Change Leadership, General Manager PFA @ Batgroup & Member of the Board @ Putzfrauenagentur

Leadership isn’t about volume.
It’s about clarity, confidence and direction when the pressure is on.

I partner with HR leaders, GMs and Executive Teams across MENA & Asia to strengthen leadership capability from the ground up. My work sits where strategy, people and day-to-day execution meet in service-driven organisations.

Most performance issues in hospitality, retail and education aren’t about effort.
They come from three gaps:

❌ Leaders promoted before they’re ready to lead
❌ Executive Teams pulling in different directions
❌ No clear pipeline or succession to stabilise performance

So my work covers both sides of the leadership equation:

Strategy & alignment for senior teams
Facilitated Strategy Days that help GMs and Executive Teams:
✅ Agree a small set of must-win priorities
✅ Translate those into a 90-day execution plan
✅ Build the clarity and focus teams need to perform
✅ Name the leadership behaviours that sustain results

Leadership development for emerging & mid-level managers
Practical, human-centred programmes that build the skills to lead through others, communicate with clarity and coach across cultures.

Coaching & capability building
1:1 and group coaching, Train-the-Trainer, and tailored L&D that strengthen the pipeline and reduce turnover.

Across 25+ years with Apple Retail, Swissôtel, St. Regis and service organisations in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, one truth holds: engagement and commercial performance rise when leaders at every level know where they’re going and how to bring their people with them.

If you’re building your leadership pipeline or want stronger alignment at the top, I’m happy to explore how we can work together.

📞 Book a call: https://jeffross.as.me/

Top sellers stall when asked to lead.
Coach ICs now with lean prompts.

❌ Over-index on product expertise.
✅ Balance with coaching, listening, inclusive leadership.

❌ Feedback as annual event.
✅ Weekly 10–15 minute coaching conversations using SBI+.

❌ “Be more proactive.”
✅ Decision logs that capture judgment under pressure.

Fallout → Brilliant sellers, poor team leaders.
Fix → Clear thresholds: delegate during a peak, lead a small recovery.

Because inclusion drives voice, we hard-wire “invite the quieter voice” into stand-ups and handovers.
Outcome: candidates who already lift others.

To see the manager-as-coach prompts we use, message me and I’ll send the guide.

Jeff Ross

Helping hospitality and service brands align strategy, strengthen pipelines and deliver consistent performance | Strategy Days, L&D and coaching | MENA and Asia

Top sellers stall when asked to lead

Your manager gap began two promotions ago.
Build a leadership pipeline with this 90-day path.

❌ Cut layers, expect senior leaders to plug the gap.
✅ Grow capable first-line leaders who stabilise shifts.

❌ Promote on technical mastery alone.
✅ Promote on observed coaching, safety, and service recovery.

❌ Hope people “figure it out”.
✅ Give ICs a 90-day roadmap with on-shift experiments.

Fallout → Directionless teams, inconsistent standards, supervisor burnout.
Fix → Skill sprints: trust, influence, feedback, delegation, conflict, recovery.

Because development must fit rota reality, each rep is 2–15 minutes and logged. Managers coach, not carry.

Outcome: a bench of calm coordinators who can run briefings tomorrow.

If you want the playbook that underpins this, comment “Playbook” and I’ll send it.

Your 'missing managers' problem

Cultural awareness fails under pressure. EQ closes the gap.

Awareness is table stakes. Under stress, it rarely translates to behaviour leaders can use.

❌ Knowing a culture’s norms doesn’t stop knee-jerk reactions

✅ EQ gives you cues and choices when it matters:

 • Name the emotion before you act
 • Match pace, directness and decision style to context
 • Adjust feedback and delegation so they land across borders

Next week I’m live with Veronica Llorca-Smith🎤:

Cultural Agility + EQ: Leading Global Teams with Clarity and Care

We’ll cover: why awareness breaks under pressure, how EQ travels across cultures, trust you can measure, and feedback that lands.

Real scenarios. Practical frameworks. Between us, two decades leading multicultural teams in hospitality, retail and tech.

Join us.

Date/time: Monday, 10 November at 09:00am GST / 01:00pm HKT

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li_at

International Speaker & Corporate Trainer in 6 languages: Leadership, Communication & Cultural Agility | Penguin Author | Ironman Triathlete | CEM (Chief Executive Mom)

If complaints spike, you’re too late.
Preload micro-leadership with this plan.

❌ Wait for complaints to spike, then book workshops.
✅ Build micro-leadership before the badge.

❌ Abstract competencies no one can see.
✅ Observable thresholds: run a 10-minute huddle, deliver SBI+ feedback.

❌ Annual talent reviews with thin evidence.
✅ Decision logs, peer feedback, capstone stories you can trust.

Fallout → Firefighting culture.
Fix → 70% on-the-job stretch with manager-as-coach prompts.

Because psychological safety predicts team effectiveness, we teach “Thank, Ask, Normalise” on live shifts.
Result: steadier service, earlier escalations, fewer near-misses.

If you’d like our L&D framework that powers this, send a note and we’ll walk you through it.

Stop training managers after the damage shows up

GenX leaders aren't outdated.

They're under-supported.

We got handed flip phones and micromanagers...

Then woke up to Slack notifications, psychological safety, and AI.

61% of us feel overwhelmed by continuous technology changes and digital transformation.

Most of us were taught:
"Keep your head down"
"Results matter more than people"
"Leadership is earned through pain"

Now the rules have changed.
And no one updated our playbook.

The data is clear:
GenX holds 45% of leadership roles
70% work more than 40 hours weekly
We're 24% less likely to feel enthusiastic about our jobs

But here's what I've seen coaching dozens of GenX leaders:

The ones who are thriving right now:
✅ Ask better questions than their younger counterparts
✅ Learn fast without showing off
✅ Combine clarity with care

The age gap isn't the issue.
The relevance gap is.

Let's close it.

Are you a GenX leader who's still trying to catch your breath in today's workplace?

I help GenX managers build modern leadership habits without losing their authentic strengths. Book a call (link in featured section) for a 30-minute leadership alignment assessment.

Cultural awareness is cheap.
Cultural agility is expensive.

Most leaders I coach already know cultural differences exist. They've read the books. Taken the workshops. Learnt about high-context versus low-context communication.

But knowing doesn't translate under pressure.

Here's what I see happen:

A manager in Dubai knows feedback should land differently across cultures. But when the moment comes (deadline looming, five things overdue) they default to what feels natural. The message lands wrong. Trust fractures.

The gap between awareness and action? That's where emotional intelligence becomes essential.

EQ gives you real-time capacity to:

✅ Read what's not being said.

✅ Adapt your approach in the moment.

✅ Stay steady when complexity hits.

Next Monday, Veronica Llorca-Smith and I are going live on exactly this topic: how cultural agility and emotional intelligence work together to build engaged teams that deliver results.

If you're leading across borders, languages, or cultural contexts (or developing managers who are) join us.

09:00am GST / 01:00pm HKT, Monday 9th November.

What's one moment where cultural awareness alone wasn't enough for you?

#eq #emotionalintelligence #leadershipdevelopment

Strategy won’t save a shaky front line.
Six shift sprints make service dependable.

❌ Promotion-first, training-later creates “accidental managers”.
✅ Prepare high-potentials on shift before the title.

❌ One-off workshops.
✅ 70-20-10, with bite-size reps inside real service windows.

❌ Theory-first decks no one opens.
✅ Micro scripts, logs, and stand-ups people actually use.

Fallout → Missed standards, erratic guest recovery, churn.
Fix → Six 1–2 week sprints that build trust, coaching, delegation.

Because first-line leaders shape up to 70% of engagement, the cost of waiting is visible in your NPS and absence line.

Results you can expect: ready-now candidates who already run huddles, coach peers, and surface issues early.

If you’re building a 2025 pipeline in customer-centric operations, message me to discuss your sites’ needs.

Front-line managers have more impact than strategy has.

#LinkedIn is not for job hunts. It is for promotions.

Most professionals treat it like a CV warehouse. The platform’s real value is internal leverage you can use long before a role is posted.

#Gallup's 2025 State of the Global Workplace shows this tension clearly. In MENA, 46% are watching for or seeking new jobs. Engagement sits at 14%, the lowest globally. Yet most of you would rather be seen, developed and promoted where you are.

❌ Waiting for a tap on the shoulder
✅ Making yourself findable by the people who decide

A quick story. In 2005, a fellow Boston to London passenger sitting next to me (Hello, Caroline 👋) introduced me to LinkedIn. For years I used it as a digital Rolodex. Then when Starwood Hotels started moving me across continents, I stopped going in blind. Before accepting new roles I researched the GM’s leadership style, the department heads, the ownership structure and the market dynamics. It turned contacts into career intelligence. It also made me visible to decision-makers before opportunities emerged.

The MENA reality many leaders are living with:
• 14% engagement, versus 21% globally.
• 48% daily stress, second highest globally.
• 34% think it is a good time to find a job, the lowest globally.

That is precisely why visibility matters. Your next opportunity may be two departments away. Your future boss is on LinkedIn. So are the executives shaping promotion and succession.

❌ Updating a CV and hoping HR notices
✅ Proving value in public where leaders actually look

Practical moves for professionals who want internal advancement:
✅ Share insights from current work without breaching confidentiality. One observation, one implication, one next step.
✅ Engage on industry discussions with a point of view anchored in evidence.
✅ Build skills through LinkedIn Learning and post a short reflection on how you applied one idea.
✅ Connect across functions to widen weak ties. Tag colleagues when you credit their expertise.
✅ Shape your profile around outcomes. Replace task lists with two or three measurable results that matter to the business.

For HR and L&D leaders under pressure to retain talent:
✅ Fund LinkedIn Learning for high potentials. It is one of the most cost-effective retention levers.
✅ Tie access to clear commitments, such as quarterly course completions or monthly learning hours.
✅ Ask leaders to post one applied learning takeaway each month. You get visibility and a public development trail.

The uncomfortable truth is simple. Organisations invest in people who invest in themselves. With engagement at historic lows and nearly half of the region keeping options open, visibility is not optional. It is survival.

I learned this two decades ago. I put time and money into my development. Strategic research first, then LinkedIn Learning. That habit changed my trajectory and later my career. It can change yours.

Source: Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace Report

Principal at the Rocklawn Group

On paper, many service organisations look stable: good brand, decent demand, solid product.

Underneath, everything depends on a tiny group of managers holding the whole thing together.

When one leaves, the cost is bigger than a vacancy:
❌ Productivity dips while others “cover”
❌ Standards slip just enough for guests to feel it
❌ Confidence drops and people start looking elsewhere
❌ Recruitment turns reactive and costly
❌ Revenue opportunities are missed as priorities keep changing hands

That isn’t just a people risk. It’s a financial risk.
Gallup’s lesson is consistent: people don’t leave in the abstract. They leave environments where managers are overwhelmed and under-supported.

If you have no pipeline, then:
❌ Every promotion is a gamble
❌ Every resignation is a small crisis
❌ Every strategy is more fragile than it looks

Succession planning isn’t a corporate luxury.

It’s basic risk management for any hotel, school, clinic, or service business that runs on human performance.

Prepare people before you desperately need them.

Middle managers stuck between messages.
Give them crisp, consistent signals.

Executive teams in hotels and service businesses work hard.
The problem is not the effort you put in.
It is direction.

When the senior team is misaligned, you see it everywhere:
 ❌ Leaders pulling in different directions
 ❌ Conflicting signals about this quarter’s priorities
 ❌ Departments optimising for their own metrics
 ❌ Middle managers stuck between messages
 ❌ Frontline teams guessing where to put their energy

Engagement drops not because people don’t care, but because they stop trusting the signals.
 Then the financial impact lands fast:
 ❌ Turnover in key roles
 ❌ Slower response to market moves
 ❌ Lost revenue through inconsistency
 ❌ More firefighting, less improvement

Across hotels, retail, and services, one thing has been consistent:
 When the top team aligns on a handful of must-win priorities, everything beneath has a chance to stabilise.
 
Clarity at the top creates confidence in the middle.
 Confidence in the middle unlocks energy on the front line.
 That’s where guests, customers, students, and patients feel the difference.

Engagement is about seeing the direction clearly, and leaders walking it together.

If your top team’s priorities aren’t aligned, let’s pressure-test them together. Book a complimentary 30-minute call and I’ll outline a focused alignment sprint you can run immediately.

AI won’t steal your job. But your reluctance might.

Leaders now hire for AI aptitude over experience.

❌ Waiting for a corporate rollout.
✅ Building personal AI capability now.

❌ Hiding your AI use out of fear.
✅ Making your AI wins visible and valuable.

❌ Treating AI as a shortcut.
✅ Treating AI as a work redesign tool.

From the Microsoft WTI report: "66% of leaders wouldn’t hire you without AI skills, and 71% would pick a less experienced candidate who has them. 76% of professionals say they need AI skills to stay competitive. Yet only 39% of AI users have had company training, and just 25% of firms plan to offer it this year. Skill yourself. Don’t wait for permission."

What would “AI aptitude” look like in your week, starting today?

If you want manager-ready AI behaviours, I’ll deliver a repeatable playbook and coach your champions.

Clarity isn’t universal; it’s cultural, contextual, and negotiated.
What sounds precise in one culture can land as blunt in another.

❌ One-size-fits-all “clear communication”
✅ Culture-aware clarity: agree meaning, then message

Here’s the move I learned in hospitality and later at Apple Retail:

1. Start with intent. State what you’re trying to achieve, not just what you want done.

2. Check meaning. Ask how your words are likely to land in this context.

3. Match channel and pace. Some teams prefer written first, others live discussion.

4. Close the loop. Ask someone to replay what they heard so you can align.

On Mon 10 Nov, 09am GST / 01PM HKT, I’ll be with Veronica Llorca-Smith🎤  on how leaders blend cultural agility with emotional intelligence to lead with clarity and care in diverse teams.

Save your seat, Link in comments.

Training often dies at the lunch rush.
Use on-shift cues that stick at peak.

❌ E-learning that dies at peak.
✅ Two-line prompts managers can use at 12:30.

❌ One-size modules.
✅ Sector examples: queue flow, top-10 stockouts, tour-bus arrivals.

❌ “Forever” changes.
✅ Bounded experiments: next 30 minutes, this service period.

Fallout → Skills don’t transfer to the floor.
Fix → On-shift practice with buddy circles and manager check-ins.

Because we measure behaviour, not attendance, leading indicators move first: briefings run, feedback given, conflicts de-escalated.

If you want a copy of the 90-day Emerging Leader Sprint, reply “90 days” and I’ll share it.

Training that survives the lunch rush

Stop scaling AI on fear. Scale trust and control.
Korn Ferry warns: replacement-first signals crater trust and stall adoption. (from Korn Ferry: "AI Took My Job", link to the article in comments)

❌ Automate without guardrails, save now, invite resistance later.
❌ Titles feel threatened, risks go underground, quality degrades.
✅ Publish human-override rules for high-risk outputs and keep a visible review log.
✅ Communicate by task, not title: what’s automated, what’s augmented, what stays human.

I pre-sold a workshop at 60% complete and tightened review steps in public. Anxiety fell because people saw the checks.

Post your override criteria next week, e.g. legal, safety, customer comms, with named owners.

Share a one-pager: Automated | Augmented | Human-only, with two concrete examples.

Trust compounds. Which override rule will you publish by next week Friday?

#kornferry #AI #leadershipdevelopment

Managers who make every call don’t raise standards.
They raise dependence.

It feels like quality control; it is control, full stop.

Fallout:
 ❌ Bottlenecks and a silent escalation tax.
 ❌ People stop thinking and feel mistrusted.
 ❌ You burn out.

Better, and grounded in EQ:
 ✅ Decide your non-negotiables: safety, legal, brand promise, budget.
 ✅ Make decision rights explicit: what I decide, what you decide, what we consult on.
 ✅ Delegate by judgement, not task: move from “tell” to “agree” to “you run it”.
 ✅ Set a small failure budget and run quick after-action reviews.
 ✅ Use emotional intelligence in the moment: name your trigger, ask “what risk am I protecting?”, switch from answers to coaching questions, and back their call in public.

If you never let go, you will never grow leaders. Only followers.

Which decision will you hand over this week and never take back?

#leadership #leadershipdevelopment #emotionalintelligence #EQ

Your best future leads aren’t practicing.
Weekly pressure reps surface them fast.

❌ Talent spotting in annual reviews only.
✅ Weekly reps where ICs run moments that matter.

❌ “Shadow when it’s quiet.”
✅ Shadow at pressure points, harvest three copy-worthy behaviours.

❌ Vague “step up more”.
✅ Mini-campaigns with a metric, stakeholder map, and short retro.

Fallout → Quiet high-potentials stay unseen.
Fix → Simple artefacts that show the work and de-risk first promotions.

Because consistency beats heroics, we build habits: Focus 3, check-clarify-close, micro-recoveries with guests.
You’ll see who is already leading, not just hoping.

If you’re building a middle-management pipeline for 2026, DM me and let’s scope it for your context.

Leadership potential isn’t invisible, it’s unpractised

South Asia is 26% engaged, yet anger runs high.
People care, but many feel unheard.

Passion without psychological safety becomes burnout.
You won’t fix that with perks or posters.

EQ turns it around:
empathy → recognition that lands, not generic praise
self-awareness → fewer reactive decisions
coaching conversations → belonging over busywork

❌ “We’re engaged, so we’re fine.”
✅ “We’re engaged, so we must protect it.”

Boundary → Because: recognition is weekly and specific, because effort seen becomes effort repeated.

Make it practical: manager office hours, structured 1:1s, and a simple “recognise-then-redirect” script for tough moments.
Healthy engagement is the goal, not just high engagement.
It starts with emotionally intelligent managers who make safety a habit.

South Asia's Paradox

Promotions without support drain teams.
Start support before numbers slip.

We all know the pattern:
Strong individual contributor gets promoted.
Same expectations, bigger scope, little support.
They try to carry the team by working harder.
Communication wobbles.
The team quietly disengages.
Performance and guest experience follow.

On a spreadsheet, it looks like:
❌ Rising turnover and sick days
❌ Inconsistent guest/client feedback
❌ Lumpy sales and service metrics

In real life, it’s a human who was never taught how to:
✅ Have difficult conversations
✅ Give clear, fair feedback
✅ Delegate without guilt
✅ Set boundaries and protect their energy

Invest early, before they burn out or burn bridges.
The results are predictable:
✅ Teams stabilise
✅ Engagement stops swinging
✅ Financials get less lumpy and more reliable

Emerging leaders aren’t a “nice” group to develop.
They’re the infrastructure of future performance.

If this pattern is biting in your teams, book a complimentary 25-minute advisory call and we’ll map the first three fixes for your emerging leaders.

Only 14% engaged in MENA, the lowest worldwide.
Stress 48% and anger 31% tell the story.

This isn’t about “lazy employees.”
It’s about managers under pressure, hierarchy, and cross-cultural demands without human-centred tools.

❌ More control, tighter rules, tougher talk.
✅ More connection, clearer expectations, consistent follow-through.

EQ is clarity when the heat rises.
Cultural agility is respect in motion.

Fallout → Fix: when managers default to command, people hide problems; when managers default to curiosity, problems surface early.

If engagement starts with managers, prepare them to lead people, not just processes.
Start with 1:1s that build trust, not status reports.
Close the loop on recognition and feedback, every week.
Hold standards while holding humanity.

Preparation beats pressure. Train for it.

The MENA reality check

Where manager EQ is thin, engagement drops fastest.
We still promote for technical mastery, then hope for people skills.

When self-regulation is low, stress spikes; when empathy is missing, turnover follows.
Flattened layers haven’t helped. Many firms cut managers, then wonder why teams feel directionless.

Fallout → Fix: fewer managers → confusion and reactivity; equip remaining managers with EQ, coaching and feedback skills, then rebuild clarity.

Teach managers to:
give hard feedback without breaking trust
adapt tone across cultures and contexts
stay steady when pressure bites

❌ Treat EQ as “soft.”
✅ Treat EQ as the system upgrade that keeps teams steady.

Start inside, then roll out the skills.

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