I really enjoy those TV programmes which track people’s histories to find out where people are descended from. I find it fascinating that often people end up either being interested in or having careers in areas very similar to their forebears with no influence other than the DNA passed down. Knowing your past can be really helpful, and I would say even advantageous, as is helps us understand who we are, our identity, and can actually help us shape our future direction. I like the phrase ‘Proud Past, Active Present, Bright Future’ because it sums up nicely the progression of time in our lives and how we should view our past, with pride, and look forward to the future, which should be bright, whilst working hard at what we do today.
Buffin Leadership International (BLI) was founded by David Buffin in 1995 and transferred to me, Paul Freeman, in 2020 after I had worked alongside David for a couple of years. As an experience Chemical Engineer, this has been a great business for me come to, as I bring a wealth of my own business experience, but David has worked tirelessly over his years to bring about success in many businesses with his unique style and well-established programmes. David is a great storyteller and has regularly recounted a tale to me about the events of his past, those challenging situations which needed a quick mind and a courageous response to overcome, businesses which faced financial ruin, travels around the world to where clients needed leadership developing. There were situations where radical action had to be taken to interrupt limiting patterns of behaviours and yet others where straight forward one to one coaching was required to help develop an individual. Whatever the situation, and there have been many over the last 25 years, the past enables us to see how many different situations have been addressed, changed around, turned into success through the leadership development of individuals and teams. The past gives us confidence that the challenges of today can too be tackled through people wo maybe have the technical knowledge but lack the leadership qualities required to pull a team of people together, collaborate, map out what is actually required in the future, then take decisive steps to bring it about. That is what we do at Buffin Leadership international. We have a proud past, we are active in the present, and we enable organisations and businesses to bring about bright futures.
David’s book, Training is for Dogs, Learning is for Explorers maps out how he first founded the leadership Coaching business of Buffin Leadership International and he recounts the many businesses which he has worked in throughout his years running the business. It’s a great read if you are an entrepreneur just starting out, or if you are an established business wanting to see if leadership coaching is what you need in your business. Looking into the past can give clarity to future possibilities. If you are exploring ideas for your employee’s development, then take a read of this and come and talk with us about your needs and we would be happy to explore what we could do with you.
Training is for Dogs, Learning is for Explorers is now available to buy via Amazon.
