I believe everyone has a story to share. The method in which we would like to share our story is determined by the type of action we choose to take.
Being a Vietnamese boat refugee, growing up in a foreign country without my family from a young age, I do have an interesting story to tell; however, I never thought I would be brave enough to become an author – until I made a public declaration to be one during my personal development journey as a speaker on stage.
My decision to write is my preferred method of action to incorporate and articulate my life's experience with the business and leadership lessons I've learnt over the years. In my attempt to constructively 'reverse engineer' leadership to allow me to 'feel' and 'believe' in it myself, I accidentally discovered something worth sharing.
Writing this book was the best way for me to capture and structure my thoughts most comprehensively; hence my decision to become an entrepreneur and an author. The phrase, 'Seeing is believing' doesn't work in helping me discover my leadership potential merely by observing and studying other great leaders alone; neither are verbal affirmations by saying to myself, 'I am a leader' or, 'I can be a leader'. BEING myself, KNOWING what I want, and DOING what I love has always been my life's philosophy.
Since the age of seven, I've been on a continuous journey of taking one major action after another. My actions have enabled me to push through boundaries: I became the first person in my family to go to university; the first to experience what it’s like to climb the corporate ladder; the first to travel the world; and the first to give it all up to start a business.
I’m now also the first to write a book
Like the Earth’s inner core, outer core, mantle, and crust, we too have layers. Our inner core is our CIPE; our outer core is our WHY; our mantle is our mindset, and our crust is our emotions.
Our CIPE is constantly at work, releasing positive and negative charges into our body and mind. Our positive energy allows us to take action and to grow; while our negative energy exists to protect us by reminding us to be careful.
Leaders are ActionTaker's because they are able to decide how and when to use which energies. When the CIPE is not working as it should be, ActionTakers know what needs to be done to make it work more effectively with their own personal 'secret recipe' to inject the extra fuel needed.
CONTENTS Dedication ......................... 3 Contents ........................... 5 Diagrams ........................... 7
About the Author ............................................... 9 Acknowledgements ............................................... 11 Foreword ....................................................... 15 Testimonials ................................................... 17 Introduction ................................................... 19 Why I Decided to Write This Book ............................... 21 Chapter 1: Position ............................................ 27 Why the World Needs More Leaders ............................... 27 Leading vs Inspiring ........................................... 32 Knowledge is Not Power ......................................... 39 Authenticity is Key ............................................ 41 Lead from Within ............................................... 44 Inspirational Leadership is a Choice ........................... 52 Suggested Reading .............................................. 55 Chapter 2: Permission .......................................... 57 What Qualities Are Expected From a Leader? ..................... 57 The Inner Child – All leaders are born ......................... 58 Emotional Danger – Permission to engage ........................ 61 Yin and Yang – embrace the good, the bad and the ugly .......... 67 Balancing Emotions – Core Inner Positive Energy CIPE ........... 74 Being, Knowing and Doing – ..................................... 77 Suggested Reading .............................................. 79 Chapter 3: Activation .......................................... 81 Why We Do What We Do – ‘WHY ME’ ................................ 81 How to Create, Understand, and Nurture our WHY ................. 90 Developing Our WHY Further with The Right Mindset .............. 104 Suggested Reading .............................................. 114 Chapter 4: Energising .......................................... 115 How to Manage our Emotions ..................................... 115 The Power of FEAR .............................................. 121 Fear vs. Courage ............................................... 129 Fear of Letting Go ............................................. 137 Emotions in Decision-making .................................... 144 Suggested Reading .............................................. 151 Chapter 5: Action: Communication! .............................. 153 Aligning Internal and External Communication ................... 153 What Does it mean to be Authentic? ............................. 155 How Different Types of Personalities Affects Communication ..... 161 The Psychological Need to be Different ......................... 171 Me, You, We and Us ............................................. 175 Chapter 6: Action! Intelligence ................................ 181 How Different Types of Intelligence Affects our Performance .... 181 Peak Performance Expectation ................................... 183 Four Pillars of Strength ....................................... 185 SMART Intelligence ............................................. 189 Intelligence Programming ....................................... 201 How to Create and Maintain Trust ............................... 204 Trust Without Expectation ...................................... 206 In Grief We Trust .............................................. 209 Balancing Trust ................................................ 214 Give to Receive ................................................ 220 Chapter 7: Action! Leadership .................................. 229 How to Build and Maintain Different Levels of Leadership ....... 229 Outside In and Inside Out ...................................... 231 The Five Levels of Leadership .................................. 234 Levels of Leadership in Communication .......................... 240 Communication Perspectives ..................................... 242 How to Work With a Company to Promote Leadership Development ... 248 Case Studies ................................................... 250 Suggested Reading .............................................. 266 Conclusion ..................................................... 267
Teresa is a passionate business entrepreneur with a desire to inspire as many people as she can to take action and be a leader in their life, face adversity with a positive attitude, and achieve a healthy life balance through the process of Being, Knowing, and DOING. As a young Vietnamese boat refugee growing up without her parents in Sydney, Australia, to exploring a new life in London on her own, and leaving a comfortable corporate career to start a restaurant business without any restaurant experience, her journey is both inspirational and courageous, and has impacted the lives of many.
Her resilience and determination enabled her to overcome many challenges both in business and in life, which not only allowed her to adapt, but to thrive in most environments. Her valuable lessons learnt and knowledge accumulated over the years, including different business models, psychological mindset models, and various teachings from her mentors are all included in this book. Teresa is also an international speaker who captivates audiences not just with her remarkable story but also her infectious energy and charm. In addition to running her business, full-time, she enjoys spreading her teaching in-front of the camera, on stage, and in a number of online and offline workshops.
Outside her busy work schedule, Teresa loves to travel and is a real adrenaline seeker in sports such as: sky diving, hiking, scuba diving, climbing, canyoning, and anything that gets her blood pumping. Her goal is to be the world’s most daring granny one day! To relax, she loves to cook and feed her family wholesome food and, occasionally, decadent, indulgent treats. Teresa is happily married and a mum.
Can a woman have it all? Teresa believes she can by having the right balance between business success and personal growth.
"I worked at Ladudu restaurant as a waiter and then as the service manager during my undergraduate degree at University College London. Teresa’s style of leadership inspired me to set a high standard for myself and invigorated my confidence to step up and lead the team whenever she put me in charge. The invaluable leadership skills I have learnt from Teresa enables me to advance further in my professional career. I’m currently working for a global corporate company and have found myself placed in various management positions to lead teams of more than hundred people in Vietnam with multiple stakeholders and customers across APAC."
"Actiontaker - How Leaders Inspire by Being, Knowing and DOING is like a practical bible filled with methodologies and tips for how to achieve goals. This book is full of visual aids, stories and examples - a must have in your personal development journey."
"The most impressive thing about Teresa’s style of leadership is her ability to adapt to lead a team in very different scenarios – be it working in a large corporate from, her own business, special interest groups, to running events. She somehow manages to do so in a nurturing manner whilst maintaining confidence and the respect of her team. A truly admirable attribute which allows her to achieve whatever results she desires."