10 years, 6 takeaways and 1 incredible celebration
Life has never been faster, and the business world has never been so diverse. Whilst the Mdina International team is grateful for the rush of business, we acknowledge that it is always healthy to step back and invest some time out for learning and sharing ideas.
We are very proud of our business partners Business Leaders Malta, and we were excited to celebrate their 10thyear anniversary in the annual conference this year, themed “Breakthrough – from Good to Great”.
Today we look back on the exciting day we had. Setting the scene in the Manoel Theatre, these are the learnings we take forward:
1. IN THE BUSINESS WORLD – YOUR NETWORKS LEAVE YOU OPEN TO THE NEXT OPPORTUNITY:
We are so proud to remember the birth of Business Leaders Malta. Eleven years ago, our very own Chairman Steve Tarr, and CEO Alex Galea, were parts of the seed planted for the initiation of BLM.
In the words of Steve Tarr: “Our plan was to hold one (and only one) business conference, free of charge, as an experiment to demonstrate the potential for high-quality events.”
The beauty is that now, BLM can look back at 10 years of success, and equally looks forward to further years of growth. One could say that the birth of BLM was based on pure good dynamics and challenging the status quo, now after years of hard work and team dedication: “Our Academy has now surpassed the 1,000-student mark and our research arm Esprimi is steadily growing its client portfolio.” (Steve Tarr)
2. EVEN WHEN AT THE PEAK OF YOUR GAME, YOU SHOULD BE ASKING QUESTIONS – RASMUS ANKERSEN
Ankerson took us through the journey of success of sports champions, be it as individuals or in teams. His journeys to understand if success in sports is innate or built, made us aware that we need to consider our constant preparation and adaptation of training for ‘showtime’ rather replicating previous success recipes.
He brought together the real need to study the data we have available so that no success or loss is a surprise. Knowing full that we should never assume the source of our success, and instead keep asking questions to be sure we are predicting ‘victories’ based on data rather than assuming it or blindly guessing it.
3. YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN YOUR NEXT BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY IS AROUND THE CORNER – FRASER DOHERTY
We were left inspired by the non-stop entrepreneur, who showed us that determination, curiosity and openness to opportunity can bring about impressive, and sometimes unexpected business growth.
Be it your grandmother’s jam recipe or a drinking hobby turned beer club – the recipe for success is in constant questioning and passion- driven movement.
4. VULNERABILITY – REMOVING THE LAYERS OF PROTECTION – JEN MARTIN
As a psychological coach and researcher, Martin took us through her research on vulnerability and leadership. Her curiosity to the results we can expect when we open our culture to allow for vulnerability had us wondering how we can apply this to our team and clients.
We share a background with Martin, in being firm believers and implementers of the coaching approach that leads by questions for exploration and action. In this, we look forward to seeing better output when we stop shying away from vulnerability but look to integrate it for strength.
5. LEADERSHIP – CHOSE YOUR STYLE TO GET YOUR RESULTS – ITAY TALGAM
Talgam did not just show us what an incredible performer he is, but kept us silent for a full hour of learning. His ability to bring out so many crucial business lessons from his experience as a conductor, we now look forward to replicating that symphony in our own organizational behavior.
Talgam took us through the effect of various leadership styles, instruction giving, and the energy we bring to our daily ‘performance’ in team leadership.
6. CELEBRATE YOUR SUCCESSES AND THOSE OF OTHERS
We were so happy to see some of our own clients take to the stage to receive the ‘employer of choice’ certificate which was achieved based on anonymous employee data collection. We are proud of your efforts and look forward to your future success focused on bringing the best out of your teams.
Leaving the beautiful conference venue, one thing was clear to us: Taking time out to step away from our day-to-day, to learn, network and celebrate, would have us back in the office the next week, geared up for our next challenges and ready for opportunity. The key is in taking the time to turn learning into action. This is the vision that drives us in our training delivery at various clients, and we look forward to turning our own learnings into actions.
We are curious: what have you actioned from your last learning opportunity?
