End of a Good Year

For our final blog entry of 2017, we wanted to share with you some of the new directions Designing Leaders took this year, as we prepare for even greater adventures coming up.

The biggest was our relocation from Bangkok to Manila. While our team appreciated the chance to live in the dynamic Thai culture, we found that the opportunity to work with rising leaders there was a bit limited. Many Thai companies prefer to conduct leader development programs in the Thai language, to ensure their folks get the maximum value from their work, and our team has limited capacity in that area. Most of our work was subsequently done in other countries, and since we were seeing growth in our business in Manila, and because the Philippines offers some helpful immigration options, it made sense to move there. Now, when we go to meet clients, we don’t always have to go to an airport first; sometimes, they are just around the corner.

If 2016 was the year of startups for us, 2017 was the year of MNCs. We began working with larger multinational organizations, both Western- and Asia-based, in industries ranging from telcos to banks to international development organizations. We also continued working in the hospitality sector, as we help a global resort company identify the right people for their most senior roles at properties around the world.

Following the publication of Doctor Will’s 2016 book, CROSS THE LINES: A Journey to Complete The Marathon Grand Slam, he started sharing the lessons from that experience in various talks tailored for particular audiences. Whether it’s helping leaders set goals for the year, providing useful insights for startup founders, or giving employees increase their resilience to work through tough time, participants have responded very positively to these one-hour presentations.

Other new offerings in 2017 include our initial webinars. We have been doing them in cooperation with various clients, and are looking at producing more of our own in the coming year. We also began offering individual leadership and career advisory services, providing coaching to clients in the private sector as well as to university students approaching graduation.

That career coaching is offered through BestTop Career Consulting of Singapore, one of our new partners. In 2017 we started linking up with other training providers around the region, and we are thrilled to be offering services not only on our own but also with Ariva Academy, Cegos Asia-Pacific, Knolskape, GTP, and AchieveForum.

Looking ahead to 2018, we see more great things on the horizon. We continue to work regularly with clients in Singapore and the Philippines, and are looking to expand our offerings in Malaysia and Hong Kong. We recently connected with People Mentality of Singapore and look forward to partnering with them in the coming year. Doctor Will is working on a new leadership book that we expect to be published before year’s end, and we are also looking at other opportunities for thought discussion such as participating in more conferences and producing podcasts or short videos. Our individual coaching and advisory services have already started growing and we hope to help more rising leaders manage their daily challenges while also preparing for the future.

2017 was a great year for us, and we hope it was successful for you too. Working together, we could make 2018 even better for you. Visit our website to learn more about how we can help you, or drop us a note at .

And of course, Happy New Year!!