The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘Nelson Mandela’

Interviewee Name: Shirley Adrain, COO

Company Name: Asia Pacific Technology at Societe Generale

Website: http://www.societegenerale.com 

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Shirley Adrain:  I’m a mom and wife and I’ve got a career in investment banking information technology. In addition to that I sing, paint, cook and try to keep fit.

Avil Beckford: How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

Shirley Adrain: I timetable everything. To cope with everything, I write a list and make sure that everything is timetabled. For me, that just gives me a bit more control – that I can cope with everything. 

Avil Beckford: When you have some down time, how do you spend it? 

Shirley Adrain: I like spending time with my friends and family just relaxing, doing something with my daughter, generally outside doing some exercise.

Avil Beckford: What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

Shirley Adrain:

1. Take responsibility for your actions and not blame other people.
2. Surround myself with positive people and use them to help me develop and act as a sounding board for issues.
3. Face my fears and do them anyway.
4. Take the road less traveled.
5. Have as much fun as possible.

Avil Beckford: What process do you use to generate great ideas?

Shirley Adrain: Have confidence that you’re going to have an idea and use lateral thinking. I always know that I’m going to come up with a solution, and I sit there for a while, and quite often I come up with the idea in the middle of the night if I haven’t thought about it and didn’t get the answer during the day. It comes to me in the night. But I think it’s knowing that you are going to come up with a good idea and letting your subconscious work on it. So it’s really harnessing the power of the subconscious mind.

Avil Beckford: What’s your favourite quotation and why?

Shirley Adrain: Well being Scottish, I have to go for a Scottish quote, “What’s for you wont’ go by you,” which means what’s for you in life won’t go past you so it’s having that confidence that you’re going to get success.

Avil Beckford: How do you define success? And in your opinion what’s the formula for success?

Shirley Adrain: Success is being what you want to be in life, being happy, achieving something and looking back at your achievements. The formula for success is simply believing in yourself. It has to be key; and choosing excellence, always trying to do the best you can, and learning and growing from your mistakes. You have to focus and continue to improve, that’s important.

Avil Beckford: What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

Shirley Adrain: I’ve had some great bosses who I have learned a lot from, and it is good to have different bosses because they teach you different things. My job requires working with a lot of people and building relationships. I enjoy doing that, as well as building a great team is really important. A lot of my roles have been global and regional and in those circumstances it’s really important to build relationships with all the people in all the locations to spend time with them and understand their needs. And when you want to roll something out, when I have rolled things out on a global and regional basis, I spend time lobbying the key people before hand, before I ask for a decision to be made. It makes it that much easier and ensures that I deliver what they want, so they’ll buy into it.

Avil Beckford: What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

Shirley Adrain: The world of work is now very different from when I started out working. Today it’s key to build a good network and to use the network to help you. There are so many people and not enough jobs so it’s about thinking about yourself and your personal brand, having that level of confidence and building that network and trying different ways to get into your field of work. And also getting as much coaching and mentoring as possible really helps.

Avil Beckford: If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

Shirley Adrain: I guess I would want to meet inspirational people.

1. Nelson Mandela would be a great person to meet.
2. Gandhi has so many successes so I’d like to look at some of what he did.

Avil Beckford: Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

Shirley Adrain: It is The Road Less Traveled because it’s a book that I’ve read a few times, and it makes you think about how you live your life and what decisions you make. It’s about where you are going in life. For me it made me realize that I had to look at my life mission statement, and where I wanted to go in life. I’m sure that once I’m clear on what I want to be doing in my life, to make sure that what I choose to do is in alignment with that, so when I look back I know that I’ve done the right thing, and can be proud of what I have achieved. I don’t want to be looking back and having a lot of regrets.

Avil Beckford: You are one of the 10 finalists on the reality show, So, How Would You Spend Your Time? Each finalist is placed on separate deserted islands for two years. You have a basic hut on the island and all the tools for survival; you just have to be imaginative and inventive when using them. You are allowed to take five books, one movie and one music CD, and whatever else you take has to fit in one suitcase and a travel on case. What would you take with you and how would you spend the two years? T he prize is worth your while and at this stage in the game there really aren’t any losers among the 10 finalists, since each are guaranteed at least $2 million?

Shirley Adrain: I would want to learn a lot of things so I would take a couple of big books and spend time reading and thinking about them. I would also write a book since I would have so much time, and think about what I could give back to others.

Avil Beckford: What excites you about life?

Shirley Adrain: All the different challenges that life has. I have been very fortunate to work and live in different countries, so I’m continually learning about the different cultures I am exposed to. I think it’s about learning new things and I also like meeting new people. I like not knowing what’s going to happen next – uncertainty and change is something that I enjoy.

Avil Beckford: How do you nurture your soul?

Shirley Adrain: Helping others and trying to make a difference! I get a lot of pleasure when I’m able to help others.

Avil Beckford: If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for?

Shirley Adrain: I would wish that people could live together more happily – have more fun and get along.

Avil Beckford: Complete the following, I am happy when…..

Shirley Adrain: I’m with the people I love and I’m doing something that I’m passionate about.

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Name: Tina Brillinger, President & CEO

Company Name: Global Food Safety Resource Centre Inc.

Website: http://www.globalfoodsafetyresource.com

Avil Beckford: How do you integrate your personal and other aspects of your life?

Tina Brillinger: As a fairly new business owner, this is something I struggle with daily, often feeling pulled in so many different directions. I am trying to make changes to strike a greater balance between my work/life balance. As time passes, I am getting better at this, without feeling guilty and knowing my mental and physical health depend on it.

Avil Beckford: When you have some down time, how do you spend it?

Tina Brillinger: Time is spent with family, friends and my Sheltie Jewels. I enjoy cooking, travelling, entertaining, reading, movies, scuba diving, golfing, skiing and Nordic pole walking.

Avil Beckford: What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

Tina Brillinger:

1. Regardless of circumstances, your past does not have to dictate how your life will turn out. The beauty of being an adult is that we have the freedom to make our own choices; eliminating those things or people who are not good for us.
2. A good education is a prerequisite to a life well lived, never to be taken for granted.
3. Everyone deserves a second chance – give yourself permission to have that second chance, that is, a second marriage, new job.
4. We learn more from our mistakes than the things we do correctly.
5. What constitutes a family depends on who is being asked; outside regular blood-relatives, a family can be represented through non-blood relations, friends who become family of the heart; same-gender partners – in essence anyone with whom you have a strong emotional connection that cares about you deeply.

Avil Beckford: What process do you use to generate great ideas?

Tina Brillinger:

1. Research by always reading interesting books.
2. Brainstorming with others to come up with “out-of-the-box” ideas.
3. Driving in my car where I’m relaxed listening to music.
4. Scribbling, sketching or writing down as many ideas as possible .

Avil Beckford: What’s your favourite quotation and why?

Tina Brillinger: “Givers have to set limits because takers never do” (unknown). Generally all people fall into two categories: givers and takers. Most givers don’t know how to set limits opening themselves up to constant takers. Takers like to find givers who don’t have set limits because they will take advantage of them and their generosity sometimes leaving the giver in a compromised situation. If you are a giver, set a limit on your time, money or energy that you can reasonably afford to give, and won’t compromise your well-being or circumstances. Develop a backbone because once that limit has been reached, takers will challenge you to cross it. Make a commitment not to let others cross it, unless it’s life threatening. If you set limits, chances are takers will not see you as weak and exploitable.

“Be the change that you want to see in the world” (Gandhi). In my view, there is no room for armchair pacifists in this world – they will never make a change to improve their circumstances or the world around them. If you truly want something to change then you must not wait for others to take action; be the impetus for change, no matter how big or small it is. The one thing successful people have in common is the belief that they alone can make a difference and they don’t wait around for others to act.

Avil Beckford: How do you define success? And in your opinion what’s the formula for success?

Tina Brillinger: Courage + Determination + Hard work + Perseverance = Success!

Success comes from a feeling of satisfaction in knowing you’ve reached your goal.

Avil Beckford: What steps did you take to succeed in your field?

Tina Brillinger:

1. Listening to what others had to say.
2. Continuous learning, no matter how irrelevant or seemingly benign it may be at the time.
3. Determination, strong work ethic; perseverance and courage.
4. Recognizing talent; surrounding myself with people who know more than me.
5. Making a business plan.

Avil Beckford: What advice do you have for someone just starting out today?

Tina Brillinger: There is room at the top for those who do things well. Keep high standards, be creative, be open to change and opportunities. If you don’t derive a certain satisfaction out of what you do then change it up. Don’t be afraid of failing….be afraid of belonging to the status quo!

Avil Beckford: If trusted friends could introduce you to five people (living or dead) that you’ve always wanted to meet, whom would you choose? And what would you say to them? 

Tina Brillinger: 

1. Elton John – Your music comforts me and has touched my soul when I hear it
2. Nelson Mandela – Your strength and determination to fulfill your vision has made your country and world a better place. Thank you!!
3. My Great-Great Grandmother who was full-blooded Algonquin – I’d like to hear about the kind of life she lived with my Great-Great Grandfather a French-Canadian. My family dates back to circa 1642.
4. Thomas Edison – I’d Ask him about his process for coming up with brilliant ideas
5. Indira Gandhi – Ask whether she would change anything in the course of her life, knowing she would be assassinated.

Avil Beckford: Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply? 

Tina Brillinger: A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, by Ishmael Beah – This is a first person account of his life as a boy soldier, one of the 300,000 child soldiers living in Sierra Leone. Ishmael’s narrative voice had such clarity when describing how he became indoctrinated as a boy soldier, what he witnessed and how he survived. Riveting, yet disturbing; Ishmael’s takes the reader down his road to hell describing how the rebels use children to commit genocide against their own tribes. His determination to survive and escape, through what can only be described as hell on earth, was extremely courageous. His willingness to share his painful story with such honestly is admirable. After becoming rehabilitated, Ishmael joined the United Nations, as a Spokesperson to help end the practice of recruiting child soldiers. Surviving such hell to tell his story is inspiring.

Avil Beckford: You are one of the 10 finalists on the reality show, So, How Would You Spend Your Time? Each finalist is placed on separate deserted islands for two years. You have a basic hut on the island and all the tools for survival; you just have to be imaginative and inventive when using them. You are allowed to take five books, one movie and one music CD, and whatever else you take has to fit in one suitcase and a travel on case. What would you take with you and how would you spend the time? The prize is worth your while and at this stage in the game there really aren’t any losers among the 10 finalists, since each are guaranteed at least $2 million. 

A toothbrush, hair accessories and sun hat; two deck of cards; pens and journals for writing; Movie: Fried Green Tomatoes, Elton John’s Tiny Dancer Album, my mask, snorkel and fins plus my dive knife, and hiking boots.

If you cannot view Elton John’s Tiny Dancer YouTube video, please click here.

The five books:

1.  The War of the End of the World, Mario Vargas LLosa

2.  Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild, Steve Brill

3.  The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger

4.  Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

5.  Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell

What I would do for two years:

• Get lots of sleep until I was fully rested, enjoy some solitary time unfettered by a rushed world.
• Take my mask, fins and snorkel and explore the underworld around the island.
• Go hiking in search of edible and exotics plants, cook interesting dishes.
• I would read books, play backgammon and solitaire and write my memoir.
• Have many fires and sing songs, make up different instruments with whatever was available.

Avil Beckford: What excites you about life?

Tina Brillinger: Things that visually delight me, nature, travelling to new places, learning something new, pushing limits and taking risks, that is, sky-diving, scuba diving, starting my own company, reaching a goal.

Avil Beckford: How do you nurture your soul?

Tina Brillinger: Being with people who comfort me (my husband, children and friends), music, and being in water (bath, scuba)

Avil Beckford: If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for?

Tina Brillinger: Ten years of great health and the financial resources to travel and participate in greatest adventures: Europe on the Orient Express, take an underwater tour of the Titanic or orbital flight, African safari.

Avil Beckford: Complete the following, I am happy when…..

Tina Brillinger: I am underwater, scuba diving with my dive buddy and husband Randy – the serenity balances and soothes me, against an otherwise chaotic world.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

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Elton John’s video uploaded by vikomak.

Interviewee Name: Karen Parsons, Human Excellence Coach

Company Name: Successful Solutions

Website: http://www.karenparsons.com

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Karen Parsons:  I am a life and business excellence coach, speaker and author.  I help empower successful professionals and organizations to further excel, using my depth of understanding about human potential and how to leverage it.  The beginning of any change must start with awareness.  You cannot change what you cannot see.  So I assist my clients bring to the surface; limiting beliefs, perceptions and behaviours that are the hidden barriers to achieving their highest potential.  I then provide them with transformational tools, processes and techniques for implementing lasting and positive change!

Avil Beckford: How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

Karen Parsons:  I learned the hard way through my back injury what can happen when you continually push yourself and don’t listen to your body.  The culture within most corporations is that the more you do, the more you can get accomplished.  The faster you move, the busier you are, the more you are getting done.  This is not true and I have a lot of proof to back this up.  This is one of the things I teach corporations.  Stay vigilant to balance.  It will make you more successful, it will make your company more successful.  Most achievers are about doing, doing and doing more.  So they find it difficult to shut off the computer, lock the office door and do something for themselves but it must be done.  Schedule personal time into your schedule.

Avil Beckford: What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

Karen Parsons:

1. Life is short so figure out how to enjoy it.
2. Work shouldn’t be work.  It should be gratifying, meaningful, interesting and fun.  Don’t settle for just a pay check.
3. You are responsible for your own happiness don’t expect others to behave in ways that make you happy.  Happiness comes from learning self mastery, meaning that you control your inner experience instead of trying to control your outer experience, which is impossible.
4. Live a life of gratitude.
5. Leave a legacy

Avil Beckford: When you have some down time, how do you spend it?

Karen Parsons:  Walking the dogs, kite surfing, mountain bike riding, spending time with my family, playing the drums, snowboarding and I meditate or do yoga every day.  I also help a school in the Caribbean, developing their sponsorship program.  It is very gratifying.

Avil Beckford: What process do you use to generate great ideas?

Karen Parsons:  Meditations, long walks, deep breathing.  Dreams.  All of these things help me connect to my most creative self and inspire ideas for me.  If I am feeling overwhelmed, stressed or any negative emotions, I don’t’ try to generate ideas in those moments.  It is futile and a waste of time.

Avil Beckford: What’s your favourite quotation and why?

Karen Parsons:  “Only he who can see the invisible can do the impossible” by Frank Gaines. Most of us go through life very unconscious, just going through the motions without full awareness.  The more you increase your awareness, become more present and conscious, the more you make the invisible visible, you see more possibilities, more choices, and this is how you create your greatest life.

Avil Beckford: How do you define success? And in your opinion what’s the formula for success?

Karen Parsons:  Success to me is when you can wake up with a smile on your face and go to bed with a smile on your face and in between you made a positive difference doing what you are passionate about.  The formula for success, is don’t settle for anything less than the greatest you and when you are the greatest you, you create great success.  Don’t buy in to the dogma that life has to be a struggle, yes of course there are difficult times and many challenges but it doesn’t mean you have to give in to them and let them control who you are.  Grow from them, become stronger and figure out what you need to change to make you happy and then do it.  This to me is real success.

Avil Beckford: What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

Karen Parsons:

1. Making sure and always asking the question, “Is this what I want to do, is this making me happy?”
2. Creating a vision and then making goals and objectives of how to get there.
3. Staying connected to my most creative self that constantly gives me guidance on where to go and what to do next.
4. Discipline, working hard but also realizing that hard work is not the most important part of the formula for success.  Are you self sabotaging your success through negative self talk, are you creating a lot of inner conflict?  Staying true to practices that keep me aware of what my real thoughts and intentions are because this is what really can make or break success.

Avil Beckford: What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

Karen Parsons:  Stay true to your vision, and get in touch with your authentic you. This will give you the vision and strength to create the life and work that will be most gratifying to you.  Find a mentor, or many mentors.  Of course I really believe in coaching.  It can save so much time and energy and create meaningful success faster.  Read self-help books and find balance.

Avil Beckford: If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

Karen Parsons: Oprah Winfrey, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and Wayne Dyer.  I would be interested to be in their presence and see what that feels like.  I wouldn’t say much to them, I would be more interested in listening to what they have to say.

Avil Beckford: Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

Karen Parsons:  There have been so many books that have impacted me at different times in my life.  But if I had to choose one,  I think it would have to be the The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart tolle.  It really helped take me to the next level in my development and was a powerful influence.

Avil Beckford: You are one of the 10 finalists on the reality show, So, How Would You Spend Your Time? Each finalist is placed on separate deserted islands for two years. You have a basic hut on the island and all the tools for survival; you just have to be imaginative and inventive when using them. You are allowed to take five books, one movie and one music CD, and whatever else you take has to fit in one suitcase and a travel on case. What would you take with you and how would you spend the time? T he prize is worth your while and at this stage in the game there really aren’t any losers among the 10 finalists, since each are guaranteed at least $2 million?

Karen Parsons:  I would bring my make-up, hair dryer…just kidding.  The necessities of life not withstanding, I would bring:

• Hat, pen and paper or a laptop to write about my experience.
• Educational books that would help keep my mind sharp.
• Joke book and inspirational book to help get me through the difficult times.
• Picture of my loved ones and perhaps some home movies.

I would spend my time meditating, exercising, doing yoga, exploring, writing, reading, eating.  I would learn how to survive on my own. I think that would be a challenge, that is, make a fire from sticks, make a shelter and so on.  I would observe nature a lot and really figure out the ecosystem and how it all interconnects and I would write about it.

Avil Beckford: What excites you about life?

Karen Parsons:  Life excites me.  I love life and I love people.

Avil Beckford: How do you nurture your soul?

Karen Parsons:  My relationships, charity, my work nurtures my soul and that is why I do it, mediation, yoga, the feeling of freedom I get from the many sports I do and reading and writing.

Avil Beckford: If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for?

Karen Parsons:  I would wish that people would come to understand that they have the power to be happy.  I have found the formula to happiness and success and I am living it.  It is possible.  We all just need some guidance and support to get there.

Avil Beckford: Complete the following, I am happy when…..

Karen Parsons:  I am happy NOW!

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

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Interviewee Name: Mireille Landry, President & Managing Director

Company Name: Solution ML Limited

Website: http://www.solutionml.ca

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I was born in Quebec City, moved a couple of times – Montreal, New Brunswick, and Toronto. I married my high school sweetheart and we have one daughter who is 21 years old. I had 21 years of successful corporate leadership career and became a new entrepreneur last year.

Avil Beckford: How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

Mireille Landry: I want it all. I expect it all. My family is extremely involved, more so today, in my professional life, whether they are advisers to me or I share ideas and thoughts with them. My daughter is for example my webmaster, so she contributes in my business in the way that she can. My husband is a superb supporter. I couldn’t do without him. Even more so now that I am a business owner I would say my personal and professional life are more integrated than it was before. I can’t say I was very good at that in the past, in the first part of my life.

Avil Beckford: What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

Mireille Landry:

1. I truly believe that you can have it all. I know that’s counterintuitive to what a lot of people say. You can have it all but you just have to be able to prioritize.
2. Networking is really important and it is important to nurture and take care of your network over the years.
3. You have to define success. The way that each one of us defines success can be different. Measure your success against your definition of it, not against someone else’s definition of success.
4. Have fun and be passionate in everything that you do. When you show up, you show up at one hundred percent. So if you are at a family event you need to be there 200 percent, all of you have to be there. It’s the same when you are in a business setting.

Avil Beckford: When you have some down time, how do you spend it?

Mireille Landry: I love to golf. I’m an avid reader. I try to walk with my dogs every day. Depending on how much down time I have, if it’s a lengthy down time I love to travel. I call my parents who are great advisors to me. It’s nice to catch up with them because they live far away.

Avil Beckford: What process do you use to generate great ideas?

Mireille Landry: I like to get in the hot tub, or go biking, or do something like that, and that usually gets my wheels turning. I never sit down to generate ideas. That doesn’t work for me. I almost have to write down what I am looking for, what’s the topic of the ideas, and then I need to let my mind loose and then ideas pop up. The hot tub one works really nicely.

Avil Beckford: What’s your favourite quotation and why?

Mireille Landry: I have many. I think the one I like the most I put it up on my website on the first page. “We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails,” and my husband and I both love that quote because it reminds us that we don’t control what happens to us, but we control how we react to it. And it’s just a different way of saying it. We are sailors, we love to sail so that works out really well for us.

Avil Beckford: How do you define success?

Mireille Landry: For me success is enjoying what I do, and being able to do what matters. What matters to me is being there for my 21 year old daughter, being there for family. Success from a professional standpoint is doing something that I adore, that I feel that I can contribute, but being able to balance effectively my time among all the different priorities. Life is too short not to enjoy what we are doing.

Avil Beckford: In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

Mireille Landry: You need to set goals. You need to plan your goals from all areas of your life: professional, personal, spiritual, health, all these different slices of the pie. You plan what you want to accomplish but allow life to steer, and accept what is being put in front of you and try to open doors that instinctively you would not have gone through. Take a little bit of risk. You never know what may be on the other side of that door. So the planning is important because without planning you will get nowhere. But give some leeway in how you get there.

Avil Beckford: What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

Mireille Landry: I always established goals – short-term, mid-term and long-term goals. I had visions and most of the time I would call it visions because they were visuals more than words. I worked hard and long and that life lesson of allowing life to steer sometimes and take a door that you wouldn’t usually take. It’s not something I did in the past, but it’s something that I’m doing now. Pick yourself up when you fail, and learn from that and keep going.

Avil Beckford: What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

Mireille Landry: Find mentors, gender-balanced mentors, and it’s okay to have more than one mentor. It’s good to have different types of mentors. Read in your field, and try to contribute even if you’re just starting out. There are always ways to contribute to your field whether it’s by volunteering – events, activities. Be a continuous learner and be a good person and give back.

Avil Beckford: If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

Mireille Landry:

1. Martin Luther King: I would like him to tell me his dreams. I’ve read his book but I’d like for him to share with me his dream and how he felt about it today, and what he would do differently going forward.
2. Nelson Mandela: I would love to hear how he kept his spirit, and how he stayed motivated and grounded all those years.
3. Shania Twain: I would love to talk about her recipe for staying grounded. She seems to be very approachable and casual. She protected her personal life and I’d love to learn lessons from her.
4. Betty DeVita: She was a speaker at Women of Influence luncheon recently. She was at Citibank for the longest time and now she’s the president of MasterCard in Canada. I thought she was a very inspirational speaker, one of the best, if not the best that I have seen at the Women of Influence luncheon, and I’ve gone to many. I would love to tell her how great a speaker she was, and dig a little bit more into how she’s personally achieving balance in prioritization. Not everything has equal time, but she is juggling different priorities and I’d love to talk more about that.
5. Dalai Lama: I would try to gain pieces of wisdom from him, learn more on his philosophy on how to achieve peace of mind and how he does it, always being so serene.

Avil Beckford: Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

Mireille Landry: If I picked only one book it would be The Dream, the Martin Luther King speech which inspired a nation.

Avil Beckford: If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are five books that you would like to have with you and why?

Mireille Landry:

1. I would like the have The Voyage of the Northern Magic: A Family Odyssey, which is a sailing book. It’s an inspirational story of a family who left everything they had and went traveling (husband and wife with their three children). I think it’s a wonderful and inspiring journey of a family living life together in a very different way.
2. I really enjoyed the series of books from Marcus Buckingham: First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently; Now, Discover your Strengths, he’s got a few, but I think I’d pick the first one, First, Break All the Rules.
3. I think I’d bring Igniting the Third Factor: Lessons from a Lifetime of Working with Olympic Athletes, Coaches and Business Leaders by Dr. Peter Jensen, which is about the core practices of exceptional leaders. He’s got so many great stories in there from the locker room because he was a coach for the Olympic hockey team. He’s got lots of athletes and business leaders stories.
4. Another book that transformed me which I really liked is The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander. It’s inspirational. It’s about transforming your personal and professional life so it challenges your assumptions. It gets you into a better mindset from where you are today. It’s certainly a worthwhile and inspiring read.
5. An Embarrassment of Mangoes: A Caribbean Interlude: It is a delicious chronicle of leaving the type-A lifestyle behind — and discovering the seductive secrets of life in the Caribbean. Who hasn’t fantasized about chucking the job, saying goodbye to the rat race, and escaping to some exotic destination in search of sun, sand, and a different way of life? Canadians Ann Vanderhoof and her husband, Steve did just that. In the mid 1990s, they were driven, forty-something professionals who were desperate for a break from their deadline-dominated, career-defined lives. So they quit their jobs, rented out their house, moved onto a 42-foot sailboat called Receta (“recipe,” in Spanish), and set sail for the Caribbean on a two-year voyage of culinary and cultural discovery.

Avil Beckford: What one music CD and movie would you like to have with you (on the deserted island) and why?

Mireille Landry: The music CD would be a medley of jazz artists. I love the movie, The Notebook. It’s just such a beautiful love affair. It’s sad how it ends, but we will all end up like that. I just think it’s such a beautiful love story.

If you cannot view Louis Armstrong – Hello Dolly Live YouTube video click here.

Avil Beckford: What excites you about life?

Mireille Landry: Life itself! I think life is beautiful. Being able to contribute, being able to make a difference, and depending on the season, enjoying small things like trees coming alive again, excites me about life – the small things we take for granted. Our ability to be free here in Canada, freedom of speech, or our ability to be who we want and being able to dream, reach out and achieve those excites me.

Avil Beckford: How do you nurture your soul?

Mireille Landry: When I can I take time to travel with my best friend, my husband, and just enjoy each other’s  company. Also living simply, enjoying the simple things in life such as a walk in the woods.

Avil Beckford: If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for?

Mireille Landry: I would wish for a lot of things. I would wish for having greater wisdom to make the right decisions in my life and to guide other people with that same wisdom.

Avil Beckford: Complete the following, I am happy when…..

Mireille Landry: I’m happy when I make a difference.

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YouTube video credit truerhymer.

Interviewee Name: Kamel Hothi, Director

Company Name: Lloyds Banking Group

Website: http://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Kamel Hothi: I’ve been working for 32 years in the banking world. I’m a Director at Lloyds Banking Group. I’m married, I have two children and I live in a very strict Indian traditional family.

Avil Beckford: How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

Kamel Hothi: The way that I integrate work and life, is that the things I learn at home I bring to work.  I do a lot of cultural training, I’ve trained over 500 executives, which I’m hoping that those nuances of explaining what the culture is, how to do a handshake, the name, the eye contact, all of those things will help them improve their business relationships with the community. And what I’m doing at work is networking with the community, going out to a number of events. And for the last couple of years, my husband has accompanied me to a number of these events and my children come along so they can have an insight into what I do. The first time I invited my husband to a black-tie event with 700 people, mostly men, I knew my husband was very uncomfortable but now he’s part of that and he enjoys coming with me and supports me as well.

Avil Beckford: What’s a major regret that you’ve had in life?

Kamel Hothi: That I didn’t go to university. I wasn’t able to go at that time, but I wish I had. I knew having an education would have helped me to fast-track up the career ladder faster than I have so it’s always a feeling of weakness in my chink of armour. I’m doing that with my kids and I’m pushing them forward – one is graduated and the other is going through it now.

Avil Beckford: What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

Kamel Hothi:

1. Believe in yourself.
2. Always think of the bigger picture.
3. Seek to get a balance and do not get hung up on your career but to also look at your personal life. Yes there’ll be times you focus on your career and not the home life, but I do believe that they need to go hand-in-hand.
4. Count to 10. If you have an email or something that’s impacted you, sleep on it, do not fire back a response immediately, you always think differently in the morning when something has upset you.
5. Make sure that you review the task at hand, plan everything as much as you can, and leave room for flexibility.

Avil Beckford: When you have some down time, how do you spend it?

Kamel Hothi: The reason why I’m smiling is that I have so little down time. The thing I’ve given up for my career is downtime, but we tend to get downtime when we go away on holidays. I love reading and if I can I do like painting, but it’s very, very rare. The easiest form of downtime is gardening during the weekends. I love it and do it as much as I can.

Avil Beckford: What process do you use to generate great ideas?

Kamel Hothi: I love teams especially new people, I love asking them what their first impressions are for things. No matter what the grade of the individual I think ideas generated first time to capture them when their minds are not clogged at all with the work routines. That’s what I try to do.

Avil Beckford: What’s your favourite quotation and why?

Kamel Hothi: Treat people like you would like to be treated. It’s something that I’ve always tried to live with. It’s what my mother used to say. To me that’s humanity, everybody likes to be treated fairly, everyone likes to be loved and everyone likes to be treated with respect. That’s how I want to be treated and if I can do that to others hopefully it will come back. People do return how you treat them.

Avil Beckford: How do you define success?

Kamel Hothi: Success for me is very much about being a parent, my children are happy, they are established and have made their own mark in feeling that they’ve achieved something, that would be success at home. And at work, I would say that it’s to leave my legacy with an organization of this size, I’ve changed their thinking, and helped them to achieve something that they wouldn’t have otherwise.

Avil Beckford: In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

Kamel Hothi: Determination and having that burning desire, that there is no other option but to succeed, and just chipping away at it. You will come across loads of barriers and hassles and people trying to get in your way, but it’s believing in yourself and constantly chipping away at it.

Avil Beckford: What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

Kamel Hothi: For me, it was really understanding the psyche of what’s in it for me. That’s very cynical, selfish thinking, but that’s how people tend to live in the corporate world. It’s using that thinking and putting it into my strategy. When we were building the Asian strategy it was very much what’s in it for them, what’s the business case, what would they achieve, would they pay attention? So once you can show them what the case looks like and get their juices flowing then it’s mapping that out and how it can be realized. That’s what I would say is what I have done in my field.

Avil Beckford: What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

Kamel Hothi: As soon as you get in, think about what is your next goal. Yes you might have landed in a new role, you want to do well in it and you want to understand it, but always have with you next steps. So once you know where your next step is, you know what you have to achieve in this particular role in order to get to the next one. It’s constantly looking at the next step, how to get there, and the people you need to network with to make that happen.

Avil Beckford: If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

Kamel Hothi:

1. I’d love to meet Gandhi, his way of influencing people, bringing cultures together and doing it so peacefully, I’d say his wisdom would be so powerful.
2. I’d love to go and see Mandela to understand how he coped in prison all those years and still have the courage and strength to come back peacefully and to continue where he left off.
3. I’d love to meet Mr. Ratan Carter in India, the executive for the Carter Group. From what I’ve heard he’s a great entrepreneur, but also his thinking, his wisdom in the way he is steering the company, I really admire him and certainly where he had to take the organization forward is something unique that I have not seen before.
4. If the opportunity arose, I’d love to meet Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsico. I’ve heard her speak but did not get the opportunity to meet her face-to-face. When I heard her speak and how she has taken over that company, an Asian woman is absolutely fabulous. I’d love to spend more time with her, listen to her, find out what has driven her to get to where she is, and how she could help other women.
5. I’d love to meet my mom again, and just be able to have a conversation with her and have her views, feelings and what she would say about me, my children and what I’ve achieved so far.

Avil Beckford: Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

Kamel Hothi: I think for the context of this interview, I love the The One Minute Manager. It’s a simple book, but the messages in there are still valid and a great reminder on the basic foundation of management. I dip in and out every now and again to remind myself of the seven rules of management and I think it’s a great book to have on a side table.

Avil Beckford: If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are five books that you would like to have with you and why?

Kamel Hothi:

• I love fiction books because I like to escape from the world that we are in sometimes. I think this is a great way to be engrossed and cleanse your mind. Any good thriller books would be great, so I do enjoy them.
• I do like talking about philosophy and deep thinking and The Rising of a Thousand Stars [Note from Avil: I think she meant A Thousand Splendid Suns] is about two women in the Taliban, which was so emotional. It was a culture that I didn’t know anything about and I read that book, and I would love to read it again because it brings home the friendship between two women in such a difficult situation.
• I also do tend to like healing books to heal yourself. You are constantly going as a woman and it’s important to find time to focus on yourself, see what’s going on, and what makes you tick. I like to analyze myself and see how I can be a better person.

Avil Beckford: What one music CD and movie would you like to have with you (on the deserted island) and why?

Kamel Hothi: I like Kishore Kumar, he’s an Indian singer. I love his traditional Bollywood songs, they are very romantic and slow but the words are absolutely amazing and they cut you to the core and there is usually one song that brings back some sort of memory in my life, so I’d love to take his music with me. I love the new Gladiator movie that came out. I love history so that brings history back to life again. It’s about the struggle about this one man and making his mark and standing up for what’s right. Romance is spread right through it.

If you cannot view Kishore Kumar Romantic Songs YouTube video.

If you cannot view Gladiator trailer YouTube video.

Avil Beckford: What excites you about life?

Kamel Hothi: My children, I love spending time with them. I love watching them grow, seeing how they have turned out. I love enjoying some of the stuff that they do. Last year, they took me quad biking (a quad bike is an all terrain vehicle – ATV) in the jungle in Mexico. I just enjoy life with my children.

Avil Beckford: How do you nurture your soul?

Again, talking to my children, that is very much listening to them and being there for them So when they have problems or difficulties or questions, the fact that they come to me, that in itself reassures me that I still play a part in their lives, and that they still see me as someone that they still need. I also ensure that my husband is still there and that our relationship is still healthy. After 28 years, touch wood, we still get on really well, and he still wants me so that’s really important.

Avil Beckford: If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for?

Without being a cliché, it would be helping the people in the Middle East to communicate better and if there is a way to make that happen. I’m really worried about the future of the world and what’s happening there, and it has an impact on myself, but on my children’s future. That worries me and I wish I had some way of supporting that.

Avil Beckford: Complete the following, I am happy when…..

Running in the field with my children.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Book links are affiliate links.

Video Credit: Uploaded by UltraHindi on Nov 29, 2010, Uploaded by JosPeters on Oct 15, 2006

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