What I'm working on, thinking about, and talking about with leaders around me.

On March 7th I joined a panel hosted by CHOYS and AWS on Living Fully and wellbeing at work. Always great fun to spend a morning with remarkable female entrepreneurs and picking up, even as a panelist, new ideas on how to integrate work with the rest of my life.

I shared about the Dutch word 'niksen', which is a verb version of 'nothing'. And it means the type of sitting on the couch, staring into the nothing, doing nothing, thinking nothing, just being. It's become harder and harder to do now that we have phones that are built to get our attention, but I try to make effort to do a few minutes of niksen every day.

I went for my monthly business trip to Jakarta, to catch up with my clients there. This time around, I brought my dad along. After my leadership sessions and client meetings we had time to explore the city together, which gave an opportunity for me to share more about the long relationship I've had with Jakarta.

Turns out, I may have spent many months in this city, the only places I could really show him were the office buildings of the clients I served and the Starbucks outlets across Thamrin in which I had the very many, often memorable (not always for the right reasons) one-on-one conversations with my leaders and direct reports.

A reminder that though I spent significant time in Jakarta over the years, it was rarely about anything else than business. Noted to self to add in more pleasure from now on. Who is in Jakarta and when shall we catch up?

How to transition from individual contributor (IC) to manager is an important topic on the minds of many of my clients. I'm currently working with an organization to develop a regional, 1-day learning program exactly on how to successfully transition to a manager role. And on March 12th I ran a masterclass for a group of managers of a fast-growing Singaporean retailer.

After a quick, fun simulation to bring to the surface common struggles for those who transition from IC to manager, we focused our debrief on prioritization. I strongly believe this is where a large part of the shift happens: As ICs we go above and beyond in delivering whatever is asked from us, trusting that our leader has a plan. As a manager we are now in the control tower and need to move beyond "commit and deliver" towards bringing clarity in trade-offs and suggesting priorities that make sense with our business goals in mind.

We can't do the impossible. Pushing back doesn't mean being the difficult one. It means acting as a grown up to make visible the tradeoffs that are required when a certain decision is being asked.

A data point that caught my attention - curious to hear your take.

of young adults across the world reported having no one they could count on for social support

This number hit me. I read it in the new World Happiness Report (see link below in the Learn to Lead section). Social connection is so important for our wellbeing—no matter our age. And yet, loneliness has been rising for years.

It’s especially critical for young adults to build strong relationships, as these often shape the long-term trajectory of our emotional and social lives (hey there business school friends!). COVID hasn’t helped, but by now, I would have expected a rebound. The researchers suggest that “many young adults underestimate their peers' empathy”, believing others probably won’t care.

As I'm digesting this, I am thinking how this also shows up in the workplace. We’re all caught in our own heads, assuming others are too busy or not interested to connect with us. Or the other way around: that that person looks like someone who would have a lot of friends, so we fail to ask.

But how sure are you that your team members truly have someone to lean on? Let’s not assume; let’s check in. Open the conversation. Create safety. Offer support. Reach out.

Words that shifted my perspective and thoughts worth keeping close.

Questions I ask myself, reflect on, and sit with to keep growing as a leader.

A tool, habit or trick I picked up that's been making things easier for me.

Resources I created or came across that I found valuable.

I was going to write a whole thing about this, but this has already become so lengthy, so I'll save you from it, but did you know that dance is the best exercise to combat depression? It beats walking, running, and yoga. It also beats combined forms of exercise and therapy, as well as some of the medication. And apparently Argentinian Tango has the same effects as mindfulness meditation. There are probably some side notes to this research, but it won't hurt if we all dance a little more. Let's have lunch dance parties in the office.

Read about dance to combat depression here.

Read about Argentinian tango and mindfulness here.

The World Happiness Report 2025 is out, and there are so many great insights to share aside from the social connections I shared about above. It turns out people are much kinder than we expect them to be. Also, my mom will be pleased to hear that sharing meals with others indeed is strongly linked to wellbeing, though I would challenge if that also holds for families with little children, because anyone who has tried to keep a toddler at the table knows the struggle. And there's tons more to share, so go and browse through the chapters.

Read the press release here with a link to the full report (free).

And then as I was catching up on news my eye was drawn to this headline about loneliness amongst seniors, and how a group of 90-year olds turned it into a podcast called '90 and counting'. Unfortunately the podcast is in Spanish, but Youtube's autotranslation of subtitles has helped me understand some of it. One can only wish to be ninety and counting like the Argentinian seniors one day, it must be the tango.

Read more about it here.

In-person and online events, conversations, talks I'm looking forward to.

For 1.5 years I've been upskilling myself in systemic coaching, under the wings of Geke Kiers, who brings a lifetime of experience in systemic work. This is a methodology that is so radically different from any other coaching, because it uses spatial representation of a system to see what is often invisible: dynamics, blockages and blind spots.

Working with Geke both on my skills as a leadership expert as well as on my personal journey has just been so incredibly profound and rewarding, that I convinced her to open this up to the public one more time before she focuses on retirement and publication of her book.

Whether you're a founder navigating complexity, a leader in hypergrowth, or someone holding space for others, I cannot enough to come join us for this session. There are limited seats, and I'll soon be sharing it with the wider community.

More information and registration here.

A sneak peek of ideas, projects and launches I'm working on before they go public.

Here’s Anna again with one of her crazy ideas... I’ve decided to launch a collection of leadership-themed merchandise! If all goes well, it should be live by May. Think: apparel for adults and kids, accessories, and thoughtful gifts for colleagues who are leading the way or just got promoted.

The goal is to create pieces that are empowering, meaningful, and just the right kind of reminder to step into leadership with intention (or to cheer someone else on as they do).

What kind of leadership swag do you wish existed? Or what’s a work moment where you've searched for the perfect gift and came up empty? Reply to this email — it’s just me reading, and I’d really love to know.

Hey, I'm Anna. I'm a leadership expert based in Singapore, helping leaders worldwide get ready to lead next. Over the past six years, I've worked with thousands of leaders across tech giants, MNCs, and hypergrowth startups. Glad to have you here. Let's figure this out together!