Arnon Yaffe
Arnon is a project leadership consultant and coach. He works and lives in Israel and has over 15 years of experience in delivering business critical change programs and IT projects.
I realized that I needed to clone myself
I have always been a people-person and good at leading teams, but I was doing it intuitively, unaware. My AHA moment came when I realized what I needed to do in order to advance my career. I was a senior PM in a small 30 people consulting firm. I realized that if I wanted to grow then I must bring up a new generation of PMs that will enable us to take on more projects and grow the business. In other words; I needed to 'clone' myself. I knew I could train my colleagues in hard skills, but I also knew that it would take more than hard skills to become an effective PM. At the time I didn't know what the missing piece was, I just knew I couldn't do it on my own. Back then l wasn't aware that coaching existed, so eventually I brought in a consultant who specialized in training salespeople to teach us soft skills. I attended the classes myself and from that point on my life became an endless chain of AHA moments. The company grew rapidly; I became COO and then Co-CEO of the then 150 people firm. But it didn't stop there…..I fell in love with coaching and decided to become a mentor and personal coach. It completely transformed my life. – Arnon Yaffe, Project Leadership Consultant and Coach.
Outstanding project leaders perceive themselves as the project CEO
Outstanding project leaders perceive themselves as the project CEO. They have a high level of self-awareness and are extremely attentive to everyone in the project ecosystem. They are true to their values and lead by example. Outstanding project leaders aim to excel both in interpersonal skills and professional / technical knowledge of their trade without excusing one trait for the sake of the other. They know that it is a never ending process of on-going improvement and will not fall victim of arrogance. They inspire people to excel and perceives themselves as a facilitator for their growth. – Arnon Yaffe, Project Leadership Consultant and Coach.
Why I learned meditation
A while back I had problems sleeping. I would wake up in the middle of the night haunted by irritating thoughts that kept me awake. Continuous loss of sleep took its toll on my well being and overall quality of life. I recall meeting someone who claimed that through meditation he could 'control his mind' and 'turn off his thoughts', so I took a meditation course hoping I could turn off those disturbing thoughts at night. Very quickly I learned that actually we cannot control our thoughts, and we cannot "turn them off". Thoughts are part of who we are. But what I did learn was to set myself apart from my thoughts and observe them. I can watch them come and go, and I can see them as they are, just thoughts.
Two weeks after I started meditating my sleeping problems vanished and the stress that had built up in my body started to be released which helped me become much calmer. I started to see how my perception of reality was totally subjective. As a result I take my own opinions more lightly and am much more open to possibilities. Needless to say, all the above had a dramatic impact on my interpersonal skills, my relationships, my managerial capacities increased. – Arnon Yaffe, Project Leadership Consultant and Coach.