THE

BLUEPRINT

Y o u r p a t h t o w a r d s

CONFIDENT LEADER

B y C o r a l i e S a w r u k

INFLUENCE

WELCOME!

coraliesawruk.com

But to take action, you need the clarity to see an alternative path, and theconfidence to make your first step.

Taking the lead is nothing else than taking action

Because the resultsthat you produce in theouter world are driven

by what goes on inyour inner world:

your mind.

Why would youneed to know WHO

you are if WHATand WHO you lead

belong to theexternal world?

Having led teams and mentored people in complex change situations, I can tell youleadership is incredibly personal. It starts with putting up the mirror and be honestwith who you are!

Of course, getting to know whoyou are can be intimidating... 

That's why I created that little book for you.

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My goal with this book is to help you understandwhat YOU need to know about yourself to lead with

confidence when you interact with

complex situations, people or your own ideas.

Everything here is based on the METHOD I’ve developed as I led

and mentored leaders through change. 

It's designed for you to know where you stand in your leadership

journey, and identify what to do to reach the next level.

You can use this book as a reference to know exactly what to

focus on and when.

My journey of life sent me to Singapore, Paris, London, Geneva, and even Egypt! 

As a change leader, my job was to make sure Financial Institutions could transformtheir businesses from the inside out. I built and led teams in those complexenvironments, being exposed to wise leaders who became my mentors.

I believe anyone can develop the confidence to take courageous action

when situations, ideas, people (or all together) get challenging

Hi, I 'm Coral ie

I help brave leaders get real about who they are, so that they

can build trust in themselves, and inspiration in others.

Yoga is the other pillar of my journey.Out there, I can observe how mybehaviour impacts the way I interactwith others or make decisions.

That's why the wisdom of self inquirydrives me as a leader of people!

I’m based in London but roam free around Europe quite often. When I’m not at mydesk (or on my mat), you can find me cooking, playing with my camera orwandering in the woods (with my better half Nic or my horse Flo)

They taught me that before you can lead others, you need to lead yourself.

coralie@coraliesawruk.com                           

coralie-sawruk

What's leadership about? Taking initiative, therefore taking responsibility.

We’re expected to lead and inspire, make tough choices, adapt to any situation, seethrough challenges, motivate teams, get results…. (for ourselves and  others) 

But the thing is, we’re all humans. We have to deal with our emotions beforegetting a chance to interact with anything or anyone else. 

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Leadership is indeed VERY personal. If you let emotions or ego interfere in theprocess, you operate at reaction level.

Unfortunately, reactions follow a default pattern...that is rarely based on aconstructive view of what's going on. 

Result: you cut yourself from anything you’d think, say or do if your limitingthoughts and dictating mind were taken out of the equation.

And we’re not really briefed on what it takes to lead.

I mean, intimately.

862,000,000 results on Google. Yes, nearly 1 billion! 

The demand for social skills, such as leadership and

managing others, will rise by 24% by 2030* 

LEADERSHIP IS EVERYWHERE

*Source: McKinsey Global Institute workforce skills model

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They created theconditions to be true to

themselves and access adiscernment gap

THAT’S THE EXACT THING PEOPLE I LED AND

MENTORED ASKED ME TO HELP WITH

They created theconditions to trust their

intuition and changethings

They created theconditions to show up asauthentic and get others

to trust them

They needed help to strengthen their inner game and build the confidence to takeconstructive action. How?

What happens when you check with your inner board before makingyour next move? You get:

the confidence to spot your limitations & strength to move past them the ability to focus your mind and make the right decisions the courage to build trust in others the creativity to explore new ideas and follow your intuition the grit to speak up and influence

In the next few chapters, I'm going to show you the 3 steps you need to movefrom confused to confident leader.

The way we're going to do it is simple:

-explore precisely what you need to learn about yourself -understand why it matters -learn a few extras to boost your leadership -discover what you need to focus on to reach the next step

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THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT WE’RE GOING TO SOLVE FOR YOU

Let's start!

It all starts with TRUST. And trust always comes from the inside out. Not the outside in. 

Whether at work or in life, "taking the lead" = position yourself with

WHAT'S LEADERSHIP ABOUT?

You need the courage to build trust inothers and navigate the human element

PEOPLE

You need the intuition to see beyond thenow, speak up your ideas, and influence

IDEAS

Think about it. The main challenges you face as a leader are all about

trusting yourself you can access a new perspective trusting others to do what you can’t do yourself trusting your intuition that you have enough influence to make an idea real

You need the clarity to focus your mindand make the right decisions

SITUATIONS

I know well it’s not easy to explore your thoughts or feelings inthe complex situations you face as a leader.

What you most need is to know what to do NOW!  So...I created a simple pyramid I used with all my teams. It will help you identify where you are, so that you can focus onwhat matters and get clear on your immediate next step.

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You get clarity of thought. When you’re not distracted by your emotions,you can notice if your patterns are constructive or destructive.

You get fear out of the way. Fear is great survival mechanism. But if youdon’t keep it in check, it can harm you self-confidence. So here, you buildtrust in yourself and become someone others can trust. 

You have enough inner mastery to respond to any behaviour. You accessemotional intelligence and positively navigate relations. You look afterteams so that you can count both on yourself and others.

You’re confident to explore new ideas and plan for the future. Youproblem-solve, create, transform... and finally reach influencer level: youhave the discipline to be of service to your own growth, and others’. 

YOU INSPIRE

BECOMING AN EMPOWERED LEADER: YOUR GROWTH PATH

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ITUATIONSBuilding trust in you

Here comes the foundation for everything you’re going to handle in the future.

When you understand how you operate at challenging times, you get tochoose how you respond.

It can be to ignore the urge to snap back at someone who’s challenging you in anot so constructive way, to clear your mind, or to find the right priority for eachof those gazillion things you have to do. 

The biggest part of your inner job is there.

It is to develop a strong habit of self-observation

so that you can create a gap between what you

feel and what you decide to do or say.

S

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If you don’t know how to clear your mind, you won’t get over difficult situations,challenging people, not to mention coming up with a creative idea.

If you don’t know how to get enough energy to catch yourself when you’redefaulting to a limiting pattern, you’ll keep doing the same over and over again.

If you don’t know how to spot your emotional patterns and self-regulate, youwon’t be able to create your own discernment gap when emotions are ready totake over.

Why mastering situations and self-confidence matters?

What successful leaders do to master inner confidence?

Identify their own patterns and limiting beliefs CLEAR

Set up routines to focus and think clearly FOCUSED

Work on emotional disengagement OBJECTIVE

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EOPLE

At this stage, your main job will be to address

your inner critic, build the confidence to take

risks and boost your confidence.

As you disengage from emotion-based reactions, you have space to inviteemotional intelligence in your relations.

You see, trust doesn’t go well with fear. Would you trust someone if theycome across as scared? Probably not: you would question if they can dealwith you and their fears at the same time!

I get that leading other people can be intimidating.

It’s a delicate balance between your behaviour and how it impacts peoplearound you. But with a few tips on emotional intelligence, delegation orresolving conflicts, you'll find yourself enjoying leading teams in no time. 

PDeepen your understanding of the human element

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Once fear is out of the way,

-verbal communication is fluid and articulate -non-verbal communication is empathetic

You authentic leader shows up and you become someone others can relate to.

Someone who can be trusted.

And when it comes to leading people, trust is the ONE thing you need to engageemotionally and build high quality relationships,  

Why is addressing fear important?

What to focus on to lead other people positively? 

Address the inner critic + get rid of procrastination TRUST

Speak for influence and build positive relations COMMUNICATION

Understand how teams and performance work TEAM

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In this final stage, your homework is to be

diligent in your own growth work, and develop

enough resilience to turn your ideas into

something real.

DEASIDevelop the grit, resilience & influence to

make change happen

Successful leaders just don't "do" things. They change things.

Working with ideas and "beyond the now" is an exciting adventure. If you havethe confidence to explore ideas that don't belong to your usual world.

When you’re working with ideas, problem solving and thinking creatively isyour default mode. You trust yourself (to come up with the right idea) andothers (you will need help one way or another).

The journey goes as you trigger creative change & make decisions on the fly.

There’s not much to hold you back. That's why you're seen as a role model.

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Between an idea in your mind and reality, there’s a long tunnel of trial, error,success and iterations. Not everything (and everyone!) will go to plan.

Leaders inspire us because adjusting to change is a second nature for them. Andwhat is their killer difference? 

-the resilience to take brave action -a positive attitude to nurture motivation 

Persistence is an exercise of managing your mental scripts so that you can find a"third way" when things don’t really work. 

How to build persistence?

What to focus on to lead creative change? 

Shift to creative thinking and problem solving CREATIVE

Manage mental scripts to find a "third way" RESILIENT

Master self-exploration and be a role model INFLUENT

You’re familiar with the 3 main steps you need to become a confidentleader. So let’s get a little more precise ….

Leadership is intensely personal, even intuitive to an extent.Personalities and experiences differ, and everyone is at a differentstages in the journey.

I guess you already have to deal with events, people and ideas alltogether!

So let me help you decide which part of the job you need to get tofirst.

WHAT'S NEXT?

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The one thing you need to

keep in mind is… your mind!

You’re easily distracted: focus = struggle You tend to respond with the first idea thatcomes to mind

Your inner critic has a lot of time for yourself You find it hard to connect to others’ emotionswhen engaging with people

You feel stressed, overwhelmed and don’t havethe energy to see things through You don’t have habits and routines for yourself 

FOCUS ON SITUATIONS, IF...

SITUATIONS

WHAT TO DO

Shift your mindset towards looking inwards Work on clarity of thought and emotions

ESSENTIALS

“Am I on auto-pilot mode?” “Can I make a difference

between what I think/feel?”

TAKE ACTION

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BUILD SPACE TO FOCUSCan you create blocks of 1 hour without interruption?  Can you catch yourself when involved in distractions(checking your phone...)?

REMAIN SILENT, OBSERVE

AND MOVE AUTOPILOT

AWAY

Can you identify what you usually do or think withoutknowing why, things you believe about yourself? Do you know where those come from?

In your first few steps, the main blocker you'll face are all the excuses you're going tofind not to do the work. It can show up as:

Living in the past: “I’ve always done it this way” If you don’t know how you operate, you’ll never get a chance to adjust your behaviour ifthings don’t go as you want. And even less to do so when a team is involved.

Thinking challenge = criticism If you’re committed to growth, you need honesty: hear how what you say or the wayyou behave lands. As a future leader, you’ll need to give feedback and exchange ideas,so you need to role model open mindedness.

Thinking doing it "a few times" will be enough Getting to know yourself is a long term job. You need to practice until it becomessecond nature to operate without being distracted by thoughts, emotions or even otherpeople’s opinions.

SETTING UP POSITIVE

HABITS FOR YOURSELF

Can you create healthy habits to energise yourself, giveyour brain the power it needs... and stick to it? Healthy eating? More sleep? Exercise more? A hobby?

DISENGAGE EMOTIONALLY

AS YOU MAKE DECISIONSCan you tell when your emotions drive your decisions? Can you make it a habit to ask: who’s driving me NOW?

FEELING STUCK?

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Step back

so that others can step

up 

You don’t like to take risks & procrastinate oftenYou say "leading people is not for me"

You never delegate ("always better when you doit yourself")You try to make a point in conversations but shyaway from conflicts 

Speaking in front of others terrifies youYou've never heard of emotional intelligence

FOCUS ON PEOPLE, IF...

PEOPLE

ESSENTIALS

"Is fear driving my behaviour” “Do I communicate clearly?” "Can I engage emotionally?"

WHAT TO DO

Develop positive relations and powerfulconversations Learn about emotional intelligence

TAKE ACTION!

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UNDERSTAND YOUR

INNER CRITIC

(AND VERBIAGE)

What story do you tell yourself when you just can’t goahead? What are you scared of?How can you reframe instead? What is the first step youcould take NOW to move on?

ACTIVE LISTENING

Look at your recent conversations: did you listenactively? Can you give it a try for a week? Does it improve thequality of your chats - and relations?

A common mistake many new leaders make is to project their own fears when thingsget difficult - assuming others share the same emotions. (Let's be clear: it doesn't work).Other than that...

Not paying attention to emotional drivers in people  "They do it because [insert your best excuse]" There’s a lot of forgiveness involved inleadership. If things don’t work, the main thing to do is to take responsibility to clarifythe situation, and then take action. 

Skipping active listening Do you want to be irritating? Keep talking... Other need a silence gap to process whatyou say and get a chance to respond. Don’t make a point of…making a point.

Thinking leading is about managing tasks A manager manages tasks indirectly: she will ask people to do them. A leader creates space for others come up with a better way as they do the task. Sherelentlessly works on her team’s individual / collective growth.

POWERFUL

CONVERSATIONS

Can you entertain conversations where it's not about you? Can you make it a habit to listen, then add value to yourinterlocutor(s) -and not yourself?

CHARGE UP EMOTIONAL

INTELLIGENCE AND

BUILD TRUST

Can you develop curiosity about what people go throughwhen you interact with them? What about your emotions? Can you play with aligning your message to this and see ifthat makes a difference? 

FEELING STUCK?

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See beyond the now and inspire

others to do the same

You trust yourself/your team and want to workon innovation and problem solving You find it hard to work with a forward-lookingview

You get over setbacks but not as quickly as youwant!

You want to make team growth and inspirationyour priorityYou need to operate at a higher level and leadthrough change

FOCUS ON IDEAS, IF...

IDEAS

WHAT TO DO

Plan for the unexpected to make creativeideas real Harness the discipline of self-exploration

"Do I keep a positive attitude nomatter the circumstances ”

"Can I think intuitively?"

ESSENTIALS

TAKE ACTION!

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DEVELOP CREATIVE

THINKING SKILLS

What could you look at from a new perspective? Whatcould you interconnect in a new way for the 1st time?What could you use in a new way? What could youmake that is truly unique?

EMBRACE THE

DISCIPLINE OF REALITY

What would happen if you'd see failure as another step inan iterative process?  Can you reframe what's not workingin a positive way, by adding an extra growth element?

Many new leaders are afraid of change! It might surprise you... but fear of the unknownis a powerful human demotivator. Yet, influencers can creatively navigate theunexpected. That's why they're role models.

Thinking mistakes are bad for creativity  It's actually the opposite. All creative people don't follow the conventional pathbecause they've made enough mistakes to trust there could be a third way.

Being negative when it doesn't work We're all humans: perfectly imperfect. But one thing to avoid when you innovate andplan for the future...is to see anything that's not working as fatal and final. The endgame is your growth mindset, not to engage emotionally with failure.

Going easy on introspection It's where self study is the most important. To inspire others, you need to know yourselfso well that your behaviour and values are in alignment all the time, whoever youengage with and whatever you deal with. It's hard work!

BOOST INTUITIONObserve the data points you need to make a decision.which ones are essential? What did you know already? Can you try to "predict the future" in simple situations?

PUT SELF-EXPLORATION IN

YOUR ROUTINE

Do you know what motivates you, drains you, excites you?How often are those things present in your life?What are your personal values? Do you act accordingly? Is itsomething other see and value in you? 

FEELING STUCK?

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That ’s a l l you need. . .to get s tarted!  

FOR THE NEXT LEVEL?

READY

Enhance your focus and make impactful decisions

Eradicate fear, take risks, kiss procrastination goodbye

Become an engaging leader surrounded byperformant and happy teams 

Build up the strength to speak up in front of others andthe skills to communicate for impact

Position yourself with senior people (attract attentionthe right way)

Shift to creative thinking and pilot innovation projects

Become an influencer who inspires others

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I CAN HELP YOU BECOME THE LEADER YOU WISH

YOU HAD

Looks l ike  what you need?

AN ESTABLISHED METHOD

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Here's how it works:

First - we look at your response. So we target emotions and get youfamiliar with how you process it yourself

Then, we get to the heart of the matter: the core skills you need in orderto success in taking the lead

And finally, we explore how you can go further in the way you think, orthe way you lead!

Copyright © 2018 by Coralie Sawruk

WHAT

YOU

CAN

EXPECT

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Proven advice tested in real-lifecorporate situationsStrategy session to understandyour real blockersPlanning sessions to sharpen yourobjectives Assignments and on-line trainingmaterials  Tailor-made coaching ("one fits all"?never)Special focus on maximising yourgrowth planWeekly calls and accountability

I hope that was -beyond- useful!

Ready to invest in your personal success, and get to take thelead at work or in life or wherever you want it?

Let’s talk! We will identify where you are in your leadershipjourney, what is the one big thing you need to focus on now,and see how we can craft a plan for you to get to the nextstage!

This Skype call is FREE and should last around 45 min. Book it here

WANT TO

KNOW MORE?

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Do you have questions, comments? Do you just want to say hi?

Wonder how to get in touch with me for an interview?

Keep in touch!

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Want more?

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If you liked this little book, I’m sure you’ll love this!

Pay me a visit at                           

@CoralieSawruk

Drop me a note at coralie@coraliesawruk.com Follow me on Twitter                             

Copyright © 2018 by Coralie Sawruk

All rights reserved.

The contents of this e-book are the intellectual property of the author. You are welcome to print a copy of this document for your personal use.

This e-book may not be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form, wholeor in part without written permission from Coralie Sawruk, except in case of brief

quotations.

How to get permission?

Ask me! coralie@coraliesawruk.com

Disclaimer

The author made every effort to ensure that the information in this book iscorrect. The author does not assume and thereby disclaim any liability to any party

for any loss, damage or disruption caused by errors or omissions.

Cover Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash

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Published by Coralie Sawruk Co and Nuts Risk Solutions Ltd Crown House 27 Old Gloucester Street  LONDON WC1N 3AX