Dr Monique Beedles: 'Leadership Assets'

Dr Monique Beedles is an internationally recognised specialist in strategy, leadership and asset management. She is based in Brisbane, Australia. Her book, ‘Leadership Assets: Empower your career from the workshop to the boardroom’, was published by Teak Yew Pty Ltd in October 2021.

Connect: www.moniquebeedles.com

?1.??????How do you best describe what you now do for clients???

My areas of expertise cover strategy, leadership, and asset management. I work primarily with clients in the essential services sectors, including health, education, transport, utilities and defence, supporting and empowering them to embrace their true worth, do their best work and live their best life. I provide coaching and advisory services to individual professionals, business owners and teams, which include executive teams and boards.

2.??????How have you morphed into your current business??

I’m now in my twentieth year of business, so, it’s not new, but it has grown from having a PhD in Strategy, a Masters of Finance, and more than twenty years as a board director. Running my consulting practice over this time period has allowed me the flexibility to combine board roles with independent consulting work and my thought leadership, which includes writing and speaking.

3.??????How has publishing a book (or books) helped you achieve your personal goals??

I loved writing from a young age and so publishing books was always part of my personal goals, even if being an author wasn’t my full-time occupation. I’ve so far published five books and there are certainly more on the way.

After completing my PhD, which is of course written in very academic language, I studied creative writing. My aim was to adapt my writing style to be more engaging for a non-academic audience. It’s been my personal goal to bring robust academic thinking to a wider business audience, and publishing books that are accessible to the non-academic reader has helped me to achieve this.

4.??????How does your book help others achieve their own goals??

This book is designed to help asset management professionals plan their own career paths and develop the leadership capabilities they need to pursue their chosen careers. For people from technical backgrounds, this means augmenting their technical skills with business skills and capabilities in human communication and leadership. My book assumes that they already have the technical knowledge, so it focuses on the additional capabilities they need to develop to succeed in leadership roles.

5.??????How has your book helped grow or develop your business?

The book has helped to position me in the leadership space, which builds on my own more technical business background.

6.??????What surprised you most about the publishing process??

Now on my fifth book, there are probably very few things that surprise me, as I’ve come to expect that there will undoubtedly be hiccups along the way. I advise other aspiring authors to treat it like a project with timelines and milestones, but always allow some slack for those unexpected delays.

7.??????What tips would you give to someone who is thinking about writing a book to build their business?

Focus on your audience and stick to a single clear message. It can be tempting to try to cram too much into a single book. Often what we want to cover is better off in two or three books, rather than in one.

The other advice, which relates to this, is don’t cheat on your book. While you might have two or three books in the pipeline, if you want to get to the point of having one of them published you need to focus on that one until it’s done. Keep ideas and notes for the others if you need to, but don’t try to write three books at once.

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Bev Ryan, Smart Women Publish