Three of our club members had the chance to interview Gaby Jordan as part of the Drops of Wisdom Fall 2022 edition. Gaby Jordan is the founder of Human Better EDU – an NGO committed to “elevating human consciousness by teaching the world to human better, one person at a time”. One of the key messages conveyed through the interview was that no life or career follows a straight line. Gaby herself is an excellent example for this as she had multiple stations throughout her career: firstly, working as a lawyer with the intention to then continuing in a marketing function, which led on for her to join an executive coaching company in 2006. While continuing to be an executive coach, she founded the NGO Human Better EDU 1.5 years ago. Human Better EDU aims to bring the skills of coaching and life design into traditional education. By empowering students, faculty, and executives to figure out what they want and how to get there. The NGO’s purpose is based on the belief that elevating individuals to act towards their dreams, elevates not only what they can do but also the entire system they are operating in.
To do so Human Better EDU build a concept that consists of various steps all revolving around the idea that life can be divided into 12 areas. By authoring dreams about those 12 areas, such as career and relationships, but also spirituality or fun & adventure, coaching participants take the first step into designing their lives. To feel happy, inspired and proud about ourselves, Gaby believes that one needs to follow the steps of (1) to be willing to create a dream, (2) analyze what is currently holding one back by becoming conscious of thinking and beliefs, (3) design a new reality with an inner dialogue, personality traits, individual beliefs and theories which support that dream, and (4) just get started and take action towards working on that dream. There are various reasons that hold back such as fear, but also not acknowledging that individuals hold the responsibility of their actions. To achieve dreams, one has to create consistency between reality, actions and results.
But what if you don’t have a concrete dream yet? Often students struggle to find “the one thing” that they want to do the rest of their lives. We wanted to know from her if there is anything students can do to get more clarity in this regard.
Gaby’s advice is plausible: “give yourself the permission to explore!” However, for that you must take action – engage yourself with people that are doing what you might want to do. Conduct interviews, create a list with possible options and rate how likely you are to do each, i.e., also reflect on what holds you back pursuing a certain path. And then just start somewhere. It doesn’t have to be the dream for your lifetime. Designing your dream not too far ahead makes goals much more relatable. Then it might also become clear that a dream doesn’t always have to be as big and comprehensive as it might sound initially. For instance, picture your relationships one year ahead, think about who you want to be connected to and then act in the present tense, by actively making time for someone this week. Small steps help empower yourself as they make results more tangible. Still, the willingness to take some risks can also largely contribute to your happiness, otherwise you might always ask yourself what if…
After all, Gaby emphasized that it is essential that everyone is aware of their agency. No one needs to do anything; everyone has a choice.
As Gaby has a lot of experience in coaching students as well as executives, we also consulted her about tips that she might have for students, notably female ones, who aspire to improve their leadership skills. And while many of us might directly think of being the head of a team or working in executive positions when hearing the word “leadership”, Gaby’s definition goes way beyond - leadership is a skill that plays a role in your own life to get what you want and to be a model for others. Therefore, according to her, one of the most important things is self-reflection. Be aware of what works well for you and what doesn’t – also interview people around you for a more realistic assessment. Notably, she argues that leaders in general, don’t need to have all the answers to any questions, it is rather that they know themselves and others, to tackle challenges together. Other qualities include the ability to form a vision and to exercise accountability.
While she noted that she does not like to generalize between genders, she had an additional advice for prospective female leaders. Probably many of us have heard about the studies that show that women tend to be less confident in the workplace. Therefore, she called on female students to recognize that they have a seat at the table and if not yet the case, make sure they get one. In doing so, showing integrity, i.e. acting consistently with who you are and not what is expected is important – otherwise the trust in yourself will not be sustainable. Acknowledging the things that you do right and learning from the mistakes you make is the final appeal she has for us.
We genuinely want to thank Gaby for her time and the inspiration we could draw from this conversation. The interview has shown that whether it is following your dreams or becoming an impactful leader – everything is a journey that requires small actions. However, no matter how small they are and in whatever area of life, they require agency. Finally, there is no need to make a difference here - this is something that applies to all of us, students and executives, no matter which gender. Sometimes we just need a little reminder that we can make progress anytime, we just need to recognize our own power.
If you still would like to have some support in doing so, you can find out more about Human Better EDU and their concept, you can follow this link. Gaby and her team also host CEMS workshops at Nova, so feel free to get in touch with her next time you see her on campus!