Afternoon Tea in Jerusalem Blog

In addition to my work as a business coach, one of my interests is blogging about life in Israel. This is a country full of contrasts – over eight million citizens living in an area the size of Wales. You can see snow and the lowest place on the globe in the same day. Although surrounded by geopolitical extremes, Israel has achieved a decade of high economic growth. My work brings me in contact with an array of new companies, exciting technologies and dynamic characters. Sitting back with a relaxing cup of strong tea (with milk), you realise just how much there is to appreciate in the Holyland. Large or small operations, private sector or non profit, my clients provide experiences from which others can learn and benefit.

It has been a quiet week. A chance finally to update my LinkedIn profile. And that should be an easy task for me to write, as I am a business coach and mentor?

Hmm. How to write in 120 syllables what I do? How to text out an elevator pitch? It could read too generalistic. More pondering.

As I was driving home, I was contacted by a customer, who had been taking a break from meeting me in order to absorb and to implement what we had been discussing. He asked me to recall how I had suggested to him that before taking out a large commercial loan, he sorted out his personal loan.

Bottom line. The bank has agreed to slash the rate of interest he pays, saving him thousands of shekels in the process. Further, they are now revamping his request for a commercial loan, both for a higher amount and with much improved terms.

Cool! And it spurred me to think about what other projects I had been involved with over the past few days.

One of my current favourite case studies concerns a finance intermediary company, facilitating loans worth tens of millions of shekels annually to families and businesses who usually ‘fall between the gap’. The CEO has been worried that his sales force are not effective enough, despite a healthy bonus system.

I have been gradually introducing the owner to alternative forms of ‘incentives’, often seen as the one word to summarise the entire theorem of economics. Had he asked his staff what motivates them? Had he realised that different people are motivated for different reasons and by different means? What is it about his new employee that makes him an immediate success, and from which others can learn?

In other words, this ten year old company is on the verge of restructuring its back office sales structure. All this from a CEO, who had originally informed me outright that he did not believe I could mentor him.

And the two subjects that particularly motivate me at the moment? I am thrilled to be involved in the expansion of the services of one of the  business hubs in Jerusalem. More on that another time.

Second, a provider of medical services has called me in. Formally, they only opened their doors less than two years ago. With minimal outreach and with even less advertising, they are already attracting hundreds of people a week. Effectively, they are entrusting their confidence in me to show them how they can create a stable business model to finance a multi-operational facility in Jerusalem.

On reflection, I find that there is a single factor connect all of these (and several other) exciting projects. I cannot claim to be an expert in most of the specific fields of activity. However, that is the role of a mentor and coach; to use core generic skills, developed through a range of experiences, to understand how to bring out the best talents in their customers and to offer a multiple of customised approaches.

And it really is fun to be involved with these people. The question is how to put all this on LinkedIn?

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