.
…………………………………………………………………………….

Club Vivanova Membership
Our annual membership fee is EUR 68.00. If you would like to join then please send an email to [email protected]. Membership runs through until the end of 2013 and is then automatically renewed.

Find out more about this event and see who will be attending from the Milan Business English Network and Riverstone Network on the facebook event page:

 

 

Share and Enjoy

  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
 

NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert

12 Jul

We are delighted to introduce our first guest blogger, Danielle Dalkie, who has a fascinating background as a mobile payments entrepreneur and is currently planning a strategic move to Rome. In this article she talks about her experience in setting up Waspit, a social banking service, and how she plans to use her PR and social media skills in her new life in Italy.

NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert

Danielle on the Digital Mission Stand at ad:tech NYC Conference and Expo 2010

Ciao! I am really pleased to be writing for NetworkMilan.com – and I am looking forward to sharing some of my ideas and business experiences with you. I’m also really excited about coming to Italy! I am an Australian who grew up in New Zealand and for the past two years I have been living between London and New York. And now I am moving to Rome!

I am Co-Founder of a startup called Waspit, a social banking platform for students. More specifically, it combines traditional banking features with social platforms to create a more intuitive and enriched experience for users. In essence, Waspit is “Banking 2.0”, and I have been involved in product development (right from the conception of the company) and more recently realigning the product to suit the target market: I have also been doing some business development and I aided the company in raising its first round of venture funding in New York.Waspit is designed not only to provide all the latest banking capabilities including mobile payments, but to enable for the first time a dynamic communication between users, their friends and the merchant on how and where they choose to spend their money.

Waspit lets you plug in all your social media platforms into one place so that you no longer have to manually check-in on Facebook and foursquare or post separate reviews to Yelp, Twitter and your other networks.

NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert

Social banking for students

For the more traditional ‘bank-like’ transactions Waspit is accepted in-store and online anywhere MasterCard is accepted; cash can be withdrawn from most ATMs; and students can pay their bills using ACH (Automated Clearing House) or Billpay. The FDIC* insured account also has a traditional routing and account number so students can receive their wages and allowances.

In the social world, students can easily, securely and instantly send and receive money between friends via Facebook, Twitter or mobile phone. Making quick payments in store is as simple as tapping your mobile phone over any MasterCard PayPass terminal. Students can even use the iOS, Android or Facebook apps to split restaurant bills or request money from their parents.

My own background is in public relations and social media, however. I have been involved in developing and implementing customer acquisition strategies in the tech, digital and social sectors. My skills include traditional PR such as managing press releases, publicity, social media, online content, corporate events, conferences and creating brand awareness.

I also specialise in social marketing and developing viral strategies (including guerrilla marketing efforts), as well as many successful viral and online campaigns in the both the US and UK. In addition, I develop comprehensive campaigns which rely heavily on social media and social marketing.

NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert

Rome calling (Image: Trevi Fountain by Fod via Wikimedia Commons)

But the big news is… I am relocating to Rome this year and I am currently looking for a suitable position and some cool social media projects to work on (so please get in touch with me if you have something I might be interested in!)

I am also involved in setting up the Rome Business English Network – the first sister group of the Milan Business English Network to be based in another Italian city. (Visit Network Roma for all the latest news about events and networking for people speaking, learning and doing business in English in the eternal city.)

NetworkMilan.com have invited me to write a series of blog posts on how mobile commerce is changing the way we interact with companies and its wider implications for the digital economy. I hope you enjoy these articles and find them useful, too!Read Danielle Dalkie’s next guest post, coming soon on NetworkMilan.com:
Money in motion: how mobile payments technology is changing the face of retailClick here to find out more about Waspit and social banking.

*Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: A US federal agency that insures deposits in member banks.

UPDATE (AUGUST 2012): Danielle has recently founded Network Roma, a sister group of the Milan Business English Network. You can become part of Network Roma by joining their group on LinkedIn.

Share and Enjoy

  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert
  • NetworkMilan welcomes Danielle Dalkie, mobile entrepreneur and PR /Social Media expert