Andrea Jacques, Author at Kyosei Consulting

Being Jouzu
Leveraging Your Talents for Success

Any foreigner living in Japan quickly discovers the word jouzu, a Japanese word that means skillful or talented. When uttering any relatively coherent Japanese phrase, kind Japanese listeners eager to encourage your linguistic brilliance often exclaim “Anata no nihongo wa jouzu desu!” Like me, many of you might bask in this fantasy of fluency for a few seconds before quickly exclaiming, “iie, jouzu ja nai!” as you know they will quickly discover the pathetic limits of your language abilities. On …

– Andrea Jacques (Kyosei Coaching)

The Human Factor

At a recent conference on disability management I heard a true story that got me thinking about managers’ fear of dealing with the human element

Ikigai and Aging Well

Kyosei Coaching –

Japan, along with many other countries in the developed world, is experiencing a marked increase in the percentage of its population that is over fifty. With this changing demographic comes and increased interest regarding what it takes to not only live longer but to live better. One of the most comprehensive research projects in this area was led by Dan Buettner and his group, Blue Zones, in cooperation with National Geographic. This group identified the five parts of the world …

– Andrea Jacques (Kyosei Coaching)

Lessons from Silicon Valley

This New Year’s my fiancé and I traveled to the heart of Silicon Valley, to meet my new nephew. While for me the baby was

Stressed in the City: Leverage Your Strengths
Part 1

Kyosei Coaching –

Many stress experts tout things such as exercise, meditation, journaling, and walking in nature as solutions for managing stress. These are great in theory – and even in practice – but what if you just can’t find the time to fit anything more in? How can you optimize what you are already doing to increase energy, reduce stress, and avoid adding one more thing into your already overloaded schedule?
Simple – leverage your strengths.
First, let’s differentiate between natural strengths …

– Andrea Jacques (Kyosei Coaching)

Love and the Retail Environment

Work is love made visible. And if you can’t work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work

Workplace 3.0
The future wave of workplace innovation

While I love the ease of information access that the internet provides for building our business, developing training programs, researching resources for coaching clients, and

Stressed in the City: Closing Your Integrity Gaps
Part 2

Kyosei Coaching –

In my last post I revealed the secret of leveraging your strengths to enhance your energy and immunize yourself against stress. To continue, I am introducing another key stress reduction strategy – closing your Integrity Gaps.
What exactly is an Integrity Gap? Integrity Gaps exist whenever our actions are not in alignment with our most deeply held values, principles and beliefs. Ever had that tight feeling in the pit of your stomach as a result of something you have said …

– Andrea Jacques (Kyosei Coaching)

Millennial Madness
Is a Millennial workforce the secret to your labour shortage or just common sense?

I find it interesting that people always seem to be looking for some secret answer – that ever elusive bit of information, research, new theory

Stressed in the City: Taking Stock
Part 3

Kyosei Coaching –

Stress has become such a common part of life, that people are often not even aware how high their level of stress might be. No matter where you live, answering the following questions will provide you with insight into where you sit on the stress continuum.
Use the following scale to assign yourself points on each question and then add up the numbers for your overall score:
1= never 2= seldom 3 = sometimes 4= often 5 = always
I …

– Andrea Jacques (Kyosei Coaching)