Taylor Swift

When I first set up CN8, someone I really respect asked me, if I was sure I knew what I was doing 🤔. He was concerned about the whole coaching and talking about feelings business, and me throwing away a perfectly good career in finance. It came from a good place, and I'm sure he wasn't the only one.

Every now and then, I do wonder if I should be using quite as many emojis, and referring to Taylor Swift, and all my crazy thoughts in my marketing. After all, I work with some of the most respected, impressive leaders in some very serious industries.

But that's just it.

I choose to believe that the two aren't exclusive. And I am quite literally putting my money where my mouth is. Here's how:

There are two things at the core of everything I teach, which also happens to be the main reasons I set up this business:

1️⃣ You will always be the most successful while being yourself. You. As you are. Not as you think you should be. Or as the world has told you that you should be.

2️⃣ For more people to be allowed to be themselves and bring their 1 in 8 billion magic to the world, we need more diverse representations of leadership. More diverse role models. More authenticity 🦄.

Because, as one of my first teachers told me, the people who don't like you, won't like you any better for you trying to make them. Her analogy was always a peach; she said, "I don't like peaches, and no matter how sweet and juicy a peach you hand me, I won't like it - it's not the peach's fault, I just don't like peaches. That doesn’t mean the peach should try and change."

🍑 My enthusiastic use of emojis doesn’t change the fact that I've got two coaching certifications, an economics degree, and an MSc in Leadership Development, does it? And I'm pretty sure my love for Taylor Swift doesn't make me a worse coach.

It might make me a better human though; a more congruent, messy, honest human. And I'm pretty sure that makes me at least as good a coach, as any degree I've been awarded.

So far, the numbers seem to agree 🙂.As humans we're wired to want to fit in at any cost, for safety. That means that standing out by stepping into your fullest, truest expression takes some deliberate, conscious effort. But oh, how it's worth it when we do. Sign up for one of our September coaching slots, and we'll show you how. Book a consultation today by emailing Athena at athena@cn8.co.uk. We can't wait to meet you.

“Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”