Work/Business

Below you will find a selection of the most recent entries from bloggers in our Work/Business section.

To view the entries from individual bloggers, click on the links below:

Claire Doole - Claire Doole Communications

Claire is a former BBC correspondent and international spokeswoman who is passionate about helping people communicate with confidence. Since 2006, she has successfully trained hundreds of professionals in the art of presenting and public speaking, talking to the media, managing communications in a crisis, and writing for the web. In addition, she has coached C-level executives and public figures to give powerful TEDx and TED style talks in Europe and the Middle East. A Swiss and UK national, Claire trains and coaches in French and English.
Elizabeth Ballin - Life Coach

As a long time member of the international community in Geneva, Elizabeth Ballin has been coaching adults and students from all parts of the world. She has coached business professionals, musicians/artists, couples, families and adolescents. She is a fully accredited Life Coach by the International Coaching Federation. Elizabeth Ballin, Life Coach
Patrick Hoza - US Tax & Financial Services

Since 1990, Patrick has many years of experience with US individual expatriate taxation under his belt, including High Net Worth Individuals, streamline/voluntary disclosure filings and tax consulting, as well as working with large multinationals like Novartis, BP, Hewlett Packard and General Electric. He has extensive knowledge in serving both US expatriates and resident and non-resident aliens with their US tax-related issues. Patrick Hoza is a Tax Director at US Tax & Financial Services, with extensive experience in all aspects of Individual US tax and Expatriation, including Hight Net Worth Individuals and large multinationals.

Patrick started his career in 1990 in California, with Westpro Ltd., as a Senior Tax Consultant, then spent the middle part of his career working at KPMG and Ernst & Young. During his time with Ernst & Young, he worked and lived in Russia, France and finally Switzerland. He has gained a valuable working knowledge of the respective income tax regulations in all of these countries.

Patrick holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Colorado, is a member of the National Association of Enrolled Agents and is a Certified Acceptance Agent.

Melitta Campbell - Business Coach
Business Coach and Mentor with nearly 3 decades of business experience and a passion for helping women confidently build a business they love. She is also the founder of the Swiss Entrepreneurs Club and president of the Swiss Riviera Toastmasters Club in Montreux. Originally from Wales, she now lives in Montreux in a chalet she has renovated with her husband overlooking the Swiss Alps.
Sunita Sehmi - Walk The Talk
Founder of Walk The Talk, Sunita has been training, developing and now coaching Business Communication skills in both companies and educational establishments for over twenty years. She has a passion for helping people to maximise their potential and created Walk The Talk with the sole aim to drive each and every client to perform their best.

Robert Harris- Forth Capital
With over 25 years experience working for some of the major financial institutions in the City of London, Robert is a founding partner of Forth Capital, the leading expat financial advisory company in Switzerland. Regulary quoted in newspaper articles and magazines, he is well placed to advise expats on a variety of financial issues that may arise during their time living in Switzerland.

Debbie Croft - Croft Coaching
As the founder of Croft Coaching, Debbie has a passion for helping people overcome challenges, embrace change and live life to the full; with an ethos of “work hard, play hard”.
Sarah Santacroce, https://humane.marketing/coaching

Areas of Expertise: Conscious Business Coaching, Humane Marketing, LinkedIn

Sarah Santacroce is a Conscious Business Coach for Coaches and service-based solopreneurs, founder of Humane Marketing and author of Marketing Like We’re Human, Selling Like We’re Human, and Business Like We’re Human. Since 2006 in marketing, entrepreneurship, and conscious business coaching, she’s supporting changemakers worldwide through workshops, programs, and her signature Conscious Business Coaching. Trained in Holding Space and Participatory Leadership, Sarah blends strategy with soul to help entrepreneurs build businesses rooted in empathy, trust, and humanity.

Sarah has been a guest on nearly 100 podcasts and has been podcasting since 2016. Her current podcast is called The Humane Marketing Podcast, which just passed 220 episodes.

Diana Ritchie - SSC Sàrl
A Director at Swiss Career Connections, Diana will provide you with some useful tips for job hunting.

: Published: 05 March 2020

Storytelling photo

By Claire Doole, Claire Doole Communications

"I am not really comfortable with storytelling. I don't see how I can use it in my work". This is a typical response from senior managers/executives to the idea of attending a storytelling workshop. And what's more, I understand where they are coming from. As a BBC journalist, I was a professional storyteller - every day looking for the nugget of gold that I could mine to tell a story about something that had changed in the world.

But telling other people's stories was much easier than telling my own. Journalists don't like being the centre of the story - it makes them, among other things, feel vulnerable. What I have learned as a trainer, moderator and coach is that storytelling is about sharing experiences – either your own or someone else’s - so that you connect and build rapport, trust and credibility with those around you.

Research shows that our brains are hardwired to listen and to tell stories. Stories are how we think, make meaning of life and explain how things work. They help us make decisions, persuade others, create identities and teach social values.

In a business or organisational setting storytelling helps to sell, educate, inspire and motivate. It is a strategic tool that can bring you closer to your colleagues, clients and peers and transform how you and your organisation are perceived.

: Published: 06 January 2020

1.businesswoman

By Melitta Campbell, www.melittacampbell.com

It’s no surprise that at this time of year we hear a lot about business planning, and setting goals and intentions for the year ahead.
But what does it really mean, to set goals?
How do you go about turning your vague ideas into crystal-clear intentions?
And where do you even start with your business planning?

When it comes to planning what you want to achieve in your business in 2020 – and life in general for that matter – wishes are not enough; you need to take action. No matter where you are in your business, you need a clear plan for taking action to turn your dreams into reality.

Fail to plan, and you plan to fail
Have you heard that phrase before? I love its simplicity and its truth.

You see, I’ve learned that the formula for success is actually quite simple:

have a clearly defined and inspiring goal
create a plan for how you will achieve that goal
detail and schedule the activities you need to carry out
take consistent action to complete those activities.

But so often I see people start with a rough idea of what they want to do but not move any further ahead. They never fully flesh out their goal or take the time to plan and schedule what needs to be done.

: Published: 09 December 2019

diversity and even a man

By Claire Doole, Claire Doole Communications

November 2019 blog

Guests in the peace lounge

In presentation training we refer to STAR moments - something that the audience will always remember. Normally, this is something that is unusual or surprising such as Bill Gates making jokes and opening a jar of mosquitos to infect the audience at his TED talk on the need for more investment in combating malaria.

: Published: 31 October 2019

Manels WEF

By Claire Doole, Claire Doole Communications

I vividly remember getting criticised on Twitter for moderating two "manels" - all male panels - during a half-day event at the European Parliament in Brussels some years ago. It would have been a "manference" - a conference where only men speak - if the organisers hadn't remembered to invite one woman to give a presentation.

The organisation, EU Panel Watch, was right to criticise. I should have refused to moderate the all male panels. Unfortunately, moderators rarely get a say in the selection of speakers. I now advise clients on how to design panels and conferences, which are diverse, balanced and engaging - these are the principles I applied when editing BBC radio and TV news programmes.

Still EU Panel Watch's latest annual report on women's representation and speaker diversity on policy panels in Brussels shows change is slow and much more effort is required.

In 2018, out of 1583 speakers at conferences the organisation monitored in the "Brussels bubble", only around one third were women - this held true for panels and keynote speeches. Shockingly, 26% of panels were all men and three quarters of them also had a male moderator. At these rates, EU Panel Watch estimates we can expect to see gender parity in 80 years!

: Published: 12 September 2019

Rubenstein poster 3

By Claire Doole, Doole Communications

Mounting an exhibition is one of the most challenging but potentially rich types of storytelling as you have the scope to appeal to the senses, of sight, hearing and sometimes touch. Curators must find a theme, and weave a red thread or "fil rouge" through the lives of their famous and talented subjects to create a story that gives deeper insight and meaning to their work.

Unfortunately, the exhibition "L'aventure de la beauté" about the life of Helena Rubenstein failed to bring alive the story of the woman who invented skincare and make-up as we know it.

As I went around the exhibition at the Museum of Art and Jewish History in Paris, I realised that there was no red thread drawing you in to a life that defied convention. It failed on several levels in the art of storytelling.

A logical structure that inspires interest

There are many ways to structure a story so that it is easy to follow:

• Geographically
• Chronologically
• Thematically
• Problem v Solution
• Challenge v Opportunity

The curators structured the story geographically: Krakow- Vienna- Melbourne- London-Paris- New York - Tel Aviv. This is fine as a concept, but the story became very disjointed and confusing as Helena travelled back and forth between many of these cities during her 93 years.