0:00

Hello there

0:00

and a happy new year. So if

0:03

you're listening early 2022, I

0:03

really wish you a wonderful

0:09

year. Because I know the last

0:09

two years haven't been easy for

0:14

a lot of us. And so it looks

0:14

like the pandemic is here to

0:18

stay, or the Coronavirus is here

0:18

to stay. So maybe it's time for

0:23

you to design the life and the

0:23

career you want, even with a

0:28

pandemic, instead of putting

0:28

things on hold, hoping that

0:32

maybe one day this will go away,

0:32

and life will be great again,

0:37

because all the statistics show

0:37

that the well being of people is

0:42

not great. So we really need to

0:42

do something about it. And

0:47

probably you feel it as well,

0:47

you've worked a lot. You spend a

0:52

lot of time in meetings. So

0:52

maybe now it's a good time to

0:56

really look back at your year.

0:56

What went well, what should be

1:01

improved and look forward on

1:01

what would you like to change in

1:06

2022? And who would you like to

1:06

be? So to do this exercise, we

1:12

have a key leader year with you

1:12

that you can find in the show

1:17

notes of this episode and

1:17

download for free. And the goal

1:21

of this episode for me is to

1:21

give you a review of my year, my

1:26

year business wise, how is key

1:26

leader doing? How many people

1:32

did we help what went well what

1:32

went wrong? Or what should we

1:37

improve? Just give you an

1:37

overview, and hopefully this

1:41

will inspire you, as well to

1:41

change your life, have a life

1:46

more aligned with your values or

1:46

maybe to start your own

1:50

business. So stay tuned for the

1:50

key leader review of 2021. I'm

1:58

Murielle co mum and educator. I

1:58

used to work really hard and

2:03

sacrifice the important things

2:03

to me until I lost my

2:07

motivation. Fast Forwards past

2:07

many failed attempts and lessons

2:12

learned. And I found a way to

2:12

reach great results while

2:15

working less. today. I'm

2:15

obsessed with helping other

2:19

leaders builds meaningful lives.

2:19

So each week, I'll be sharing

2:23

inspiration to change your life

2:23

and organization. This is rebel

2:28

leader with a hearts. So let's

2:28

start with all the things that

2:35

went well for us in 2021. Well,

2:35

first of all, we had a great

2:41

year in terms of number of

2:41

people we helped in terms of

2:45

revenues, of course, the more

2:45

people you help, the more

2:48

revenues you have, and in terms

2:48

of profits. So we had a growth

2:53

of 18% in revenue and have now

2:53

230,000 Euro revenues. But for

3:00

our online programs, that growth

3:00

is even higher, it's 55%

3:05

Compared to 2020. Our profits

3:05

also grew 10%. And we now have

3:12

40,000 Euro profits for 2021.

3:12

These are of course estimates,

3:18

because I'm recording this end

3:18

of December, and you will listen

3:22

to it early January. So we have

3:22

helped 309 leaders and their

3:28

teams this year with our course

3:28

leading authentically in digital

3:32

times. And then 2250 leaders

3:32

were inspired by our free

3:39

webinars that that we give

3:39

throughout the year, maybe

3:43

you've been in one about how

3:43

COVID is killing the Alpha

3:47

leaders, about hybrid teams,

3:47

about from digitalization to

3:52

humanization. So we organize a

3:52

lot of free webinars. Because

3:57

for us, the business is more

3:57

about creating a community of a

4:03

new kind of leader and a new

4:03

kind of person, and to really

4:07

change the way businesses are

4:07

LED.

4:11

And organizations are built. We

4:11

want human centered

4:15

organizations where people have

4:15

impact, meaning and balance. And

4:20

to achieve that we don't simply

4:20

do marketing to sell you stuff.

4:25

We believe that our marketing

4:25

should already change the lives

4:29

of our community. So that's why

4:29

we organize also these free

4:34

webinars. We've also helped more

4:34

than 1500 leaders with our

4:40

leader quiz and our free ebooks.

4:40

So we have a leader quiz, where

4:45

you get your profile and then

4:45

seven personalized lessons so

4:49

you can find it also in the show

4:49

notes of this episode. And we

4:52

have a lot of free ebooks to

4:52

help you guys with how to save

4:57

time at work or the mistakes I

4:57

made as well. Traditional

5:00

manager or about empowerment.

5:00

We've had 7500 listeners to our

5:07

podcast, and you are one of

5:07

them. So thank you very much for

5:12

that. And in 2021, I did a lot

5:12

of research around empowerment,

5:18

and especially empowerment with

5:18

hybrid teams. And that led to a

5:24

webinar, a VIP event, but also

5:24

to a new tool that we have

5:28

developed, called the team

5:28

empowerment assessment. And

5:33

we've had more than 500 people

5:33

take that assessment already. So

5:39

it's measures really the level

5:39

of empowerment of a team. But

5:43

also what are the success

5:43

criteria to get there and your

5:48

score on these different success

5:48

criteria. So this is a really

5:52

useful tool that we have

5:52

integrated in our culture

5:56

programs, so in our in company,

5:56

personalized programs, so that

6:02

we can really start with a

6:02

measurement and assessment. And

6:05

we all know how important

6:05

empowerment is if you want to be

6:09

successful, especially in remote

6:09

and hybrid teams. So a great

6:15

year in terms of number of

6:15

people, we've helped revenues

6:20

and profits, it was also a good

6:20

year, in terms of balance, and

6:25

not only for me, but of course

6:25

for my whole team. So Tatiana,

6:30

and definitely we've all had a

6:30

great work life balance. And

6:33

this is something that is

6:33

important for us. Because

6:36

everything that we teach, we

6:36

also apply to ourselves. So we

6:41

couldn't help you reach a better

6:41

work life balance, if we

6:45

wouldn't set the example. Like I

6:45

said, we also developed a new

6:49

assessment tool, and

6:49

professionalized our in company

6:53

programs. So that's, we're proud

6:53

of that as well. We've also

6:59

improved our processes, and

6:59

automation. So a lot in our

7:04

business has been automated, so

7:04

that we can really be there to

7:09

serve you guys. So we try to

7:09

automate as much as we can, so

7:14

that we can be really there for

7:14

helping our customers talking to

7:20

people improving stuff, but not

7:20

doing a lot of operational work.

7:26

Then I've also spent three weeks

7:26

in Costa Rica. And I went there

7:31

half on vacation and half on a

7:31

writing trip. So that was also a

7:37

great experience. Because I've

7:37

met so many nice people, I saw a

7:43

lot of different animals. I did

7:43

a lot of tracking. So I did a

7:48

yoga retreat. So this was really

7:48

huge in terms of adventure, and

7:54

I needed that. And probably you

7:54

need that as well. When we were

7:58

staying at home for so long. I

7:58

needed to meet new people. And I

8:03

was also inspired and wrote

8:03

already half the book that I'm

8:08

planning to publish next year, a

8:08

book about slowing down slow

8:13

leadership and stopping. Because

8:13

this is something that I noticed

8:17

a lot of you are really failing

8:17

to do well, it's so important if

8:22

you want to go faster. And then

8:22

the last positive thing I think

8:27

for for us this year is that we

8:27

have a new professional

8:32

websites. So by the time you

8:32

listen to this podcast, it

8:36

should be live. And we're really

8:36

glad with that because we had

8:40

two different websites. So we've

8:40

combined those now we only have

8:44

one. And it's again with a lot

8:44

of automation, which will help

8:50

us win a lot of time. Every time

8:50

we have a new event or a new e

8:54

book, or a new quiz we would

8:54

like to offer to you it will be

8:58

much easier to present that

9:01

on our websites. Now the things

9:01

that are not so good or should

9:06

be improved. Well, the first one

9:06

is definitely my colleague is

9:11

leaving to start her own

9:11

company, build cities in

9:15

sustainability. So it's great

9:15

for her Of course, and I'm

9:19

really happy for her. But it

9:19

means for us looking for someone

9:25

new, which we are in the middle

9:25

of doing and I will record

9:29

another podcast about that

9:29

because I really managed to

9:33

streamline and professionalize

9:33

and automates again, a lot in

9:38

that hiring process and I would

9:38

like to share that with you as

9:42

well. But definitely is leaving

9:42

she did a great job at key

9:46

leaders setting up a lot of

9:46

things and now we we are in the

9:50

process of recruiting a new

9:50

person. The second thing that

9:56

really should be improved is our

9:56

leads management or of lead

10:00

management. So we have a lot of

10:00

things that generate leads, so

10:06

that inspire people to come and

10:06

visit our website. So we have a

10:11

lot of leads that are generated,

10:11

and then we do almost nothing

10:15

with them. So this is really

10:15

something that we should

10:20

improve. Because of course, when

10:20

you have a better lead

10:22

management, you also have more

10:22

stable revenues, and also higher

10:27

revenues. So if we want to grow,

10:27

we should really improve that

10:33

part of the business. And then

10:33

also find new ways to generate

10:38

leads, because we used to do

10:38

quite some advertising on

10:43

Facebook. But then it became

10:43

really more expensive. And

10:47

especially with the war, there

10:47

was a little war that you

10:51

haven't noticed, probably

10:51

between Facebook and Apple. But

10:56

for us, it's meant way less

10:56

leads than before, and more

11:00

expensive leads than before. So

11:00

we decided to stop Facebook ads.

11:05

And we focused on generating our

11:05

leads to our webinar events on

11:10

LinkedIn. And then just one week

11:10

ago, we were hacked. So there

11:16

were really some people trying

11:16

to steal our attendees by trying

11:20

to send them to another website.

11:20

So they didn't hack our profile,

11:24

but they posted things on the

11:24

event page sending people to a

11:30

fraudulent website,

11:30

unfortunately. So we really have

11:33

to find new ways to generate

11:33

leads. This is also something

11:38

that we need to improve. And the

11:38

last thing I believe we should

11:42

improve is our collaborations

11:42

and partnerships. So we have

11:47

regularly people that would like

11:47

to collaborate with us, or

11:52

coaches that are inspired by

11:52

what we do. And I know there is

11:58

a lot of potential there. And I

11:58

really believe in building an

12:02

ecosystem where you're not alone

12:02

in trying to change the

12:07

organizations and make the world

12:07

a more human centered world. But

12:13

we really need to do some

12:13

strategic thinking and start

12:17

something up there. So we have a

12:17

few collaborations and

12:20

partnerships. But we would like

12:20

to improve that also in 2022. So

12:28

what are my goals then for 2022?

12:28

Well, first of all, you know, if

12:35

you listen to me, and please

12:35

listen to my podcast episodes

12:40

about how to build a meaningful

12:40

life. Because I have designs a

12:45

dream life, a life where I only

12:45

work 30 hours per week where

12:52

help leaders build meaningful

12:52

lives and organizations and

12:56

where I can work where and when

12:56

I won't. And I've reached that

13:00

this was my purpose. And I've

13:00

reached this, now I can feel

13:05

that a new life is going to be

13:05

there for me, or a slight change

13:09

in life, because my youngest son

13:09

will start university. And in

13:14

the last years, I've really

13:14

slowed down my life. I slowed it

13:19

down, I bought a little house in

13:19

Spain where I went one week, per

13:23

month. And I really needed to

13:23

create that space and to slow

13:28

down. But then with the

13:28

pandemic. And soon, no son's at

13:34

home anymore, I can feel that my life has

13:35

become too slow. I know it's

13:39

probably strange to hear that

13:39

because probably a lot of you

13:44

don't have this slow life. A lot

13:44

of people that I serve have

13:48

these really crazy lives where

13:48

you run all the time. But I had

13:53

I used to have that life, I

13:53

slowed it down. But now I want

13:58

to accelerate it again and have

13:58

more adventures, because my life

14:03

has become a little bit too

14:03

calm. So I still want to to help

14:08

you guys have more impact,

14:08

meaning and balance. But now I'd

14:13

also would like to travel two or

14:13

three times a year for one

14:17

month, like I did in Costa Rica

14:17

this year. Explore, meet new

14:23

people go on adventures, but

14:23

also take a little project with

14:28

me where I put no pressure on

14:28

myself like writing a book, or

14:32

maybe developing a new course

14:32

but something where I have the

14:36

space to create without putting

14:36

any pressure on me. And I really

14:41

put a lot of thoughts in this.

14:41

Because if you listen to my

14:45

previous year review, I said I

14:45

wanted to prepare the business

14:50

for me traveling a couple of

14:50

months. But now that I did it

14:54

like three weeks with my

14:54

backpack in Costa Rica,

14:59

I still love My business, if I

14:59

want to continue growing it, I

15:03

have lots of ideas to continue

15:03

and help you. But I really

15:08

noticed that if you travel, it's

15:08

not that easy to build the

15:13

business like, I would like to

15:13

build it. So I could travel and

15:18

keep the business as it is,

15:18

that's completely possible I

15:21

could be 100% digital nomad, but

15:21

travel and keep growing it with

15:27

my team, and also have these

15:27

moments life with my customers,

15:33

that will be harder. That's why

15:33

I decided, I'm not going to

15:37

travel for a couple of months

15:37

or, or a year, I'm going to

15:40

travel two or three times a year

15:40

for one month. And in between,

15:45

of course, I still develop my

15:45

business. But I want to be close

15:50

to the city. Again, I live a

15:50

little bit outside of Brussels,

15:54

but I want to be in the city

15:54

again. And so I've bought a new

15:59

place in the south of Brussels

15:59

close to the university, I met

16:03

walking distance from my

16:03

favorite co working there,

16:07

silver square Louise, from a

16:07

yoga room, from shops, bars,

16:12

restaurants, I'm also at a

16:12

walking distance from the woods.

16:17

So I will really be having all

16:17

the life and busyness of the

16:23

city, but also the woods to calm

16:23

down and a great apartment, of

16:28

course, where I can still have

16:28

the quiet that I need. But I can

16:33

really feel now I don't want as

16:33

much quiet anymore, I want to be

16:37

back at the center of Brussels

16:37

and be surrounded by life again.

16:43

So what will be the impact of

16:43

all this on my business? Well,

16:48

I'd like to grow it a little bit

16:48

more. So I'm really happy with

16:53

the revenues that we are making

16:53

with the profits, the salary and

16:58

everything. But now with a more

16:58

expensive life at the south of

17:03

Brussels and two kids going to

17:03

college, it would be nice to

17:07

have a little bit more revenues

17:07

and more stable revenues. But

17:11

for the rest, I really love the

17:11

business as it is. And of

17:15

course, I still have a lot of

17:15

ideas that I will share with

17:18

you. That's why we really need

17:18

to improve the follow ups of our

17:22

leads. So in 2022, will also

17:22

launch a new course leading to

17:28

empowerment, a new book, I've

17:28

written half of it already. And

17:32

I'm planning to write the rest

17:32

of it this year, or next year in

17:36

2022. And we'll probably also

17:36

increase our number of

17:41

collaborations and

17:41

collaborations probably with

17:45

coaches and consultants. Now,

17:45

what I've also noticed is that

17:49

every time I allowed myself to

17:49

let things emerge and go with

17:54

the flow, that's when great

17:54

things happen for me and for the

17:58

business. So I was thinking how

17:58

can I combine a better lead

18:03

management with going with the

18:03

flow. And that's where the new

18:08

profile of the person that we're

18:08

going to hire plays a critical

18:13

role, we're going to hire a

18:13

great operational person. So

18:18

Daphne was great. She was the

18:18

right person when we hired her

18:23

because we had a lot of new

18:23

things that we needed to put in

18:27

place. And she was great at

18:27

that. But now we have a lot of

18:31

things that are up and running,

18:31

that needs to be maintained and

18:35

improved. And like I said that

18:35

lead management needs to be

18:39

improved. So I really need my

18:39

right hands person, someone that

18:44

sits next to me and really helps

18:44

me implement all the crazy ideas

18:50

that I have, and better follow

18:50

up everything that we already

18:54

have in place. So that's my goal for next year.

18:55

And who do I need to be to reach

19:01

that goal? And this is really an

19:01

important question that I want

19:06

you to ask yourself as well.

19:06

It's not only about looking back

19:10

to what went well, what didn't

19:10

go, Well, what would you like to

19:16

achieve next year? But also Who

19:16

do you need to be to achieve

19:21

that? Because if you think in

19:21

terms of being instead of simply

19:26

doing or having between really

19:26

being it's easier to stick to

19:32

those new habits, and to really

19:32

put the actions in place that

19:36

will lead to your results. So

19:36

who do I need to be? Well, I

19:42

need to be even more focused for

19:42

my recurring tasks and projects.

19:47

And that will allow me to have

19:47

more space for the things that

19:52

emerge. And I also know that I

19:52

have to let go of the needs to

19:58

be successful. and stay aligned

19:58

with my purpose instead, I truly

20:04

believe that's when great things

20:04

happen. It's not about

20:08

achievement in terms of what

20:08

society sees as success or

20:14

having 1 million or 2 million

20:14

revenues. It's really about what

20:20

is the life I want to have and

20:20

the purpose that I want to

20:24

achieve for for the people out

20:24

there for organizations and also

20:29

for the planets. But for that, I

20:29

need to let go of that need to

20:35

be successful. I know it's it's

20:35

ironic, but listen to the

20:39

podcast also with to tea. I

20:39

think it just at the end of

20:43

2021. This podcast will help you

20:43

also if you are a high achiever

20:49

like I am, sometimes that's high

20:49

needs to achieve can stand in

20:55

the way of your success and

20:55

happiness. Okay, that was it for

21:00

me today. Now, if you want to do

21:00

a review as well, and I would

21:05

really advise you to do so it's

21:05

a great moment, beginning of the

21:09

year. We have a great template

21:09

called key leader year with you

21:15

you'll find it in the show notes

21:15

of this episode. Now, I wish you

21:21

a wonderful year 2022 with a lot

21:21

of impact, balance and meaning