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This is my final newsletter update and it has been an honour to serve as President. It will be 19 months since I stepped into the role, and it has been a truly amazing experience. Many members have asked me what it is like to take on the Presidency. I have been reflecting on this of late and outline my thoughts below.
YOUR THOUGHTS ARE YOUR GREATEST LIMITATION
The international borders are well and truly reopened, and I have just come back from the Global Leadership Conference in Spain where the focus was to help unleash your potential as an individual, an EO member and an entrepreneur. I encourage all of you to look out for opportunities to attend global events to experience personal and professional growth. The connections made with other Chapter members are priceless.
CONNECTIONS
I have just come back from EO Ignite and witnessed firsthand the power of connections. It was great to see our EO Melbourne Chapter members making connections with other Chapters and expanding their outreach. Spending time developing relationships with like-minded entrepreneurs felt like nourishment of the soul. I found myself sharing my darkest moments and walking away with a new perspective on the challenges ahead. As the EO Global community opens up and more event opportunities present themselves, I encourage all of you to build up your connections.
BE CURIOUS
Firstly, let me say that it is awesome to once again attend events in person. We have had a great start to the year with a great lineup of events, having attended the Australian Open, which was an amazing experience to connect with members whilst enjoying Melbourne at its finest. I have also enjoyed the presentation with Ecopsychologist Mark Mathieson as well as our member dine-around, which have become a new EO Melbourne tradition and a highly popular event of the chapter. I am also thrilled with the members' interest in this year’s Grand Prix. It will be a great day sharing stories and getting to know everyone on a deeper level. One thing EO does better than most organisations is “scale-up trust”. It always amazes me what a safe environment EO is for sharing and diving deep into any topic.
The festive season is suddenly upon us and it is in full swing. The lead up to the end of the year has kept our Board busy planning and executing events. November kicked off our first face-to-face gathering after a long while with a twilight event at the Prince, which included our AGM. Our guest speaker Craig Harper reminded us that high-performers are generally willing to get uncomfortable, so I challenge you all to reflect on whether you are getting out of your comfort zone. Craig also challenged us to reflect on why we do what we do if we haven’t defined what success means to us. It’s quite a philosophical question to grapple with, and for me, the answer typically changes from year to year. I will be attempting to answer this again at the start of the new year.
What’s Coming Up
As we slowly emerge from lockdown, the Board and our Chapter staff are looking forward to hosting members in person again.
One of the most significant realisations from my decade-long EO Journey is that the learnings I have acquired from the informal discussions with other members are invaluable.
Before joining our ranks, I assumed that the majority of my learnings would be gleaned from external experts presenting at events.
As I write this update for our newsletter, Victoria clocks up 205 days of lockdown. Apparently, “lockdown” is the word of the year for 2020, according to Collins Dictionary. It’s pretty crazy to think we are going through this again, however, I am supported by the fact that we all belong to a great community of like-minded people where we are ready to lend support to each other.
I think that if we can learn from some of the shortcomings of our current Government, it’s that we need to be transparent in our business dealings and take accountability when things go wrong. Maintaining the trust of those that are closest to you, including family, staff, customers, friends and forum will ensure you remain viable in the long term.
Welcome, EO family! I hope this Chapter Update finds you and your family well.
Throughout last year, we all had to shift our focus and adapt to the changes happening around us. Shifting gears, constantly making changes to our well-meaning to-do list, and not necessarily meeting our goals are no fault of our own. Yes, the pandemic has challenged us in many ways, so I encourage you all to embrace getting out of your comfort zone, as it will make you better leaders and entrepreneurs.
Dear EO Melbourne,
Work-Life-Changing Your Habits
Hello, EO family. I hope you have survived this financial year and is focusing on thriving. I am using the end of the financial year to re-set my mindset and throw out some of my old habits to achieve my goals. The pandemic has provided me with an opportunity to transform my daily routines. I have cut back my actual working day by about 90 minutes, and I can tell you that I am reaching higher levels of performance and achievement due to being able to focus more, for shorter periods of time. I feel more energised with a shorter workday as I have more time to pursue other activities, such as exercise and family time.
Dear EO Melbourne,
The end of the financial year is nearly upon us, and I can't help but be proud of all of the achievements of our EO Melbourne Chapter members. Every year at this time, I reflect on how the financial year has gone, what accomplishments I have achieved, what worked well and what I could have done better. I have also reflected on our EO Chapter.
Dear EO Melbourne,
I am writing this President Update having just chaired the bi-monthly Moderators meeting where I was listening to stories of how well forums are running and the amazing peer-to-peer support occurring to help each other move forward together. It is great to hear about forums planning their retreats in locations like Queenstown in New Zealand (yes the travel bubble has arrived!) and the Northern Territory, focused on meeting forum members' personal and business development goals. The general discussion was around how connected everyone was feeling within their forums.
Socrates Capouleas loves three things: he reads business books that give him continuous learning; he bikes 4 to 6 times a week that pushes him through challenges and keeps him focused on his goals; and he collects timepieces that remind him of his wins, as well as inculcate a sense of urgency. Continuous learning, focus on goals, and sense of urgency are also some of the key takeaways he picked along his entrepreneurial path.
