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

Adaptologie 

Boutique coaching, mentoring & consulting company helping people & small businesses improve their adaptability quotient - ie. the ability to adapt and thrive in the face of big and small changes.  We do this through a process of deconstruction & reconstruction, which helps my clients unearth their potential. 

As at May 2025, 1,300+ hours of 1:1 coaching held with clients in multiple industries in APAC, Europe & North America. 
For more information, please visit the company page on Linkedin.

Founder & Managing Director

Indigo Shima

Indigo Shima is a micro business offering bespoke design & execution services for high end quilts, with particular attention to sustainability. Most quilts give a 2nd life to garments & household textiles, hence often locking memories into the design. 

IG: @indigo_shima
Www.indigoshima.com

Founder & designer

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 & consultant

Reformulate Health

Reformulate Health offers the first scalability-by-design digital health platform for life sciences companies. Reformulate's portfolio approach combines the culture, people, strategy, go-to-market capabilities and partnerships required to focus on the solution design, implementation approach and capital efficient business models, in lieu of the technology alone.

Healthcare start ups, investors and Fortune 1000 companies collaborate with us to identify, develop and scale the best top-line revenue growth opportunities enabled by converging technological paradigms. 

Our customers today work with us across drug discovery, drug-product commercialization, drug-product lifecycle management, drug supply chain management and beyond the molecule initiatives.

Member Of The Board Of Advisors

Hunton Executive 

Delivering personalized coaching programs for emerging and seasoned senior and executive life science and healthcare leaders globally. 

Executive and leadership performance coaching 
Onboarding and transition coaching 
Career transition and outplacement support 
Digital transformation and change management coaching

Executive and Organisational Coaching Partner

AQai - Adaptability Assessments & Coaching

AQai is a pioneer in the field of organizational adaptability to support the development of highly adaptable employees, safeguarding careers, unleashing potential, and protecting the future of their organisations.

Partner

Manulife

First leadership role in marketing, with dual reporting line to the regional CMO & regional CIO/COO, hence clearly setting the expectation of my role considering Manulife's digital proposition from an e2e perspective, on/offline. 

Working in partnership with a wide array of cross functional teams and strategic transformation projects at global, regional & local levels, I guided Manulife Asia in delivering solutions and processes which are genuinely customer centric, aligned to our digital strategy. 
In parallel, I led the pan Asia digital marketing transformation effort which introduced solutions, built capabilities, reinforced discipline and changed mindsets in the digital marketing community.
Results: revenue generated through digital marketing grew by 6x YOY, without additional marketing budget.

Regional Chief Digital Officer Asia

Prudential Corporation Asia

First leadership role in technology. Shared service unit leader with P&L responsibility.

Transformed an emerging regional digital IT team into an established, high performing team driving execution of regional projects as well as providing advice & hands-on support to our federated local business units in Asia (HK, SG, TH, MY, Indo, PH, VN, TW).

My role consists of capability building, adopting accelerated delivery (agile & hybrid) and customer centricity (through Design Thinking strategies) in all projects, hence changing mindsets and behaviours. 

'Digital' in Pru consists of technology supporting new ways of engaging with our customers, including data analytics, workflow automation, UX & mobility. 
Examples include chatbots, robotic process automation (RPA), MS Office 365 change management & adoption drive, partnership messaging gateway, point of sales solution for agency & banca channels, data analytics technical strategy definition, data modelling, as well as app & website design.

Team size: c. 30, spread across HK & SG

Head of IT - Digital (Asia)

Change leadership role, driving a strategic Customer Experience (CX) transformation programme across APAC. Aimed at making AIA a company easier to do business with, the programme covered a cultural change transformation element as well as customer centricity, language simplification, process re-engineering and digital evolution.

Regional Programme Director - Ease of Doing Business - CX transformation programme (APAC)

Deloitte

Providing financial services firms in Hong Kong with strategy, operations, and technology-based solutions.

Associate Director, Strategy & Operations

𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 ▪️ Leadership development enabler ▪️ Former Regional Chief Digital Officer ▪️ Certified NED ▪️ Quilter

𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗜 𝗔𝗺 & 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗗𝗼:
I guide individuals and teams through pivotal personal and professional transitions, leveraging 30+ years in financial services and 1,400+ 1:1 coaching hours (as at August 2025). 

Whether navigating leadership inflection points, reinventing careers or reclaiming purpose, I empower leaders to break free from autopilot, embrace complexity and lead with intention, clarity & courage.

With senior leadership roles in change management and digital transformation across Europe and Asia, I understand the demands of thriving in dynamic, high-pressure, and multicultural environments. 

Clients describe my style as approachable, profoundly insightful, and authentic. 

I blend structure with pragmatism, grounded “woowoo,” humour, and directness to spark transformative growth.

Having lived, studied & worked on 4 continents and successfully navigated career reinventions, I bring first-hand insight into embracing change and am passionate about helping others do the same.

My current portfolio career also includes a memory quilt design micro-business (IG: @indigo_shima), blending creativity and craftsmanship with intention—a nod to how seemingly diverse threads can come together to create something truly meaningful.

𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗜 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵:
• 𝑨𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕: Elevating their Adaptability Quotient (AQ) to excel in complexity and lead with a Positive Sum Game mindset.
• 𝑶𝒓𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒛𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒏𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒕𝒚: Equipping individuals and teams with self awareness and adaptive leadership frameworks to meet the demands of fast-changing business and geopolitical contexts.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿:
Mentoring | Individual coaching | Group coaching | Talent & leadership development

𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀:
• 𝑨𝒅𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒆: Helping private clients adapt, transform, and thrive.
• 𝑨𝒆𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒂 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔: Coaching executives and teams to amplify positive impact.
• 𝑯𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒐𝒏 𝑬𝒙𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆: Elevating talent in life sciences and pharma via career transitions.

Transformation starts with intentionality—let’s craft a future aligned with your values today. 
Whether in mindset or textile, transformation demands action. 
The time is now.

Josianne Robb (ICF PCC)

By now, you’ll have probably heard of the fires in 7 high density high rises in Hong Kong.
Stop scrolling for a little while, as it’s much more than this week’s news focus.
 
What we know is that around 2,000 families were living in these towers. 
Reports suggest that fire alarm systems hadn’t been activated. 
 
People inside, going about their daily routine, had no idea. 

By the time they were informed, the staircases were filled with smoke and flames.
Around 300 people are still unaccounted for and the death toll is rising. 
 
Beyond the numbers, we’re starting to hear the human stories.
 
Young parents who were out working, while their helper looked after their baby in the upper level of a tower. She called them, panicked, saying she couldn’t walk down the stairs. 
 
A retiree coming back from grocery shopping, saw the flames coming out of the tower he lives in, called his wife to warn her to go to safety. Her escape route was also filled with smoke, and she had to retreat back to her flat. 
 
A survivor was found alive after 18 hours in a burning tower. 
 
2,000 families will have their own story. 
What they share is that their homes are gone.
The survivors will need to rebuild their lives.
 
It is all too easy to assume that ‘somebody will do something’.
The survivors need our support, not condolences. 
Time is of the essence. 
 
Please donate what you can at one of many supporting organisations, which can be found in this link: https://lnkd.in/eNVszTTf
 
Please like and share this post with your network to get the word out far and wide.

Helping Asia based execs in regional roles lead with impact and thrive | Ex-Asia Regional Chief Digital Officer | 1,500+ hours of 1:1 coaching

Open article: Hong Kong fire: How to support families affected by the blaze by hongkongfp.com

Hong Kong fire: How to support families affected by the blaze

It’s rarely about permission.
It’s about the imagined fear of being wrong, seen, or alone.

We rarely say it out loud, 
But most of us are waiting for

Approval
Credibility
Seniority
Clarity
Legitimacy
Readiness
... and more. 

As if someone else has to say we’re allowed.

In my coaching work, I’ve noticed people don’t really struggle with permission.
They struggle with self-censorship.

That’s the voice in our head that asks:
• What if I’m not ready?
• What if it’s not my place?
• What if I’m wrong?
• What if someone disagrees?
• What if I fail publicly?
• What if I embarrass myself?

My perspective is simple:
 • If it’s important to you, begin.
 • If it doesn’t work (whatever that means), extract the wisdom, adjust, pivot if necessary and keep moving forward.
 • Don’t live in a world governed by imagined fear… it’s a lot scarier than real life.

We don’t actually wait for permission.
We wait for someone else to take responsibility for our decision.

Yet sometimes, the most courageous sentence we can say is simply:
“I’m allowed.”

—
This week, I’m sharing and challenging some of the most common myths I see in my coaching practice.
If this resonated, you’ll likely find the others helpful too.
Follow Josianne Robb (ICF PCC) for more.

Taking action without external approval

Not everything you think is true. 
But everything you think shapes what you do next... 

This one mindset mistake keeps capable people stuck: 👇 
"The greatest danger in times of turbulence isn’t the turbulence. 
It’s thinking with yesterday’s logic." — Peter Drucker 

One of the biggest obstacles I see in my coaching practice is 
the untested assumption that our perception of reality is the same as reality itself. 


This is simply wrong. 
We don’t respond to reality. 
We respond to the story our brain tells us about reality. 


We observe something. 
We interpret it. 
We add meaning. 
We form beliefs. 
And then we forget we added the meaning (the process takes a split second).

We take action, unconsciously guided to reinforce our beliefs.
And not realising that our beliefs do not necessarily reflect reality. 

Then the cycle starts again: our actions generate a response, which we observe, etc. 



Harvard professors Chris Argyris and Donald Schön called this process 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲. 

It shows how quickly we climb from: facts → interpretation → assumptions → belief → action 

But once we’ve climbed, we don’t say: “This is my assumption.” 
We say: “This is the truth.” 

That’s when we get stuck. 


Mature leadership, self-awareness, and growth often begins with just four words: 
“I might be wrong.” 

Become aware of your assumptions.
Validate them.
Then make a decision & take action.

Not everything you think is true. 
But everything you think shapes what you do next. 



— 
This post is part of a series on the myths I see keep capable people stuck. 
If this one landed, the next one might too.

Follow Josianne Robb (ICF PCC) for more

What is real?

“It’s harder now, especially here” often isn’t a statement about difficulty.
It’s code for giving up before you genuinely tried.

When we enter a new role, culture, market, or stage of life, things can be unfamiliar.
What used to work in the past (be it our previous context or that of our elders) doesn’t necessarily apply.
 
What once felt instinctive now feels effortful.
What used to be intuition now needs interpretation.

It’s not necessarily harder. 
It’s just different.

The hardship begins when we fail to notice or accept that the new context calls for calibration and refinement.
Sometimes, it calls for a bigger change, which genuinely takes us out of our comfort zone.

But instead of giving ourselves that recalibration time and/or permission to change, we often resist it. 
(see yesterday's post on this topic: https://lnkd.in/eqgJAxgq? )

We compare this context to the one we knew.
We cling to old instincts & behaviours.

We assume there is something wrong with us, or with ‘here & now’.

And that’s when we say:
 “It’s just harder now, especially here.”

Often, it's not harder.
 It’s just less familiar, less automatic.

It forces us to think creatively, to get out of our auto-pilot mode.

It forces us to accept that life is not as predictable as we’d like.

It forces us to accept that the situation is unfamiliar & that we simply don’t know what to change YET. 

Unfamiliar feels uncertain, worrisome, and/or hard …until it doesn’t.
Your perspective will shift once you accept the facts. 

So when you catch yourself or someone else using the excuse ‘it’s harder now, especially here’, challenge the thinking process. 
Ask: “What is this situation inviting me to recalibrate?”

—
This post is part of a series on the myths I’ve encountered in my coaching practice, the ones that keep capable people stuck.
If this one landed, the next one might too.

Follow Josianne Robb (ICF PCC) for more.

It's not really harder now... it's different

“You’re not alone” sounds comforting.
 But often, it’s just fake empathy, usually followed by a sales pitch.

With 8 billion people on the planet (and more than 100 billion who’ve ever lived), it’s almost statistically certain that someone has felt something broadly similar to what you’re going through.

But whether or not you’re the only one is not the point.

The point is:
-  What meaning will you make of this moment?
-  And what will you choose to do next?

Principle to live by: Focus on what (genuinely) matters.

Today is not a day for words about leadership or growth.

On this third day of national mourning in Hong Kong, we continue to honour those whose lives were lost in the Tai Po fires, hold space for the families and communities in grief, and remember that behind every headline & statistics are many human stories.

May those who survived find healing in time, and may they continue to be held and supported by the wider community as they rebuild a sense of normality.

Some days remind us that presence, compassion, and solidarity matter more than anything we achieve.

taplio

The Battle

Arif Iqball

Josianne Robb (ICF PCC)

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The Battle

Arif Iqball

Josianne Robb (ICF PCC)

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

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);}Josianne Robb (ICF PCC)'s LinkedIn Performance

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