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Design Thinking, Digital Skills and Leadership

Design Thinking, Digital Skills and Leadership

by Smart Coaching & Training’s Marc Mekki

This is article is written by associate Marc Mekki international keynote speaker and trainer.

What do Apple, Ikea, Bank of America and AirBnB have in common? They have all relied on Design Thinking as a powerful methodology and mental framework for driving product and service development. So what is Design Thinking? Think of it as a mental upgrade; a piece of ‘mind-ware’ for teams tasked with assessing, prototyping and testing new ideas in their market, be that for the purpose of a commercial deployment as a for-profit corporation or SME, or to drive intra-organisational change and innovation as a public sector entity, association or NGO. Deploying Design Thinking within an organisation during a volatile era will save time, money and morale. Teaching people how to unlock their inner resourcefulness and quickly create simple prototypes driven by an empathetic grasp of real market needs is what makes this such a powerful framework. I’m an MIT Sloan Certified Design Thinking expert and have successfully used the methodology for 20 years. I’ve trained hundreds of people from corporates, non-profits, associations and startups. Digital Skills & Leadership Training Other topics I’ve covered for global companies in aviation, energy, mining, retail, hospitality and beyond:

Digital Transformation


The ins and outs of emerging technology, what to know, what to look out for and what to avoid. Deep dives into AR/VR, Cloud, Blockchain and AI. What is the difference between digitisation, digitalisation and digital transformation; how do you interpret and leverage the hype cycle; what new skills do you need to acquire? This is a highly immersive course for high potentials and even seasoned leaders looking to get up to speed in a brave but challenging new world.

Digital Leadership


Understanding the power, potential and pitfalls of new technology is one thing, having the leadership skills to navigate teams through unprecedented change another. Learn to leverage the power of an iterative, lean approach; find out how to launch and and foster an innovation lab; drive experimentation and rapid prototyping using state of the art new tools.

Virtual Collaboration


We live in a global, distributed world and no matter how many offices reopen, having the skills and knowledge to effectively collaborate digitally is indispensable. What are the tools and techniques to do this most efficiently? When do you use collaboration tools like Miro and Notion, or when do you put on the VR headsets and dive headfirst into VR collaboration. The digital transformation course is hands-on, highly practical and delivers greater efficiency and teamwork, no matter where people are located.

Smart Coaching & Training works with 20 associates, in four continents speaking 12 languages and raised and working in a wide range of cultures. See our associates here. Marc is currently delivering training in Dubai and managing projects in Neom in Saudi Arabia

In conjunction with Professional Speakers Association (Spain) , SCT’s David Rigby will be present at the TEDx Marbella Spain event on June 9 focussing on Entrepreneurs

Written by David Rigby © 2023 Smart Coaching & Training Ltd

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What is clowning? Why is it useful?

What is clowning? Why is it useful?

by Smart Coaching & Training’s Caroline Dream

I am David Rigby, MD of Smart Coaching & Training. After learning Public Speaking, Radio Presenting, StandUp Comedy, learning about clowning proved to be very significant in both my training and my public speaking career. This is article is written by associate Caroline Dream, a bi-lingual associate of Smart Coaching & Training, who specialises in teaching Clowning for Professionals.

Making people laugh is much more complex and fascinating than it may seem at first glance. The red nose does not make people laugh, but the clown inside you. To discover your clown, it is important to be prepared to share who you are, with humility and humanity, knowing that this unique learning process has no foreseeable end, that is, there will always be something to learn, develop or perfect, as in all the arts.

Yes, everyone has a clown identity, a clown-id (Freud was too serious and hard working to notice it). Everyone can, with a little help, experience the clown self that abides within them, the self that just is; fun loving, fun and funny. In fact, the moment you put your organised, realistic, critical and moralizing self aside you will find them with ease. They’re waiting in the wings of your consciousness, somewhat impatiently, ready to grab the first opportunity you give them to be centre stage.


The problem is that until you’ve actually experienced your clown, even for the briefest moment, this will be hard to believe. Hard to believe too how addictive letting this crazy version of yourself run loose can be. Clowns breathe life and lightness into people. My students are usually amazed and delighted after an encounter with their more vibrant and creative self.  

What is YOUR clown like?

There’s a generalized idea that this clown identity is actually the inner child – but it’s not. Clowns are not children, though they have obviously not lost sight of childhood nor ceased to observe children. Clowns have incorporated aspects of both but they are not frozen in time, they’re quite capable of very adult attitudes, ideas and actions.

Each clown is unique and grows over time. If you asked any professional, “What is your clown like?”, they’d all tell you something completely personal. Clowns call themselves clowns because they recognise the art that is their playground but the individuals that are playing there each have there own unique charisma. If you have already experienced your clown you’ll know that it’s a lot like tuning yourself in to a specific frequency. When you’re receiving the signal you still feel like you, just with fewer complexes and more creativity.

Caroline Dream’s class in Germany in 2023
Caroline Dream’s books in Spanish. There are also ones in English

Why is it useful?

All the positive effects we experience originate in the following three core components of clowning: using humour, the clown state, and performing for an audience.

Using humour

The effects humour and laughter have on us have been well aired over the last decade. We now know that using our sense of humour regularly increases our capacity to: accept ourselves, communicate our feelings, relate with others, face tensions, adapt to new situations, deal with conflicts, have fun, and think positively.

Over the last century psychological theorists (such as Maslow, Freud, Allport, and Vaillant) have endorsed a style of humour that is non-hostile, philosophical, and self-accepting (such as clowns possess) and associated it with the development of a healthy or mature personality. Having a healthy sense of humour has been demonstrated to strengthen a person’s sense of trust, hope and valor, especially in moments of difficulty. In their article, “Humor and life stress: Antidote to adversity” (1986), H.M. Lefcourt and R.A. Martin – two authorities on the subject of humour – confirmed that using positive humour reinforces the value of acceptance and forgiveness of one’s self and others. And add that “the ability to sense and appreciate humour can buffer the mood disturbances that happen in response to negative life events.”Which goes to say that an inevitable result of having a healthy sense of humor is a greater emotional intelligence.

Also, moments of shared laughter have two valuable effects; they deactivate internal bias mechanisms and bring people together in the same shared space. The presence of humour disarms all resistance to growth or change.

The clown state

Without a doubt inhabiting the clown state brings out the best in us – we become authentic, honest, creative, humble, inventive, curious, joyful and free – and merely recognizing all these qualities we inherently possess is revitalizing. With the help of our clown we become connected – to ourselves, to others and to life, with appreciation and compassion.
Other benefits include:

  • a fresh perspective.
  • step out of comfort zone.
  • greater listening skills.
  • ability to use mistakes and failures to create success.
  • understanding how to overcome communication breakdowns.
  • greater crisis and stress management skills.
  • constant creative collaboration.
  • focus on finding innovative solutions to tricky problems.

Performing for an audience

By stepping out into the limelight, we reclaim our individual worthiness to be seen, heard and appreciated.

Knowing that you are funny, generous, idiotic, creative, talented, loving, etc. is one thing, but expressing and experiencing these aspects of yourself in front of others is something else altogether. Research has shown that both practical knowledge and long lasting memories are forged through powerful, emotional experiences. When you find yourself in front of an audience – exhibiting your personality, talents and ingenuity – you are refreshing and activating your understanding of who you are and what you’re capable of. 

Researchers who have studied the effects of practicing drama, theatre or a performance art on young people – Catterall & Chapleau (1997), Heath & Roach (1998), E. Fiske (1999), S. Ruppert & National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (2006) – have found an extraordinary number of benefits. They saw positive changes in the children’s: confidence, self-esteem, self-discipline, ability to organize and prioritize, self-reliance, poise, ability to converse with adults, empathy, compassion, analysis, problem solving, reasoning, abstract thinking skills, ability to conceptualize, and appreciation of culture and the arts.

Clowning, therefore, improves your physical, emotional, psychological, social, and academic capacities. Which of course, will increase your overall sense of well-being and help you no end on the path towards professional success.

Smart Coaching & Training works with 20 associates, in four continents speaking 12 languages and raised and working in a wide range of cultures. See our associates here. Caroline is currently delivering training in South America (in Spanish) and Germany, USA and Spain (in English and Spanish)

In conjunction with Professional Speakers Association (Spain) , SCT’s David Rigby will be present at the TEDx Marbella Spain event on June 9 focussing on Entrepreneurs

Written by David Rigby © 2023 Smart Coaching & Training Ltd

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Community and Communication in Diverse Organisations

Community and Communication in Diverse Organisations

I work with many organisations – companies, associations, voluntary groups which are internationally diverse, and all have cultural challenges when communicating. I run some of them.
These days it’s so easy to offend, for example religious groups, women’s groups, LGBTetc groups, old-age groups, snowflakes and white supremacists. So, if you are running communications between members of a group, do you also have to police it?    

Aspirant Middle Classes

Of course it depends who are in your groups.  Personally, to quote Groucho Marx, I wouldn’t belong to any group that would have me. In reality, I wouldn’t belong to any groups where the members are easily offended.  Being easily offended is the prerogative of the aspirant middle classes and the uneducated.  Maybe because I am much older, I find it difficult to be shocked or offended about anything and it’s a good place to be.  But what about the others?  My personal advice would be to take them on an educational journey where they too are not shocked or offended by anything.

Loosening and tightening conventions

Societal conventions had been loosening for a long time and now they are tightening again along different lines. In western worlds, many topics which were never openly talked about now are commonplace – such as being agnostic, gay, and others are no longer tolerated such as racial prejudice. But it depends on who you are and the society you are in. And now you have repression in USA where you cannot show the statue of David, talk about drag queens etc and books are mistakenly being re-written so as not to offend.

Adherence to norms and conventions

In a multinational group is it reasonable to expect its members to behave according to the ‘social norms’ each currently lives in? NO it isn’t. In an international organisation, knowledge, tolerance and understanding of others’ social norms is essential, but adherence to them is not. Fear of offending would mean no conversation of substance, no humour and nothing meaningful.

Gin and Tonic

I have worked within the Middle East, particularly teaching Diversity, and it is a minefield when teaching meaningful content. However, preparing young Kuwaitis for a visit to London, they have to accept and respect that they will be in the presence of Alcohol. Equally it was years before I would drink Gin&Tonic in from of my Emirati client in Abu Dhabi. This was my paranoia not his.

Nationalism at Jubilee 1977
Gay pride paraphernalia
Uncensored sculpture in Altea
Moors and Christians celebrations in Spain

The art of double-entendre

The use of ‘double-entendre’ (no English word for this), is endemic in British humour and language. I used it a lot when writing for Al Arabia News. It was a way of getting past the censors.  Equally, at least in the UK, swearing used to be fairly common in business meetings and before that it wasn’t, especially in mixed sex groups. 

Inclusivity and directness

Inclusivity will tell you not to stereotype on race, sex, age etc as most people do not fit the stereotypes. Directness in some cultures can shock, indirectness in other cultures can lead to lack in understanding.

You can chose to be offended

So, in the organisations I run and belong to, I contribute my British double-entendre humour, know about different religious and am open about my lifestyle which is not tolerated in some of the countries of my colleagues. I would police none of it, provided it had useful content. Keep the humour about being bald or fat or German coming- it’s a way of being educated about different cultures and a way to get to know each other. Its a gift to participants, giving them the chance to plagiarise humourous content to amuse their own followers. It’s up to others how they interpret, and if they chose to be offended, it’s their problem not mine.

Smart Coaching & Training works with 20 associates, in four continents speaking 12 languages and raised and working in a wide range of cultures. See our associates here

In conjunction with Professional Speakers Association (Spain) , SCT’s David Rigby will be present at the TEDx Marbella Spain event on June 9 focussing on Entrepreneurs

Written by David Rigby © 2023 Smart Coaching & Training Ltd

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Keeping tradition at Fallas Valencia

Keeping tradition at Fallas Valencia

The Fallas in Valencia, Spain is an annual event which lasts three weeks with a history of at least 150 years.   

Fireworks and Flames

Basically a montage of paper mache cartoon-like figures reaching maybe 15 metres, often lampooning politicians, will be positioned at many of the intersections of streets in the middle of the road. These are accompanied by very loud fireworks set off by the people at frequent intervals throughout the city until well after midnight.

Mascletas

At pre-arranged times, several times a day, officially organised ‘mascletas’, happen where many loud fireworks are set off at prearranged times. These are heard by  hundreds of people in the streets as it’s not possible to see unless you waited two hours in the street. Late on the last Sunday all the mannequins are burnt. I have never seen so many people crammed together in good spirits and apart from predictable thefts and out of control fires there are very few incidents. 

Group Behaviours

What is so interesting is the behaviour of the people. You can see the people, mainly young women in traditional dress giving flowers at the statue of the virgin, clearly honoured and clearly believing. People of all ages buy and set off loud fireworks in the middle of the pavement or road with complaints.

Teaching the Children

The children from the age of 8 go out with little wooden boxes full of fireworks and just set them off without incident in the middle of the street and have great fun. How? Because they are taught by their peers and parents how to do it. I set light to my first fireworks since I was 15.

Overcoming personal fears

The last time I lit a firework I was 12 years old. So I was very definitely out of my comfort zone when it came to lighting and holding live fireworks squirting into the air or knowing which ones to light and throw into the distance awaiting a loud bang.

Burning the Fallas art midnight
Typically on every street junction
the fireworks in place for burning- each makes a loud bang
everything gets burnt

Health and Safety

I hate to think what the health and safety mafia in UK or UAE or USA would think of this. Like with responsible drinking, the Spanish teach their children to do apparently dangerous things safely from an early age. Would that the world would follow.

Sunday night – the great burning – and its all over


By Sunday night it’s all over and by Monday morning all is cleared and you would get a hefty fine for setting off your fireworks past that Sunday midnight. The government, the local businesses and the people spend a lot of money on this. It brings international and local tourist money and builds community and maintains tradition. Well done Valencia and the Fallas. Benefits to Smart Coaching & Training is observing and taking part in cultural events

Smart Coaching & Training works with 20 associates, in four continents speaking 12 languages and raised and working in a wide range of cultures. See our associates here

In conjunction with Professional Speakers Association (Spain) , SCT’s David Rigby will be present at the TEDx Marbella Spain event on June 9 focussing on Entrepreneurs

Written by David Rigby © 2023 Smart Coaching & Training Ltd

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Forget ‘Lived Experience’: Diversity + Entrepreneurs = more money

Forget ‘Lived Experience’: Diversity + Entrepreneurs = more money

Dancing alone or just with your mates

Dancing on your own or just with your mates is the perfect way to get your truth confirmed, and to re-enforce your lived experience. If you are a startup and just want customers like you that’s a great way to start a business. However:

I often hear it said that ““Diversity and Inclusion” is for big business. So, as an entrepreneur it doesn’t affect me”. In the UK, you need to have a diversity policy to apply for government work, though I do not think they care whether or not you implement it. No amount of your truth through ‘lived experience ‘ will enable you to disregard the wisdom of the many , so as an entrepreneur use others’ diverse lived experience. It is essential that you do.

Dancing with others

Featured in the pictures is Jorge. He is from Cuba, he is gay, and he is young. He teaches posture and dancing – samba, bachata etc. He is in Spain. His clients are principally older, straight, white women from Sweden (he speaks the language and has lived there), England (he is learning the language), Netherlands, Norway and Spain (native language). The competition is tough, there are many dancing teachers. He has taken advice on how his clients behave when these ex-pats are in Spain. This is not the same as when they are in their native countries. Not only his he an expert dancer, he as learnt interculturality from people totally different from himself, particularly recognising that dancing is a contact sport with different rules in different countries.

when dancing: knowing how to touch without offence
teaching multiple nationalities with confidence

Chinese Entrepreneurs

Across the world, immigrants have opened restaurants. Among the Chinese communities, some of the restauranteurs keep to authentic Chinese food and thus the clientele is the local Chinese and those who appreciate it. Others sanitise the food, so it is attractive to the host community, while others recognise that it’s not just the food that is important but also the way you treat the clients. They understand that throwing the food on the table on cracked plates may be exotic but it is not the way to build a business with international or multi-ethnic clients. A Chinese family business is exactly that, so the likelihood is that the workers are only Chinese. But those who want to grow the business need to know the cultural preferences of the non-Chinese people they are surrounded by. In Australia the difference between ‘local’ Chinese in Chinatown and those in the nearby international areas is astonishing. The clients can choose ‘ethnic’ or sanitised.

Greeks, Italians, Turkish, Indians, Scandinavians

Then there are the complications of Italians running Greek restaurants. Immediate culture clash. Were they quick enough off the mark when ‘Turkish’ coffee suddenly became ‘Greek’ coffee in the 1970s?  In the costal towns of Spain, the Nepalese produce Indian Curry for the other expats such as Brits and Scandinavians as the local Spanish don’t like it. They have to understand many cultures.

Who are your target customers?

From the get go, an entrepreneur or start-up needs to decide who his/her customers are going to be. If they are exactly like him/her – fine, but that excludes 90% of the population.  If a company requires technology, if it builds a website for locals, then it is likely to write its text in one language, use one currency and wont choose a more expensive  dotcom web address to demonstrate internationalness. It’s very difficult to change your website suffix, add new languages and currencies later. So, from day one, consider who you want your customers to be, and build for different currencies and languages.

People NOT like you

People like you can be from your country but also from everywhere else. They can be different ages, sexes, sexualities, races and still be exactly like you.  And if you employ “people like you”, or even seek their advice, the chances are that they will confirm your prejudices, meaning that you will gear your sales to only “people like you”.  The consequence being that you will miss out on a huge number of opportunities because of your inbuilt bias.  I recall a greeting card vendor who only retailed cards they personally liked – and went out of business not knowing why.

Worldview and Cognitive Diversity

We are all people who sometimes “do the right thing” or “preserve the family regardless of the individual preferences in it” or “seek power”. You will have behaviours which enforce your preferences. The more different your colleagues are from you in these categories, the more likely you are to attract a broader clientele. 

Some sales persons start with “Imagine how it would feel if you bought …”.  Some people like to imagine, for others it’s a turn off.  Some people like lots of technical details, others like high-level benefits. Do you really need to know how your car works?  If you are a salesperson with an engineering background, you may insist on telling potential buyers of a car’s technical characteristics and hence turn off 50% of them.   A favourite line of a nearby real estate agent is “Wake up and smell the coffee…” again tapping into the ‘emotional’ folks, and turning off the non-emotional or logical  folks – and those who don’t like coffee.

Think BIG from the start

As an entrepreneur you need to think big from the start, to maximise sales opportunities. So, employ, or take advice from people who are completely different from you, not your mates at the bar, the gym or golf club. Choose the kind of advisors who are nothing like you but are like the customers you want to attract, where with your personality and prejudices you have no hope of luring them in.

Read more here

Smart Coaching & Training works with 20 associates, in four continents speaking 11 languages and raised and working in a wide range of cultures. We can certainly come up with people exactly like you but you would be better working with the exact opposite. See our associates here

In conjunction with Professional Speakers Association (Spain) , SCT’s David Rigby will be present at the TEDx Marbella event on June 9 focussing on Entrepreneurs

Written by David Rigby © 2023 Smart Coaching & Training Ltd

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