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

Your Liberated Mind

Transformational Coach - NLP & RTT

The Hundred Wellness Centre

I worked with clients to overcome anxiety, procrastination, career obstacles, grief, emotional eating, and weight problems etc. I specialized in facilitating deep emotional and root cause release using a combination of Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) and NLP coaching, guiding clients out of limitations and trauma to move forward with confidence. This work helped clients achieve emotional freedom and set the foundation for success in all areas of life.

Creative House Services

Responsible for end to end Customer experience, including Customer Experience, 3rd Party contract management, Marketing, Merchandising, Business Analytics, Process Design, App design and testing.

Head Of Operations

Klasha

Responsible for Financial & Merchandising requirements including Financial, Cash Flow and Market Projections, Competitor and Best Practice analysis, Pricing Architecture and Margin and Product Management.

Business Consultant

Al Tayer Group

Responsible for establishing the merchandise planning function and improving processes across Buying and Commercial for the Mono Store business, across a large portfolio of Luxury brands including Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Jimmy Choo, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and more.

VP Planning Luxury Fashion

True Alliance

Led the transformation from a Channel structured business to a Brand structured business. Implemented and was responsible for the Omni-Channel Sales and Operations Planning, development of processes, responsibility matrix and training of all functions to ensure smooth transition to maximise margin and reduce inventory holding.  Working across a large portfolio of Sports & Fashion Brands including Coach, Speedo, The North Face, Reebok, Lacoste, Nautica, Ugg Australia, Ben Sherman & more.

Group General Manager - Merchandise Planning

Responsible for the set up of the Merchandising function for the Retail & Outlet Business for Ben Sherman, Lacoste, Speedo, The North Face & Rockport.  Key responsibilities, merchandise selection, KPI budgeting/forecasting and supporting the retail store expansion.  Hiring of team and integration of function through training, analysis, implementation of OTB process (introduction of option plans, supporting documentation, detailed reporting packs including range plans, in-season reporting, hind sight/end of season reviews, size curve analysis and store grading.

Retail Merchandising Manager

Charles Parsons

Merchandise Planner - Homewares

Apparel Group

Merchandise Planner - Sportscraft Womenswear

Management Accountant - Sportscraft

The Loyalty Group

Business Planning Analyst

Business Analyst - Consumer Products (Contract Role)

You can look successful and still feel stuck, anxious, or disconnected.

I help high-performing leaders and executives feel like themselves again: calm, confident, and fulfilled, without losing their edge.

After 15+ years as a GM and VP leading multimillion-dollar portfolios and global teams, I know what constant performance pressure in high growth environments feels like.
The pace of meetings, decisions, and deliverables never stop but the quiet cost is confidence, clarity, energy and joy.

I bridge the gap between emotional wellbeing and performance.
Because what most leaders call stress is often a deeper disconnection from self, the hidden reason behind overthinking, burnout, and self-sabotage.

My work blends executive strategy with deep subconscious transformation.
Using Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT), Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), and Emotional Intelligence, I help leaders clear the root cause of stress and self-doubt, not just manage it.

It’s more than mindset coaching.
It’s emotional integration, the inner work that makes outer success sustainable.

The result:
✔ Calm focus under pressure
✔ Confidence that lasts
✔ Emotional self-trust
✔ Sustainable growth and fulfilment

Clients describe it best:

“Years of therapy couldn’t touch what Helen shifted in just a few sessions.”
“I didn’t just change — I became who I actually am again.”

If you’ve built success on the outside but it’s no longer translating to fulfilment on the inside, it’s time to upgrade the system that drives it all — your inner world.

💬 Ready to reconnect to your calm authority and fulfilment?
Book a Strategic Clarity Call: calendly.com/ylm/20min_zoom￼

Helen Pleic

I saw this sign outside Joe & the Juice,  and it stopped me.
Not because it was clever (though it was).
But because it was kind.


Most marketing plays on fear:
🚫 Not enough.
🚫 Not fast enough.
🚫 Not young / successful / worthy enough.


But this?
It was a positive pattern interrupt.
Playful. Aspirational. Human.


And it made me pause. And smile.


The best leadership does the same,
it creates psychological safety and permission to evolve.


As a coach and therapist, I’ve seen this truth again and again:
The biggest transformations happen when people feel 
safe enough to process, release, and expand.


We can all create that kind of safety.
We can all be catalysts for calm, confident change.


So if you lead people…
If you write copy…
If you create content…
If you build experiences…


For the next 72 hours, ask yourself:
🌀 Are my words uplifting — or overstimulating?
🌀 Am I awakening new possibility — or reinforcing old fear?


Because in a world trying to convince us we can’t be ourselves and be happy…
We need more kind pattern interrupts.


So if almonds can become milk…
You can become who you decide.
The choice is yours — make it, and stick to it.



💬 What’s one kind message that stayed with you?
♻️ Repost this to remind someone: growth begins with safety.
➕ Follow Helen Pleic for leadership insights, emotional mastery, and inner work that sustains success.

Helping Leaders Release Emotional Blocks Fast → Calm Confidence & Real Success | RTT & NLP Coach | Specialist in Stress Release & Inner Leadership | 400+ Transformations

The expert ego trap is subtle.
Being the expert feels safe until it stops your growth.
You only feel it when you’re quietly stuck, restless, or frustrated.


The best leaders understand this loop,
because they’ve evolved their ego from protection to progression.


An unevolved ego protects you from false risk:
from judgment, shame, and the fear of being unprepared.


Under pressure, that same instinct turns against you.
You default to defending quickly ≠ opportunities.


The best leaders break that defensive loop.


Early on in my career I thought I had to be perfect.
When I accepted I didn’t have to know it all and 
focused on extracting the lesson from 
any person, project, or moment. 

I stopped chasing:
– Speed to deliver over connection
– Validation of perfect for every task


And focused on:
– Active listening
– Simplifying
– Adjusting fast.


When you lead with expertise alone, 
conversations eventually stall,
collaboration and innovation cease also.


When you lead with curiosity, everything expands.

You move from:
- closed to open,
- friction to flow,
- telling to collaborating.


Would you rather your ego be right or be effective?


Your ego needs to be freed from perfection and feel safe enough to evolve.


And that starts with curiosity.


💬 What’s one question you ask that keeps your ego curious?
♻️ Repost to remind your network to stay curious under pressure
➕ Follow Helen Pleic for leadership, emotional mastery for success.

Anyone can act fast under pressure.

Very few can stay calm and lead.


Because tactics move work forward,
but stability moves teams forward.


When pressure rises, 
leaders aren’t measured by how much they know.
They’re measured by how well they lead their people.


Here are the fundamentals that keep you steady when the environment isn’t:

1. Perspective → in the face of negativity
They widen the frame, not the fear.

2. Priorities → when distractions multiply
They protect the signal and eliminate the noise.

3. Presence → under pressure
Their state sets the tone. Calm leads; chaos leaks.

4. Patience → in chaotic environments
They slow down the moment so the team can speed up the outcome.

5. Privacy → amid noise and drama
They hold boundaries, energy, and integrity.

6. Peace → through operational stress
Not passive, powerful. Peace creates clarity, and clarity creates results.


These aren’t soft skills.
They’re strategic advantages.


When a leader anchors in the 6 P’s:
✓ Decision-making sharpens
✓ Communication becomes cleaner
✓ Teams stabilise
✓ Influence rises without force


The most respected leaders don’t rise because of volume or urgency.

They rise because of how they carry themselves when things get chaotic.


Master these and momentum follows you.


💬 Which “P” is most underrated right now?
♻️ Repost this for teams under pressure.
➕ Follow Helen Pleic for leadership emotional mastery, and high performance.

People can start green… and slowly turn grey.

That’s why strong leaders and strong people track patterns, not promises.


Because behaviour always shifts with:
• Stress
• Seasons
• Progress

And those small shifts tell you everything.


The real skill is noticing the micro-moments where dynamics change,
whether it brings support… or signals something’s off.


🟢Here are the green flags that matter in leadership, teams, and relationships:
- You feel welcomed, not tolerated
- You walk away energised, not drained
- You can be honest without managing their reactions
- Behavioural shifts make sense, not hint at something deeper
- Your growth doesn’t trigger their insecurity


🟢 And the strongest green flag of all?
Emotional security.


🟢 Secure people:
• praise your rise
• respect your differences
• stay steady under pressure
• don’t compete, minimise, or dismiss

Triggered people create confusion.
Secure people create safety.


🟢 Whether in leadership or life, here’s the simplest filter:
When someone’s behaviour changes, even subtly,
that’s your signal to pause, check in, or create space.


People change and that’s okay.
But green flags are about consistency, not perfection.


💬 Which green flag matters most to you right now?
➕ Follow Helen Pleic to fast-track emotional resilience and leadership success.

Managers overthink to get it right.

Leaders act to keep momentum.


The difference?
One mental shift: focus.


Managers think “what if”, 
To cover everything that could go wrong.
That “what if” reflects an underlying worry.


Leaders think “what now”,
Moving with clarity toward the next step to shorten 
the gap between vision and victory.


Overthinking can feel like taking responsibility.
But really, it’s just misdirected momentum.


Each day, you’re either leading yourself or others.
Your job isn’t to have every answer,
it’s to create direction and motion through focus.


Save this an apply for when you catch yourself overthinking this week,
and move from worrier thinking → warrior action.


1️⃣ Pause before planning.
You can’t think strategically in a stress state.
Calm your mind, take a Birds Eye view.


2️⃣ Simplify the frame.
Actions, not words, build confidence.
Ask: “What’s one new action, big or small, that moves me toward the goal?”


3️⃣ Act → Reflect → Adjust.
Each move gives data.
Update your strategy in real time motion.


4️⃣ Lead through flow, not control.
Calm motion creates opportunity.
You can lead yourself and others, with your calm or your chaos.
That’s your choice.


Thinking more isn’t always the answer.
Thinking and acting clearer is.


💬 How do you shift from overthinking to action?
♻️ Share this with someone who needs to flip that switch.
➕ Follow Helen Pleic for emotional mastery and self leadership under pressure.

4 Lies High Performers Reject - Because They Learnt the Hard Way.

High performance isn’t’ pushing harder, doing more, and never slowing down.


Because real power and success don’t come from over performance, 
it comes from quiet, targeted iterated action.


Embrace these foundational truths for higher performerance:


1. Self Control ≠ Restriction
You’ve been told control limits you.
But real control protects your time, energy, and focus from chaos.


2. Calm ≠ Weakness
We glorify urgency.
But calm is what moves us with precision, not panic.


3. Kindness ≠ Naivety
Kindness isn’t soft.
It is grace showing up as strength in difficult times.


4. Intuition ≠ Woo-Woo
Logic calculates when you are calm. Otherwise you react.
Intuition is your human gps that incorporates logic and wisdom.


You weren’t born to prove yourself.
You were born to be your best self and expand your experiences.

💬 Which truth do you need most right now?
♻️ Repost to remind someone to redefine success for them.
➕ Follow Helen Pleic for emotional mastery and grounded leadership.

High performers seeking approval get stuck.

Leaders seeking respect rise.

High performers who seek to be liked, praised, and approved
quietly sabotage their leadership potential,
because chasing validation makes you take things personally.

Leaders rise above it.

The shift from high performer → leader is emotional before it’s tactical.

Here’s the difference:

• Approval seeks validation.
• Self-respect seeks clarity.

• Approval avoids difficult conversations.
• Self-respect makes the call even if it’s unpopular.

• Approval personalises reactions.
• Self-respect notices patterns, not attacks.

• Approval chases being understood.
• Self-respect focuses on consistency so others know how to show up.

When you stop needing to be liked, you gain the calm authority people trust.
That’s the moment your leadership presence starts to rise.


💬 What’s been the hardest shift for you as a leader?
♻️ Repost to help someone step into real leadership.
➕ Follow Helen Pleic for leadership emotional mastery.

Image Credit : Gareth Lloyd

Managers chase activity. 

Leaders create capacity.


Leadership isn’t always about doing more.
It’s about knowing what not to do.


It is one of the most underrated leadership skills:
The ability to remove noise, refocus energy,
and redirect pressure toward what truly matters.


Because the costliest losses rarely come from bad ideas,
they come from misplaced time and energy.


High-performing teams don’t chase everything.
They A.C.T. fast.
They protect energy and time they can’t get back.


A.C.T. = Awareness → Clarity → Trade-offs


A — Awareness:
Spot the projects, processes, and people that no longer deliver value.


C — Clarity:
Get clear on what truly matters now, and for what’s next.


T — Trade-offs:
Choose what to cut, modify, or reinvest. This creates space for focus.


Sometimes the fastest way to win
is to keep removing things until only the right ones remain.


💬 What’s one thing your team could stop doing this week to regain focus?
♻️ Repost to get teams reducing distractions this week.
➕ Follow Helen Pleic for leadership and emotional clarity under pressure.

The problem with Managers who only track KPIs?
They track growth in numbers.
Leaders track growth in people.


Because growth isn’t just about performance reviews or promotions.
It’s about creating a culture where everyone can evolve,
not just the “chosen few.”

And the truth is,
growth doesn’t have to cost money.

You can build a high-performing, deeply engaged team.

All it costs is attention, and a little awkwardness while you figure it out together.


People grow when growth is lived daily.
When mastery, risk-taking, and experimentation
are part of the team’s language, not just its goals.


If you only measure numbers, you train for pressure.
When you measure progress through people,
you create both growth and results.


Start small this week:
🧠 Host a 15-minute “learning swap.”
💬 Ask your team what they actually want to grow in next.
🎯 Let them teach something they’ve learned this quarter.


People grow fastest when they’re seen, challenged,
and trusted to expand.


Because the best leaders don’t manage growth —
they nurture it.


💬 What’s one simple way you’re keeping growth alive in your team this month?
♻️ Repost to remind someone: growth is personal, not procedural.
➕ Follow Helen Pleic for leadership and inner growth that sustains success.

Strong leaders aren’t always defined by what they do.

They’re always defined by what they don’t do.

Japanese wisdom says it best:
• If it’s not yours → don’t take it.
• If it’s not right → don’t do it.
• If it’s not true → don’t say it.
• If you don’t know → stay quiet.

High performers think success is about more:
more effort, more sacrifice, more output.

But identity-level leadership is built through less:
• Not reacting when triggered
• Not saying what your ego wants to say
• Not collapsing your work-scope boundaries 
• Not filling silence because anxiety rises
• Not giving energy to circumstances that don’t matter
• Not abandoning your own standards to maintain harmony

Because the moment you stop doing what drains you,
you start becoming who you actually are.

Mastery begins with subtraction.

💬 What’s one thing you’ve stopped doing that changed everything?
♻️ Repost to remind someone that restraint is power.
➕ Follow Helen Pleic to fast-track leadership success and fulfillment.

Anger isn’t emotional failure.

It’s emotional energy. Waiting to be used.


One of the best pieces of advice Warren Buffett ever received was about anger:
“You can always tell someone to go to hell tomorrow.”


Tomorrow is emotional mastery.
It’s the power to pause.


His advice?

Write the email.
Don’t send it.
I’ve done that more times than I can count.
Have you?


Anger isn’t about destruction,
it’s about direction:

⚡ Physical danger → Protection
⚡ Psychological danger → Boundaries
⚡ Suppressed anger → Eruption


Anger either burns or builds.

When you use it strategically, you take aligned action.
When you suppress it, it erupts in arguments, reactivity, or silence.
At home. At work. In leadership.


I see this constantly in my work:


Client A
“My family gets the worst of it.”
Therapy hadn’t shifted anything.
But in one session, we uncovered the real cause: 
years of stored emotional pressure.

→ Within four weeks, his family noticed the calm.
→ He began his new job steady, clear, and thriving.


Client B
A lifetime of anger management after a difficult childhood.
He wasn’t “broken”, he was overloaded.

→ After two months of deep mind-body work, 
he stopped reacting and started leading.
→ His words: “Talking about anger was a waste of time.”

He was right.

You can’t think your way out of a body stuck in fight-or-flight.


When you release the pressure beneath anger,
calm becomes your baseline.

And that calm is your leadership advantage.


💬 What’s one healthy way you release pressure before it builds?
♻️ Share this to normalise emotions, even the ones we are taught to hid. 
Even Warren Buffett got advice on anger.
➕ Follow Helen Pleic for emotional mastery and leadership transformation.

Nothing destroys a reputation faster than inconsistency.

Because the moment your actions stop matching your words, people stop trusting you.


And it doesn’t collapse loudly.
It collapses quietly.


Every subtle gap between what you promise and what you deliver fractures trust in four directions:

↑ Upward: leaders start to question your reliability
↓ Downward: your team shifts from safety to fear
→ Sideways: peers doubt your consistency
⟡ Internally: the deepest cut, you stop trusting yourself


And once those cracks form, they compound fast.


It only takes:
• one quiet delay with no communication
• one “I’m on it” that wasn’t
• one missed deadline with no reset


Suddenly, your behaviour is signalling:

⚠️ avoidance of hard conversations
⚠️ reactive leadership
⚠️ slipping self-trust — so others withdraw theirs, too

This is how credibility erodes, quietly, then suddenly.


Strong leaders know reputation isn’t built in calm periods. It’s revealed under pressure.

They:
✓ communicate before the problem grows
✓ reset expectations early
✓ initiate tough conversations before disappointment forms
✓ default to facts — not excuses, emotion, or blame


Your reputation doesn’t fail when you miss a deadline.
It fails when you hide from the truth of it.


Trust compounds every time your words, actions, and expectations align.

That’s how psychological safety is built.
That’s how influence grows.
That’s how high performers turn into trusted leaders.


If you’ve been:
– slow to respond
– slipping into reaction mode
– losing confidence
– carrying quiet stress

This is your moment to reset.


DM RESET and I’ll help you identify the single internal pattern blocking your momentum — and whether the shift you need is tactical, emotional, or both.


♻️ Repost to remind someone: reputation breaks quietly.

➕ Follow Helen Pleic for leadership success and emotional mastery.

Your talent isn’t the problem, following the wrong rules is.
No one teaches you the real rules of work, so you fail privately long before you ever win publicly.


Use these 15 hard truths to prevent disappointment and missed promotions. 

Apply them daily and they will improve your career and your peace of mind:

1. Your well-being is your responsibility. Not HR’s.
2. Most work habits were wired in childhood. Unlearn to grow.
3. Your wins won’t speak for themselves. Communicate your value often.
4. Being the go-to person won’t get you promoted. Teaching others will.
5. Power lives in influence, not titles. Learn the real game in your org.
6. Silence builds resentment. Speak early and often.
7. If you’re always reacting, the change must start with you.
8. Culture is built by behavior. Make sure yours raises it.
9. Bad meetings are everyone’s failures. Lead the fix.
10. Your emotions follow you home. Elevate them.
11. Your boss doesn’t manage your career. You do.
12. Your instincts already know. Trust them.
13. Money follows meaning. Build both.
14. Rest isn’t earned. It’s essential.
15. Being strategic > being busy.

Focus on the truth of your situation.
Once you filter through these, you can’t unsee them.

💬 Which truth impacted your career?
♻️ Repost to normalize the truth of work patterns.
➕ Follow Helen Pleic for leadership and self-mastery.

Higher Performers complete tasks.
Leaders create ownership.
Ownership isn’t giving people more work,
it’s giving them a piece of the outcome, not just the activity.


When people feel ownership, they naturally rise to:
✔ Systems-thinking
✔ Anticipating problems early
✔ Making smarter assumptions and decisions
✔ Moving from “my task” to “our result”


This is the difference between a compliant team
and a committed one.


Ownership grows fastest when you do this:

1. Let them lead something end-to-end.
Making it both stretch for their abilities and meaningful. 

2. Ask for their point of view first.
When people shape the solution, they naturally commit to it.

3. Let them do it their way. 
Give the vision, the boundaries, and the goal, then get out of the way.

4. Set clear check-in points.
Ownership thrives with guardrails to guide, not control.

5. Allocate time for them to think + build.
Agree to prioritized protected time = better decisions = faster growth.

People commit to what they help create.
And they grow through what they help deliver.


When you build ownership, you don’t just get better results,
you build teams that lead.



💬 What’s one task this week you could turn into ownership?
♻️ Repost to remind your team: ownership builds leaders.
➕ Follow Helen Pleic for leadership and inner work that drives real performance.

High performers don’t quit easily.
And that’s exactly why their careers stall.
Because of the loyalty trap.


They adapt. They fix. They optimise.
They carry more than they should because
they’re capable and they can.


But the trap of capability is over-responsibility.
And that’s where loyalty becomes the cage.


The 3 costs are always the same and they compound:
Emotional. Identity. Performance.


1. Emotional Cost
The satisfaction of problem-solving fades into numbness and quiet confusion.
You are surviving or collapsing. Not thriving.
Joy shuts off. Creativity declines.


2. Identity Cost
You become loyal to who the organisation needs you to be.
It’s a one-way relationship.
Your self-leadership shrinks and your intuition dulls.


3. Performance Cost
You compensate for everyone else for far too long.
You stay reliable but you’re no longer respected for the right reasons.
Your potential is spent maintaining, not advancing.


High performers don’t lack ambition.
They plateau in environments that depend on over-compensation
and leaders who play defense instead of developing people.


Leaders who outgrow this trap ask different questions —
about leverage, influence, skills, communication.

And then the one that cuts through everything:

“Am I getting better… or bitter?”


Strong leaders make decisions that honour their values.
They minimise emotional damage to confidence and self-worth.
They maximise their timing, talent, and opportunities —
instead of letting golden handcuffs shrink their future.


The right environment expands you and lets you breathe.
The wrong one convinces you that leaving is losing —
until confidence, agility, and belief drain out quietly over years.


You deserve more than smallness and survival.


💬 Comment YES if you agree loyalty can be a career trap.
♻️ Repost if you agree: staying isn’t always strength, sometimes leaving is.
➕ Follow Helen Pleic for self-leadership, emotional intelligence, and high-performance growth.

High achievers don’t get stuck because others are better.

They get stuck because old patterns take over right before the next level.

Comparison keeps you reactive.
Self-mastery makes you unstoppable.

The real momentum killers are always internal:
• stress habits that keep you busy
• unprocessed emotions that keep you reactive
• perfectionism disguised as “not ready yet”
• fear packaged as logic
• ego avoiding rejection
• discipline gaps due to self-worth
• distractions pretending to be rest

Shift these internally →
Your external results accelerate faster than you expect.

Lead inward → rise outward.
Everything else is noise or survival conditioning.

Success begins where comparison ends.

♻️ Repost if you agree.
➕ Follow Helen Pleic to fast-track emotional mastery.

Learning feels productive , that’s why it’s addictive.

Doing feels awkward, that’s why it creates results.



Most people don’t have a learning problem.
Learning feels safe, smart and like momentum.


But understanding isn’t mastery.
Mastery comes from awkward, exposing, imperfect action.


The doing zone is where your real growth and success live.
The reps.
The experiments. 
The moments you feel slightly incompetent but move anyway.


A simple way to close the knowing–doing gap:

📌 After you learn something new, ask yourself:

1. Where could I have applied this last week or month?
(Your brain builds patterns.)

2. Where will I apply this in the next 7 days?
(Your body builds action.)

Then write it down. Rehearse it.
Visualise the moment you’ll use it.


This is how you build the mind muscle memory that follows through.
Not just a mind that collects information.


Because you don’t rise to what you know.
You rise to what you apply.


💬 What’s one thing you’ve learned recently and actioned? How did it feel?
♻️ Save this for when learning feels easier than doing.
➕ Follow Helen Pleic for more like this.

Motivation feels good.
But what gets you started won’t make you finish.
Structure is the only thing that will change your life.


Motivation gives you excitement, energy, and hope.
But emotions are unreliable.
You collapse the moment life gets inconvenient.


Structure doesn’t feel as good.
But it leverages your focus
To create results every single time.


Think of any powerful building:
The vision is inspiring…
but the structure is what holds it up.


Living in Dubai, I’m always in awe every time I see the Burj Khalifa.


Motivation created a bold vision but it rose because the engineering, sequencing, and systems.


Your life works the same way.


Here are the six levels that build real freedom and real results:

1. Vision ➝ Direction
Crystal clarity on what you both do and don’t want.
Without clarity, everything becomes a distraction.


2. Plan ➝ Pathway
Steps, timelines, and strategy.
Hope is not a sustainable plan, structure is.


3. Foundation ➝ Identity
The beliefs, habits, and inner narratives to achieve.
You can’t build a skyscraper on shaky self-trust.


4. Structure ➝ Execution
Daily systems and standards that evolve as you do.
Consistency comes from setup and execution.


5. Protection ➝ Boundaries
Limiting noise, jealousy, people, and priorities that drain you.
If you don’t protect your focus, someone else will consume it.


6. Finishing ➝ Joy
Rest, creativity, connection. The things that make success feel like your life, not just your workload.


Without all six in order, progress collapses.
With all six, your life compounds.


I’ve worked with 400+ high performers
from executives to founders.


Most were doing everything “right”…
they were just doing the right things in the wrong order,
and without the foundation in place.


A future that lasts is built on a strong foundation and the right sequence.


💬 Which of the six layers do you need to invest in this month?
♻️ Repost to remind someone: foundations build futures.
➕ Follow Helen Pleic for leadership, self-mastery, and the inner work that creates lasting success.

Managers track KPIs.

Leaders develop the people who drive them.

Because every result is a reflection of the people behind it —
their clarity, energy, confidence, and alignment.

High-performing teams stay engaged when leaders consistently:

1. Keep people Inspired with Vision
→ direction fuels motivation.

2. Keep people Informed with Updates
→ transparency builds trust and maturity.

3. Keep people Interested with Growth
→ stretch work keeps talent engaged.

4. Keep people Involved with Ownership
→ accountability strengthens performance.

5. Keep people Integrated with Culture
→ daily behaviour, not posters, drives values.

6. Keep people Improving with Training
→ skill growth creates confidence and speed.

Strong businesses aren’t built on dashboards.
They’re built by leaders who invest in people first.


💬 Which of the six KPIs do you need to focus on in December?
♻️ Repost to remind your network: people drive performance.
➕ Follow Helen Pleic to accelerate your emotional resilience, leadership, and success.

Execution builds high performers.
Reflection builds leaders.
Most people never make that shift.

They stay in execution mode for years —
delivering, fixing, handling, being the one everyone depends on.
But if you never pause to integrate your experience,
you can’t rise from it.

Because here’s the real trap:

You get better at doing…
but not better at leading.

When you don’t process what life has taught you:
→ You repeat old patterns
→ You can’t see the next moves
→ You work harder instead of rising higher

Leadership isn’t just skill.
It’s pattern recognition.
And you only see the pattern when you slow down long enough to notice it.

High performers stay stuck in doing.
Leaders rise by understanding, integrating and making complex simple.

Take time to extract the upgrade.
Your next level depends on it.

💬 What’s one lesson you haven’t processed yet?
♻️ Repost to help someone break out of the execution trap.
➕ Follow Helen Pleic for leadership, inner work for emotional mastery.

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Arif Iqball

Helen Pleic

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The Battle

Arif Iqball

Helen Pleic

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Helen Pleic's LinkedIn Performance

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