Inspire Leadership Consultancy

New Office Address & Contact Details

admin — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 02:45:59 +0000

We’re pleased to inform you that Inspire Leadership Consultancy has moved to a new office. Our new office address is Unit 2607 Prestige Tower, Emerald Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

Kindly take note also our new phone lines 631-0658
and 631-0660.

Thank you,
INSP!RE Leadership Consultancy, Inc.
visit us: www.inspireleaders.com.pg
email us: inquiry@inspireph.com

Do more than manage—LEAD (Lead-Up Principle #4)

admin — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 02:41:50 +0000

by John C. Maxwell
an excerpt from The 360° Leader Book

People sometimes ask me to explain the difference between management and leadership. Here’s my take on it in a nutshell: Managers work with processes—leaders work with people. Both are necessary to make an organization run smoothly, but they have different functions.

To understand what I mean, think about some of the things that must happen on a military ship for it to function properly. The ship must be navigated, fueled, and supplied. It has various weapons systems that must be kept in good working order. The routine maintenance on a ship is endless, and there are dozens of processes related to the personnel onboard the ship.

All of these are processes that must be overseen. There are procedures that must be followed, schedules that must be created, inventories that must be maintained. These things will never happen without people to manage them. And if they are not managed, the ship will never be capable of fulfilling its purpose.

So what is the role of leaders? Leaders lead the people who manage the processes. If all the work in an organization were performed by machines, and the processes were monitored and controlled by computers, that organization wouldn’t need any leaders. But people do the work and manage the processes, and people don’t function like machines. They have feelings. They think. They have problems, hopes and dreams. Though people can be managed, they would much rather be led. And when they are led, they perform at a much higher level.

I have yet to meet a good leader who wasn’t also a good manager. They begin by managing themselves well. Once they do that well, they learn how to manage within their area of expertise. Then they add to that the skills needed to work with and influence others. They learn to understand the dynamics of leadership. As Tom Mullins said, “Leaders must be good managers, but most managers are not necessarily good leaders.”

Leadership is more than management. Leadership is:

• People more than projects
• Movement more than maintenance
• Art more than science
• Intuition more than formula
• Vision more than procedure
• Risk more than caution
• Action more than reaction
• Relationships more than rules
• Who you are more than what you do

If you want influence others, then you must learn to lead.

Inspire Appoints New General Manager

admin — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 11:31:23 +0000

“Attitude isn’t everything, but it is one thing that can make a difference in your life.” — John Maxwell, Leadership Author and Speaker

To our dear friends, partners and sukis,

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Binky Ocaya as the new General Manager of Inspire Leadership Consultancy and Training. Effective this July 2012 she replaces the former GM, Alex Araneta, whom we thank for his past 4 years of service.

Binky has an excellent leadership and sales track record in the Hotel and Hospitality industry and is our unanimous choice to lead Inspire and the team to serve and delight our customers and partners.

Please expect Binky to connect with you soon to discuss your training solutions needs and to discuss how we can partner with you.

We hope that you will all welcome and support Binky in this new position; and we look forward to more fruitful partnerships with you all.

God bless,

Francis Kong, Ardy Roberto, and Anthony Pangilinan
The board of Inspire Leadership Consultancy and Training

Content & Deliver

admin — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 05:59:48 +0000

by Anthony N. Pangilinan

If I were to sum up what a three-day course on Presentation Skills would contain, I’d say “content” and “delivery.” In fact much of business – and life – revolves around these two words. A product is developed with certain features (content) and distributed to the intended market (delivery). Food is prepared (content) and served to the waiting customer (delivery). An apology is called for (content) and the “guilty party” spends a few hours (or days) figuring out how to say it (delivery!). Content and Delivery. In even more basic terms, the What and the How of messages, plans, and actions.

I had written about my re-engagement with media in the past year in an earlier article in great detail. I related how I found myself overwhelmed by the number of media platforms involved in a supposed two-media Change Management program (radio and cable TV). For apart from radio listeners I had to talk to, and TV audiences I needed to connect with, there were phone-in options, possible breaking news stories, messages posted on our Facebook page, e-mail inquiries, text questions, tweets, BBMs, not to mention my live guests… all at the same time!

And here I discovered what I believe is the key to survive in our distracting, complex, hyper-media world: keep the content focused even as you explore various ways to deliver it.

Not only is it potentially less stressful (as you don’t have too much content to think about), it is also likely to be more effective (as one platform or medium builds on another).

So, at this time, I write about the topic “content and delivery.” When done, I will most likely – as a developing habit – send a few tweets and make a few Facebook posts on key points about it. At my next public training seminar on 360 Degree Leadership next week, I will share the gist of this article in the participants’ hope of influencing more people with less time and effort, simultaneously!

In an in-house program on Leadership Impact I shall soon conduct, I will stress the need for each other of the managers to summarize in one word how they would like their influence to be described by those they serve. Of course, talking about my weekly column – this article – is regular fare in my Saturday morning show called Magbago Tayo! (Let us Change!) over TV5. Writing about this topic and distributing it over various media channels is a practical, actual, real-time illustration of my proposition in practice.

To those who wish to enter the field of keynote speaking, my advice is consistent: keep deepening and broadening your area of expertise. And don’t stop exploring new ways of imparting your core message to your various audiences. I wrote this article on a flight back from Boracay, having delivered a motivational speech to over an hour and half with the beachfront just a few meters away was having worked hard on both Content and Delivery! “Kulang na lang, mag-song and dance number ako” (I was close to doing a song a dance number just to keep them from drifting away)!

In a few days, I start a one-and-half-year management course (content) run by Instead and Tsinghua University in Beijing with occasional visits to other campuses in Singapore, Abu Dhabi and France (delivery). It’s essentially a global leadership and business development program (content) that will have us participants attend actual classes on site every two months for 10 successive fays (delivery).

What is your content? What do you offer to your own world? What have you developed that can truly add value to your world in need? And how do you use and do you feel confident of the “mix” and the combination of platforms or means for its distribution? Is there a new or better way of making it available and convenient for others to access?

A major way I’m addressing those questions is the investment of time and resources for my upcoming course in Beijing. I invite you to join me in this journey and share my leanings (content) through this column (delivery) as we continue to pursue success and significance in our respective lives.

Character Like Sculpture

admin — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 05:35:26 +0000

by Francis J. Kong

“He’s a character isn’t he?”
I hear that expression all the time.
It’s usually used to describe somebody who seems to act, talk or behave in a peculiar way.
But if we go right down to the issue’ what is character really?
A Greek proverb says: “Character is habit long continued.”
Listen to what motivator Jim Rohn has to say.

Could creating your character be likened to an artist creating a sculpture? In my opinion, I believe that character is not something that just happens by itself, any more than a chisel can create a work of art without the hand of an artist guiding
it. In both instances, a conscious decision for a specific outcome has been made. A conscious process is at work. Character is the result of hundreds and hundreds of choices you make that gradually turn who you are, at any given moment, into who you want to be. If that decision-making process is not present, you will still be somebody. You will still be alive, but may have a personality rather than a character.

Character is not something you were born with and can’t change like your fingerprint. In fact, because you weren’t born with it, it is something that you must take responsibility for creating. I don’t believe that adversity by itself builds character and I certainly don’t think that success erodes it. Character is built by how you respond to what happens in your life. Whether it’s winning every game or losing every game. Getting rich or dealing with hard times.

You build character out of certain qualities that you must create and diligently
nurture within yourself. Just like you would plant and water a seed or gather wood and build a campfire. You’ve got to look for those things in your heart and in your gut. You’ve got to chisel away in order to find them. Just like chiseling away the rock in order to create the sculpture that has previously existed only in your imagination.

But do you want to know the really amazing thing about character? If you are sincerely committed to making yourself into the person you want to be, you’ll not only create those qualities, but you’ll continually strengthen them. And you will recreate them in abundance even as you are drawing on them every day of your life. Just like the burning bush in the biblical book of Exodus, the bush burned but the flames did not consume it. Character sustains itself and nurtures itself even as it is being put to work, tested, and challenged. And once character is formed, it will serve as a solid, lasting foundation upon which to build the life you
desire.

Right to the point. Jim Rohn always has a way of doing that.
Every single day offers choices we make that either makes or breaks our character. For after all, our lives is simply a summary of the choices we make from day to day.

In one of the seminars I gave, somebody stood up to ask me this question: “How would I know whether the decision I make is right or wrong?”
My answer is this. “We all need a reference point wherein we base our moral choices on. I’m a Bible kind of guy. I make my decision based on what the Good Book says. And indeed it’s like sculpture. Chiseling away the useless parts and building those that are useful.
Character is defined by what you’re willing to do when the spotlight has been turned off when the applause has died down, and no one is around to give you credit.

Never forget.

“It is possible that through ability we may get to the top, but it is always character that would keep us there.”

The Greatest Game

admin — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 01:54:53 +0000

by Alex L. Araneta

The 1992 NCAA Basketball Season was perhaps the best season of College Basketball in the U.S. because it had all the drama and excitement that
competition can bring to those who desire to win. Sports enthusiasts unanimously agree that the East Regional Finals between perennial powerhouses
Duke and Kentucky was without a doubt the greatest college basketball game ever played. With just 2.3 seconds left in overtime, the Kentucky Wildcats enjoyed a slim 103-102 margin over their arch-nemesis Duke Blue Devils. Duke however had possession and it’s star guard Grant Hill was to throw the ball from one side of the court to the other and hope their other star, Christian Laetner would catch the ball and be able to shoot the basket. Well, in just 2.3 seconds everything happened as planned. What made it even better and sweeter was the fact that Christian Laetner was
able to catch the ball perfectly, take one dribble and without pressure make a turn-around jump shot that swooshed inside the ring with conviction. It was a sight to behold and this milestone in every Duke player’s career would certainly give them the fame, confidence and drive to succeed in their future.

It would not happen that way. Duke’s biggest stars of that fabled team were Grant Hill, Bobby Hurley and Christian Laetner. Of the three Laetner had the brightest prospects to make it big. He was NCAA’s MVP, the only college player who was part of the 1992 Olympic Dream Team composed of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird among others. Finally, he of course was drafted as one of the top rookies in the NBA and was given the best financial package possible. Unfortunately, Laetner’s success as a college player never translated into wins in the NBA and his career was quite forgettable. He eventually went into business after retiring and dabbled into real estate with a former teammate. This business started well at first but eventually ran into problems that made Laetner take out a loan that was too much for him to pay. Years later and to this day, Laetner has multiple cases filed against him for failure to pay his loans and is currently looking for a job to enable him to settle out of court.

As for the other two star Duke players, Bobby Hurley got drafted in the NBA as well but not long after suffered from a terrible car accident that he survived but left him physically impaired that he was unable to perform at a high level just like when he was in college. Grant Hill was also drafted high in the NBA and was at one point predicted to be the next coming of Michael Jordan. Injuries however persistently plagued him that robbed the best years of his basketball life that when he finally was able to get back into the court, he was relegated to a mere supporting role.

I guess the burning question a person reading this would have is “How can three individuals who shared so great a success during their younger years all share in experiencing unfortunate, tragic and even career and life-threatening incidents not long after ? What did they do to deserve all of this and what are the lessons we can learn from them?

The conclusion I get from this which is validated by many experiences and stories I myself have witnessed and experienced is this – There is a god and it certainly is not us! If we will be true to ourselves I am sure that there has or there is a point in our lives that we have all felt invincible. Remember those times when everything just seemed to always fall into place and we would always manage to get our way? We are well-loved by friends and family, we enjoy the many luxuries life offers, we’re at the peak of our health and we look good! Best of all is we seem to have the knack of making the right decisions that takes form in having countless money, fame, possessions and relationships.

Here lies the rub. All these things won’t last very long. All these things really don’t satisfy. All these things give you a false sense of what is really important in life. All these things don’t make you a real success. So the obvious question we should ask next is why then do we pursue these things? The reason is quite simple. Because we often mistake the “gods” in our life with The God who created life.

Now that you know these things, make sure you’re ready to play the greatest game of your life.

The Most Important Ingredient of Leadership: Integrity

admin — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 04:15:00 +0000

by John C. Maxwell
an excerpt from the Developing the Leader Within You book

The dictionary defines integrity as “the state of being complete, unified.” When I have integrity, my words and my deeds match up. I am who I am, no matter where I am or who I am with.

Sadly, integrity is a vanishing commodity today. Personal standards are crumbling in a world that has taken to hot pursuit of personal pleasure and shortcuts to success.

On a job application one question read, “Have you ever been arrested?” The applicant printed the word No in the space. The next question was a follow-up to the first. It asked, “Why?” Not realizing he did not have to answer this part, the “honest” and rather naive applicant wrote, “I guess it’s because I never got caught.”

A Jeff Danziger cartoon shows a company president announcing to his staff, “Gentlemen, this year the trick is honesty.” From one side of the conference table, a vice president gasps, “Brilliant.” Across the table, another VP mutters, “But so risky.”

In a cartoon in the New York, two clean-shaven middle-aged men are sitting together in a jail cell. One inmate turns to the other and says, “All along, I thought our level of corruption fell well within community standards.”

The White House, the Pentagon, Capitol Hill, the church, the sports arena, the academy, even the day care center have all been hit hard by scandal. In every case, the lack of credibility can be traced back to the level of integrity of the individuals within those organizations and institutions.

A person with integrity does not have divided loyalties (that’s duplicity), nor is he or she merely pretending (that’s hypocrisy). People with integrity are “whole” people; they can be identified by their single-mindedness. People with integrity have nothing to hide and nothing to fear. Their lives are open books. V. Gilbert Beer says, “A person of integrity is one who has established a system of values against which all of life if judged.”

Integrity is not what we do so much as who we are. And who we are, in turn, determines what we do. Our system of values is so much a part of us we cannot separate it from ourselves. It becomes the navigating system that guides us. It establishes priorities in our lives and judges what we will accept or reject.

We are all faced with conflicting desires. No one, no matter how “spiritual,” can avoid this battle. Integrity is the factor that determines which one will prevail. We struggle daily with situations that demand decisions between what we want to do and what we ought to do. Integrity establishes the ground rules for resolving these tensions. It determines who we are and how we will respond before the conflict even appears. Integrity welds what we say, think, and do into a whole person so that permission is never granted for one of those to be out of sync.

Integrity binds our person together and fosters a spirit of contentment within us. It will not allow our lips to violate our hearts. When integrity is the referee, we will be consistent; our beliefs will be mirrored by our conduct. There will be no discrepancy between what we appear to be and what our family knows we are, whether in times of prosperity or adversity. Integrity allows us to predetermine what we will be regardless of circumstances, persons involved, or the places of our testing.

Integrity is not only the referee between two desires. It is the pivotal point between a happy person and a divided spirit. It frees us to be whole persons no matter what comes our way.

“The first key to greatness,” Socrates reminds us, “is to be in reality what we appear to be.” Too often we try to be a “human doing” before we have become a “human being.” To earn trust a leader has to be authentic. For that to happen, one must come across as a good musical composition does-the words and the music must match.

When Selling, You Need to Learn to Say NO!

admin — Mon, 21 May 2012 02:19:26 +0000

by Alex Araneta

Many Sales Manager has had to play the bad cop to a customer or potential client for the simple reason that their salespeople overcommitted. It could be in the form of giving discounts beyond what is acceptable or assuring immediate delivery in spite of the company’s delivery leadtimes to overpromising the benefits their product or service can do. These happens all too often because salespeople are pressured to deliver results after the honeymoon is over and for obvious reasons they enjoyed their honeymoon too much that they have nothing on their sales pipeline which greatly contributes now to their desperation for a sale.

Let’s face it, every customer wants the best of what they want to buy from price to quality to delivery to after-sales service. And every salesperson also desires of having the ideal customer who asks a few questions and is willing to pay for your product or service at your price. Unfortunately in the real world this rarely happens if at all even.

This is why salespeople need to master the art of asking good questions so they may determine what the real need of their customer is. There must be a compelling reason for the customer to want to buy your product or service and if you are able to discover this then it will make it easier for you to be able to say “NO” to the other things that they may ask from you.

I remember when I used to work for a flooring company, my customer was insistent on having a particular flooring at a significantly-discounted price for a medium-cost residential project they were doing. The flooring the customer wanted was one of our premium lines and so no amount of discount would meet the client’s price objective. After some questioning I discovered that the client liked the look of our flooring and nothing more. The fact that it was our premium product with all the bells and whistles didn’t matter to him. He just wanted the look so I told him two things: NO, I cannot give him the same product he wants because we can’t meet his price offer but YES we have a product that could meet his expectations. Then I asked the customer that if this offer was good for him would he agree to purchase the product and once he said yes then I knew we could get his business.

So ask good questions to your customers so you get to identify what the real need and desire of your customer is. Once you know that, make sure the customer agrees with you so that both of you understand that what you are offering satisfies the customer’s real need. Then you can be confident to say “NO” to the customer because you are confident in having met his real needs.

To The Max! Principle #5: Welcome Change

admin — Fri, 04 May 2012 05:52:06 +0000

Welcome change in your life. That’s principle 5 of To the Max- our program to maximize your relationships and your results. Welcome change. Ang metaphor daw for the workplace today, the environment is no longer like a calm lake. Where you’re in a dragonboat race and everyone is doing the same stroke di ba and you see one mile ahead. Ngayon daw, whitewater rafting situation. Hindi mo alam kung kelan magkakaroon ng alon o bato and you must navigate moment by moment. We have to welcome, in fact some people go beyond that, we have to anticipate change. Wayne Gretzky, the legendary hockey player was asked: How could you have shot so many goals in your lifetime? Sabi niya: Most skaters, skate where the puck is. I skate where the puck will be. Inaasahan niya na. Binabasa na niya ang sitwasyon. Tapos dun siya nagpaplano. Welcome and anticipate change in your life. That’s principle 5 for our program: To the Max! Maximum Results for Maximized Relationships.

Mutya Laxa-Buensuceso on How to Know What You Want

admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 07:18:30 +0000

It’s all about knowing yourself. Really look inside you and know what you want, what you’re capable of doing, what your competencies are. Matching that with what you really really want even when you were a kid. Most of the time it’s really linked to what you wanted to do as a kid and going back to that. And sometimes that work that we do, is just basically a way to lead us to where we eventually would be or would want to do. It’s a question that’s both internal and external. Internally you do an introspection and you ask yourself. This one my husband and I always talk about this. It’s KKK: Ano and kagustuhan mo, ano ang kaalaman mo at ano ang kakayahan mo. So that’s what you really want, what you’re passionate about. Kaalaman is what you know. Kakayahan is your skill, your competency, what are you equipped with? How can you do this, what kind of enablers do you have? And then, after doing an introspection, then you look outside. You look at what are the opportunities outside? What are the trends? What can I take advantage of? Matching that with the introspective answers. Then you get a fuller sense of what you want to do. What is it that you need to do?