Reimagining You with Dr. Elie Daher

A company pays for executive coaching.

Twelve months later, the leader is delighted between 50% and 95% of coached leaders say they're satisfied with the experience.Ask the people who work for that leader whether anything actually changed, and the number collapses to 18%.Both numbers are real.

That gap is the subject of this episode.Will Linssen spent two decades in chemicals, plastics and pharmaceuticals as a country manager and company CEO and quietly coached leaders on the side for ten of them. Eventually the side job won. He became one of the first master certified coaches in Marshall Goldsmith's practice, helped carry stakeholder-centered coaching around the world, and then built his own firm: Global Coach Group. Four thousand coaches trained. Behavioural data on more than 100,000 leaders. Thinkers50 named him the world's number one coach trainer.And he makes a promise almost nobody in his industry will make. If a leader doesn't measurably improve in the eyes of their own colleagues after twelve months, the client never receives an invoice. Not a refund  no invoice at all. 

We get into how that guarantee is even possible, why coworker satisfaction climbs from 63% at six months to 75% at nine and 95% at twelve, and the reason most coaching never registers with anyone except the person being coached. Alan Mulally, who ran Ford and Boeing Commercial Airplanes, emailed Will after reading his research and summed it up in five words: you can't manage a secret.We also cover the part every executive listening will recognize the day you leave the corporate structure and become what I call a PIP, a previously important person, with no title and no company name on the card. Will's advice on rebuilding from there is unusually practical. Why ICF is a qualifier and not a differentiator. Why you sell to your existing network first. And why you raise your cost base only after your revenue rises, never before.His new book is Everybody Wins: Better Leaders, Better Teams, Better Results, with Alan Mulally on the cover.CHAPTERS

00:00 The numbers that open this episode

1:59 A money-back guarantee on human behaviour

2:29 “They don't even get an invoice”

3:13 Why twelve months, and not six

03:39 63% → 75% → 95%

05:00 Twenty years on, leaders still struggle with the same ten things

08:35 Go-to-hell money

0:20 What to do before you jump

2:22 If you can't measure it, you can't manage i

16:29 What most companies call measurement

9:01 The 18% problem

9:50 What changes when coworkers are involved2

0:23 Alan Mulally's email21:31 “You can't manage a secret”

2:23 Declare it, ask for suggestions, build the plan together

5:02 The PIP: rebuilding a network from zero

6:42 Why LinkedIn is your best friend

8:10 ICF is a qualifier, not a differentiator

31:44 Who is Will when nobody's watching

BOUT THE GUESTWill Linssen — Founder and CEO, Global Coach Group. Master Certified Coach. Thinkers50 World's #1 Coach Trainer. Author of Everybody Wins.

BOUT THE SHOWReimagining You is where we get past the titles and the résumés to ask how leaders actually rebuild themselves. Hosted by Dr. Elie Daher, executive advisor, board director, author and coach, President of the Association of Corporate Executive Coaches.New episode every Thursday, 5:00 PM GST.Subscribe: www.youtube.com/@DrElieDaherMy book, Reimagining You: https://www.dreliedaher.com/category/all-productsLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dreliedahe

Research cited in this episode is published in Everybody Wins and its free companion e-learning, drawn from Global Coach Group's database and Marshall Goldsmith's research.

#ReimaginingYou #ExecutiveCoaching #Leadership #ROI #TalentDevelopment #CHRO #Thinkers50 #Coaching

“He's with me now.”

He was a few months old when his mother let go of the pram at the top of the driveway.

His grandparents arrived at exactly the wrong moment or exactly the right one.

His grandfather stopped the pram before it reached the road.

His grandmother picked him up and said seven words that decided the rest of his life: “He's with me now. Take me through the courts.”

Geoff Hudson-Searle went on to work in 160 countries, serve on boards from Kaspersky to StorMagic, write nine books and over 650 articles, judge Britain's National Business Excellence Awards for six years running, and build IBEM Gulf which he's now moved to Dubai.

In this episode of Reimagining You, we go past the résumé.We talk about the 7,500 steps he climbed at 58 with no training, and the moment on the way down when he wanted to stop.

We talk about what he calls indomitable spirit.

We talk about the day he walked out of the C-suite and became what I call a PIP, a previously important person; with no title, no company name on the card, and what actually rebuilds your credibility from there.

Then we go where most boardrooms aren't looking yet: quantum computing that's already a thousand times faster than AI, the data-trust problem sitting underneath every AI decision your organization is making, and why he believes most CEOs today are completely off strategy.His new book is Infinite Trust.

Timestamps

→ 00:00 — "He's with me now" — the seven words

→ 00:44 — Welcome to Reimagining You

→ 02:23 — The pram at the top of the driveway

→ 04:07 — 7,500 steps at 58, with no training

→ 05:15 — The moment he wanted to quit

→ 06:52 — Why doing something hard restarts you

→ 08:55 — Resilience builds trust

→ 10:03 — Indomitable spirit — the thing that can't be taught

→ 11:04 — Walking away from the C-suite to build IBEM

→ 13:33 — The PIP problem: no title, no card

→ 14:45 — Why he writes — the book that began in therapy

→ 17:33 — Networking: quality, never quantity

→ 19:29 — Crossing the chasm

→ 22:42 — No regrets, and why he still serves on boards→ 24:09 — The CEO technophobe

→ 25:23 — Quantum is here — and your data isn't ready→ 26:30 — Ten years ago, trust was a “fluffy subject”

→ 28:50 — Why most CEOs are off strategy

→ 30:22 — The era of knowledge

→ 31:49 — Eagle or hummingbird

→ 32:09 — Infinite Trust — the new book

→ 33:54 — Close

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe for more.

New episode every Thursday, 5:00 PM GST.

ABOUT THE SHOWReimagining You is where we get past the titles and the résumés to ask how leaders actually rebuild themselves.

Hosted by Dr. Elie Daher

— executive advisor, board director, author and coach

— with four decades of multinational leadership across 12 countries.

ABOUT DR. ELIE DAHERhttps://www.dreliedaher.com/

#ReimaginingYou #Leadership #ExecutiveCoaching #Trust #QuantumComputing #BoardLeadership #CSuite #Dubai #GeoffHudsonSearle

In 2008, Brett King's Dubai consulting firm was thriving $4.9 million in revenue.

A year later, it had collapsed to $370,000. Instead of rebuilding, he wrote a book. That decision reshaped the future of banking.

In this episode, Brett shares the honest story behind Bank 2.0, the bestseller that launched Moven — America's first mobile bank account and a decade of reinventing himself across industries.

In this episode:

→ How losing almost everything led to his biggest breakthrough

→ The real reason he wrote his first book→ Why visibility matters as much as skill

→ His take on AI, intelligence, and what's coming next

→ Why the ability to reimagine yourself is a core skill

CHAPTERS

00:00 — Cold Open: The $4.5M Crash

00:05 — Revenue Drop: $4.9M → $370K

00:11 — On AI Outperforming Human Intelligence

00:18 — “First Time Humans Are Exposed to This”

00:22 — If You're the Smartest Person in the Room

00:27 — 2008: Losing It All in Dubai

00:42 — Who Is Brett King?

47:45 — Welcome to Reimagining You

48:19 — Brett King: Godfather of FinTech

48:21 — 2008: Losing It All in Dubai (Revisited)

48:36 — Who Is Brett King?

— Dr. Elie DaherReimagining You

“The world will never be as slow as it is today.”

lain Bejjani learned leadership in a warzone — then ran a $15 billion, 50,000-person empire.

He watched his father keep a business and its people alive through 15 years of civil war in Beirut — crossing demarcation lines to pay salaries in cash, because “you're not paying salaries, you're helping people stay alive.”

Then he became a lawyer, walked away from law, and ended up running Majid Al Futtaim: 50,000 people, 17 countries, built from a single Dubai mall.

In this episode of Reimagining You with Dr. Elie Daher, he dismantles the rules most careers are built on:The voice from above. “If you're waiting for a voice from above, it never comes. The voice comes from within.”

The business card. “Success is not the title on your business card. Success is when your name means something to people — it's the only thing you take with you on your last day.”

Promotion on performance. “I do not promote a successful person. Would you buy a new iPhone with zero memory space? What matters is the memory space you have left.”

Being indispensable. “An indispensable CEO is a bottleneck. A successful CEO is there, is felt, but is not seen.”

Plus: how will.i.am pitched him an AI assistant in 2016 — years before ChatGPT — why AI is the first non-biological intelligence in history, and the one trait that will decide who survives what's coming: adaptability.

Alain Bejjani is the former CEO of Majid Al Futtaim, a Shark on Shark Tank Lebanon, and the author of NEXT: Leading Through the New Realities.

IN THIS EPISODE

(00:00) The world will never be this slow again

(01:14) Why will.i.am built him an AI assistant in 2016 (03:37) Leadership learned in a warzone

(09:57) Salaries through the crossfire

(12:19) The voice never comes from above

(13:39) The comfort trap

(17:18) Your name is your title

(20:52) "My name is my title" — the Majid story

(21:56) Why he never promotes successful people

(27:57) The CEO who refuses to be needed

(35:41) NEXT: the four new realities

(43:06) The final word: adaptability

New episode every Thursday, 5 PM Dubai time. 

Watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/cq0lyCCN5QA

Rebuilding who you are after the title? Start here: https://reimaginingyou.me

Here's the polished version, ready to paste into Podeo:You don't have to be unique to be successful, you have to be relentless.

Fired as CEO of the Dubai Opera in the pandemic, Marilyn Zakhour rebuilt from her kitchen table. Three days of cooking later, she started Cosmic Centaurs, a firm that has now reached more than 90,000 people in over 90 countries.

In this episode of Reimagining You, she dismantles three beliefs that keep talented people stuck:

That confidence means having the answer. ("Confidence is the belief that you will figure it out.")

That your idea must be one-of-a-kind. ("If no one's had the same idea as you, I'm not sure it's great. Relentlessness matters more than uniqueness.")

That there will ever be a right time. ("Who would have said a good time to start a company is April 2020?")

She also makes the case her TEDx talk is famous for: the world is being taught servant leadership and psychological safety while the Majlis was invented here. Leading from the Arab world isn't a regional story. It's a global one being told by the wrong narrators.

Plus: networking for people who hate networking, the "favorite tree" question that replaces small talk, why AI won't fix a broken organization, and what to tell your kids to study when nobody knows what jobs will exist in five years.

Marilyn Zakhour is the founder & CEO of Cosmic Centaurs, former CMO of Emaar and CEO of the Dubai Opera, a trained architect, Harvard Business Review contributor, and TEDx speaker.

Chapters

00:00 — Confidence is not knowing the answer (cold open)

01:49 — An architect who never built a building04:45 — What they saw in her

06:24 — Fired from the Dubai Opera

09:14 — Why “Cosmic Centaurs”

11:34 — There is never a right time

13:55 — You don't have to be unique to be successful16:11 — The Majlis was invented here

21:30 — Networking for people who hate networking

28:20 — “What's your favorite tree?”

29:04 — AI won't fix a broken organization

33:56 — What to study when jobs disappear

Reimagining You with Dr. Elie Daher

Subscribe for a new episode every Thursday, 5 PM Dubai time: https://www.youtube.com/@DrElieDaher

Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/dzT-UsgtZUg

Rebuilding who you are after the title? Start here: https://reimaginingyou.meMore from Dr. Elie Daher: https://reimaginingleadership.com

#leadership #personalbranding #careerreinvention #entrepreneurship

“You cannot talk heart to heart from a pedestal or from a horse. You have to be at the same level.”

Dr. Waddah Ghanem Al Hashmi spent 28 years at ENOC, rising from the refinery floor to executive director. Along the way, he authored 12 books, became vice chair of a global maritime body at the IMO, and founded a platform built to challenge how the world teaches leadership.

But the advice that changed everything came from his father, a celebrated Emirati poet.

In this conversation, we explore:

→ Why mission isn't something you wake up with — it's iterative

→ The problem with teaching leaders using 1960s frameworks

→ What "you are not the customer" really means

→ How he builds relationships through 7-hour garden gatherings

→ The legacy lesson from raising twin chefs

One line stayed with me: “If you're teaching leaders today using frameworks researched in the 1960s and 70s… their ability to have real impact in such a changed world is limited.”

This is leadership without the playbook.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 — The one thing leaders get wrong

00:39 — Meet Dr. Waddah Ghanem Al Hashmi

01:58 — Finding your mission — why it's iterative, not instant

04:12 — The pivot: from engineer to academic, author, and leader

07:42 — The story behind the Platform for Connected Leadership

11:40 — Learner centricity: “You are not the customer”

13:26 — Why 1960s leadership frameworks fail in today's world

17:36 — Telling clients the truth: culture change takes 3–5 years

20:10 — The empathy deficit in modern leadership

21:27 — Visible impact: stories from retail and energy leaders

27:19 — Networking that lasts: connecting human to human

30:38 — The 7-hour garden gatherings

33:56 — Legacy: what stays when you leave the room38:49 — Raising twin chefs: influence without pushing40:16 — The coffee meeting that started this conversation41:00 — "What do people say about you when you leave?"44:15 — Titles expire — the final word

About Reimagining You

Reimagining You is where we go past the titles and résumés to ask how leaders actually built something that lasts. Hosted by Dr. Elie Daher — author, executive coach, and leadership advisor.

Subscribe for weekly conversations with leaders who reimagined what was possible.

Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/VDqUjRPbtyw

#Leadership #ExecutiveCoaching #PersonalBranding #Reimagining #DrWaddahGhanem #UAE #ENOC #LeadershipDevelopment #Podcast

He was three steps from the exit. The water was rising. Then he heard his mother's voice, and climbed back into a sinking plane to help strangers.

Dave Sanderson was the last passenger off US Airways Flight 1549: the "Miracle on the Hudson." But the crash isn't the story. What he did with the 208 seconds after is.

In this episode of Reimagining You, Dr. Elie Daher unpacks how Dave turned catastrophe into a framework leaders can actually use: how to manage your state when everything breaks loose, why the meaning you attach to an event decides the emotion you live in, and how executives can build an identity and brand that survives losing the title.

If you've ever feared becoming a "previously important person" the day you leave the role, this one is for you.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 — "Brace for impact" — the first thought

02:10 — Almost out — why he turned back

04:33 — His mother's voice: “Do the right thing”

07:10 — Zero resources in the water — resourcefulness vs. “we don't have budget”

09:36 — The meaning you attach produces the emotion you're in

12:24 — Reframing meaning: the avalanche survivor

16:08 — Tony Robbins & state management — 3 techniques you can use

28:49 — From networking to collaboration: visibility that compounds

30:52 — Wormholes — what Ed Sheeran, Oprah & Dr. Phil have in common

33:22 — The A-to-I = Affinity framework (don't skip the sequence)

40:28 — Final word: take care of your team first

👤 About the GuestDave Sanderson — survivor of the Miracle on the Hudson, keynote speaker, and author of Moments Matter and From Turmoil to Triumph. He raised millions for the American Red Cross and now teaches leaders how to perform when failure is not an option.

🎙️ About the ShowReimagining You is the show about how leaders reinvent themselves when the title, the role, or the plan falls away — hosted by Dr. Elie Daher.

Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/iaWQIJ_Q7qc

If Dave's story moved something in you, subscribe and share it with one person who needs to hear it.

#Leadership #MiracleOnTheHudson #DaveSanderson

Dre Baldwin, CEO of Work On Your Game, pro athlete turned entrepreneur, and the man who invented the online athletic training video genre, joins Dr. Elie Daher for one of the most practical conversations on discipline, identity, and reinvention we've recorded.In this episode:→ Why discipline is NOT a personality trait (and what it actually is)

→ The 4-pillar sequence: Principles

→ Structure → Discipline → Confidence

→ IF → UNTIL: the one word that separates amateurs from professionals

→ 60 agents, 20 tapes, 1 contract — the most raw initiative story you'll hear

→ Why your knowledge dies with you unless you turn it into an asset

→ How to evolve your brand across platforms without losing your voice

→ The real reason most people never get confident (they have the formula backwards)

Subscribe to Reimagining You, weekly conversations with leaders who refuse to stop building.

Connect with Dre BaldwinWebsite: workonyourgame.com

LinkedIn: Dre Baldwin

Books: 41 titles available on

AmazonPodcast: Work On Your Game

Chapters

00:00 — Cut three times: the story most people quit on02:34 — Inside Dre's day: the 3:30am non-negotiables04:43 — "This is our gym": changing a culture

07:24 — Reinvention and the identity shift that comes first11:00 — The four pillars, starting at the principle level

16:14 — Why discipline isn't a personality trait

20:22 — The one pillar people avoid most

25:00 — 60 agents, 20 tapes, 1 yes: taking initiative28:15 — The real risk of staying invisible

32:02 — Failure, resilience, and stocking shelves overnight35:59 — "If" vs. "Until": the one-word shift

41:01 — Evolving without losing your voice

50:34 — Closing: reinvention is discipline applied long enough

About Reimagining You

Reimagining You is the podcast where we explore what happens when people stop living inside their titles and start building something of their own, hosted by Dr. Elie Daher, executive coach, author, and leadership strategist.

Subscribe for new episodes and share this with someone who's waiting for permission to start.

Connect with Dr. Elie Daher:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dreliedaher/

Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/c1jnH2Vo3hQ

#DreBaldwin #ReimaginingYou #Discipline #Leadership #PersonalBranding

In 2019, Mariam Torosyan was pregnant with her daughter when a stranger told her: “Don't worry. The next one will be a boy.”

That moment changed everything.

Mariam turned her outrage into Safe YOU, a platform that has now:

Reached 1M+ people globally

Activated 65,000+ SOS alerts

Saved 300 lives

But this is not a story about technology. It's a story about refusing to accept what the world normalizes.

What you'll hear in this episode:

The moment that triggered a global mission

What she discovered inside women's sheltersHow one SOS button actually works

The real story of a woman who survived

How she scaled across 8 countries with governments and the UNWhy “the mission cannot fail”

Key Moments

00:00 — The moment that changed everything

05:00 — What she saw inside women's shelters

11:00 — Why it's called “Safe YOU”

14:00 — How the SOS button works

17:00 — The story that proves it works

27:00 — When the mission outgrows the founder

36:00 — 200% increase in reporting

43:00 — The mindset that makes quitting impossible

One Idea to Take Away:Technology can fail. Systems can fail. But a committed human being doesn't.

If this moved you, share it with one woman in your life.Subscribe for conversations on leadership, reinvention, and real impact.

Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/q6JRvjdKkj0

#ReimaginingYou #Leadership #WomenInTech #SocialImpact #Entrepreneurship

“My therapist told me not to make any big decisions…The next morning, I built a company.”That decision led to a billion-dollar company.But this episode is not about valuation.It’s about purpose, identity, and rewriting your destiny.In this powerful episode of Reimagining You, Dr. Elie Daher sits down with Tony Jamous, founder of two unicorns and Executive Chairman of Oyster—to explore a deeply personal mission:Fixing the “birth lottery”: the idea that where you’re born determines your opportunities.From leaving Lebanon at 17 with a one-way ticket…To building a global platform that creates opportunity for millions…This is a story about reinvention, healing, and building something that truly matters.In this episode, you’ll discover:Why Tony believes success means nothing without impactThe truth about burnout—and what finally helped him healHow psychedelic-assisted therapy changed his leadership and lifeWhy most founders lead from fear—and how to shift to trustThe real reason the world hasn’t solved global inequality yetHow to align your work with something bigger than yourselfA powerful idea from this episode:“Where you are born should not determine how far you are allowed to go.”This episode is for you if:You feel stuck between success and meaningYou’re building something but questioning whyYou want to create impact beyond your titleYou’re ready to reimagine who you areAbout the Podcast:Reimagining You goes beyond titles and careers to explore how leaders build personal brands, redefine identity, and create lasting impact.Timestamps:00:00 – The Therapist vs The Founder01:30 – The One-Way Ticket That Changed Everything04:00 – The Birth Lottery (And Why It’s Broken)08:30 – Burnout, Therapy The Turning Point14:00 – Building Oyster: A Mission, Not a Business20:00 – From Fear to Trust-Based Leadership28:00 – The Future of Work Global Opportunity35:00 – Why He Stepped Down as CEO42:00 – Legacy, Purpose Reinventing YourselfDon’t forget to:👍 Like the video💬 Comment your biggest takeaway🔔 Subscribe for more conversations with world-class leadersShare this with someone who:Feels stuck in their career…Or needs a reminder that where you start doesn’t define where you end.