Aesara Partners 

At Aesara Partners, our mission is simple: enable you to be the best version of yourself. We offer a range of focused services that unlock the potential of people, teams and cultures to maximise business performance. 

Collectively our Partners and Associates have decades of experience both in executive coaching and as board level leaders themselves working in multiple sectors across global markets.

Partner & Executive Coach

Doshisha University

Professor of Strategic Management, Global MBA Program

The CFO Coach K.K.

The CFO Coach K.K. is a boutique executive coaching firm specializing in developing High-Performance​ Financial Leaders and Teams.

Founder & Executive Coach

Kansai Gaidai University

•	Awarded President's Global Education Award (Teacher of the Year).

Professor of Leadership & Management

Benesse Holdings, Inc. (USD 4.5B; Tokyo Stock Exchange Code: 9783)

•	Member of the Board of Directors for Berlitz Corporation; Benesse Corporation; and Benesse Style Care.  Chairman of Audit Committee for Berlitz Corporation. Member of Benesse Holdings Pension Committee.
•	Global CFO covering all 40+ Benesse group companies
•	Championed and supported multiple cash generation initiatives including a CFO led "Save to Grow" initiative to improve Company Financial performance and to identify significant savings for business reinvestment
•	Enhanced Finance bench strength and hired a high potential team to start financial business consulting
•	Implemented several process and capability best practices to move group companies towards global standards

Global Chief Financial Officer & Corporate Senior Vice President

McCann Worldgroup Holdings

• Overall Responsibility for Operations (Finance, IT, Legal, and Administration - 10 legal entities) 
• Successfully turned around long term loss making lead agency by delivering double digit margin improvements within two years
• Delivered double digit margin improvements for all six MWG Group companies 
• Built a new Finance team and moved from Scorekeeping to Business Partnership and improved business performance
• Major projects within last two years include: 
  - Shared Service center creation/migration
  - New Financial System Migration
  - Acquisition & Divestiture
  - Business Turnaround
  - Retirement Plan consolidation/change
  - Office relocation/rent reductions

Group Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President, and Member of The Board

Becton, Dickinson and Company

• Led Finance, Procurement, General Affairs, and Rebates teams (43 staff) to deliver multi-million dollar cash and profit performance improvement for first year and beyond. Exceeded all budget expectations.
• Engaged Japan Management Team and Global Finance Leadership Team on company objectives to deliver best outcome (Finance Transformation initiative, Sales effectiveness improvement, Key Account Management, Business Continuity plan, and strategy/selection of backup distribution center).  Led process for 2012-16 Business Plan development
• Developed and executed Finance department strategy and vision to move from scorekeeping to business partnership. Implemented job rotation program and hired several high potential employees to improve bench strength.
• Championed multiple Finance and Procurement initiatives including definition and implementation of new 401k Retirement Plan; divestiture of non-core business; change of primary banks (reduced bank fees by over 30%); vendor reduction process, and new travel expense management system 
• Taught New Manager Essentials program and selected as leadership trainer for PEPFAR program in South Africa to teach Leadership and Change Management to African Health Ministry officials

Finance and Administration Director

Avon Products Inc.

•	Implementation project leader for Avon Sales Leadership Framework (ASLF) – Highest priority project for the Company to adapt to a new Sales Model.  Completed project implementation in record timing.  Awarded regional award as part of ASLF Team. Only person in Asia recognized for both Top-line and Bottom-line contributions in the same year.
•	Defined and executed new vision and mission and led Sales Support department to complete over 40 initiatives (within a six-month period) as part of Team’s new journey towards field motivational excellence. Incorporated new processes to deliver high impact incentives, and to create Sales energy and momentum for sales turn-around.    
•	Achieved highest employee engagement scores with Sales Support Department significantly exceeding country results in over 95% of categories.  Previously had also led Finance department to highest employee engagement scores.
•	Global Project leader for a high potential, multi-functional, multi-national team to study and recommend actions to improve Global Sales Incentive management/spending process.
•	Oversaw execution of a variety of Company and Public/Media events ranging from Sales Conferences to Philanthropic events including Annual Awards to Women, and Pink Ribbon Campaign support.

Executive Director and Member of the Board

•	Responsible for Financial policy making/implementation and reporting for Avon Japan as a public company (including statutory/public, and Board Meetings). All year-end financial documents audited with no comments/exceptions.
•	Defined and executed new department Vision and Mission, and recruited, trained and developed a completely new Finance team (80% new hires within a six month period) to move from scorekeeping to business partnership. Finance team formed core of country high potential list.
•	Consistently over achieved profit performance commitment under adverse conditions of sales decline by aggressively managing strategic business needs with cost cutting; Delivered zero overhead growth during all years; Japan winner of regional awards for best cost management performance, and for boldest transformation strategy.
•	Provided leadership and support for critical decisions and strategy development as Japan Leadership Team Member.  Actively led change management process within company.
•	Consistently achieved best internal control results in Asia-Pacific/Avon over a period of eight audits.  Japan one of only two countries with highest audit rating. Outstanding performance generated support to remove Japan from list of High Coverage countries.
• Co-developed strategic/financial business case, and obtained approval for number of campaign reduction in 2006 making Avon Japan only country ever in Avon to undergo campaign reduction. 
• Independently analyzed and provided strategic direction for Plant study which challenged and reversed previous recommendation by outside consultants on plant closure.
• Provided leadership in several restructuring initiatives by providing an achievable plan to achieve 12% people related cost reduction.  Played lead role in this study representing Finance, Supply Chain and HR 
• Consistently achieved highest performance rating and nominations to several high potential programs
• Elected (and re-elected) to Board of Directors

Executive Director, CFO and Member of the Board of Directors

Delphi

• Prepared Asia-Pacific regional messages / presentations for Delphi Strategy Board, and for Delphi Board of Directors.
• Supported development and implementation of critical Asia-Pacific strategies.  Performed competitive intelligence and other special studies to identify risks / competitive threats and outlined regional / corporate response.
• Provided Miller Heiman strategic selling process training to Asia-Pacific personnel to improve value propositions and increase sales effectiveness.

Director Asia-Pacific Planning

• Management responsibilities for Finance, HR, General Affairs, and Six-Sigma.
• Active member of the Japan Strategy Board and Japan management team.  
• Six-Sigma Deployment Champion for Delphi Japan.

Delphi Japan – CFO & Administration Director

Country Responsibilities:
• Managed all finance functions including accounting, budgeting / forecasting and treasury.
• Lead development of cross-functional and cross-divisional Internal Control Review Board.
• Lead and supported strategic initiatives including venture development support, site enhancement, competitive analysis, transfer pricing, and cost reduction studies.
• Represented Japan in Asia-Pacific Financial Task Team.

Regional Responsibilities:
• Coached country CFO and staff to implement common financial reporting processes.
• Supervised and provided training for engineering / commercial / plant / site analysts.  Coordinated regional financial training programs for the sector in the Asia-Pacific region.
• Coordinated the regional budget, business plan, and capital management process.
• Supported development of common financial practices among ventures including:  Loan monitoring, F/X and cash management, compliance with accounting principles, report submission, etc. Provided regional oversight of venture risk exposure.

Asia-Pacific Senior Finance Mgr.

Executive Coach | MBA Professor | Ex-Global CFO

I help senior leaders master complexity, elevate strategic impact, and lead with authentic authority.

I bring over 25 years of C-level and boardroom experience as a former Global CFO for a $5B publicly traded company, combined with a deep commitment to human-centered leadership development.

Today, I coach global executives, CEOs, and leadership teams — specializing in executive transitions, strategic leadership, high-performance teams, and Asian leadership development.

I am also an MBA Professor of Leadership and Strategic Management, blending research-driven frameworks with boardroom-tested insights to develop transformational leaders.

Based in Kyoto, fluent in English, Urdu, and Japanese.

Connect with me: arif@thecfocoach.jp

Website: www.thecfocoach.jp (please sign up on my mailing list to receive future announcements and newsletters)

Arif Iqball

Stealth AI Startup

Quietly building next-gen hiring tools at the intersection of AI, behavioural science, and leadership performance.

⚡ In stealth. Launching soon.

Founder

Obsidian Black 

CEO & Founder — Obsidian
We build the exec teams behind some of techs most successful teams

Trusted by top VCs and scale-up CEOs to:
→ Find leaders who unlock growth
→ Fix what’s breaking before it costs millions
→ Build teams that go the distance

✅ 2000+ execs placed across CPTO, CPO, CTO, COO, CFO, CMO, CDO
✅ Specialists in team architecture, leadership transitions & hybrid scale

If your team’s scaling or breaking, we’re the call before the damage hits the boardroom or the valuation

Chief Executive Officer

Resource Partners

Director Global Executive Appointments and Partnerships

Career Architechs.com

Sold
To gain a wider breadth of knowledge from all sides of recruitment I decided to help create a new job board to fully understand the needs from a candidate perspective.
Bored of all the job boards not working so we developed something better, a job board that actually delivers as promised, relevant jobs to candidates and relevant candidates to the right jobs. 
Much more proactive approach than our competitors to connect the right people with the right jobs and quickly.

Focused on business development to attract and retain some superb market leaders on board advertising and a fantastic candidate response, delivering better results than our competitors who had been around forever.

Whilst performing Business development i also took care of high level executive placements, senior mandates and Branded Recruitment advertising campaigns for companies that wanted an exclusive, discrete solution for their critical hires.

Skills included but not limited to: 

Retained Head hunting
Executive search
Strategic Recruitment solutions
Contract, Permanent and Interim appointments
Senior mandates into Technology focused organisations
Branded recruitment advertising
Managed resourcing solutions

Business Development, Strategic Recruitment Advisor, Executive level mandates

I consult on a bi-monthly basis to help facilitate growth, acquisition, retention and strategic recruitment solutions for the brand.

My role is more of an advisory capacity now ensuring longevity of the brand and its solutions.

Skills include advising on: 

Retained Head hunting
Executive search
Strategic Recruitment solutions
Contract, Permanent and Interim appointments
Senior mandates into Technology focused organisations

Non Exec Director

Russell Winter

Sold
Owner of a Senior Level, discreet Head Hunting firm, Co-owner of contract consultancy and rec company specialising in building Global leading technology companies through strategic business placements. Proven history of building extremely successful teams within startups taking them to large profit, IPO, etc. Then of course your larger companies, Top 5 etc again hugely successful building UK and Ireland divisions, particularly large PS divisions within this field in a rapid time period.

I have contributed to many a now market leader and am looking to work with companies who want the best people, who have that something that makes the best of market stand up and listen, the exciting once in a lifetime opportunities that are so fun to build.

I am always interested in new ventures, new ideas (really new not "redone"), the insanely impossible that could just work always gets my attention ( but not always my investment :-) )

Skills include: 

Retained Head hunting
Executive search
Strategic Recruitment solutions
Contract, Permanent and Interim appointments
Senior mandates into Technology focused organisations

Owner

Computer Futures

Senior Technology Consultant

CEO Obsidian Black Building the most successful Leadership teams in tech | Board Advisor | TeamonyAI Co Founder | CoFounder Progress Coach

I'm the person CEOs call when they need the world's best talent and they need them fast

As founder of Obsidian, I understand the reality of hypergrowth companies: crazy tight deadlines, impossible SLAs, and the pressure to deliver breakthrough products that change entire industries.

These companies can't afford to wait months for the right hire - every week without the perfect CTO or CPO costs millions and risks missing market windows

Over 20 years, I've placed 2000+ executives who operate at the forefront of AI, neoclouds, and cutting-edge tech. My team and I have exclusive access to the leaders building tomorrow's technology - the ones others can't reach because our networks run deeper than anyone else's in the industry.

When speed and expertise matter:
-VCs need to know their portfolio companies have the leadership to execute at hyperspeed
-CEOs need executives who've done the impossible before and can do it again
-Companies need someone who can deliver rare talent in weeks, not months

What we deliver:
Executive search across CTO, CPO, CFO, COO, CMO, CDO, CEO, Board Advisory roles and more

Access to leaders at the absolute cutting edge of technology

Unmatched speed when every day matters

The Team Architect Newsletter - Sunday briefings for leaders scaling without losing their best people. Join 4,000+ executives and investors who read it weekly

Need the impossible hire delivered fast? Message me to discuss

Emma E.

🚨 82.7% of employers think their workplace is amazing
Only 45% of employees agree...

The delusion is absolutely staggering

Early on I thought I was an excellent leader

Then I brought in a 3rd party anonymous coach to collect feedback from my team

What came back destroyed me

My people felt they could never hit a high enough level

I thought saying "great, but how can we do better?" was encouraging growth
It wasn't

It was soul crushing

I had to take that on the chin and completely adapt my approach 
( after sleeping on it and licking y wounds!)

After 15 years rebuilding leadership teams post-disaster

I've learned that how we see ourselves is very often not how are team see us

You think you are winning
Meanwhile , Your best performers are interviewing elsewhere 

Your team meetings have become performance theatre
Your "growth mindset" feels like constant criticism

🚫 It's not bad intentions 
🚫 It's not lack of effort

It's blindness to your actual impact

Here's what your team really experiences:
🎭 You think you're "pushing for excellence" 
→ They feel like nothing they do is ever good enough

🏆 You think you're "developing people" 
→ Your top talent is quietly planning their exit

💡 You think you're "giving feedback" 
→ They've learned your "but" erases every compliment

You were promoted for delivering results. 
Now you're delivering damage and calling it leadership

Because you're measuring yourself by intention
They're living with your impact

The hard truth: 
✅ Your "growth mindset" can become emotional terror
✅ Your "high standards" can crush confidence faster than build competence 
✅ Your "constructive feedback" may be destroying what you're trying to develop

🚨 53.7% of people quit toxic environments
They're not leaving companies
They're escaping leaders who make them feel small.

The leaders who succeed make this shift:
❌ Stop asking: "How can we do better?" 
✅ Start asking: "What did you do well here?"

❌ Stop pushing for more 
✅ Start celebrating what is

❌ Stop being the standard-setter 
✅ Start being the confidence builder

Those quiet resignations? 
They're not about opportunity. 
They're about you

What's the hardest leadership feedback you've ever received?

🔁 Share this if it resonates
🔔 Follow for leadership insights that don't sugarcoat 
📩 Join 4,000+ execs getting insider secrets every week link in bio!

Emma J Eyre

CEO, Obsidian Black | Building Leadership teams for cutting-edge AI & tech | 2000+ VP/C-suite placements | Global Speaker

Toxic Leadership traits EJE

The brutal truth: the fastest-growing AI companies aren’t using the playbook everyone else follows...

I spent the last 2 months interviewing the leaders building AI at extreme speed, founders, operators, executives, and what they’re doing looks nothing like the common advice circulating online

No recycled strategies
No generic frameworks
No “10x AI hacks”

Just uncomfortable decisions, unconventional moves, and real operating principles that actually work. As well as some of the biggest secrets that propelled them!

We have turned these conversations into a podcast, launching in January
so we can share the reality, not the noise!

This is going to be raw, honest, useful to anyone building or looking to lead in AI right now

And now I need your input:

What should we call it? 

Could you help me out and vote in the poll below!

If your team falls apart when you’re not there, that is not leadership.
That’s control

I thought I was the perfect leader
My team came to me for everything:

Every decision
Every problem
Every “quick question”

I wore it like a badge of honour
Look how needed I am...

Then I went on holiday
And everything fell apart

Slack exploded
Deadlines drifted
People waited, stuck

It hit me:
I wasn’t building capability
I was building dependence

We’re not taught this is a problem as we are learning

Corporate culture actually celebrates the indispensable leader!

But always being needed isn’t leadership
It’s ego disguised as service

You deserve to lead without carrying everything
✨ You can build a team that thrives without you

7 shifts that changed everything for me 👇

1. Good leaders answer questions

→ Great leaders ask: “What do you think?”
↳ Builds their thinking, not your hero status

2. Good leaders make decisions

→ Great leaders say: “I trust your judgment.”
↳ Creates decision makers, not order-takers

3. Good leaders know everything

→ Great leaders say: “I don’t know either.”
↳ Makes learning normal not shameful

4. Good leaders attend every meeting

→ Great leaders ask: “Do you need me there?”
↳ Shows confidence in their abilities

5. Good leaders rescue

→ Great leaders ask: “What support do you need?”
↳ Teaches help-seeking not dependency

6. Good leaders praise results

→ Great leaders praise thinking
↳ Celebrates process not just outcomes 

7. Good leaders hoard expertise

→ Great leaders say: “Your way is better.”
↳ Builds confidence , not control

Being needed and being valuable are not the same thing
If you’ve felt this shift or resisted it, you’re not alone

♻️ Repost to help another leader let go of the “indispensable” trap
🔔 Follow Emma J E. for leadership truths no one teaches, but every exec lives

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Arif Iqball

Emma E.

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The Battle

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Emma E.

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Engagements

Likes

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