Recent Content
Why saying bye is sometimes the right thing to do — its all a balance of IQ, EQ and FQEnd of an EraToday marked a small, but important milestone for me.I waved goodbye to a company that had h…
Why saying bye is so…
Why saying bye is sometimes the right thing to do — its all a balance of IQ, EQ and FQEnd of an EraToday marked a small, but important milestone for me.I waved goodbye to a company that had held a special place in my heart 👋😭.Who is this epic company?AXA Insurance of course!Yep, you might not think that I would be talking about an insurance company but it is genuinely the case.Why are AXA close to my heart?The answer lies in this story.Back in 2021 I managed to become the face of AXA appearing on billboards all over the UK. It had come about as a result of signing up for B…
Faris Aranki
December 19, 2024 
100 responses: See behind the curtain of the humble LinkedIn Voice Note — an absolute EQ gamechangerAwww shucks ♥️You might not know but I love a voice note 💕💞.I use them extensively…
100 responses: See b…
100 responses: See behind the curtain of the humble LinkedIn Voice Note — an absolute EQ gamechangerAwww shucks ♥️You might not know but I love a voice note 💕💞.I use them extensively in my personal life and in my professional life.I have written extensively about why I use them for work and what I have learnt from sending bucketloads of them.They have been a gamechanger for my business.I’ve been on podcasts sharing the impact they make; I’ve been at festivals talking about their power, I’ve run multiple polls about them and I rave about them to everyone I know.When do…
Faris Aranki
November 30, 2024 
The hidden side of having lots of followers when EQ is your thingThe stock market has seen better days20,000 FollowersI reached that last week on LinkedInYou’d think I’d be over the moon about …
The hidden side of h…
The hidden side of having lots of followers when EQ is your thingThe stock market has seen better days20,000 FollowersI reached that last week on LinkedInYou’d think I’d be over the moon about that, and on one hand I am, but it’s not quite as simple as that.Yes, my followership has been gathering pace since I started my own business 5 years [I gain about 20 followers a day nowadays] and I got to that number much quicker than expected, but so what!Many people forget but it’s not about the number.Yes I am a LinkedIn obsessive but, for me, each of those followers is a person and I c…
Faris Aranki
November 23, 2024 
So true!Last week I had a party to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the foundation of my start-up.Ok, it was a joint party with me (it was my 45th birthday) but let’s focus on the more important asp…
So true!Last week I …
So true!Last week I had a party to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the foundation of my start-up.Ok, it was a joint party with me (it was my 45th birthday) but let’s focus on the more important aspect people:My start-up survived to Year 5 🙌😊😬🎉When you look at the stats that makes us the minority [about 60% of all businesses don’t make it to year 5 or beyond]; that’s all the more impressive considering Covid came along 6 months into the foundation of my business 🤧.The best news is that not only are we surviving; we are thriving with a team, a large portfolio of customer…
Faris Aranki
October 3, 2024 
It’s summertime and as a result the delivery of workshop and training sessions for clients is a bit slower; which means I’ve taken the opportunity to be a bit more relaxed with long lunches, more …
It’s summertime an…
It’s summertime and as a result the delivery of workshop and training sessions for clients is a bit slower; which means I’ve taken the opportunity to be a bit more relaxed with long lunches, more in-person coffees, run clubs, breakfast networking, watching sport, visiting art galleries, catching up with friends, working on my golf game and more.One of the highlights of the summer has been spending more time with my nephews.We did an escape room, played tennis, copious amounts of board, word and card games and much more.Just the other night we went for dinner and to watch a musical (Sist…
Faris Aranki
August 19, 2024 
I feel like my whiteboard has been redactedA lot can happen in 6 months.You can go from joy to misery.You can go from misery to joy.You can go from rich to poor.You can go from poor to rich.And …
I feel like my white…
I feel like my whiteboard has been redactedA lot can happen in 6 months.You can go from joy to misery.You can go from misery to joy.You can go from rich to poor.You can go from poor to rich.And so on…However, whilst most of these changes don’t just happen by chance; the positive ones at least need a bit of vision, planning and proactivity to make them happen.So last weekend I took half a day to throw myself into some visioning, strategising and planning for both me and my business.It’s July, why do it now?There are 3 main reasons that this seemed the right time:We’re half way…
Faris Aranki
July 23, 2024 
Now that's what I call a birthday card!Here’s a question for you:Would you sign a card for someone you don’t know (or only minimally know)?This is a quandary I was faced with 20 years ago.It wa…
Now that's what I ca…
Now that's what I call a birthday card!Here’s a question for you:Would you sign a card for someone you don’t know (or only minimally know)?This is a quandary I was faced with 20 years ago.It was my first day in a new company and I was sat at my desk trying to work out my new laptop when someone came up to me and said:“Do you want to sign the card?”“What card?” I replied.“The leaving card for Stephen, ” they said“Sure, give it here,” I said instinctively and placed my name and a short message alongside those of many others even though I had no idea who Stephen was …
Faris Aranki
July 9, 2024 
This is not my wardrobeThis is a reprint of a classic blog I wrote in December 2019 when I first started Shiageto ConsultingEver found yourself spending way longer than you should deliberating what y…
This is not my ward…
This is not my wardrobeThis is a reprint of a classic blog I wrote in December 2019 when I first started Shiageto ConsultingEver found yourself spending way longer than you should deliberating what you should wear to work? Something that should take a matter of moments ends up filling 10 mins or more and suddenly you’re in danger of being late. Not only is this stressful and leaves you still debating with yourself at lunchtime, but it turns out it could or could not make a difference.[Sometimes I envy my old university professor who explained to us that he had bought 7 of the same outfits t…
Faris Aranki
July 2, 2024 
If you want to make a lasting impression it’s all about being memorable ; here’s some tips on how to do thatCurtains ready at the ballet - all is not quite as it seemsThis week I’ve referenc…
If you want to make …
If you want to make a lasting impression it’s all about being memorable ; here’s some tips on how to do thatCurtains ready at the ballet - all is not quite as it seemsThis week I’ve referenced the great Maya Angelou a lot, in particular her fabulous quote:“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”It was a key reference for the personal impact training I ran for clients — both in terms of a mindset for the participants to think about when they interact with people and also as a consideration for…
Faris Aranki
June 23, 2024 
Effectiveness: It’s a lot to do with change; so does change make you 😊 or 😔?This isn't a blog about coinsThis is a reprint of a classic blog I wrote in December 2019 when I first started Sh…
Effectiveness: It’…
Effectiveness: It’s a lot to do with change; so does change make you 😊 or 😔?This isn't a blog about coinsThis is a reprint of a classic blog I wrote in December 2019 when I first started Shiageto ConsultingIn my previous blogs I began to explore a bit more about personal, team and business effectiveness. Moving the conversation on a little, I’d like to talk about change: one of the key drivers of effectiveness is an individual’s ability to deal with change.It doesn't matter what drives that change; it could be good news, bad news, a new job, a new team, a new Technology, a new …
Faris Aranki
June 16, 2024 
Look at that face*This is a reprint of a classic blog I wrote in November 2019, not long after I’d started my first start-upA/ One bite at a time of course…I love this ridiculous joke (not just…
Look at that face*T…
Look at that face*This is a reprint of a classic blog I wrote in November 2019, not long after I’d started my first start-upA/ One bite at a time of course…I love this ridiculous joke (not just because it entertains my nephews) but because underneath it lies the simplest of truths; sometimes if we only focus on the mountain ahead of us, it can seem so daunting that we never even take the first step. Whereas if we just break it down into smaller, more manageable parts, it seems so much easier.For me this is none more so evident than when I do Exercise. It doesn’t matter if it’s a ru…
Faris Aranki
June 8, 2024 
Not everything goes according to plan when you run a small businessWho doesn’t love a bank holiday?When you are an employee, it’s basically like a free day-off but, when you run your own start-u…
Not everything goes …
Not everything goes according to plan when you run a small businessWho doesn’t love a bank holiday?When you are an employee, it’s basically like a free day-off but, when you run your own start-up, bank holidays are quite a weird sensation.As a start-up founder, you feel a bit guilty taking a day-off but, even if you wanted to do any external work, your clients are likely to be off so you end up having a semi day-off working on internal activities and admin.The latest bank holiday in the UK was a beautiful day weatherwise so I was up early and bounded to my desk ready to plough through a…
Faris Aranki
May 27, 2024 
That genie looks awfully familiarAbout 20 years ago I remember reading about the Stockdale Paradox in the book Good To Great.Based around the mantra; “This too shall pass” and the ability to con…
That genie looks awf…
That genie looks awfully familiarAbout 20 years ago I remember reading about the Stockdale Paradox in the book Good To Great.Based around the mantra; “This too shall pass” and the ability to confront brutal facts, it was highlighted as a great technique for dealing with uncertainty and challenging times.Initially I thought this was a great technique but it felt a bit too passive and melancholy relying on great stoicism.I’ve always been a proponent of another technique that I unashamedly developed 10 years before reading that book.It came from watching the hit Disney film Aladdin and i…
Faris Aranki
May 19, 2024 
Anyone for a kiss?How much on an average day do you spend thinking about your tongue?10 seconds? 1 minute maybe? 5 mins max?I suspect I go whole days never even thinking about it.Well this week, i…
Anyone for a kiss?H…
Anyone for a kiss?How much on an average day do you spend thinking about your tongue?10 seconds? 1 minute maybe? 5 mins max?I suspect I go whole days never even thinking about it.Well this week, it was occupying my thoughts 99% of the time.Why?Last weekend I fell ill and caught a virus that caused (amongst other things) my tongue to swell, crack and sores to break out on every quadrant of my mouth (including all over the tongue — at one point I counted over 50 separate sores).I couldn’t Sleep on Sunday night as I was in a lot of pain (it felt like I’d scrapped my tongue against…
Faris Aranki
May 18, 2024 
Your relationship to food and exercise is an often-forgotten part of running a small business and this has massive implications for your weightThe scales never lieI’ve never been a skinny person.…
Your relationship to…
Your relationship to food and exercise is an often-forgotten part of running a small business and this has massive implications for your weightThe scales never lieI’ve never been a skinny person.As a kid, I was what would politely be called “cuddly”.At my peak I must have weighed close to 120kg and had a 46 inch waist — largely because I always had an unhealthy relationship with chocolate and sweets — if you don’t believe me, check this out.This changed when I headed for a year living in a village in Nepal at the age of 17 (it’s amazing what living at 3000m altitude, …
Faris Aranki
April 28, 2024 
How to get teams to gel quickly — harsh lessons from holidays with loose connections that holds the answerIf only there was more love in teams and that everyone was more nice“There are 8 of …
How to get teams to …
How to get teams to gel quickly — harsh lessons from holidays with loose connections that holds the answerIf only there was more love in teams and that everyone was more nice“There are 8 of us all nominally at the same level and we’re all senior but it is a total car crash. Nobody trusts each other and it’s led to so much sucking up to the boss, backstabbing, re-work and absolutely no decisions being made.”This is what a friend told me when I caught up with her for a long overdue lunch recently about her newish role in a prolific UK company.“As an expert in people dynamics,…
Faris Aranki
April 19, 2024 
This is all of us chasing the moon[This is a version of an article originally written for The Portfolio Collective about portfolio careers]It’s arguably harder than ever to stand out in the modern …
This is all of us ch…
This is all of us chasing the moon[This is a version of an article originally written for The Portfolio Collective about portfolio careers]It’s arguably harder than ever to stand out in the modern world; not only does the average person consume about 74GB of information per day (the equivalent of 16 movies) but a lot of it is very similar and they forget most of it by the next day.This proves particularly challenging when it comes to the business world, where effectively many people are trying to ‘sell’ to the same people, bombarding them with info about their products and services; th…
Faris Aranki
March 22, 2024 
What would the movie credits of your life look like?“But do you actually know all those people”, a friend asked me as we were discussing our differing approaches to how we use LinkedIn.She’d re…
What would the movie…
What would the movie credits of your life look like?“But do you actually know all those people”, a friend asked me as we were discussing our differing approaches to how we use LinkedIn.She’d read my recent blog all about how I treated LinkedIn as a journal and was grilling me about it — I’ve previously explained in detail my evolving approach to using LinkedIn.“If it’s a journal, why would you be willing to let others read it and, why do you care how many people read it” — she was commenting on the number of followers I had.I know it doesn’t necessarily make sense…
Faris Aranki
March 11, 2024 
