Leadership Activators

Discover how to succeed as a Western business in eCommerce in the Chinese market with Jean-Yves Laguillez, co-founder and CEO of Emotion Digital. Emotion Digital is an online marketing agency located in Shanghai and Paris. It helps western brands get into China through WeChat marketing and other social media platforms particular to the Chinese digital landscape. With over 10 years of direct experience in China as a top executive, Jean-Yves bring his expertise to his clients, helping them to leverage the power of selling to China.

What's at the intersection of what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for? You're about to find out in this episode the power of discovering your Ikigai as Carole Issa dives deep into the world of how we can find our purpose with Ben Koch, CEO of NuMinds Enrichment. Ben Koch is an entrepreneur, educator, coach, healer, and mindfulness expert with 20 years of meditation experience. He is also the co-founder and CEO of NuMinds Enrichment, and through this business, he is driving the mission to Empower Teachers to deliver real inspired learning. 

Some key themes that Carole explores with Ben: 

- 1'47": What goes beyond defining ourselves by what we do 

- 3'00": The amazing story around how NuMinds Enrichment was born 

- 10'47": What's working and what's not working in the traditional educational system 

- 15'46": What is social and emotional learning and why it's important 

- 18'36": Why it matters to find our purpose in life 

- 21'07": The meaning of Ikigai  

- 24'14": What stops people from finding and living their purpose 

- 29'30": What mindfulness is and how it can help in business 

- 38'27": The meaning of the word leadership for Ben 

- 39'57": How to motivate your team members 

- 42'01": What Ben looks for when hiring a new team member 

- 44'53": How we can demystify meditation and make it accessible 

- 55'33": The shift with COVID19 and alternative methods in maintaining health and wellbeing  

- 61'32": A book that Ben recommends and why 

- 65'19": The 30-day challenge that Ben would like to throw to our listeners 

Are looking to start your business or scale it by doing something you love? Click here and join Carole Issa in the Start Your Business (Leadership Activators) Facebook Group and be part of an amazing community of like-minded people from around the world who are also on a mission to go from idea to launching, to scaling their business doing something they love!

Tom Libelt learned from a young age how to sell and negotiate business by getting haggled by Russian vendors. His family moved from Poland to the US to escape communism, and his parents took any job they could to survive. Seeing all this as a young man motivated him to never want a job and keep moving forward as an entrepreneur, publisher, salesman, and one of the top Polish hip hop artists.

Tom spends most of his time in Chiang Mai, Thailand. He runs Smart Brand Marketing and We Market Online Courses. Tom seems like one of those guys with the Midas Touch, where everything he works on turns into gold. He has published around 5000 Kindle books, built a successful SEO & online course marketing business, partnered with a Muay Thai champion, owned a coffee shop, a retail store, a record label, created a documentary, and released two albums with five hits on top ten Polish radio. All of it was bootstrapped and done with zero outside funding.

Some key themes that I explore with Tom:

- 2'46": Tom's strategy in creating a memorable pitch that works

- 5'17": The way he created his current business vision

- 11'09": His experience in attaching his business goal to money

- 16'30": When and how he learned the value of time

- 18'17": The right time to stop thinking and start doing

-  23'49" How he manages his energy to stay effective

- 29'27": The time he created his first shortcut

- 32'43": The way he creates the space for his team to become future business owners

- 34'28": Why being a business owner is not for everyone

- 37'21": The meaning of the word leadership

- 42'01": His view on recommending a book for someone to read

- 50'04": The 30-day challenge he'd throw to our listeners

Are looking to start your business or scale it by doing something you love? Click here and join Carole Issa in the Start Your Business (Leadership Activators) Facebook Group and be part of an amazing community of like-minded people from around the world who are also on a mission to go from idea to launching, to scaling their business doing something they love!

Once upon a time, a California girl went to China and started the greatest adventure of her life… 🇨🇳

An entrepreneur based in Shanghai and the COO of the N°1 LinkedIn Marketing Agency, Genius Encel, Tamar helps Fortune 500 companies generate leads through LinkedIn.

As the Co-President of LinkedIn Local Asia, she's created a network of communities made up of LinkedIn lovers, embracing the original idea of LinkedIn Local: getting to know ‘’the person behind the profile’.’

Her Shanghai community has more than 3000 members, making it one of the most professional and active networks in China, recognized by LinkedIn China.

Tamar also teaches the next generation of digital marketers as a Professor at Emlyon Business School, showing them what it's really like and how to apply real-life practices to marketing rather than theoretical nonsense.

Some key themes that Carole Issa explores with Tamar Hela:

- 1'57": Tamar's elevator pitch

- 2'44": How did she and her business partner Julien come up with their business name

- 6'12": The definition of 'luck' for her

- 8'13": The power of mindset and how to build emotional fitness

- 11'44": The rituals she's developed over time that led her to success

- 14'58": The top x3 mistakes business owners make when marketing on LinkedIn

- 17'26": Why storytelling works in marketing

- 26'31": The most common LinkedIn myths that need to be busted

- 30'08": What to look for when choosing a business partner

- 33'11": Her top challenges as a business owner and team leader

- 37'32": Attracting the right talents to join your team

- 42'44": The importance of creating a community around your business

- 49'43": What changed with CoVid and the emerging trends on LinkedIn

- 52'02": The big WHY of Genius Encel

- 54'13": A book that created a big impact in her life

- 55'19": The 30-day challenge that she'd throw to the listeners

Are looking to start your business or scale it by doing something you love? Click here and join Carole Issa in the Start Your Business (Leadership Activators) Facebook Group and be part of an amazing community of like-minded people from around the world who are also on a mission to go from idea to launching, to scaling their business doing something they love!

Who would have thought that starting a side hustle could be the doorway to a dream job?

A few months before a series of crises hit Lebanon, Sarah had already set herself up to success through embracing the challenge of running a side hustle. Thanks to the invaluable lessons learned from the startup world, she landed her dream job and is now thriving in her career working remotely for B-Yond, a telco disruptor in the United States. Her career path is highlighted with one success after the other working with various international startups and corporations. She's only 24! but her experience ranges from innovation management to data analysis to corporate events and gives her a unique perspective and approach to marketing. She’s worked with big names like Careem, Arabnet, and Clarence Seedorf.

In this episode, Carole Issa interviews Sarah to discover her thinking behind combining the entrepreneurial mindset and the 9 to 5 world to create a fulfilling career path.

Some key themes that Carole explores with Sarah:

Are looking to start your business or scale it by doing something you love? Click here and join Carole Issa in the Start Your Business (Leadership Activators) Facebook Group and be part of an amazing community of like-minded people from around the world who are also on a mission to go from idea to launching, to scaling their business doing something they love!

Although Phnam was raised in an environment that was risk-averse, her mission today is to push every boundary to design for a better future and change people's lives through her work at NonFiction. In this episode, Carole Issa interviews Phnam to dive deep into her world and discover her unique perspective on design and so much more than that.

Some key themes that Carole explores with Phnam:

- 2'10": The role of Phnam at NonFiction

- 4'30": Children are wiser than adults and the power of being quiet

- 9'28": How she forged her own path with no mentors

- 14'40": Evolution versus revolution in designing products

- 17'14": Designing the Human headphones, the first true wireless over-ear headphones.

- 21'00": Creating her own business despite coming from a working-class family

- 25'21": How she discovered her life purpose

- 28'10": The secret behind her success in starting and running a business with her husband Mardis 

- 30'47": Her perspective on work-life balance

- 35'20": Would she work/hire herself, and why?

- 37'10": How she learned to hire the right team members

- 41'51": What's her expression of leadership?

- 46'19": Designing the future of education in Singapore

- 52'40": How she approaches the unknown

- 59'29": A book that created a big impact in her life

- 1h01'53": Her book 'Design for a better future-The art of turning science fiction into reality'

- 1h06'52": Why she chose to combine writing by hand and typing when writing her book

- 1h10'04": The 30-day challenge that she'd throw to the listeners

More about Phnam Bagley

Phnam is a French industrial designer with 15 years of experience creating cutting-edge hardware in Wearables, Audio, Neurotech, Healthcare, Education, Sports, and Aerospace.

She specializes in turning groundbreaking technologies into attainable, intuitive, and beautiful products that help humans become the best versions of themselves.

Phnam works with a variety of companies, from Fortune 500 to startups, covering 4 continents. Clients include Intel, Comcast, Facebook, Atari, Philips, Movida, Halo Neuroscience, and Cala Health.

Familiar with both overseas and local manufacturing, she connects clients and factories via trusted partners, making the transition from design to engineering, prototyping, and marketing as seamless and efficient as possible.

She speaks internationally on the subject of “Design for a Better Future”, covering stories of sustainability, design thinking, education and human flourishing. 

Are looking to start your business or scale it by doing something you love? Click here and join Carole Issa in the Start Your Business (Leadership Activators) Facebook Group and be part of an amazing community of like-minded people from around the world who are also on a mission to go from idea to launching, to scaling their business doing something they love!

When I think about Elie Medawar, four ideas come to mind:

Elie started Medbox at a very challenging time in his life. There were red signals everywhere. He had just left his job, and he was about to become a dad. Everyone was dissuading him from starting his own business and saw it as a risky and crazy move. Yet, he took a leap of faith and made it happen anyway. Fueled by every challenge that came his way, driven by the purpose of saving lives, and for three years now, he’s been setting himself bold goals and overachieving them.

Some key questions I asked Elie in this episode:

If you’ve enjoyed listening to this episode and would like to get access to more tips on leadership and communication, here are two ways you can do that, connect with me on LinkedIn where I share weekly insights, tips and strategies specifically designed for business owners and team managers who are looking to take their leadership and communication skills to a whole new level.

Who thought that comfort food could be healthy?

Kitchen Confidential was born in Beirut out of the passion for creating the highest quality comfort delicacies by using nothing but premium quality organic and natural nutrient-rich ingredients. It all started in 2013 with the Khairallah family, Walid a Medical Doctor, his brother Imad a Financier, and Siham their mother, a talented executive chef. Together, they decided to transform comfort food into a healthy version without compromising on taste and texture. And this, after experiencing the effect of clean eating on their body and mind. By harnessing their family’s skillsets, they have been helping people with allergies, intolerances, or special dietary requirements, enjoy eating out or ordering in their favorite treat. All dishes are crafted in a dedicated gluten-free kitchen, ensuring no risk of cross-contamination.

In this episode, Carole Issa interviews Imad Khairallah to discover how he created this healthy lifestyle food concept with his family.

Some key themes that she explores with Imad:

If you’ve enjoyed listening to this episode and would like to get access to more tips on leadership and communication, here are two ways you can do that, connect with me on LinkedIn where I share weekly insights, tips and strategies specifically designed for business owners and team managers who are looking to take their leadership and communication skills to a whole new level.

Long before Dora and Majid met, Majid had left school at the age of 12. His first job was to carry jugs of water to the construction site next to his parents' home, where the workers were spending long days under the burning summer sun. Several years later, he became a sous-chef and then a professional chef running his own catering business.  Dora was a school principal and had a big dream. She wanted to create a place where kids could learn and grow while having fun and freely explore Nature with all its beauty. Sure enough, years later, and even when most people thought that the project of Aranoon Village was crazy! Dora and Majid created one of the most beautiful traditional Lebanese villages away from Technology, where families can gather, have fun, and enjoy Nature. They had one purpose in mind; bringing joy and happiness to their guests.  In this first part, Carole Issa interviews Dora and Majid to discover how they successfully created their family business and how they made the impossible possible several times.

In this first part, Carole Issa interviews Dora and Majid to discover how they successfully created a family business, Arnaoon Village, and made the impossible possible.

Some key themes that Carole explores with Dora and Majid:

- 1'34": How Dora and Majid define Arnaoon Village

- 3'25": Majid reveals how he left school at the age of 12 and how his mindset got him where he is today

- 5'34": How Dora's background in education contributed to the success of Arnaoon

- 10'25": What is the way to make a dream come true in business

- 15'03": How to succeed in a family business

- 19'41": How Majid brings logic and Dora intuition in the decision-making process

- 24'39": What does 'success' really mean 

- 27'56": The challenges that Dora and Majid faced in their business

And so much more than that.

Are looking to start your business or scale it by doing something you love? Click here and join Carole Issa in the Start Your Business (Leadership Activators) Facebook Group and be part of an amazing community of like-minded people from around the world who are also on a mission to go from idea to launching, to scaling their business doing something they love!

This is a 3-minute insight episode. In this episode, Carole Issa talks about the power of connection with Nadiya Dragan El-Chiti, who is a breastfeeding professional.

If you enjoyed this inspirational clip with Nadiya Dragan El-Chiti, then you might be interested to listen to Episode 4 of the Leadership Activators podcast where Carole Issa dives deep into how Nadiya led the way by empowering mothers through breastfeeding.

Are looking to start your business or scale it by doing something you love? Click here and join Carole Issa in the Start Your Business (Leadership Activators) Facebook Group and be part of an amazing community of like-minded people from around the world who are also on a mission to go from idea to launching, to scaling their business doing something they love!