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Aman Zaidi
Leadership & Talent Development | Organisational Development | Diversity & Inclusion | Experiential Education and Training | Business Storytelling | Executive & Career Transition Coaching | Wellbeing | TEDx speaker
Aman Zaidi is a professional in the field of leadership development, executive coaching, and talent management based in Lisbon, Portugal.1 He is the founder of Aman Zaidi Unipessoal LDA, a company that specializes in these areas.1
Professional Background
Aman has a background in education and organizational development. He focuses on:
- Leadership and talent development
- Organizational development
- Diversity and inclusion initiatives8
Areas of Expertise
Aman's work encompasses several key areas:
Executive Coaching:: He provides coaching services to help leaders improve their skills and effectiveness.
Facilitation:: Aman facilitates workshops and training sessions, particularly in areas such as:
- Teacher training for educator excellence
- Complex communication skills to reduce stress in meetings and presentations4
Experiential Education:: He is involved in experiential education initiatives and has connections to organizations like AEE (Association for Experiential Education).6
Recent Activities and Interests
Aman is active on LinkedIn, sharing insights and experiences related to his work:
- He has recently been involved in projects in Portugal, indicating a possible expansion or relocation of his professional activities.3
- Aman is an advocate for diversity and inclusion, addressing challenges in this field.5
- He shows interest in history, culture, and global perspectives, often relating these to his professional work.7
Personal Growth
In late 2023, Aman experienced what he described as a "massively eye-opening" period that he believes may have irreversibly altered his worldview.2 This suggests that he is committed to personal growth and integrating new perspectives into his professional practice.
Aman Zaidi appears to be a multifaceted professional who combines expertise in leadership development with a strong interest in cultural understanding and personal growth, applying these elements to his work as a founder, executive coach, and facilitator.
Highlights
If you are going to incorporate activities into your workshops, you better have a high safety meter!
As I mentioned earlier, I've been fond of climbing hills and walls since I was a kid. On one of my evening walks in Lisbon, I spotted a climbing wall and instantly wanted to scale it. Since I didn't have any equipment on me, I climbed up to a height of about 6 feet before deciding against going any further. I sent a video of my climb to Vishwas Parchure, who taught me experiential education, and his first reaction was, "Where's the rope?"
I assured him that I did not venture too high. He informed me that if I am climbing without equipment I should only go sideways, not vertical, and my feet should not be any higher than 24 inches off the ground.
So the next time I went to the wall, I dutifully climbed only sideways. At a particularly tricky bend around the wall, I lost my grip and fell. But because I was following my teacher's advice, I only fell a distance of two feet and was not hurt.
And because I was not hurt, I still possess the ability and the desire to climb again! If I am to get better at this, I must possess the ability and desire to do it repeatedly. Paying attention to the safety of participants ensures that they can keep trying.
Physical safety is one aspect of it. Even if we are in a classroom / meeting room with our feet firmly on the ground, we can be made to feel unsafe emotionally, intellectually or socially. When I was part of Vishwas' course, the very first things he taught us were these 4 types of safety which we must strive to create in the learning environment.
If you get yourself to the AEE-APAC annual conference on Experiential Education in Pune from 2nd - 6th October 2024, you will have the chance to meet Vishwas and to attend masterclasses and workshops facilitated by top experts from around the globe.
You will be able to experience, first hand, how safety is created and how massively it contributes to learning.
Check out the links in the first comment for registration and more information.
#ExperientialEducation #AEE #AEEAPAC .
Childhood was filled with adventure. I grew up surrounded by the Aravalis and weekends were often spent climbing up a hill. When one route became too easy, I would look for routes that were more difficult to climb.
And when we were not doing that, we would climb up the drainpipe to the roof and leap off the concrete slab on top of the window.
Adulthood became about sitting in an A/C office, eyes glued to a screen and butt glued to a chair most of the time. Meetings and most training sessions also entailed sitting in chairs.
Then I stumbled upon the field of Experiential Education, which included everything from using cups, cards, newspapers or Lego activities in classrooms to rappelling down cliffs in the outdoors. I felt, like many other participants do, that I had connected with lost parts of myself! These activities reminded me of the power of hands-on learning and how it can transform our lives, both personally and professionally.
Over the years, experiential education has helped me hone my craft as an educator, but also taken me on learning expeditions that involved wall climbing, river rafting and hiking in the lesser Himalayas. For these experiences and for the skills I built, I remain indebted to the field and to my teachers.
The good news is that an Association of Experiential Education (AEE) exists! It aims to present the collective resources and knowledge to elevate and advocate support for the expansion of experiential education. To this end, AEE-APAC is organising their annual conference in Pune from 2nd - 6th October 2024.
Experts and practitioners from all around the world will gather to run masterclasses or to attend them during these 5 days. There will be a wealth of wisdom to take away from the conference!
In case you wish to elevate your craft as an educator / learning & development practitioner, I would urge you to attend. Registration and other links can be found in the first comment👇.
#ExperientialEducation #AEE #AEEAPAC
