I don’t think of leadership as a title or the result of exclusive talents or abilities. I believe leadership is a choice. I believe everyone is a leader, everyone who is willing to be responsible for their own life.
Dana Salameh is a catalyst for change who believes that coaching is the universal language for transformation. She lives life fully and enjoys being many things; a mother, wife, professional coach & mentor, founder of What Else App, co-founder of Energi Lab, and being an accidental writer. Her lifetime project and dream come true is the start of What Else App. Her mission with What Else App is simple. To revolutionize the coaching and mentoring industry – making it relevant to this new era by accelerating the process and bringing efficiency and fun to coaching and mentoring – while helping people evolve and lead more fulfilling lives.
Dana is a pioneer in the field of coaching and mentoring for organizations in UAE and has been recognized by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) as one of the top 10 Global Young Leaders in 2018 for the outstanding support provided in establishing the ICF Abu Dhabi Subchapter and for creating an organizational coaching program at Etihad Aviation Group that fulfilled rigorous professional standards addressing key strategic goals, shaping organizational culture and yielding discernible and measurable positive impacts. She has been invited to speak about organizational coaching at various forums and organizations in UAE. Dana also wrote the “Awakening the Coach in You” book for managers and leaders to become great coaches and mentors in their organizations. Her successes are built upon a practical approach to building organizational capability and excellence.
Let’s learn a little about you and really get to experience what makes us tick – starting at our beginnings. Where did your story begin?
Dana Salameh: I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I had a business mindset and a hunger for working ever since I was 10 years old. I used to travel to Romania every summer and bring products that were not found in UAE (where I used to live and study) to sell them at school. To sell something that was not available in UAE. Later when I was 12, I gathered 4 friends to help me open up a beauty salon in my room. We were partners and run the salon together for 3 full months. Each one of us played to her strengths in terms of the services we were offering and we used to get bookings almost every day from students at our school. My school was our marketplace. When I was 15, I was finally able to work as a promoter (promoting products and events) and did that until I was 18 when I was able to get my first official job at a bank as a sales executive. A year later I got promoted but I realized one thing; I knew that by the age of 30 I needed to have my own business.
I knew I needed to work hard and gain experience only to help me achieve that goal by then. I always somehow knew what I wanted to do and I had a vision for myself. I loved starting things from scratch and creating from that space. I loved being involved in challenging roles and was always interested in shadowing leaders and senior managers only to become the best version of myself as a leader. I value learning and was always a seeker of opportunities for learning and I was living by that value. When I started my first job, I also enrolled as a full-time student for my Bachelor’s degree. My day would start at 7 am and end at 10 pm for 4 years. And after graduating, I didn’t stop learning.
And then one day I realized I didn’t want to be in banking, so I tried recruitment. Only to get me closer to what I was seeking. I was seeking a profession that had to do with helping people evolve or one way or another join them on a journey. So, I kept changing jobs because I wasn’t feeling fulfilled. Until one day 10 years ago when I discovered coaching. It was a very passionate and desperate search for a profession that could give me something to work with people. That something was the art of coaching and ever since then, I have been trialing it out in the companies I worked for until finally a year ago I started working on What Else. It’s still at the very early stages but I believe it will one day become the App of choice for expanding personal and professional potential helping millions of people and organizations become more efficient, nimble and fulfilled.
Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
Dana Salameh: Yes. I am so very lucky and grateful to many people in my life who have always believed in me and supported my dreams like my mom, my dad, my sister, my best friend, and my husband. My husband in particular has never failed to remind me about my dreams. He knows I have many dreams- some of which are personal and some are professional but every time I was down, he would remind me of one of my dreams and encourage me to focus on that and start working towards a baby step…because there have been moments throughout my career in corporates that have only confirmed how much I needed to set out on my own one day- there were days I would drive up to work or drive back home crying.
So, when the pandemic hit, I lost my job and it was like a sign from the universe because my daughter was only 1 year old and I really wanted to be with her and take of her, and at the same time it was just about the right time to start working on my younger dreams. And the person who pushed me to take that first step was my husband. My mom has always been my best supporter and I loved brainstorming ideas with her every time I needed inspiration. And the person who inspired the idea of What Else in me was one of my ex-managers, who today is one of my closest friends and mentor.
What are the most common mistakes you see entrepreneurs make and what would you suggest they do?
Dana Salameh: I often see that most entrepreneurs focus a lot on how to get out there! Very few go from ” the inside” out. The concept of self-coaching or self-care or getting coached along the way is not very popular. Working with a coach will allow entrepreneurs to discover underlying assumptions, habits, and behaviors that could either make or break their journey as an entrepreneur. I also see that Psychometrics are not popular for entrepreneurs. For example, there are certain world-class assessments that they could take to build self-awareness and develop their mental toughness to optimally perform under pressure.
Psychometrics can be used at the beginning of a coaching relationship and used as a reliable and valid tool to monitor progress along the way. I also see that most entrepreneurs work on their own. They can get overworked, lonely, and eventually burn out. They want to make it on their own. I believe a shift in that mindset will make entrepreneurship a happier place to be. Entrepreneurs could help each other by outsourcing what doesn’t come easily and freely to them through an exchange of services rather than by money. For example, I could coach an entrepreneur who believes that coaching could really help them in exchange for a service that I may need from them such as marketing or financial support.
Resilience is critical in critical times like the ones we are going through now. How would you define resilience?
Dana Salameh: I define resilience as being able to quickly identify stressors in difficult times and quickly finding solutions to rising above it all. For me, resilience is about not giving up, it’s about persistence, it’s about mental toughness, it’s about remaining calm under pressure. It’s about looking at change or challenges as an opportunity for learning rather than a threat. It’s about managing my emotions and protecting my energy.
For me it is about being curious, asking myself, what is this experiencing trying to teach me? It is also about having a “What Else” mindset, asking myself, what else can I do to be prepared? Studies show individuals who are more mentally tough experience greater success in work and life, improved health and well-being and are more confident, engaged and productive under pressure. Building resilience can help entrepreneurs succeed in today’s ever-changing world.
When you think of your company, 5 years from now, what do you see?
Dana Salameh: 5 years from now, I see people in my region have become aware of an unmet need – a solution that has become the new normal – a safe place for people to turn to when something compelling is at stake, or simply when they need in-the-moment support or feedback.
They would have already experienced the value of coaching and mentoring, they know where to go to access a coach or mentor when they needed it most, they are no longer wondering who to turn to when they have an urgent matter or a decision to make and need a coach or a mentor to join them as a thinking partner. They know they have a platform to turn to for learning on the go, for inspiration and motivation. I also see that coaching and mentoring has become the new cool for every manager, leader, entrepreneur, student, new mom, or wherever people are on their journey. I see it going global.
What do you consider are your strengths when dealing with staff workers, colleagues, senior management, and customers?
Dana Salameh: Some of my strengths include being a relator, a strategic thinker, and a learner. I believe that communication is key when dealing with people. I try to adapt my style to others in order to have healthy relationships and bring the best out of people, so it is very important for me to learn about the people I work with; their preferences, their motivations, their styles, what works for them and what doesn’t and I try my best to use that wisdom to guide me in how to best communicate with people.
When I am dealing with uncertain situations, I prefer to ask questions rather than assume or judge. I like to use a lot of my coaching skills to form genuine and trusting relationships. Relationships and people, in general, are important for me- one of my biggest values.
How important do you think it is for a leader to be mindful of his own brand?
Dana Salameh: I associate brand with reputation, and reputation is very important for me. I believe reputation is an important element to be mindful of for any leader, entrepreneur, or professional who wants to succeed or win the hearts of people (whatever the definition of success is for them). And I believe reputation is something that can either make or break someone’s career. As for what I believe about my brand as a leader, it is what people think of me or say about me, not what I think of myself or what I say about myself.
How would you define “leadership”?
Dana Salameh: Leadership for me is multi-dimensional. It is fluid and organic. I don’t think of leadership as a title or the result of exclusive talents or abilities. I believe leadership is a choice. I believe everyone is a leader, everyone who is willing to be responsible for their own life. We can lead from the front, from beside, from within, from behind, from whatever angle depending on the role we choose to show up as and depending on who we are choosing to be in that moment.
What advice would you give to our younger readers that want to become entrepreneurs?
Dana Salameh: Be curious, ask questions, be a learner, be open to asking for help, be open to change, to new experiences, to changing your path. Trust your intuition and seek professional coaches and mentors to join you on this beautiful journey to challenge you, to help you see things from different perspectives, or simply join you as a thinking partner. Coaches are trained to ask powerful questions and listen deeply. The better the questions, the better the answers.
What’s your favorite “leadership” quote and how has it affected the way you implement your leadership style?
Dana Salameh: I love the quote by Bruce Lee ” it’s not the daily increase, but the daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential”
After being a coach for over 10 years, I have been doing things in the way that has been set out by the industry, and traditionally speaking, coaching takes time, change takes time, coaching is expensive, etc… but I decided to play with these concepts when I started What Else. Coaching can happen at the moment and it can take a minute to shift mindsets or make a change. It’s not the daily increase but the daily decrease, coaching doesn’t have to take 60 minutes of your time, it can be a good 20 minutes.
This interview was originally published on ValiantCEO.
