4 Years ago I was working as Global Head of IT Service Delivery for a large German company, I hadn’t written a single blog, I had never posted or tweeted about Leadership, and I had definitely never done any speaking on Leadership.
So I was incredibly proud to be included in the Inc Top 100 Leadership Speakers for 2018 earlier this week
It’s been a great journey, one that I would never have predicted that would have ended up with this kind of recognition. It’s amazing what we can achieve if we just take the bold decision to start.
When I wrote my first blog I was very nervous because not only did I not think I was very good at writing my English teacher had pretty much told me as much when I was in school. But I decided to publish my first article, and even though it was only read by a handful of friends it was a start. One that has led me to write over 1000 articles, and many of which have been published in Entrepreneur, Inc, Fortune, Business Insider, Addicted2Success, Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, and many other publications.
My articles have been translated into over 20 languages, and have appeared in publications around the world. I have also written 3 books, one of which FAST – 4 Principles Everyone Needs To Achieve success and Drive Results was a finalist in the Chartered Management Institute Book of the Year. Not bad for someone who couldn’t write.
As for the speaking, that was a slightly different story, even though I hadn’t spoken on leadership before, I had done stand up comedy something which is tough enough to put anyone off speaking in front of a large audience for a lifetime. But I overcame this fear and have now spoken in front of large audiences all over the world including UK, Germany, Morocco, Belgium, USA, India, Holland, Lithuania amongst many others.
I love to speak now, whether it’s a large audience at a conference or a small workshop at a company, I really enjoy inspiring people with my FAST talks, which are Fun, Actionable, Straightforward and Thought provoking
I’d like to thank Inc, and Kevin Kruse in particular for including me on the list of Top 100 Leadership Speakers, I feel honoured to be mentioned amongst so many people that I have admired for a long time, many of whom have become good friends or colleagues.
If you have a dream it doesn’t matter where you are. Just start. Be bold. Take the risk, and believe in yourself because you never know where the journey will take you.
If you’d told me 4 years ago I would make the Inc Top 100 Leadership Speaker I would have just laughed and told you you’re crazy.
I’d also like to thank all those who have supported me on this journey, especially my wife Carine, and those who have believed in me and encouraged me to keep going when things were tough, and all of you who have read, commented on or shared my articles, as I couldn’t have done this without you.
This is as much for you as it is for me.
Thank You!
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