Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Leadership & Executive Coach: From Finance to Facilitation
23 Plays9 days ago
Join host Nate as he chats with Ted, a leadership and executive coach who transitioned from a corporate finance career to building his own coaching business. Ted opens up about his journey, the tools that helped him along the way, and how he found his "North Star" to stay motivated. From psychometric tools to meditation, Ted shares practical tips for anyone looking to make a career change or start their own venture. Tune in for an inspiring conversation about growth, self-awareness, and finding fulfillment in your work.
🌟 Key Highlights:
- Ted’s transition from finance to coaching 🏦➡️🎯
- The power of psychometric tools like *Lumina Spark* 🧠✨
- Overcoming the challenges of **building a business** 💼⚡
- Ted’s favourite books and resources for personal growth 📚🔧
- The importance of finding your "North Star" 🌟🗺️
Don’t miss this episode if you’re looking for inspiration to take the leap into a career you love!
Recommended
Transcript
Intro
Introduction and Guest Background
Transition to Coaching and Psychometrics
00:00:41
Nate
Tell us about your career and what you inspired you to pursue it.
00:00:47
Ted Huang
Thanks, Nate. so ah So I appreciate you getting me ah having me on the podcast today. I'm a really excited to talk about my career journey. um So ah what led me to this? So I'm currently a executive and leadership coach. um And I also do a lot of facilitation work with certain psychometric tools. um How did I get here? So I was a former recovering finance professional, if you will, um doing a lot of product strategy for financial services companies and
00:01:22
Ted Huang
came to Hong Kong about six years ago to basically do more sales enablement work to try to get more more sales or revenue for a company within the the region. um And so my side job within this job within this whole company was to do a lot of um this tool that we call Luminous Spark that basically allows people or helps people ah figure out ways to build rapport and communicate effectively with each other and so it's kind of like a Myers-Briggs type of tool but um what it does is it builds self-awareness around people's personality, communication styles, things like that. um And I managed to be able to travel all around the world and all the different um offices within my company. I trained over almost like 2,000 folks within my company and so and I realized
00:02:15
Ted Huang
um This kind of work was what was getting me out of bed in the morning, if you will. So ah so after I left this job, um I just decided to ah pursue this a little more, given that this was the thing that I was enjoying a lot. So I started my own business like you and and have started a coaching business and a facilitation business from there.
00:02:38
Nate
Fantastic. that's ah That's a bit of a journey. So tell me more about how you got here in terms of training and education. What what did you have to pursue to to get there?
00:02:49
Ted Huang
Well, the psychometric tool, the Lumna Spark tool required a little bit of certification as a practitioner. So that was about three or four days understanding the background as a union type of ah like psychological assessment tool. So ah you had to understand a lot about the backgrounds of all these different things. So um and then you basically get after doing a bit of practice and ah being observed, you know, they they set you out there. So this was 10 years ago. And so um I kind of know it like the back of my head and at hand now. um For coaching, um I have you to thank actually for this, because um I was actually looking into coaching programs as well, because it was something that was really interested in managing the managing teams within my company was pretty um was was fulfilling for me, if you will. And so I wanted to
00:03:42
Ted Huang
I felt like, you know, being a mentor and being a manager was something I wanted to sort of lean on, if you will. So coaching was the obvious choice. And so, um, you were able to suggest this, uh, for this Australian firm called, uh, the Institute of Executive Coaching and Learning and Leadership IECL. Um, and so they were able to, so I was able to sort of get certified with them. And so at this moment, hopefully by this summer, I should be.
00:04:09
Ted Huang
uh, accredited with the international coaching federation. So, um, so yeah, so we're, so there's a bit of a process for
Coaching Style and Philosophies
00:04:17
Ted Huang
coaching. If you will, you have to sort of have a hundred training hours or, you know, uh, paid hours to coach someone. You go through a bunch of education and, um, but after a while, um, and once you get certified, you know, you're, you're good to go, if you will.
00:04:33
Ted Huang
hu
00:04:34
Nate
Fantastic. i'm happy I'm happy to take a bit of credit in your journey. So so yeah talk to me about the things you love then. So you've briefly mentioned already, so it's that mentoring mindset and the ability to to help help people achieve their goals. Is that the best part? is ah Is there any other things you'd like to highlight in terms of best parts of of the career?
00:04:56
Ted Huang
Well, I mean, I've always wanted to help people. I mean, in my and my younger years, I ah thought about um becoming a doctor and trying to, you know, study medicine. and um And that whole idea was really about, you know, wanting to help people and things like that.
00:05:15
Ted Huang
Um, and then after a while I just, you know, the sight of blood just got to me, which is why I didn't pursue it. So, but, um, but I imagine that, um, I've always had this wanting and desire to help people, but at the same time, I'm a, my personality tends to be very direct. So in many ways I find, um, I find that the kind of coaching I do is very, I think there's a term for it, relatively confrontational coaching, if you will.
00:05:45
Ted Huang
It's kind of so I the way the style that I tend to have is I'd shine a mirror on someone and basically say, well, you just said this and you just said this. I'm putting a mirror to you and saying, well, these two don't make sense to me. Why they they're kind of maybe in conflict. They're conflicting with each other. Right. So maybe, you know, could you explain this to me? And that actually is effective for, I guess, a certain personality. Right. um But I think part of it is also trying to solve these help people solve these different problems. I, as a coach, should not be solving people's problems, obviously. but like but But I'm helping out these people, you know bringing them to their
Challenges of Entrepreneurship and Stress Management
00:06:26
Ted Huang
their conclusion. And it's fulfilling for me to be able to sort of see growth um and being and being able to see them um you know grow into a ah different sort of ah way of thinking, if you will.
00:06:40
Nate
Fantastic. So what's the challenges? What what what are you what are you hating? what what What's preventing you? What's the worst part about this?
00:06:50
Ted Huang
Well, transitioning from your corporate nine nine to five ah to running your own business, as you know, is probably, it's ah it takes a bit of adjustment, if you will. The headaches that you get from like the everyday nine to five, which are mostly probably corporate politics related, um you don't really encounter that you know when you're running your own business and you know becoming a coach. Although some of the topics are about that, and I can speak eloquently to a lot of those.
00:07:19
Ted Huang
um But the I guess what what what I appreciated about the corporate 9to5 is having that steady paycheck and being able to know where my you know where the the direct pilot into my account that is coming from the company.
00:07:38
Ted Huang
and so being And so doing this, is it's a little nerve wracking. It's a different type of stress. you know so um you know And being able to sort of manage that stress is something that has been a learning ah learning process for me at at the same time. But um the other things I try to do to manage that is I've done a lot more you know conjuring and meditation and believing and and and things like that. and which seems very off brand for someone like me, but it's ah it's actually been helpful. And I highly encourage people. ah There's one podcast I think on Spotify that but someone recommended that was, you know, it's about 10 minutes of meditation every day. um I highly recommend just actually doing that and conjuring and visualizing your success.
Finding Fulfillment and Career Planning
00:08:28
Ted Huang
And um even a person like me who is a skeptic, you know, found a lot of
00:08:34
Ted Huang
a lot of ah benefit from that.
00:08:37
Nate
Yeah, i I agree completely. One of the challenges I found is now that I work, work from home, I'm needing to force myself to actually take those breaks. Whereas when you have the nine to five, you commute, you could meditate, you could read, but now you've got to force those moments, make those moments happen.
00:08:55
Ted Huang
I think when i think when you when you talk about that, that's interesting because you know I think
00:08:55
Nate
But without them.
00:09:01
Ted Huang
ah Many of your your listeners probably know this like when you have the nine to five and you have that sort of thing you're not really um You're not really pressured or you're not really um Prompted to think of something different about your own career sometimes because you know You're just kind of on cruise control for a while, right? It takes some sort of you know shift or change to actually make you think about that right and so I think what I would encourage your listeners to do is you know try to Try to imagine your life as if you know your everyday sort of routine that you're used to. What if it was gone? right And then what would you do afterwards? What would be the thing that you would point to? right And so I think that that um that kind of exercise, while might be scary for some, I think it's a really good way to ah risk assessment strategy, if you will, just so that um you're able to do that. I remember in my journey as well
00:09:59
Ted Huang
I'm taking a seminar about retirement, you know about seeing what would happen. And I realized that I'm not going to be, at that point, I wasn't going to be a really good retiree because I didn't have enough to fill my day. So I think that was also what prompted a lot of the sort of pursuits that I was doing was, all right, well, if I'm going to be doing this now, i you know I'm not saying I'm retired at all, not not not the slightest.
00:10:25
Ted Huang
i I think I want to be able to fill my days with fulfilling activities sooner rather than later. And I don't want to wait until I'm 65 to think about that.
00:10:33
Nate
Yeah, I have to admit that was part of my journey as well is that taking that time to realize you're going to be in the workforce for another X number of years. And I looked at my current job, there is no way I'm doing this.
00:10:44
Nate
So it was a matter of working out what, which parts did I still love? And could I keep doing that until I'm 65, 70? And I could do that now, whereas previously I couldn't.
00:10:54
Nate
So it's definitely an important part of the journey.
00:10:55
Ted Huang
Mm-hmm. It's a great trade-off, honestly. So I agree.
00:11:02
Nate
So it's it's difficult. It's particularly in your journey where you've you've had the corporate experience, then you've realized coaching is the path for you. It's hard to have those moments until you know you're ready for those moments. But if someone was to following your footsteps, if someone was saying, hey, actually, I do want to go, I do want to follow this path. Is there a quicker way? How would you recommend? What would you recommend they do?
00:11:25
Ted Huang
um Well, i think I think what I would have appreciated was um being able to pursue this while working full-time. Now, I think a lot of people um are thinking to themselves like, oh my god, I'm exhausted after ah after a full day's work and I want to even think about that. um But I think if you have identified something that really interests you,
00:11:55
Ted Huang
um you you sort of take for granted a lot of the security that um that that sort of steady paycheck does provide. So I would just highly recommend some, anyone who's trying to, who's looking into like their side hustle or their, you know, their post retirement sort of activity to think about it now, right? um Because it's going to require a whole bunch of different certifications, investments, and all these other things into your education. And it's, it I think if you at least you get a head start on it now,
00:12:26
Ted Huang
Um, you won't be stressed out about it in the future. Right. Um, and it's also pretty good to, you know, a lot of times when I think about this sort of coaching journey that I have, right, it probably would have been applicable to a lot of the work that I was doing, you know, in financial services. Right. And I think that if you have an opportunity to be able to flex that side hustle within your current environment,
00:12:51
Ted Huang
I think that's a and think that's a really good advantage to to be able to leverage, if you will. right you know Speak to whoever's in charge, your managers, or something like that, to be able to sort of um say, look, I'm interested in trying to pursue this. It might be a little different from what I'm doing, but I would like to at least try to experiment with this. It will build my skill set for the company, and I think it will do do well. So I think it's ah it's it's a good strategy to sort of employ sooner rather than later, I would say.
00:13:22
Nate
Yeah, one thing that I find these these conversations are difficult to have with your manager and I always recommend pushing for your performance reviews, push push for your feedback from your manager. it's It can be difficult because some people but are quite happy like don't give me my performance review just keep going status quo but those are the those are the opportunities and the moments where you can raise these these options with your manager.
00:13:49
Nate
So it should be ah it's a two-way conversation. It's not a sit there and take your feedback. It's ah your opportunity to say, hey, I'm ready for more. ah So it can be scary, but if you've got those scheduled moments in in your performance review, then it's it's the perfect place to raise it.
00:14:04
Ted Huang
Yeah.
00:14:04
Nate
Look, worst I can do is say no. Like, at least at least you tried, right?
Leveraging LinkedIn for Coaching Exposure
00:14:08
Ted Huang
Well, I mean, you know, you find try to find moments, creative moments where, you know, your outside of work pursuits can be brought into the office somehow. I mean, like, say your side hustle is like wanting to become a cook and you're actually instead you're working financial services as well. There's, I mean, when we still went to the office, you could probably bring in like, hey, I experimented with this recipe. What do you think? Right.
00:14:33
Ted Huang
And then maybe after a while, it's like, oh my god, your lunch looks really good. Did you make that? Can you make that for me you know and start building that sort of side hustle that way, right? There are ways to sort of do these different things within your current environment. It's just that beat the stress kind of increases when it's the only thing that you have and that you're relying upon. so um So yeah, I would just say you know take it while you can, if you will.
00:14:58
Nate
Yeah, absolutely. i was I was lucky enough to start my coaching career whilst I was still still working full time. And the way I got my i suppose my exposure through my workplace was I was posting content quite consistently through LinkedIn, ah forgetting that half of my LinkedIn was the company. so in had quite a lot of exposure to to people within within the company that I would not normally have had. So by just doing my side hustle, even though I was doing it still relatively privately, ah the exposure was was there and recognized through through my employment as well. So those crossovers crossovers are possible.
00:15:38
Nate
So what you've mentioned your training, but is there any other tools or resources that you find that you couldn't do without? Is there any essentials, readings or podcasts or books you would recommend?
00:15:53
Ted Huang
I'm looking at it right now. um There is this book. Should I bring it out here? ah we could put the We could put the title in you know and the kind in the description or something.
00:15:59
Nate
Yeah.
00:16:04
Ted Huang
but This tool, this book was actually very, very helpful for me. It's called Reboot Your Life. um I think the reason why it was so helpful was, you know, at that time I was kind of like looking for a blueprint of, you know, taking a sabbatical understanding like how and trying to plan for it. And while the book itself is not very inspirational, I mean, there are a lot of stories of and examples of a lot of people who have done this sort of thing.
00:16:34
Ted Huang
I think what it does is that it actually provides a blueprint for what you need to do in a practical sense. If you want to take a six month or a year long sabbatical, you know, the financial considerations you want to think of the, um, the types of what you want to get out of it, right? Doing a lot of the strategic planning. It's a very, very, um, Methodical type of book, if you will, to, to go on that sort of inspirational journey that you want to be on.
00:17:02
Ted Huang
Um, I highly recommend that book. I think it was a really, um, I think it just confirmed a lot of the things that I was doing in my own journey was correct. So, uh, any person who's actually considering this is probably, this is a, I think it's a really good book to to do another book that I felt like, which it seems like it's trendy now. Um, but I read it a couple of years ago was atomic habits. Um, and I think that, uh, you know, the, the whole premise of atomic habits is really trying to.
00:17:31
Ted Huang
build routines that or having routine when you have a routine, right adding smaller things on top of that routine so they become so that they become habits.
Guiding Principles and Fitness Motivation
00:17:41
Ted Huang
right And so I think if you create if you break down every similar sort of task into smaller tasks that become habitual, um I think that is an easy way to create new new pathways of thinking or or doing things and things like that.
00:18:00
Ted Huang
You already know this. I've created a very atomic habit about my fitness journey. So um so I'm very, very devoted to that. um And so I've built on top of those different things, other things that are beneficial for my own health.
00:18:19
Nate
Yeah, i did I did actually read the book a few years ago as well, but I think I might need to revisit it now. It's a very different mindset to when I first read it. So I think it's probably more of a benefit to my current situation.
00:18:27
Ted Huang
here
00:18:31
Ted Huang
Mm hmm.
00:18:31
Nate
So I think I'll dive back into that one.
00:18:32
Ted Huang
Mm hmm.
00:18:34
Nate
What about um any any quotes, any mantras, anything that you sort of favorite quotes that you lean on in in times to keep you motivated?
00:18:47
Ted Huang
um I don't know if it's about quotes, but it the mantra I always have is finding your North Star, right? Um, for those who are unfamiliar, like that North star is always like the direction that's pointing North and, you know, a lot of sailors and navigators, um, looked for that North star to find that direction and then calibrate where, where a direction they want to be going into. Um, and maybe it's because I'm a very goal goal oriented type of person, but finding that North star is really important for me because it's a motivating factor.
00:19:25
Ted Huang
And it's also something that I want to pursue. It it it becomes something that I want to pursue. I don't want to toot my own horn, but late last, well, I guess this podcast is meant for tooting horns, so let me do that.
00:19:37
Nate
Yes.
00:19:38
Ted Huang
ah So at the end of last year, I participated in my first HiRocks, which is a fitness race. um It's very trendy these days, right? so but um And ah the Asia championships are happening in Hong Kong.
00:19:53
Ted Huang
it was very very A big thing is that Asia World Expo, and there were like tens of thousands of people there. it was like the The atmosphere was really electric, and it was awesome. It was like a very unforgettable experience. And I've now become a convert, and I might be doing this more often. but um But the thing was is that the reason why I wanted to do this was because I felt like when I was working out, it just kept on. I didn't really have a goal to work towards. I felt like I was just working out.
00:20:24
Ted Huang
right And I felt like I needed something to work towards. It's kind of like with runners with marathons, right? Or where all these other things, you kind of want to work towards something, right? And so I pushed myself physically to be able to you know get to a point where I could do this race in a and at it's timed so at a time where I didn't feel embarrassed. So ah that was the goal.
00:20:48
Ted Huang
But I ended up being like the whole journey itself was like seeing my body transform, seeing my endurance transform. um And being inspirational to other people, it became and became a really good thing to, it became a really nice thing to do. And so what I learned from that was really um that I'm a very obsessive compulsive person when it comes to fitness. But I also learned that it's important for me in my sort of pursuit for things to have that North Star, to have that sort of like middle-term goal, long-term goal, short-term goals to be able to go towards. And so um that's my goal for this year, not another High Rocks yet, but to sort of come up with some strategic goals that I want to pursue for my own business in the short-term, medium-term and the long-term. So it becomes a little more focused in something that will motivate me to get there.
00:21:43
Nate
Yeah, fantastic. We had ah one of our other guests had a similar approach. He he called it the the three horizons, have your current project, your next project, and then your future project, all ticking
Conclusion and Future Plans
00:21:53
Nate
away. So that way when one thing starts coming to an end, the next one's already started. So you don't you never have that that sort of moment of not not knowing which direction that you're going in. Fantastic. Thank you very much for your time. It's been a pleasure having you.
00:22:10
Ted Huang
Yeah, it was great catching up with you and yeah see you soon and maybe grab a coffee as we're both in Hong Kong. So let's do this for you soon.
00:22:19
Nate
um