Radio show

I had the great pleasure of being the guest of Doug Gfeller MCC on his OC Talk Radio show The Coaching Perspective.

The show goes out live on Thursday afternoons and the live element added just the right drop of adrenaline. Doug was the perfect host and was very welcoming.

The topic of the show was Delighting in Difference and Celebrating Similarity.

We talked briefly about how I learned Chinese and went on to explore linguistic diversity in China. We then came across the interesting point that Doug feels he cannot learn languages.

Doug asked how I got into the world of coaching, which was actually by being coached. We shared experiences of learning to be a coach, including avoiding the temptation to give advice and the challenges of setting up a new career and embarking on a new business venture simultaneously.

A story of difference and similarity for me was the realization, many years ago in South Western China, that the totally exotic had become completely familiar. Doug and I then explored how focusing of similarities between cultures, generations and other groups of people rather than differences can be really beneficial. Along the way, we covered such diverse topics as loss of face, personal space, politeness, unwritten rules, roundabouts and elevator pitches.

You can listen to the full interview by clicking on the player below:

I also strongly recommend checking out Doug’s other episodes here.