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

Niki Avraam

Speaker | Workforce Expert | Lawyer - Employment | 2x Founder | Championing Ownership Culture & Preferred Discomfort to shape bold leaders and energised teams.

I started as an employment lawyer but I never stayed in the back room. I built departments from scratch, founded my own law firms and sat at the heart of organisations when culture broke or needed to evolve.

What I learned?
When people take ownership of their work, everything changes.
Not because of perks but because of purpose.

Today, I work with leaders and organisations ready to raise the bar.

I help you access the top 1% of human potential through:
Ownership. Bold Leadership. Preferred Discomfort (work outside comfort zones).

Because teams don’t just need to cope with change, they need to lead it.

Here’s how I can support your people and performance:

🔹 Keynote Speaking & Masterminds: On workforce, leadership and change. Story-led, practical, and impossible to ignore.
🔹 The Ownership Culture Framework: For organisations ready to replace micromanagement with agency.
🔹 The Personal Leadership Philosophy Programme: A 90-day transformation for new and emerging leaders to define how they lead and why it matters.

I blend legal precision with lived leadership and it works.

From FTSE 100s to ambitious scale-ups, I’ve helped transform flat, disengaged teams into committed, forward-moving ones.

Let's connect

📩 Let’s talk: niki@nikiavraam.com
🌐 www.nikiavraam.com

Founder of Howat Avraam Solicitors 

London based, multi-disciplinary law firm, Howat Avraam Solicitors which acts as the trusted legal adviser to companies and individuals by fighting for freedoms, resolving disputes and helping companies and individuals to prosper. We are forward-thinking lawyers, ready to embrace change and be pro-active.  Through periods of growth, uncertainty and adversity, we provide not just legal counsel but holistic solutions to business and workforce challenges.

Failure isn’t the hardest part.
Embarrassment is.
🎯 First attempt. Miss.

🎯 Second attempt. Miss.

Not in practice.
Not in private.

👑 In front of European royalty.
📸 Worldwide press.
🎪 Circus legends watching.

One attempt left.
The skill wasn’t the issue.

She already knew what 75+ mph felt like.

She already knew how to rotate four times in the air.

She already knew the margin for error was less than 0.1 seconds.

What most people can’t handle is being seen getting it wrong.

🔥 That moment when your face burns.
💓 Your chest tightens.
🧠 And your brain says: stop now.

Third attempt.

She launches.
Four full rotations.
Catches the bar clean.

Silence.

👏 Then a standing ovation.

History made.

This isn’t a lesson about never giving up.
It’s about staying inside embarrassment long enough to learn.

Failure gives information.
Embarrassment attacks identity.

It tells you:

👀 They’re watching.
😬 You look foolish.
🚪 You should step back.

If you don’t run from that feeling, something shifts.

You stop fearing visibility.
You stop tying your worth to the outcome.

You perform with more clarity under pressure.

This is preferred discomfort.

Not chaos.
Not bravado.

🎯 Chosen exposure when it would be easier to retreat.

Most careers don’t stall because of lack of talent.

They stall at the first moment of discomfort.

🔁 If this made you think about where you might be playing safe to avoid being seen, repost it. Someone in your network needs this reminder.

➕ Follow Niki Avraam for bold future focused workforce insights.

Everyone has an idea.
That’s never been the problem.
The problem is that most people stop halfway up the mountain.

They sit in the crowd at the bottom where it feels safe.

Where you can criticise what others are building.

Where you can say you are “thinking about it”.
Where you can promise yourself you will start when things calm down.

A little higher up, people are full of ideas.

Big ones.
Clever ones.
Ideas in meetings.
Ideas on LinkedIn.

Ideas over coffee that sound brilliant in the moment.

But ideas are comfortable.

They do not test you.
They do not stretch you.
They do not demand courage.

Then comes planning.

This is where it starts to look impressive.

Spreadsheets.
Strategies.
Vision statements.
Five year maps.

Planning feels like progress because it is organised.
But planning can also be a refined form of delay.

It keeps you busy without exposing you.
At the very top there is only one word.

Action.

That is where it gets quiet.

Because action means you might get it wrong.
Action means people can judge the result.
Action means you cannot hide behind potential anymore.

In the organisations I work with now, I see the same pattern.

Leadership teams full of intelligence.
Teams full of talent.
Rooms full of ideas.

Yet the gap between where they are and where they want to be is not knowledge.

It is execution.

Execution is ownership in action.
It is the moment you stop talking about culture and start modelling it.

The moment you stop designing change and start leading it.

If you feel stuck, do this.

👉 Choose one idea that matters.
👉 Define the first step that makes you slightly uncomfortable.
👉 Do it within the next 24 hours.

Not when it is perfect.
Not when you feel fully ready.

Now.

❓️Where are you on that mountain today?
❓️And what would moving one level higher actually require from you this week?

➕️ Follow Niki Avraam for bold future-focused workforce insights.

If I had something on my face…
Would you tell me?
I’d rather you did than say something nice and let me carry on.

That’s the difference.

🟡Niceness would smile and move on.
🟡Kindness would speak up—even if it’s awkward.

And the workplace? It’s full of nice.

Nice meetings.
Nice emails.
Nice feedback.

But niceness isn’t always good.
Because niceness often hides the truth.

It’s comfort over courage.
It’s complimenting someone while avoiding the conversation they really need to hear.

And too much niceness can be dangerous in leadership.

It creates the illusion that everything is fine when it isn’t.

I don’t know that I ever set out to be “nice”.

Nice is easy. Kindness takes guts.
💬 Kindness is giving someone hard feedback because you want them to grow.

💬 Kindness is challenging someone’s idea and standing by them while they work through it.

 💬 Kindness is uncomfortable. But it’s real.

I’ve had the privilege of sitting in rooms where careers were saved, not by being nice, but by being brave enough to be kind.

As leaders, we need less performance and more integrity.

Hold me accountable.
Give me the truth.
Let’s grow through it.

Because kindness builds better teams. And braver ones too.

👇 Would you tell someone if they had something on their face?

Repost to promote kindness over niceness. 

🟡Follow Niki Avraam for more bold future focused workforce insights.

I built my career on discomfort.

Not accidentally. On purpose.

I turned down secure legal roles to build an employment and discrimination department that did not exist.

No structure.
No roadmap.
No safety net.

Since then, I have founded and scaled my own commercial law firms. 

Pivoted into helping organisations build engaged, invigorated workforces equipped for the future of work.

Discomfort was not a phase.
It was the strategy.

And here is what it taught me:

1. If you wait to feel ready, you will stay where you are.
Confidence follows action.

2. Your biggest move will not feel safe.
It will feel exposed.

3. Many leaders confuse discomfort with danger.
Ask: Is this unsafe, or just unfamiliar?

4. Autopilot is the real threat.
Comfort quietly shrinks potential.

5. Growth rarely feels smooth.
It feels stretching.

6. Build a weekly discomfort habit.
Have the hard conversation. Growth is not random, it's scheduled. 

7. Step into the room where you are not the expert.
Back the bold idea.

The organisations that outperform do not protect comfort.

They choose strategic discomfort.

That is how you build ownership.

That is how you unlock the top 1 percent of human potential.

❓️Where is comfort quietly holding you or your organisation back?

➕️ Follow Niki Avraam for more bold future-focused workforce insights.

The best ideas in your business
Might be hiding in someone’s side hustle.

As a leader and adviser to companies for 20 years

Sitting in boardrooms, project meetings and leadership sessions, I've realised:

It’s not that people don’t have ideas.
It’s that some don’t get the space to share them.

Especially in smaller meetings, a few confident voices tend to fill the air.
The rest stay quiet; ideas unspoken, potential untapped.

But when you pause and invite every person to speak, something powerful happens.

You don’t just get input.
You uncover hidden strengths.

🎨 The marketing exec who designs on weekends can visualise strategy better than anyone.

💻 The finance lead who codes, builds systems that make things work faster.

🧠 The admin who writes fiction, crafts messages that actually land.

🎤 The analyst who DJs, understands flow, energy and rhythm in team dynamics.

People bring more to work than their job title.

And when you make room for those “outside” skills to surface, you deepen how well your team understands one another and how they add value to the business.

That’s not theory.

That’s what I’ve watched happen across organisations.

Your job isn’t to fill the room with words.
It’s to listen.

To look beneath the surface.
And to connect the dots between hidden talent and business opportunity.

That’s how stronger teams and better ideas, are built.

🔁 Repost to remind every meeting host that great ideas don’t always shout the loudest.

✨ Follow Niki Avraam for bold, future-focused workforce insights.

Harvard research explains why most people quit.
And it is not because they fail.

Research shows around 80% of people abandon their long term goals.

Not because they failed.
But because they could not see that they were winning.

The 80% comes from goal setting research over decades.

One of the biggest drivers of motivation at work is a sense of daily progress.
Small wins matter.

When people cannot see progress, motivation drops and when motivation drops, they stop.

Now connect that to this:

99% of people would rather look successful than be successful.

Because looking successful gives instant proof.

Likes. 
Applause. 
Validation. 
Noise.

Being successful is quiet.

It is the months where nothing looks different. It is the reps no one claps for. It is the projects that feel slow. It is the work that gives you nothing to post about.

I have seen this inside organisations for years.

The leaders who build lasting teams are not the ones chasing visible wins.
They are the ones who stay steady in the invisible phase.

They measure what others ignore.
They keep going when progress is boring.

If you want to win long term, do this:

👉 Create a private scoreboard.
Track effort, not applause.

👉 Measure leading actions.
Calls made. Pages written. Hard 
conversations had.

👉 Expect the quiet middle.
Plan for it. Protect it.

Real success happens off camera.

The question is simple:

❓️Are you working for proof…
Or are you working for progress?

➕️ Follow Niki Avraam for bold future focused workforce insights.

I’ve seen it inside organisations for 20 years...Brilliant people....High potential.
Quietly shrinking.

Not because they lack skill.
Because they’re carrying rocks that were never theirs to hold.

As an employment lawyer, I’ve sat in rooms where talent was crushed by culture.

As a founder, I’ve felt the pressure of building something from nothing.

Most people don’t quit because it’s hard.

They quit because it’s heavy.

Not the work.
The weight.

The weight of:

• Other people’s doubt
• Fear of failure
• Past rejection
• Society’s noise
• Their own inner voice.

Growth is not about removing the climb.
It’s about choosing which weight you carry.

You can carry fear.
Or you can carry purpose.

You can carry doubt.
Or you can carry belief.

You can carry rejection.
Or you can carry vision.

In my work with leadership teams, this is the shift that changes everything:

Stop asking
“How do we make it easier?”

Start asking
“What is worth the climb?”

Because when the reason is strong enough, the rocks get lighter.

And when leaders create ownership, people stop dragging weight and start raising flags.

Look at your team.

Who is climbing with hidden rocks?

And what are you doing to help them trade fear for purpose?

Repost this if you believe leaders should lift weight, not add to it it reaches. 

Follow Niki Avraam for more bold future focused workforce insights.

I’m not that special.

And neither are you.

This is the slightly uncomfortable conclusion I've come to after more than twenty years working inside organisations.

People often expect a dramatic personal story when I talk about leadership, building ownership cultures or building things from scratch. 

Some unusual drive. 
Some rare mindset.

But when I look back honestly at the periods when I felt most energised by my work, the pattern is surprisingly simple.

I had ownership over what I was doing. I wasn’t just executing someone else’s instructions. I had some authorship over the work itself.

I was also slightly in over my head. Not reckless, but stretched enough that I had to figure things out as I went.

And the work was aligned with who I am and what matters to me.

None of that is rare. It’s human.

Which is why the idea that only a small group of exceptional people bring energy, initiative and creativity to their work is simply wrong.

Most people will bring those things when the environment allows them to.

That’s what I spoke about at the Westminster International Rotary Club speaker series. 

How ownership, a little “preferred” discomfort, and alignment, change the way people show up at work.

Not because some people are extraordinary.

But because when the conditions are right, ordinary people do extraordinary things.

A real joy and privilege to speak at the Westminster International Rotary Club. Thanks for having me. 

And a question for you all…

Are we expecting exceptional people…
or are we creating the conditions where ordinary people can do exceptional things?

Follow Niki Avraam for more bold future-focused workforce insights.

Risk is not reckless.
But playing safe can quietly ruin you.
I watched a clip of Christine Lagarde speaking about her career.

She said the one thing she has never regretted is taking risks.

Not over calculating.
Not analysing every angle.
Not waiting for perfect certainty.

Over strategising can become a sophisticated form of fear.
You can spreadsheet yourself out of courage.
And when leaders operate like that, their teams do too.

But when leaders show belief, trust and conviction

People stretch. They take responsibility.
They grow.

What struck me most was this.

She spoke about love.
Giving love. Receiving love.
Unusual language for the President of a Central Bank.

But here is what I have seen after years inside organisations, during restructures, disputes, growth phases and reinvention:

The leaders who create fulfilment at work are not the ones obsessed only with targets.

They are the ones who genuinely care.
Not in a soft way. In an invested way.

They believe in the work.
They believe in the mission.
And crucially, they believe in their people.

When a leader is aligned with what they are building, it shows.

There is conviction.
There is clarity.
There is energy.

And that alignment gives others permission to align too.

To speak up.
To step forward.
To take risks without fear of being exposed.

That is how cultures shift.

Not through policies.
Through leaders who are clear about what they stand for.

Because when belief is visible, courage spreads.

Repost this for the leader who needs the reminder that alignment is not a luxury. It is the foundation of performance.

Where are you asking your team to be brave while you are still playing safe?

Follow Niki Avraam for bold future-focused workforce insights.

20+ years inside companies at their breaking points 
And breakthrough moments.

I’ve seen what makes people rise 
And what makes them quietly disappear.

It’s not talent.
Not titles.
Not tenure.

It’s this:

✅ Ask better questions

If you're not challenging how you work, think, or lead you’ve already plateaued.
The best performers are the best learners. Always.

✅ Adapt before you’re forced to

The job you love today won’t look the same in five years.
The ones who win? They move before the ground shifts.

✅ Own your outcomes
 
No more “That wasn’t my job” or “I wasn’t told.”
You either take the lead or someone else will, and they’ll take the credit too.

And for organisations?

I’ve built teams.
Coached exec boards.
Walked into businesses mid-crisis.

These three behaviours separate the teams who survive from the ones who scale.

They can be trained.
They can be operationalised.
But only if leaders make that choice before it’s urgent.

Because:
People want to be challenged.
They want progress.
They want control over how they succeed.

That’s what makes them stay.
That’s what makes them thrive.
The future of work won’t wait.

📌 If your people aren’t learning, adapting, and owning 
Your organisation won’t survive the next disruption.

It’s that serious.
And that solvable.

Which of these 3 behaviours does your team (or you) need to work on now?

🔁 Repost this for the ones trying to stay future-fit.

 🔖 Save it  you’ll need it when business as usual stops working.

 ➕ Follow Niki Avraam for bold future-focused workforce insights.

I’ve spent 20 years inside organisations at their most fragile moments.
As an employment and discrimination lawyer. 

As a founder building departments from scratch. As an adviser called in when culture breaks.

And I can tell you this:

Leaders don’t lose authority in big dramatic failures.

They lose it in small sentences.

Quiet ones.
The kind in this graphic.

Nine phrases that slowly erode your authority as a leader.

Not because you lack title. But because you leak ownership.

When you say:

“I’ll handle it.”

You think you’re being helpful.
Your team hears: “I don’t trust you.”

When you say:

“That’s not my fault.”

You think you’re protecting yourself.

Your team sees: A leader who steps back instead of forward.

When you say:
“Just do what you think.”

You think you’re empowering.
But without clarity, that creates confusion. 

Not ownership.

And ownership is everything.

I built my first department in a law firm that did not even have one.

No roadmap. No safety net.
Just belief, autonomy and responsibility.

That experience shaped everything I now teach.

Because high ownership leaders do three things differently:

They replace blame with responsibility. “That’s on me. Here’s how we fix it.”

They replace control with clarity. “Here’s the outcome we need. How would you approach it?”

They replace silence with standards. “Here’s what excellent looks like.”

Authority is not about volume.
It is about alignment.
It is about making people feel trusted, capable and clear.

When leaders speak with ownership:

• Teams move faster
• Innovation increases
• Accountability becomes natural
• Disengagement drops

When they don’t:

You get hesitation. Politics. Emotional resignation.

I see it every week.

The good news?

Language is a choice.

And leadership is practiced one sentence at a time.

Look at the phrases in the visual.

Which one have you said recently?
And which one will you replace this week?

🔁 Repost this to challenge the language in your organisation. One sentence shift can change a whole team.

➕ Follow Niki Avraam for more bold future focused workforce insights.

Most people feel the old model of work isn’t quite working anymore.
They just don’t have the language to explain why.

This book does.

This week I went to the launch of undefinable life design by Charlie Rogers, and it struck me how clearly it captures something many people are sensing about work and life right now but struggling to articulate.

At its heart, the book asks a simple but powerful question. How do you design a life that sustains both your energy and your income? Not just in theory, but in a way that actually works in the reality of modern work.

I first met Charlie at an event where he was speaking about portfolio careers. I had just given a talk called Miss Conventionality about living beyond labels and the limits we place on ourselves professionally.

We clicked quickly because we were circling the same idea from different directions. That the future of work will belong to people willing to design it rather than simply inherit the paths laid out for them.

The "undefinable" principles run through my veins. Because if you spend enough time inside organisations, as I have over the years, you see very clearly that the old models of work don’t quite hold in the way they once did. 

Linear careers, single identities, the idea that one path should define you for decades. For a growing number of people, it simply doesn’t fit the way they want to live or work anymore.

Yet many people feel that before they can properly explain it. They sense something shifting. But they don’t always have the language for what they’re doing or the confidence that there is another way.

This book gives shape and language to that emerging reality. It’s a life design book but also a career book. It explores how people can build work around the life they want to live rather than constantly bending their lives around work.

In many ways it gives people permission. 

Permission to transition. 
Permission to experiment. 

Permission to design something that sustains them not just financially, but mentally and energetically too.

If you do nothing else after reading this post, read the book. It may well give words to something you’ve been sensing about work and life for a while but haven’t quite been able to explain.

Fortunate enough to be an early reader, my best words to describe it (see page 1 of the book): 

“Elegant, actionable and deeply human. This book gives people language for a reality that some are already living but don’t yet know how to articulate.”

And the launch itself this week was genuinely joyful. A room full of curious, thoughtful, vibrant people thinking deeply about the future of work and the lives we want to build alongside it.

Charlie, congratulations. It’s a special book.

And if you’ve ever had the quiet feeling that the way we work, live, could be designed differently, this book might just help you start putting that into words.

Grab your copy here: https://lnkd.in/eJrqq8sS

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Niki Avraam

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