Anastasios Stavropoulos, Self Leadership and Mindfulness Coach
Tassos Stavropoulos is a certified professional self-leadership and mindfulness coach. Hailing from a Mechanical Engineering background and having worked in the corporate sector for around 22 years, he had a journey and self-reflection in the years 2019 and 2020.
Podcast
Overview
In today’s time and age, we are constantly thinking. Mostly, these thoughts clutter our brain, leaving no space to process each of those thoughts. And, we have forgotten how to rest and not think for some time in a day. What is the result? Constant stress and lack of clarity.
With the cluttered mind, it becomes difficult to be mindful of our thoughts and actions, the effect of which is seen in our daily dealings with people and situations.
The ray of hope is people realizing the importance of being mindful and calm. However, we do not possess the wisdom and required action training to do so. This is where the role of a mindfulness coach comes to play.
Today, we have one such coach, who left his corporate career as he felt increasingly dissatisfied despite achieving the explicit successful roles in his career.
About Tassos Stavropoulos
Tassos Stavropoulos is a certified professional self-leadership and mindfulness coach. Hailing from a Mechanical Engineering background and having worked in the corporate sector for around 22 years, he had a journey and self-reflection in the years 2019 and 2020.
As he rediscovered his passions, he followed the path to enlighten many others who need coaching in different phases of life.
DISCUSSION
Tassos recalls his journey of a successful career in the corporate sector for around 22 years. But in 2019, he found himself to be not his authentic self.
He shares a line from the film, Forrest Gump, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get.”
He came across an ICF coaching program in Greece and realized that it might be his calling to become calm again. And thus, he started his journey to become a certified coach.
Tassos credits the increasing trend of people getting coaching to the rapidly changing world around us. He says, “We as people gravitate towards what is familiar. But, we are living in a constantly changing world. With the pandemic, everything that was normal ceased to exist.”
He feels it is important to be agile and adaptive to change. He further adds, “One needs to be able to learn and unlearn to get clarity in rapid change and distractions.”
Tassos also feels happy that the corporate workspaces are seeing a shift from the command and control model to more diverse and inclusion models.
Coaching vs. Mentoring
Tassos explains a thin line of difference between coaching and mentoring, though their main objective remains the same. Both aim in encouraging individuals and maximizing their potential.
He explains, “A mentor provides guidance and wisdom, where he is seen to be an expert. However, in coaching, every human is considered unique and expert in life.”
Tassos also delved deep into the average contract between a coach and a coachee, which usually lasts up to 12 sessions, but has several factors as:
- Need of clients
- The chemistry between coach and coachee
- Type of coaching
The chemistry between Coach and Coachee
In the business of coaching, both parties depend on each other. Coachee depends on the coach, to get her/his needs and dilemmas sorted.
The coach usually looks for ready-to-learn coachees, to satisfy their internal needs to help people grow.
As a coach, Tassos looks at the motivation for coaching in his potential coaches. He says, “You need to have an open mindset to learn. If you don’t want to learn and involve, it is a waste of investment of money and time.”
However, it is equally important for a coach to self-evaluate so that he can be the right coach for his coachee. Tassos delves deeper into the topic, “A good coach should have a genuine care and interest in coachee’s life and problems. He has to divorce from his thoughts to be fully present with the coachee.”
He emphasizes the need of the coach to enable the coachee to be his/her authentic self.
Tassos also talks of some challenges that he faces as a coach.
He says, “Through our life, we are influenced by parents, teachers, friends, and society. Our voice is eventually not ours. It is the voice of our experiences and fear.”
As a coach, one needs to distance himself from these thoughts.
More About Tassos
Tassos has also been a contributing author to a bestseller, “Visionary Male Leaders” in 2021. He has authored a chapter, “Leading With Empathy: How To Become the Leader of Your Life.”
The chapter is based on his personal experience of a difficult professional phase. Tassos mentioned how he was becoming a leader he didn’t want to become, which was pushing the limits of his teams all the time.
And on one good day, he had a wake-up call and decided to become more observant and calm.
Profile
Tasos was born on December 4th, 1915 in Thana Tripolis, Greece. Following his long-time service during the Second World War, Tasos immigrated to Canada in 1951.
Tasos was recognized and especially proud of his family business, the Chimney Restaurant. Operating from 1968, it was enjoyed by many near and far for over 20 years, and is still remembered today.
He was a faithful member of the Greek Orthodox Church and an avid supporter of the Greek Community. Tasos later retired and enjoyed life with his family and friends.
