Paolo Gallo is the author of The Seven Games of Leadership. We caught up with him to talk about his new book which looks at the phases of professional development and the tools needed to reassess our priorities in order to transform our personal and professional lives.
I am lucky to be able to do what I love: developing leaders, teams and organisations. I have done it in my former roles as Chief Human Resources Officer at the World Economic Forum and EBRD and Chief Learning Officer at the World Bank. For the last five years I have been an Executive Coach and author. I consider it a blessing being able to do what you truly love doing.
We are all continuously reassessing, but there comes a moment when it becomes an imperative, something that cannot be ignored or postponed any longer. It happens to everyone, and is what I call a “crisis game”. I describe my personal crisis game moment in my book; I was talking a walk in Holland Park and – little by little – I realised that I need not a change (e.g. same job in another organisation) but a real transformation. I need to tackle the necessity of a mid-life crisis, a central part of my new book. If you are able to master this game, you can re-invent yourself. It’s more complex than rewriting your CV - it is a meaningful and life-changing process.
“Phase” is a term coined by Carl Jung. I called them “games” because there are “rules”, most of them unwritten, that will help us to understand how to continue our personal and professional growth. Having worked with – literally – thousands of people, I have learned what works and what does not. I felt the need to share the signposts, the right path to the reader, based on my 30+ years of experience to work with Leaders in 80+ countries.
I wrote this book focusing on readers who are committed – not just interested, committed - to their personal development. I trust that The Seven Games of Leadership will support the reader in understanding where they are in their inner journey. As I like to say, self-leadership is the pre-requisite to authentic leadership.
