Visionary Woman Leader 2019
When we look at successful people it is often easy to forget that they are usually people like us. What makes them stand out is their determination and their zeal to make a difference. Karen Leong is one such person.
As the famous saying goes, “Action speaks louder than words”.Karen Leong is a change-agent, who took action to help victims of trafficking in Amsterdam after spending a decade in audit and consulting with one of the Big Four. This unexpected stint with such a meaningful not-for-profit cause proved life-changing and sparked within her a desire to make a bigger impact on society.
Realizing that the ability to influence is a life-changing skill, Karen embarked on a journey to distill the process of influence. She launched her first business, a bespoke fashion label, that elevated how people looked and felt. Two years later, she co-founded Influence Solutions, to empower people to expand their sphere of influence and achieve positive results. Today, Influence Solutions is a leading talent and development organization with a global footprint.
Bringing positive change to the world of business
After working with corporations from dozens of countries, ensuring their people benefited from her Influence 247 system, Karen incorporated these invaluable realizations in her first book – ‘Win People Over – 75 Simple and Powerful Ways to Influence Anyone’, along with a complementary Influencing Styles profiling tool. This book was one of the most meaningful moments of her life. Commenting with conviction, Karen shares “I believe that everyone is born influential. It only takes a simple process to activate the influencer within.”
Today, ‘Win People Over’ is used as a corporate resource book for some of the biggest corporations across the Asia Pacific and has also been translated into Mandarin.
Influence Solutions also utilizes the book and its signature Influence training programs for a greater cause of empowering boards and leadership teams at the not-for-profit organizations on a pro-bono basis.
From shy child to successful global keynote speaker
Looking at Karen today, it is impossible to believe that she was once a very shy child, hailing from a conservative middle-class family in Singapore. She personifies what it means to be a catalyst for change. Karen is now a global keynote speaker who has taken the stage on platforms such as TEDx and is also a TEDx coach. As one of Asia’s top motivational speakers on transformation, her refreshing and riveting keynotes have inspired thousands to spark personal, professional and organizational transformation.
An influence thought leader, Karen regularly shares her insights on global media such as BBC World, Reuters, Channel News Asia, and The Straits Times. She has also delivered “live” commentaries on iconic events such as The USA Presidential Debates and the Trump-Kim Summits. When asked what drives her passion in speaking, Karen asserts, “I am inspired by learning and growth. This is paramount in what I do. We work with brilliant teams from around the world, and journeying with them has been deeply fulfilling.”
The F.I.R.S.T.TM Profiling tool for Organizations, for a Sustainable Transformation
In today’s fast-changing competitive world, Influence Solutions has been a recognized partner to organizations in helping their leaders and teams thrive. The company is at the forefront of developing platforms, programs, and tools to support the industry.
An example of this is the way Influence Solutions utilizes the proprietary F.I.R.S.T.TM profiling tool to help people and teams be Future-Ready, Innovative, Relevant, Strategic, and Trusted. To date, numerous companies have benefited from the F.I.R.S.T.TM system and successfully boosted Thought-Leadership, People-Leadership, and Results-Leadership. This is reinforced by Influence Solutions’ signature training topics in Influence, Transformation, and Leadership.
Asked how Influence Solutions has managed to become an integral talent development partner for many large organizations, Karen muses “Our strategic, let-us-add-value approach, has ensured that organizations see us as their F.I.R.S.T. learning & development partner, which is focused on helping them achieve desired visible outcomes in short and long-term.”
“ In the digital era, learning is a lifestyle,” says Karen
In their continual drive towards helping companies succeed, Karen’s company recently launched its global online leadership summit, “Rise Through The Ranks.” The summit attracted thousands of executives from 70 countries, who were keen to learn from forty C-suite leaders, billionaire entrepreneurs and global experts as to how they could accelerate their careers.
When asked about her thoughts on learning in the digital era, Karen shares, “Learning is no longer confined to the classroom. In the digital era, learning is a lifestyle. This is a fantastic opportunity for us to create user-directed learning, where people seek out learning that helps them with their personal and professional goals. This enables organizations to transform behavior and hence results.”
Karen also points out that in a world of relentless change, there are some things that will not change. What doesn’t change is that as human beings, we will always have the desire to grow, to be appreciated and connected with others. The ability to influence will not just remain an important work skill, it will always be an essential life skill. And that’s the space that Karen and her company, Influence Solutions dominates.
Read the article here: Karen Leong Awarded Visionary Woman Leader 2019