Sunita is an Executive Coach, Trainer and Consultant. She is of Indian origin and was born in London before moving to Geneva in 1992. She has a Psychology background (specialising in Occupational Psychology) and a Post Graduate in the Development and Training of Adults. She also completed a Masters in Ressources Humaines, Coaching et Gestion des Carrières at the University of Geneva.
During her 25 years experience Sunita's drive has always been to help people to do their best and hence led her to create Walk The Talk.
In her free time Sunita is a Mentor for the Branson Center of Entrepreneurship and a proud member of the School in The Cloud Team.
By Sunita Sehmi, Walk The Talk
Snuggled in Chêne-Bougeries, La Maison de Tara offers an alternative to hospitalisation for people nearing the end of life who are unable to stay at home but wish to spend their final days in a non-medicalised atmosphere surrounded by warmth, care and tenderness…. a home from home. They offer to any person, young or old, who is seriously ill, a place to stay and be cared for in a family atmosphere. La Maison de Tara commits to bring each resident the same quality of care that a family can give.
I am very proud to say that I am part of the volunteer family at La Maison de Tara. I was welcomed and trusted to be part of the family from the very beginning. People say to me: “It must be so depressing to work there”. They could not be more wrong. The atmosphere is caring, loving and bright.
I sat down with the founder, Anne-Marie Struijk, and asked her to tell us more about her mission, her vision and her desire to let people die in a loving atmosphere.
I hope you enjoy the interview with the wonderful and wise Anne-Marie, who is also the spiritual care educator and President of La Maison de Tara, and if you like what you see please donate to this exceptional foundation.
By Sunita Sehmi, Walk The Talk
Experts in the global search and selection industry, Antal, work with professional and managerial talent worldwide. Every day, they help businesses all around the world to find the talent that they need in order to drive their growth, profits and long-term success.
Utilising an extensive international network to carry out cross border work allows them to bring a truly unique approach to the recruitment sector. They do this with 1000 experts from more than 120 offices, spanning over 30 countries globally.
Over the past 24 years, they have worked with over 60,000 clients making over 100,000 placements. They have continuously improved and refined their internal processes, training and methodologies in order to reflect the business needs of their clients, and market changes in general.
Looking for a new challenge where he could leverage his experience, international management network and personal strengths, Peter Wharton acquired a franchise in Antal International in Geneva. Having hired more than 50 employees over the years he has developed a knack for identifying talent and placing them in the right positions.
I caught up with him to chat to his business, and his tips on how to navigate yourself in this market and present your best version of yourself.
By Sunita Sehmi, Walk The Talk
“Mere repetition of an activity won’t lead to improved performance. Your practice must be intentional, repetitious aimed at improving performance and combined with immediate feedback from a coach.”
Have you ever thought you’re not cut out to do something due to a lack of talent? Karl Anders Ericsson would disagree and he has the data to prove it. Anders spent 30 years studying people who are exceptional at what they do, and trying to figure out how they got to be so good. His conclusion: in most cases, talent doesn’t matter but deliberate practice does. He and his colleagues provide new research that illustrates that outstanding performance is the outcome of years of measured or deliberate practice and coaching and not of any innate talent or skill. Ericsson, psychologist and author of “Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise”, has dedicated his career to understanding how people become exceptional within one field.
Tell us about yourself. At a very early point in my life I found that I could improve my performance. I read biographies that focused on how people succeeded and tried to understand how and why and get into their mind-set. Even a genius like Mozart had to work for at least ten years before he produced something that became recognized as a masterpiece.
Take us back to the beginning. How did your research begin about being an expert? I have never seen an individual whose excellence was not the result of formal training. I had a lot of push back about that but all achievement we see is, in fact, the product of extended deliberate practice. I have yet to find attributes that cannot be influenced by training. Anyone can build proficiency in any field. The only reason most of us don’t build expertise is lack of the single-minded focus required to engage in deliberate practice over years.
The Dalai Lama laughs with Richard Moore, director of Children in Crossfire, during a press conference in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in April 2013. AFP
By Sunita Sehmi, Walk The Talk
Richard Moore is the founder and Director of Children in Crossfire which is an International NGO based in Derry Northern Ireland. He was born in 1961 and grew up during the conflict in Northern Ireland. He was the second youngest of a family of 12 children, 9 boys and 3 girls. The Creggan and Derry from around 1969 was at the center of the Northern Ireland conflict. Shootings, bombings and riots were a daily occurrence.
In 1972 when he was 10 years old whilst on his way home from school he was shot and blinded by a rubber bullet fired by a British soldier....
This is his story of loss, struggle, resilience and forgiveness.
Tell us about yourself.
I was compensated by the British Government for being shot and with some of the money I set up my own business. I also learned to play the guitar, played in local bands and set up a folk choir that sing in church every week. Eventually after 14 years of running my own business I decided to set up a charity to help children in Africa suffering from the injustice of poverty.
The charity, Children in Crossfire, was launched 21 years ago in 1996. I wanted to use my own experience as a child to help other children who were not as lucky as me. I was able to survive what happened to me because I came from a good family and a good community. I also was able to return to school and get a good education. In my young adult years, I became very aware of children in other parts of the world who might have had their eye-sight but didn’t have the same opportunities as me.
"When I listened to the Dalai Lama speak I remember thinking he was describing how I felt. It was then that I realized what I was experiencing was forgiveness."
By Sunita Sehmi, Walk The Talk
Over the past decade, the very nature of the way we relate to each other has been completely transformed by online social networking and the mobile technologies that enable unrestricted access to it. Our very selves have been drawn-out into the digital world in ways formerly unimagined, giving us an immediate means of relating to others over a variety of platforms. In the Psychodynamics of Social Networking, Aaron Balick draws on his experience as a psychotherapist and cultural theorist to question the “unconscious drives” behind our online social networking use.
Aaron has a passionate interest in psychology because he knows it can revolutionise people’s lives as well as improve society as a whole.
I was very lucky to interview Aaron, who is not only kind and smart, but also an integrative psychotherapist and supervisor trained in a variety of different methodologies, from psychoanalysis to cognitive behavioural therapy.
Enjoy!
