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Video: Achieving Results
By So-Young Kang, Catalyst & CEO of Awaken Group
(from January 2012 newsletter)

Happy New Year! It’s that time of year again when we have had some time with our loved ones to celebrate, enjoy, refresh and rest. Many of us are asking each other, “What are your plans for this year?” or “What are your new year’s resolutions?” How many of you have “I will try to work out and get in shape” as one of your new year’s resolutions?

For many years, this was on my list. This year, I have decided to be honest with myself. I will NOT try to work out and get in shape. Many of you may be shocked or laughing at this statement. Why not? Isn’t it good to work out? There is nothing wrong with working out. I’m just not being very honest when I say that. I do not enjoy going to the gym and working out. I do not enjoy running. It hurts my legs. I could enjoy doing some of these activities if my friends are involved. Instead of “trying” to work out and get in shape, I will eat healthier and live a more active lifestyle. I will do the things I love to do, such as snowboarding, wakeboarding, and hiking. This is the truth.

What does the word ‘try’ really mean? Whenever we use the word ‘try,’ what are we really saying? Aren’t we saying, “I really don’t want to do it, but I feel I should, so in order to appease you [or myself], I will try.” Do you want to go to x party? “I’ll try.” [In other words, I really don’t want to but I feel rude about saying that so I will say, ‘I’ll try’ to not hurt your feelings.] Or how about, “Will you invest in developing your team?” “I’ll try.” [Meaning, I know it’s something I should say as the leader of this organization, but I don’t really have the time or energy to really invest in it.’]

Can we start being more honest this year – first with ourselves and then with others? Can we examine what’s in our hearts and if we value it, then make the choice to do, not try. Can we have more integrity in the words we use? Our words have power. They mean something. Can we say what we really mean? When we do that, I believe we will be able to do 2 things:

1) Achieve results. There is a power in stating your commitments and intentions. Something starts to shift in your mind when you decide to do something. You focus on achieving and will have the power to accomplish what you set out to do. If you ‘try,’ you may get there. If you ‘do,’ you most certainly will.

2) Increase trust & credibility. The moment you start to be more conscious of what you are saying, the more others will trust and have confidence in you. They will see that your words carry weight and are intentional. When they see that what you ‘do,’ [your actions] match your intentions, you will have more credibility. With more credibility, people will have more trust in you. And most importantly, you will have more trust in you.

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We invite you to share your new year’s resolutions and decisions. What will you do this year? Please share by leaving your comments here.

For the latest news and updates, please visit our Current and Resources pages

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Awaken Group has been surveying US executives as part of our Global Leadership and Innovation Survey (GLIS) (please click for survey) to find out top priorities and challenges (current and next 3-5 years), strategies for innovation and new market entry, and how organizations are preparing for global growth. Over 200 executives have participated in GLIS since we first launched our research in 2010; our GLIS reports are based on key insights from survey responses in addition to in-depth interviews with 20% of participants.

Confidence dropped between 2010-2011 amidst a rapidly growing global competitive landscape as leaders feel less prepared to meet the challenges of global growth (see Exhibit 3).

We also saw a shift in US-specific leadership challenges—while leaders were more concerned with how to manage through downtime in 2010 in the aftermath of the economic crisis, in 2011, there was increased focus on global competition, the need for a paradigm shift, and education (see Exhibit 4). Executives suggested that the current US education system is not preparing people enough for global competition and there is a significant need for building greater cultural awareness and understanding of the world.

How are leaders currently preparing for global growth?

We found that the #1 strategy for preparing for global growth in 2011 was to find the right local partnerships to enter new markets (37% of respondents), as a VP of a $2 billion manufacturing company shared, “[Local partners] are critically important because the time and resources required to organically generate a positive reputation, especially in emerging markets, would require far more time than working with an established local partner.” Executives understand they cannot grow globally on their own; they need to seek and develop partnerships who understand local markets.

Innovation is another key theme of GLIS. Our research indicates that increasing employee empowerment and accountability are directly linked to innovation within organizations due to more engaged employees who contribute new ideas to drive change, improvements, and innovation.

As globalization continues, we want to know how this is impacting your organizations. What are you doing now to prepare and what are your top leadership and strategic priorities? What are challenges you anticipate and how will you address them? What do you consider as critical for success? If you are a CEO, C-level executive, President, Vice President, Director, Founder, Owner, or key decision maker in your organization, we invite you to participate this year in the 2012 GLIS surveys. Your participation is valuable and you will receive a complimentary copy of the final report once it is published this year, where you will learn from other leaders who share their perspectives. We will also select one survey participant at random to receive a complimentary executive coaching and assessment (US$15,000 value).

Please participate in the Global Leadership and Innovation Survey today: click to participate

2012 marks the third annual GLIS in the U.S., and we are excited to expand our research in Singapore this year.

Previous GLIS Reports:

GLIS 2011 U.S. Report (includes sample of report)
GLIS 2010 U.S. Report

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So-Young spoke at a TEDxSingaporeWomen event in December 2011. Please see below for the video of her talk, “What are the masks you wear?” She shared her personal journey of finding true meaning, joy, and beauty by choosing to be her authentic self. The road to uncovering her true self was not easy but the results made it worthwhile to, sometimes, relive painful memories in an effort to become more integrated and whole.

Please feel free to share your thoughts with us in the comment box below!

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As we approach the end of an amazing year, Awaken Group would like to wish you happy holidays and a very happy new year! Thank you for being a part of our journey, we are grateful for your support.

Video: Happy Holidays
From Awaken Group

Culture of Gratefulness
By So-Young Kang, Catalyst & CEO of Awaken Group
(from December 2011 Newsletter)

Sometimes bad things do happen to good people. Sometimes we face issues, challenges and situations we would rather not be in. At times, people do things to you that you feel are not fair. It happens. So what do you do with this negativity? Sometimes we choose to be a ‘victim’ of our circumstances. “I am being mean because of the way she treated me. It’s not my fault.” “I withhold giving compliments to others because I have never received them from my managers before. It’s the way I was taught [therefore it can’t be helped].” “I complain about my clients because they are not nice people. They are always negative. [It’s not my fault].” These statements, whether said out loud or in your head, all point to a similar mindset – that of a victim. When we take on this mindset, it puts us on the defensive and often exacerbates the problem.

What if we chose gratefulness?

In a negative situation, what if we chose to be grateful to those we feel have ‘victimized’ us? For example, we were in a client situation where unfortunately, the corporate culture was highly critical, negative and full of finger-pointing behaviors. We had a choice on how to respond: 1) Get defensive (after badmouthing them) and think of ways to ‘prove we are right’; or 2) Share what we are grateful for in our own culture and start to problem solve how to make the client situation better by positively affirming our clients who, in many ways, were just ‘victims’ of their own corporate culture. We chose the second option and actively found ways to make our clients look good in front of their bosses. We thanked them for pointing things out that we may have missed. We did it with the mindset that they were helping us be better professionals. It’s all a matter of perspective, isn’t it?

When you foster a culture of gratefulness, it impacts you in four ways:

1) Prepares your mind and heart to be open to creative problem solving. It creates a shift in your frame of mind and creates the space and willingness to work through the negative situation. It changes your posture and your heart.

2) Builds resilience against negative situations. It gives you a broader toolkit to respond to negative situations.

3) Fosters collaborative, others-centered teamwork. It takes the focus off of you, the ‘victim’ and shifts it to the ‘other person’ in a way that is positive. It encourages you and those you work with to creatively solve unpleasant situations in a different way. It starts to change your own culture.

4) Makes you more pleasant to work with. Wouldn’t you rather work with people who have a grateful hearts?

As we enter this holiday season, what are you grateful for? Will you take on the challenge of listing the five people who upset or annoy you the most and let them know what you are grateful for in them? It can be one thing but please share it openly, honestly and with no hidden agenda. Yes, sometimes I like to ask you to do things that may be uncomfortable. I assure you it’s in service of you (in alignment with our value for ‘honesty in love’). I’m so grateful for you taking time out of your busy schedules to read, watch and care about what we are up to at Awaken Group. Be blessed this holiday season! Can’t wait to hear what happens when you take on our challenge.

Choose to be grateful first and then build a grateful culture. See what happens and let us know.

We invite you to share your stories on what leading and managing means for you. Please share your ideas by leaving your comments here.

For the latest news and updates, please visit our Current and Resources pages

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Video: Passion for Art + People
Hwa-Young Yoo, Director of Art Angel Company, talks to Awaken Group about her art consulting company and why she partnered with us.
(from November 2011 newsletter)

As part of Awaken Group’s Creative Collaborative, we get to partner with people from very different backgrounds and industries—all of which make for dynamic, exciting and, of course, fun partnerships. We choose to collaborate with people who share similar core beliefs with us. Today, we would like to introduce you to one of our Creative Collaborative partners, Hwa-Young Yoo, Director of Art Angel Company.

Yet another unlikely partnership

I am based in Seoul, Korea and I’ve known So-Young (Kang) for 18 years; we have been friends, like sisters, and now, partners. I run an art consulting company called Art Angel. We plan art exhibitions, support young emerging artists, and also work on public art projects (e.g., public exhibitions). Our company is based in Seoul and we are expanding internationally.

Art, my lifelong passion

I have always wanted to be an artist. I found that a lot of art works look very sad, and I wanted to bring out the ‘hidden artist’ to the world so that people can see and experience more joyful feelings through art. I see that I can change the world through the art scene, and I believe that people have the potential to be creative.

Art Angel + Awaken Group = shared beliefs

1) Creativity: we want to bring out and unleash creativity in people

2) Passion: we have passion for people

3) People: we want to help people see their lives and the world with a different perspective

Consciously choose to live with passion and purpose, with an aim to change the world for the better. What are your passions?

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Please share your thoughts and comments with us here.

For the latest news and updates, please visit our Current and Resource pages.

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Video: Naked leader
By So-Young Kang, Catalyst & CEO of Awaken Group
(from October 2011 newsletter)

Managing people. That was a goal that I had when I started working. This would reflect that I was advancing in my career. But I had really never taught to manage so I did what I thought was right. Whenever we were given a task, I would push my teams to get results. It was never about people. If they were not aligned, I thought they were incapable. This continued on throughout my career life. It probably got worse as I got promoted and rewarded for delivering the results. In the eyes of my employers, I was a high performer. My partners knew they could rely on me. We always delivered. We would accomplish it at whatever cost. This became self-reinforcing – Do well. Get promoted. Get raises. Not bad.

Failed opportunities. There were a few moments where it may have dawned on me that the way I was doing it was not the best way. I remember one Monday morning where I was about to go through the list of tasks and things we had to focus on for the week. One of the consultants on the team paused and then asked me if I could just ask once in a while how their weekends went. At the time, I didn’t get why this was important. Why didn’t I see the value in these things?

I’m not proud of these moments. I realized that I only brought a part of myself to work. Was I really that uncaring as a person? Was I really that cold? In my personal life, I was different. It gave me joy to care for my loved ones. Then why was it so hard for me to ask how peoples’ weekends went?

Turning point. When I started Awaken Group, one of my mentors did an assessment of me. He looked at me and said, “I’ve done this thousands of times and you have one of the most dysfunctional childhoods of anyone I know.” I paused. I was taken aback in denial, “How could he say this about my family?” That led me on a journey to understand and question why I was so dysfunctional. I started a journey to understand why I felt the need to compartmentalize different parts of my life.

Lessons learned. I learned that the true meaning of integrity is not just telling the truth. I learned that integrity is really about being whole. It is about consistency of actions to what you believe. I realized I was not in integrity with my whole self because I was so compartmentalized. I started to give myself permission to bring more of myself and my heart to the workplace. It wasn’t about trying to be a leader. I just tried to be a whole person. I stopped trying and striving. I decided to just be.

Impact. Then something amazing started to happen. As I became more integrated as a human and started to articulate my vision for Awaken Group to transform the world through leaders, people started to be attracted and come. People started to offer to work for free. Totally irrational. Amazing people started showing up and wanting to work together….AND…I started to find joy and beauty at work. Our clients would see the joy and ask us if we like each other. I started to feel blessed and privileged to work with people whom I genuinely cared for and who cared for me.

What is leadership? It is not a goal. As a result of being more whole, I gave myself permission to just be. And the impact seems to have been, that people want to follow. I learned that a big difference between managing and leading was having the freedom to just be myself and bring myself regardless of situation. It was about giving myself permission to be human and starting to exercise that right in every encounter and in every conversation…Leading was about being authentic, real, flawed and vulnerable. It was about having purpose and passion for my vision and sharing that with others with no pretense or no agenda. Integrity is not about having 5 circles or 5 compartments that I’m working with but really bringing those circles together to being a whole person. It’s not easy and will take time. It’s not about trying to be someone I’m not, but giving myself permission to be who I am. I continue on that journey not focused on trying to ‘be a leader’ but just being.

Managing vs. leading? Does that mean I don’t have to be a manager anymore? Of course not. I still have to mange my teams and my clients. I just choose to do it in a way that is authentic and human and have impact in a way that makes sense and is meaningful to me. Good news is that you don’t have to choose to either be a manager or a leader. You can be both. Do it authentically and in a way that is integrated to what you believe and value. It requires a conscious choice.

Make a conscious choice to be open…and brace yourself for the beauty you will see.

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We invite you to share your stories on what leading and managing means for you. Please share your ideas by leaving your comments here.

For the latest news and updates, please visit our Current and Resources pages

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So-Young Kang and Mark Wee were invited to speak at the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) on October 21, 2011. They introduced the concept of Design Thinking (DT) and, specifically, how to apply DT to create a beautiful vision and strategy, and how to create innovative cultures.

So-Young and Mark with Navy officers

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On Saturday, October 15, 2011, Awaken Group facilitators So-Young Kang, Antonia Nicols, and designer Trina Tay led a Design Thinking workshop for 15 teenage girls and their mentors, all of whom participate in the Beautiful People program. The workshop was designed to walk the girls through building their own beautiful business using a Design Thinking methodology, from creating a vision for their business, to researching underlying needs, prototyping, and designing the space and the processes.

About Beautiful People:

Beautiful People builds valuable relationships with the teenage girls through group activities and one-to-one mentoring, becoming a trusted friend and positive influence in their lives.

Their flagship programme ‘My Beautiful Life’ was launched in 2009 to tap into their resources as a network of diverse and caring volunteers. It is an intensive mentoring and career guidance programme that aims to equip the Little Sisters with the tools, skills and relationships to help her map a career direction and get a headstart on a fulfilling career. Key components of the programme include life skills training, financial education and job exposure opportunities.

The Beautiful People Club was launched in 2011, as a platform to keep Little Sisters connected, to engage in social and career development activities and lead in service learning projects.

Please visit www.beautifulpeople.org.sg for more info.

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Awaken Group Global Leadership and Innovation Survey (GLIS) 2011
U.S. Report
By: So-Young Kang, Hanna Kim
Contributors: Luke Chua, Chao Xiang
Now available in English PDF
18 pages. Publication date: October 3, 2011.
Press Release: PR Newswire

Awaken Group conducted its second annual independent survey and study, the Global Leadership and Innovation Survey (GLIS), to better understand global leadership and innovation challenges that executives face in the United States, and how priorities and perspectives have shifted in the past year. Over 100 CEOs, Presidents, founders/owners, and other executives from various industries and company sizes participated. The report is based on analysis from survey findings along with key insights from in-depth interviews with 20% of survey participants. Readers will find case studies around global expansion and innovation, and discover what leaders will focus on in the next 3-5 years and how they plan to address their challenges.

Below is a sample of the report:

CONFIDENCE AMONG US LEADERS HAS DROPPED IN THE PAST YEAR (2010-2011)

US leaders’ confidence has dropped amidst a rapidly growing global competitive landscape as leaders feel less prepared to meet the challenges of global growth

Fewer GLIS participants overall feel very prepared for global growth in 2011 (23%) vs. 2010 (33%), while more leaders feel little or unprepared in 2011 (24%) vs. 2010 (20%) (Exhibit 3). We interviewed US executives who shared the specific challenges they face in preparing for global growth including:

• Lack of clear new market entry strategy
• Resource limitations (e.g., capital, people)
• Limited knowledge and understanding of new markets (e.g., local consumer behavior, how to adapt products and services to fit local context)
• Global growth not a current priority; more focused on the US domestic market (e.g., strengthening presence and rebuilding growth)

The drop in confidence of US leaders reflects a real shift happening in the global economy. It has been a tough few years for the US economy and the near future outlook is still bleak. The United States (previously ranked #1 in 2008-2009) dropped two ranks to #4 on the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) 2010-2011* rankings, behind Switzerland, Sweden, and Singapore respectively. The GCI ranks countries (139 in 2010) based on key areas of global competitiveness (e.g., infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, education and training, goods and labor market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, innovation); essentially, the GCI measures the productivity of countries. It may still be too early to tell whether the US is truly in a long-term declining trend in global competitiveness, but the drop in the GCI rankings for two consecutive years is worth noting and paying attention to. In addition, the recent debt crises point to deeper issues that leaders in the US need to deal with, which will only exacerbate current challenges.

* The Global Competitiveness Index 2010-2011, World Economic Forum

To read the rest of the report, please purchase here:

Awaken Group Global Leadership and Innovation Survey 2011: U.S.

2011 GLIS Report (18 page English PDF) $9.95

Please note: upon receipt of payment, your report will be sent within one business day to the e-mail address you use to purchase the report.

If you have any questions, please contact us at: contact@theawakengroup.com

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Awaken Group features Ken Yuktasevi, Director at Experience Design and Ong & Ong in Singapore and one of our Creative Collaborative partners, about his take on creativity and what makes a person truly creative. Hint: it’s not about what you do—it’s about who you choose to be.

For the latest news and updates, please visit our Current and Resources pages