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.

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?

🟡 Follow Niki Avraam for bold future focused workforce insights.

They tell you to stay grounded.
What they really mean is
👉 Don’t outgrow us.

Because growth is uncomfortable
for the people who benefited from you staying the same.

⚠️ Here’s the part no one says out loud.

Some people only liked you when you were: 

• easier to manage
• quieter
• less threatening
• still asking for permission.

The moment you stop shrinking,
the rules suddenly change.

You’re “too much.”
You’ve “changed.”
You’ve “forgotten where you came from.”

🚫 No.

You’ve just stopped editing yourself
to make others feel safe.

I’ve watched this play out inside organisations for years.

The moment someone starts owning: 

• their voice
• their role
• their ambition. 

💥 Resistance shows up.
Not because they’re wrong.
But because growth exposes the gap.

Here’s what I know to be true:

1️⃣ You don’t owe anyone comfort at the cost of your potential. 

2️⃣ Growth doesn’t need approval. 

3️⃣ Not everyone who clapped for your struggle will clap for your success. 

4️⃣ Impact matters more than being liked. 

And the hardest one 👇

Some people only support the version of you that needed rescuing.

That doesn’t make them bad.
But it does mean you can’t build your future around their limits.
So if your success offends someone…

Good.

✨ It means you’ve stopped asking for permission to take up space.

👇 What did you have to unlearn when you stopped playing small?

🔁 If this landed, pass it on to someone who needs it.

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

In leadership, empathy means seeing through someone else’s eyes, not your own.

It sounds simple but it’s one of the hardest skills to master.

We often assess others based on what feels easy to us.

But it’s one of the hardest things to do.

But what’s second nature to one person might feel like scaling a mountain to another.

That doesn’t mean they’re less capable.
It just means they’re navigating a different mountain....
with different tools, different stories, different pressures.

Too often, judgement steps in where understanding should.

We confuse difference with deficiency.

We miss the potential right in front of us
because it shows up in a way we didn’t expect.

And here’s the truth:

People grow best when they’re recognised for what they bring, not criticised for what they lack.

💬 Empathy in leadership sounds like:

▪ Listening with curiosity, not assumptions.

 ▪ Spotting potential even when confidence wavers.

 ▪ Valuing the steady as much as the bold.

 ▪ Asking, “What might this feel like for them?” before deciding. 

 ▪ Meeting people where they are not where we assume they should be

Empathy doesn’t mean lowering the bar.

It means broadening your perspective.

Because leadership isn’t just about what gets delivered...

It’s about understanding the people who deliver it.

🟡 What does empathy look like in your leadership?

Let me know I’d love to hear your take.

🔁 Repost to keep the conversation going.

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

Work shouldn’t deplete people.
But too many organisations still accept that as normal.
On the Legally Speaking Podcast ™️with the brilliant Robert Hanna, we unpacked exactly why and what needs to change.

In this conversation, we said the quiet parts out loud:

⚠️ Most workplaces aren’t broken, they’re outdated.
⚠️ Job titles quietly cap performance.
⚠️ Career paths that look good on paper are draining people in practice.
⚠️ We’re still designing jobs for a world that no longer exists.

💥 This episode is not theory. This is what I’ve learned building employment law departments from scratch, founding my own firms and now working globally helping organisations redesign how work, works.

🔹 We talk about what really makes people disengage.
🔹 We unpack why adaptability now outweighs experience.
🔹 We go deep into job design, leadership, and how to build energised teams that want to stay.
🔹We cover trap of mistaking authenticity for standing still.

And yes I challenge the idea that your job title defines your future. It doesn’t.

👇If you lead people, this will challenge how you structure roles. 

👇If you feel capable of more, it will change how you see your value. 

👇If you are mid career and questioning what comes next, this episode matters.

👇 If you're serious about revolutionising the way we work and future-proofing careers....

This episode is for you

🎥 Watch and listen to Season 10 Episode 2 of the Legally Speaking Podcast on all major platforms. 

https://lnkd.in/ePnvN9UU

And ask yourself one honest question 

❓ If your role was redesigned around your strengths, what would finally change?

Huge thanks to Rob and the Legally Speaking team for creating a space where uncomfortable truths meet real solutions. If you haven’t already, this is the podcast to have on your radar.

#LegallySpeakingPodcast

After 20 years inside organisations
during growth, crisis, conflict...I’ve learned this: Comfort is one of the biggest risks leaders underestimate ☠️

It looks harmless.
Even sensible.

✔️ Stable
✔️ Predictable
✔️ Low risk

But comfort doesn’t preserve performance.
It slowly erodes it.

I’ve never seen a career accelerate in comfort.
I’ve never seen a team transform there.
I’ve never seen an organisation future proof itself by staying safe.

Every role I ever grew into
I felt unready for.

Every leader I’ve watched rise
was stretched before they were confident.

Every organisation that stayed relevant
chose discomfort on purpose 🔥

That’s why I talk about Preferred Discomfort.

Not chaos.
Not burnout.
Not pressure for pressure’s sake.

But chosen discomfort.
Designed discomfort.
The kind that builds capability
instead of draining people.

Here’s what Preferred Discomfort looks like at work 👇

🚀 Stretch before certainty

Give people work they haven’t mastered yet.
If they feel ready, growth has already stopped.

📊 Treat mistakes as evidence

Not shame. Not silence.
Mistakes are data. Use them.

🔄 Move people, not just tasks

New rooms change how people think.
Fresh perspective creates better judgment.

❓ Challenge the safe phrases

“This is how we do it.”
“It’s too risky.”
“Now isn’t the time.”

Those phrases protect comfort.
Not performance.

Comfort keeps teams polite.
Preferred discomfort builds leaders.

And here’s the truth most leaders avoid:

If work feels easy right now
you’re probably standing still ⚠️

🤔 Where are you choosing comfort
when growth is asking more of you?

🔁 Repost this to challenge a leader who’s playing it safe

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

Everyone wants to lead.
But far fewer are willing to deliver.
This is leadership in its simplest, most potent form:

 👉 Do the work. Solve the thing. Don’t chase the shiny, just deliver.

And let me tell you from 20+ years working inside organisations, at points of tension and transformation, this is the truth:

💥 The people who get remembered?
 Aren’t always the loudest.
They’re the ones who quietly take ownership and move things forward.

I’ve seen this play out at every level:

🟡 The junior team member who took a messy brief and turned it into results
🟡 The mid-level manager who didn’t pass blame; they just fixed the thing.
🟡 The founder who didn’t wait for ideal conditions; they made decisions in the grey.

No role is too small for impact.
And no job is beneath a real leader.

📌 Young professionals, take note:
Don’t wait for the plum assignment.
Whatever lands in your inbox today?
Nail it.

Then tomorrow, they’ll come to you.
Not because of your title.
But because you’ve shown them:
You’re the one who gets stuff done.

💬 What’s one moment in your career where you delivered and it changed everything?

👇 I want to hear it.

🎥 Watch the clip. Save it.
 This is one to remember.

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

20 years as an employment lawyer and founder
Thousands advised. Here’s one truth
Work can quietly dismantle your confidence

And you won’t see it happening.
Not all at once.

But in 8 invisible ways that chip away at your self-belief.

Here’s how to spot them and exactly what to do instead 👇

1. Credit Theft
 → Your ideas land with someone else’s name.
 → Praise floats past like you weren’t there.
💡 Fix: Record your wins. Send weekly updates to your manager. Make your impact visible.

2. Micro-dismissals
 → You speak. They talk over you.
 → He repeats it. Now it’s genius.
💡 Fix: Reclaim space with, “As I mentioned earlier…” or “Let me finish that thought.”

3. Over-scrutinised, Under-supported
 → Constant critique. No direction.
 → “Not strategic” = “Not like us.”
💡 Fix: Ask for specifics. “What does strategic look like here?” puts the onus back on clarity.

4. Invisible Impact
 → You hit targets. No one notices.
 → They reward volume, not value.
💡 Fix: Shift the focus to outcomes. Use language like “This led to…” in every update.

5. Double Standards
 → You’re too much.
 → Or not enough.
 → You twist yourself trying to fit.
💡 Fix: Define your own success criteria. Don’t shrink to fit dysfunction.

6. Social Freezing
 → You’re in the meeting but not in the loop.
 → Slack lights up. Never for you.
💡 Fix: Find one ally. Loop yourself in strategically until you're part of the flow.

7. Praise Withheld
 → You outperform. They shrug.
 → Others get applause for less.
💡 Fix: Ask for feedback specifically. “What did you value most about my contribution?”

8. Gaslit by Culture
 → “We value inclusion” but you’re excluded.
 → You raise it. Now you’re the problem.
💡 Fix: Document everything. Seek outside support. Sometimes the fix is leaving, not adapting.

⚠ Confidence killers don’t always shout.
Most whisper.
But they compound.

💬 Which one of these have you seen most? 

🔁 Repost to help someone spot what they’ve been told to ignore.

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

Most people avoid discomfort.
Top 1% leaders?
They train for it.

Discomfort isn't just a feeling.
It's a muscle.
And if you don’t use it, you lose it.

In this clip from the Legally Speaking Podcast ™️with Robert Hanna, I shared what I call Preferred Discomfort:

The bold, intentional kind.
The type that pushes your edges.
And pulls out your best thinking.

Not the pain that happens to you.
The stretch you choose because you know it builds something better.

🧠 Why does it matter?

 Because:

✅ Innovation isn’t born from comfort.
✅ Resilience isn’t built in ease.
✅ And the best ideas rarely come from playing it safe.

The truth is: If you don’t train your discomfort muscle, the world will do it for you, on its terms, not yours.

👉 Watch the clip.

This is a lesson I teach leadership teams across sectors because the future belongs to the resilient, not just the brilliant.

🎥 Season 10, Episode 2 of Legally Speaking Podcast™️is out now. 

🔗 Link in comments

I believe we all have a preferred discomfort muscle and the harder we train it, the bolder we become.

👇 What’s a “preferred discomfort” you’ve chosen lately? I want to hear it.

#LegallySpeakingPodcast

I’ve sat with leadership teams in their hardest moments
And I’ve seen what really moves the needle.
Belonging isn’t enough.

But this: Mattering.

If your team doesn’t know they matter, they’ll disengage, quietly, and then completely.

🔑 Belonging is being invited in.
🔑 Mattering is knowing why you’re there.

And right now, in the workplace?
One without the other is a culture risk.

📉 Stats to know:

65% of employees feel undervalued at work

76% of employees feel lonely at least some of the time

70% say their work lacks meaning or isn’t connected to a bigger mission

As someone who’s worked inside organisations during growth, grief, and everything in between 
I can tell you this:

When people feel they matter
And they add value that connects to something bigger...
 It changes everything.

 → They stay longer.
 → They lead better.
 → They give more.

The good news?
It doesn’t require a 12-month culture strategy.

It starts with this:

✅ Link every role to the mission
 Let people see how their work drives the bigger picture.

✅ Reframe “tasks” into “impact”
 Jane wasn’t just a janitor. She was a custodian of care.

✅ Say the quiet gratitude out loud
 A thank-you today, not in the next review cycle.

✅ Make time to notice
 Presence > performance reviews.

✅ Ask better questions
 → “What’s been on your mind today?”
 → “What part of your role feels most valuable right now?”

✅ Audit the gaps
 Who’s not being heard? Who’s not being seen?

🧠 When people know they matter, they don’t need micromanagement.
 They show up, fully, consistently, and with heart.

👇 What’s one way you help your team connect to the mission?

 🔁 Repost to help re-centre mattering at work

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

The workforce is evolving. Most teams aren’t.
I’ve helped leaders build high-performing, resilient teams for over 20 years
As an employment lawyer, law firm founder, and leadership strategist.

I’ve seen what breaks teams.
And what builds them.

The biggest risk for teams today?
Still running on outdated skills in a fast-moving world.

That’s why I built this carousel:
7 future-ready skills your team needs and how to build them today.

👇 Here’s what separates the average from the exceptional:

🧠 Sharp Thinking
 → Data is everywhere. Clear thinking is your edge.
 ✅ Try this: Share your thinking in 1-2 steps. Let others see the logic.

💻 AI Integration
 → Teams who ignore it will get left behind.
 ✅ Try this: Automate one repetitive task with AI this week.

🗣 Clear Communication
 → Clarity isn’t soft. It’s a leadership skill.
 ✅ Try this: End every message or meeting with “Did that land?”

🔁 Adaptability
 → Rigid = replaceable. Flexible = future-proof.
 ✅ Try this: Ask yourself each Friday, “What did I adapt to this week?”

💥 Bounce-Back Skills
 → Setbacks are guaranteed. Recovery is a performance advantage.
 ✅ Try this: Write down one failure and what it taught you.

🤝 Team Intelligence
 → Smart teams don’t think the same. They think together.
 ✅ Try this: Ask someone outside your team: “How do you see this?”

❓ Curiosity that Works
 → Better questions create better decisions.
 ✅ Try this: Before starting anything, ask 3 “why” questions.

These are the real skills.
Not buzzwords. Not trends.

Capabilities that build cultures and futures that last.

📌 Save this.
📤 Share it with your team.
💬 Use it in your next 1:1 or strategy session.

👇 Which of these 5 is your team strongest in and which one needs urgent work?

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

7 Skills you need to Survive the Future of Work

Hybrid isn’t the problem. 

Superficial thinking is.

As an employment lawyer and workforce strategist, I’ve advised on hybrid policies since before it was even called “hybrid.”

And I’m long since tired of conversations that reduce hybrid working to a simple “how many days are you in vs out?”

That’s not leadership.
That’s logistics.

You can be a top-down leader in a hybrid world; in any world
But it comes at a cost:

❌ Creativity
❌ Trust
❌ Performance

Micromanaging people into a version of productivity that looks busy but isn’t effective.

What I know is this:

📌 Micromanagement in a hybrid environment just becomes surveillance.
📌 Culture doesn’t just live in a building. It lives in how people feel connected to the mission.
📌 Leadership isn’t about controlling people’s time; it’s about aligning them to a shared goal.

Any way of working only works if we go deeper.

➡ What kind of work needs doing?
➡ Where is it best done: office, home, or on your own time?
➡ Do people actually understand why we work the way we do? 

The organisations getting it right?

They stop obsessing about where people work
And start asking why they work the way they do.

Hybrid done well can be a design advantage; one that gives people autonomy without losing alignment.

But only if you do the work behind the scenes to make it intentional.
And that starts with leaders who are brave enough to stop emulating the past.

Watch the clip 🎥

Then tell me:

🔍 What’s really driving your organisation’s hybrid strategy?
 Productivity? Culture? Or control?

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

Elite Business Live Elite Business

Most companies don’t lack talent. 
They bury it. 
20 years unlocking potential in teams

Across industries 
Through chaos and growth.

Here’s what smart leaders actually do 👇

🧠 Protect from noise
Good people can handle chaos.
Great leaders don’t make them live in it.

💪 Stretch, don’t shield
Safe work keeps people small.
Stretch work grows them.

👀 Spot potential early
Don’t wait until they’re “ready.”
Give them the chance before they think they are.

🎯 Make wins visible
Talent without visibility? Wasted.
Your people should be seen and heard.

👂 Listen between the lines
What they don’t say often matters most.
That’s where trust lives.

📢 Share credit loudly
Ego keeps it.
Leadership spreads it.

🚀 Build leaders, not followers
Followers need answers.
Leaders create them.

I help organisations unlock the top 1% of human potential.
If you want to build legacy, not just loyalty
Start here.

💬 Which of these is most missing in your industry?

🔁 Repost to challenge leadership that plays small.

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

Most leaders hide behind words

The best ones lead with action. 

Look at this moment....a teacher leading a Greek dance. 

He's at the front but he's not just instructing.

He's still moving, still showing, still sweating it out. 

The teams mirrors him
They learn the rhythm 
And slowly it becomes theirs too. 

That's the truth about leadership. 
Empowering others doesn't always mean stepping back. 

It means staying in sync long enough for them to feel confident on their own. 

Your people don't follow what you say,  they follow what you do. 

❓So here's the question:

Are you leading from the floor or watching from the side? 

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

🔥 Some leaders act like success is a limited resource.
It isn’t, insecurity is.
Most of my career, I’ve heard this quiet message in workplaces:

“If you rise, I fall.”
“If you shine, I fade.”
“There’s only room for one.”

But the highest-performing teams I’ve worked with, from boardrooms to crisis rooms, operate on a very different truth:

Real leaders don’t fear other people winning.
They build environments where everyone can.

During my years as an employment and workforce expert, I sat inside organisations at their hardest moments, restructures, disputes, toxic leadership breakdowns.

And I saw the pattern every time:

⭐Teams thrive when leaders remove competition for oxygen.
⭐Teams crumble when leaders hoard it.

Here’s what strong leadership looks like:

⭐ You don’t shrink someone else’s growth to protect your own
⭐You don’t gatekeep opportunity
⭐You don’t confuse control with leadership.

You don’t need others to lose for you to win
You know success expands when people feel safe to rise
Because when people feel they must compete to belong, they play small.

But when people feel there’s room for them, they take ownership and they soar.

And that’s the real work:

Creating environments where potential isn't rationed.

As someone who built whole departments and companies from scratch, often in rooms where I wasn’t expected to lead, I can tell you this:

There is always more room at the top than fear tells you.

But someone has to go first and make the space.

Leaders set the tone.
Teams follow it.
Cultures become it.

💬 What kind of leadership brings out your best?
💬And what helps you create space for others to rise? 

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

48% of employees say their skills are underused.
That’s not a stat.
That’s a warning sign.

Because when skills go untapped, 
Energy drains.
Disengagement rises.

And potential, the thing you’re paying for, walks out the door.

As a workforce expert, employment lawyer and founder, I've seen this pattern devastate organisations:

Your best people aren’t leaving for more money.
They’re leaving because they’re boxed into roles far too small for their potential.

The most expensive line item on your P&L? 
The potential you're paying for but never using.

🔓 For starters, here are 7 ways that I have found, unlock hidden talent:

1. Make ideas part of the job
 Don’t just ask for input, expect it.
 Let different voices lead the conversation.

2. Spot hidden skills
Run regular sessions to surface talents beyond job titles.

3. Follow the energy
Ask what work excites people, not just what they’re good at.

4. Mix up the teams
Create short, cross-functional projects to spark innovation.

5. Give clear decision rights
Make it obvious who can decide what and remove the red tape.

6. Allow time to grow
Give people 10–15% of their week to explore new projects.

7. Ask what you're missing
“What skills do you have that we’re not using?”
 (Ask it now, not when they resign.)

📈 Here’s what happens when you get this right:

• Innovation increases by 34%
• Retention improves by 52%
• Ownership becomes the norm, not the exception

The problem isn’t a lack of talent.

 It’s a failure to activate it.
And that’s a leadership issue, not an HR one.

👇 What’s one way your team could better use the talent it already has?

🔁 Repost to stop wasting talent  and start unlocking it.
➕ Follow Niki Avraam for more bold future focused workforce insights.

🚨 I’ve advised thousands of professionals and leaders at pivotal moments in their careers…

From CEOs feeling stuck in successful roles,
To rising stars wondering why they’re no longer thriving

And I see the same patterns every time.

You're not broken.
You've just outgrown the role you're in.

👇 7 Signs Your Job No Longer Fits You:

1️⃣ You’re still hitting your targets but nothing excites you anymore.
2️⃣ You feel like a watered-down version of yourself.
3️⃣ The things that used to stretch you now feel dull.
4️⃣ You keep thinking, “Is this it?”
5️⃣ You start fantasising about jobs where you’d be seen.
6️⃣ You get praised…but not developed.
7️⃣ You secretly want a challenge but no one’s offering it.

Here’s what I know after advising thousands as an employment lawyer and business leader:

Most people don’t need a full reinvention.
They need a braver next step.

We don’t grow by playing safe.
We grow by listening to what’s no longer right… and stepping towards what could be.

If any of this sounds like you:
You haven’t failed.
You’ve just outgrown the role that got you here.

🔁 Repost this for anyone stuck in a job that no longer fits.
🟡 Follow Niki Avraam for more bold future-focused workforce insights. 

👀 And tell me in the comments:
👉 Which of these signs hit home for you?

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Niki Avraam

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The Battle

Arif Iqball

Niki Avraam

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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);}Niki Avraam's LinkedIn Performance

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