Making a True Difference - a recent experience

I want to share something that's happened recently that's really special to me.

A few months ago I got an email from PLN, the Indonesian national power company, to enquire about having me come out there and work with their leadership team.

It turns out that the Senior Manager who oversees the Human Capital (HR) department, Bapak Didi, purchased a copy of my latest book Leadership Mindset 2.0. He was so taken by what was in it that he directed his team to track me down and hire me to spend a day with them.

A month ago I flew out to Jakarta to present, teach and coach them the principles and strategies of Leadership Mindset 2.0.

To say it went great may be an understatement.

I met such kind, intelligent, focused people at the company, devoted to the mission of becoming a top Asian company, leading the way to clean energy, and supporting the 240 million people in their diverse and spread-out country.

In our sessions together we focused on having them look at their leadership - and more importantly themselves - in a different way.

I didn't know how impactful it was until two big initiatives materialized out of the trip;

First, they insisted I come and present Leadership Mindset 2.0 at a large conference they were sponsoring, the 4th Annual Indonesian Human Capital conference, which I'm flying back from right now. There were over 2,000 Human Capital representatives from all over Indonesia as well as delegates from Malaysia, Vietnam, and more; and it got streamed out to tens of thousands more.

After my keynote and Q&A session, so many people came up to me and told me how they got huge insights about how they can show up as a stronger, more authentic, and empathetic leader, how they can motivate their team from a much more empowering place, and (which is new for me), how they can better relate to the younger (especially Gen Z) members of their team.

Luckily the psychological tools I teach work with people of any age, and now they have what they need to be successful in an area that has previously been a big headache for them.

Second, the 80,000-person power company asked me to work with them to integrate Leadership Mindset 2.0 into their training.

Which blew me away because of this:

A few years ago they commissioned a management & leadership training program from a large global consultancy (which is standard for big companies to do.) And what they received does teach a lot of good management, and some leadership, skills to the different levels of managers.

However, it was missing something, and the top leaders of PLN knew it.

It was missing what I created and teach - Leadership Mindset and Growth Leadership (my system of leadership based on Leadership Mindset) - The tools to have people believe in themselves, show up authentically, trust and believe in themselves, and lead and manage people in a way that empowers and grows them as people.

While I know that what I do is helpful and works, to have an established company like this, who had a best-in-class consultancy develop their program, and invite me to add my "special sauce" to it because it's so necessary and powerful, just makes my heart smile.

Right now I am flying high because I know I made (and am making) a difference. I've devoted the last 12 years to getting here and it's paying off. To all my friends and contacts who have been with me on this trip, and believed in me, truly thank you. I feel so grateful to be making this kind of difference.