Welcome to the Corvus Effect, where we take you behind the scenes to explore integrated self leadership and help ambitious family men build lasting legacies for themselves, their tribe, and their community. I'm Scott Raven, and together we'll discover how successful leaders master delicate balance of career advancement, personal health, financial growth, and meaningful relationships.

Get ready to soar.

 And hello and welcome to another episode of The Corvus Effect. I'm Scott, and today we are joined by Chris Marsh, a COO, and executive coach, whose journey has taken him across many countries and three continents. From Australia to the UK to Canada, and now embarking on a new adventure back in Sydney, Chris is a phenomenal being with a global background, many coaching certifications, his success framework.

And recognition as a top leadership coach with many media features, all in the realm of transformational leadership. So Chris, welcome to the podcast and thank you for being here, man.

Thank you so much. What a warm welcome. It's nice to hear that back. Don't really hear that very often.

You know, I think it's a case that we forget how much. That we have grown from our roots until somebody actually tells us what it is. And that's actually a great place to start with your journey, taking you all the way back to Australia, early life. And your decision to move abroad. So tell me about that because this occurred very early on.

Yeah. So for me, I grew up in Australia, born and raised Sydney, Australia, and then had big dreams to play professional basketball out of school. Wasn't really good at school at all. I just wasn't focused. What didn't have the emotional intelligence. I was too busy focused on my hoop dreams. And then when that fizzled out, It's pretty much a rite of passage for most Australians to live in the UK and one of my good friend's sisters had lived in the UK and at that point I was kind of figuring things out as you do in your early 20s.

I hadn't really traveled too much. I think I'd been overseas once at that point, limited travel. And I just made the decision. Me and my good friends in 2005 with a backpack. I remember just literally having a backpack on and I think I had a suit for interviews, maybe some bed sheets.

So you literally backpacked across Europe, it is not just a phrase, it can actually exist.

I went there with the mindset of I'm truly going to embrace this working holiday. The first job that comes my way, I'm going to take it. And I did, and it was a launching pad of an incredible two years of living, exploring, traveling through Europe, which really was the catapult for everything that's taken me up to today.

You know, it's funny because one of the things that we talked about offline before the podcast was how the blending of so many different cultures that you've been a part of has contributed so much to your career evolution. I'd love you to elaborate on that.

Yeah, I've been very fortunate to live in different places. And I just did it because I was inspired by travel. It came back to travel. As I mentioned previously, the UK was following in the footsteps of a good friend's sister. So we did that with no intentions, but to have a good time. And then at the end of the two years living in the UK, I had managed to work my way up into a leadership role.

I really loved my time there and it was just so exciting. And I really felt that passion for travel. And when I moved back to Australia, I was like, where can I go to next? And Vancouver, British Columbia was always voted one of the best cities in the world. So I was like, all right, got to go there.

I will say that, we are recording, this in, the, fall here in the States. So truth be told, I think I'd rather be in Australia as the summertime is coming around. I'll put it that way.

I would agree with you as well. But yeah, I went back to Vancouver. I moved to Vancouver. I think I booked a one way within six to nine months. July 2007. The goal was again, just to go for two years. And as, as life has it, Scott, as you know, two years turned into four years, four years turned into six years, and I'd worked into some good senior leadership roles in the travel industry.

I'd been working with Flight Center Travel Group by I think four, what was that? Probably eight or nine years at that point. I went to the leadership team at the time and said, can I stay? And they said, yeah, we'll sponsor you. And then became a permanent resident and then ended up moving. Yeah. Ended up moving out to Toronto in 2017.

There you go.

It's been quite the journey.

And you know, one of the things that you have to talk about is how that affiliation with travel in many different respects has helped shape your leadership philosophy. I'd love to hear more about that.

Yeah. I think the thing about leadership is it's about people at the end of the day. One of the beautiful things about traveling is that you immerse yourself in different cultures. You get to. Feel what it feels like to live there and be there. And I think that's such a powerful thing.

And I've been blessed to be able to do it a couple of times now. It's not an easy thing, but with that travel piece, there's so many amazing cultures out there and seeing how people live and operate differently. Western versus Eastern society and how different mindsets with things and material things in life as well, and the different ways that people approach not only life, but also business as well.

So I think I've got a well rounded compass of that due to the experience that I've had, which I'm extremely grateful for.

Do you think that also applies to that kind of growth versus comfort mindset? Wife and I were traveling before I had kids. And there would be certain locations, mainly in mainland Europe, where we felt completely at ease. And then, we were privileged to have the ability to travel to Cairo and go see the pyramids.

But the moment that I stepped out at Cairo airport, I had every single antenna up in terms of I am well past my comfort zone here.

Yeah, I think if you want to get uncomfortable, move to another city within your country that you're currently located or move to the other side of the world, like I did when we moved to the UK, that is hard. It is challenging. I left a serious relationship. I left my family for the first time and it really helped me grow into become an adult.

And then from there just made everything else feel a lot more comfortable when other people would feel that it would be really uncomfortable. So I think naturally as you go through things, it's, Like anything, you get the reps, you feel more comfortable. So I've moved multiple times and as you know, I'm about to move back to Australia as well.

I'm moving back again to the other side of the world, which is home of course, but I haven't lived in Australia since 2000 and yeah, 2008 so it just, it gets harder to do that, especially as you get older. But if you want to learn a lot about yourself, Go travel, go move away from where you grew up.

Well, I'm certainly, going to hear about the wonderful homecoming 15 years in the making. And I think 1 of the things that you have to talk about is how. Putting yourself in different situations helps you become more adaptable, and that is a critical element of modern leadership, which I know is a big part of your success framework, the acronym that you have.

So I'd love to go a little bit deeper into that.

Yeah. So I think everyone wants to have some level of success. The success framework is something that I've naturally figured out through coaching over the last couple of years. And I use that as a tool, to really set clear goals, get an understanding, making sure that you got measurements around those things, whether it be business and life, I mainly focus on.

Leadership and executive, but it's in all areas of your life that you're hoping to reach your full potential. That's the beautiful thing about coaching. So really with the success framework, it gives you clear indicators from where you start to where you finish. And that's what I really work on when I'm working with my clients and work with organizations as well, because change takes time.

It doesn't just happen. It takes months. It can take years in some instances as well. And you as a coach, you're really just the guides to help bring them along on that journey.

And I would assume that part of the going to the travel element is how you're now able to interleave that the decisions and journeys, if they don't line up with the results that you expected. That's not necessarily a bad thing. We've all had. Those wonderful trips that we've planned to the nines and we go out and then we come back and we're like, yeah, that wasn't the greatest trip.

But then you do something completely off the cuff and left with wonderful lasting memories.

That's the beauty of travel, right? Sometimes you can just go there and depending on the audience is listening to this. Some people may be the type of traveler where you go there, you gotta have everything planned from day one to day twelve or you can just arrive into a city and just explore.

It just depends on your comfort levels. I'm more of the let's go there. Have a few things planned and then just go and explore the city and enjoy that just let it come to you. And that's the beautiful thing. I have so many incredible stories of just meeting people out for drinks and dinner and then invited me out to join them the next day.

And that's the beauty of travel. It just gives me shivers thinking about it. Such a beautiful thing.

And we've talked about those senior leaders in companies who they got there because they were able to deal with some level of uncomfortability. They have to rely on teams. They have to rely on external forces in order for them to accomplish that, which they want, but everybody's human. We still want a certain level of control.

In terms of how we lead ourselves and our organizations, talk to me in terms of how you explore that journey with the people that you work with.

Look, if I remember when I first started out as a leader, I wasn't a great leader to, to be fair. I think early on, you think leadership is about having the answers. You've got to know everything. That isn't further from the truth

correct.

You just got to really listen to people and they will tell you your responsibility is people.

You're a leader. And if you do not love people and helping them, you shouldn't be a leader. I'm going to call that out right now. You have, you have to enjoy people. You have to be about helping them win. That's what leadership is about. Adaptability is huge in the modern workplace.

So many things are changing. We've gone through pandemic, then we've gone through AI. These are all massive changes that we've seen. Communication is a big piece as well. Emotional intelligence. There's so much that goes into leadership. And I think the best leaders recognize that the moment you stop learning as a leader is the moment you stop growing as a leader.

And you always need to be open to everything that comes your way because the leadership journey never stops.

And you know, one thing that I know you're a big proponent of, is integrated Life leadership that your profession is one role that you play amongst many roles. And I can only imagine a lot of discussions that you are having with your clientele is how they may be wonderful leaders in the workplace.

But home life, not so much.

Yeah, it's interesting, right? When you think about it, we have this persona or the certain way that we feel we should act when it comes to work. And I'm guilty of this as well. On my own leadership journey, you feel you've got to be this certain type of person, you've got to set the tone. But really, we've really seen this shift with leadership as well with being more authentic, be the person you are on the weekend.

Don't wait till the weekend to expose yourself and be comfortable with yourself. Carrying that weight of not being the person that you are is really, really heavy. Lean into it and just be you, Scott.

I could not agree with you more. Certainly one of the things when I found my authentic voice through avenues like this podcast, I certainly felt like I was being a better leader and another part of it to play into exactly what you're talking about was leaning into my kind nature. Not feeling like I had to.

Put up an affront in terms of there's me as a person and there's me as a professional. And I know you have some very strong feelings in terms of why kindness matters in the professional arena.

Kindness is the only way forward. I truly believe that kindness, we need more kindness in the workplace. I speak about this a lot. In leadership, I post a lot of content around this as well. One of the first podcasts I ever spoke on was about how to lead with kindness. And I think again, coming back to your leading people and the simple thing that I've always thought of is how would you want to be treated if you're in that person's shoes?

Yes. The gold rule and the platinum rule for that matter, just carry so much weight in this world. I would love to hear a story in terms of how kindness ruled the day, either. Somebody you're working with or maybe in your own life.

I just tried, well, let me take it a step back. See, I grew, I was really close with my grandmother growing up. My dad and I weren't close. My mom and dad split up when I was one. I never remember them being together. My dad lived in Asia, lived in Japan and Philippines for a long period of time. So my grandmother was a really strong role model in my life growing up.

And my grandmother was the kindest, most beautiful person that I've ever met. And I think a lot of what makes me who I am today. Is because of my beautiful Nana, rest in peace. And, Really, that's, that's where it comes from. And I think again, I was, I always try to come back to the human level and I can give you an example.

Anytime that I move into a new leadership role, I don't come out of the gates until everyone, this is what I'm going to change. This is what's going to happen. I don't bark orders. What I want to do is sit down with every single person that I have the privilege to lead and listen to them. Tell me about your life.

What motivates you? What gets,

That's awesome.

What do you enjoy doing? Why are you still here? Tell me about that. Tell me about your family. Tell me about the little things. And then once you show that you're just a human being first versus this leader, because naturally people are scared of people who have titles.

That's just. the way it is in business and society. If you are a C. O. O. or a director of operations, you're naturally going to have this standoffish from people, most likely in most cases. So if you can lead with that kindness and connect and show that you're available to them, that's what I like to do.

Just simple, get to know people first.

I especially love the first 30 days in terms of you are there to listen you were there to learn You are not there to come down from up on high and make decrees with your new title and power so You What you just said in terms of forming those connections speaks greatly with me, not only from the standpoint of all the success that you've had as a professional,

but oftentimes. When men do not have that strong father figure in their life, that this is something which is a struggle for them in order to really make part of their DNA. And I know you had a wonderful influence in your grandmother. But at the same time, I guess when we imagined that you had some challenges in terms of, I need a male in my life.

A hundred percent. And I was fortunate to have some good role models when I moved into basketball. Basketball was my life and I had some fantastic role models. My basketball coach, Nick Bowditch, who's a dear friend of mine to this day. He's a mentor to me. He's 10 years older than me and he was always someone that I looked up to from that age.

I was 15 and Just was that father figure to me to really help me kind of through that tough adolescent time as well. You might, you do stupid things. You're a kid, right? My dad came around when I was 15 and so forth and helped me navigate to be fair. But as I got older, I had Nick who was fantastic as well.

So I did end up having some more father figures as I navigated through those challenging adolescent times as well.

I'm hearing this as I have a young teenage boy as well, you know, about to get into that phase, I'm sure. So you're preaching to the choir. One of the things that I find is beautiful about that and just bringing your entire journey together is you have all of these super strong connections.

across many different environments, many different cultures, each with its own set of rules for lack of better term. And I think one thing that my listeners really love to learn from you is what is it within your DNA that allowed that to happen?

It's a great question. I think I naturally have a gift to be able to connect with people. And I think it just truly, I know some people were like, how do you connect with someone? I don't want to just give a stock answer. I think it's really important to, if you just generally listen to people, and I know that seems so simple, but if you just generally listen and care about people and what they have to say, be interested in what they're telling you, that will build a connection, build in the rapport and just.

Just be kind and try and be a good human. I think it's, we're always looking for the secret sauce or these different types of ways to approach things. But I think it really just comes back to the, human connection is so key. And we're always in a rush sometimes just really slow down, take in life and have a conversation with people and get to know them.

And I would assume that empathy is a big part of that in terms of being able to meet them in some sort of common ground. You don't have to agree with everything,

no.

To be able to meet them at a common place.

Yeah, and I think that's part of the struggles that we've had with all the different things we've been through recently, we've lost the ability for conflict. Conflict is good and have the ability to meet people halfway, as you said, and understand what they're going through.

We don't know what people are going through as well. And that's why it's always important to choose kindness because Your simple gesture, Scott, of seeing someone at the Starbucks or your coffee, holding the door open for someone, wishing them a nice day or having a conversation with the cashier, you have that impact every single day just by looking up and paying attention.

Absolutely. And thinking to your future. We're not going to get you to Sydney quite yet. We know that

Close, it's coming.

There is the tour of Asia, which is coming in between. And I can only imagine that you are doing some reps in your head in terms of how to prepare for that time in your life, particularly as.

You have had such a strong run as a professional, but now you're going through a period where the quote unquote definition of success is different. It is to absorb a culture. It is to enjoy a period of time where you're immersed in something completely different.

Yeah, I can't remember the last time I had two months off. I'm going to embrace it for what it is. I can assure you by the time I hit Australia in April that I'll be ready to work. I'll be excited. I'll be rejuvenated. However, doing this trip is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

And you and I spoke about this offline, getting to go to Thailand, which I've been to before. I've got a buddy there who I used to work in London with and then I'm over to Vietnam. I've never been can't wait to check out the culture, the food. The history there as well.

And then over to the Philippines, which my dad lived there, but Filipino family. So it feels like a little bit of going home heritage. I want to see that culture. And then we're going over to Bali as well, which I've never been to beautiful part of the world. So it's going to be an incredible time just to take it all in.

That's what it's really about. And that's what life is about. We're coming back to travel here full circle, but that's just so enriching.

Absolutely, and I think one thing which is interesting in that upcoming adventure, which will be phenomenal for you, is that you hear this work life balance concept that's bandied around. I do not believe in work life balance. I believe in work life integration. I believe that you integrate across all the different roles and that sometimes different roles are more important than others at different periods of your life.

And I'm curious as you are going to go through this phase where your role as a professional. Is going to get decreased for a period of time to focus on something very personal to you and then be able to switch back to go the other way. How in your mind have you come to peace? With this road map that you are about to go on

First, I want to answer the first part of that around work life balance. It's a word that's thrown around a lot as well. I really like work life harmony because you've got to harmonize it. So I think we're really on the same page when it comes to that as well. When it comes to that, you've got to feel comfortable with the integration.

I think integration is a great word as well. For the second piece, I think it's just worked out beautifully. The timing is everything in life. And, I'm privileged to be in this position where I can take off two months of work. I'm finally coming home after 15 and a half years. It'll be at that point of living in Canada, which is incredible.

It's bittersweet for me in a lot of ways. I don't want to leave, but it feels like the right

Canada is home,

Canada,

I wasn't born in Atlanta, but I've lived here almost 20 years Atlanta is home.

Yeah. So it feels like everything's lined up really well. And now we're sitting in November here, the fall in North America, where they're coming up really quickly. I just feel that I'm really at peace with it. I'm really going to use this time to really map out what that next piece looks like in Australia.

Ultimately, I want to get to coaching, writing, speaking full time. So I think it's just a moment to really take it all in. Embrace it for what it is.

Yes, and one of the things that you and I chatted about offline, which I know is very important to you is maintain the strong ties to your Canadian people that you've developed these last 15 years. And I'd be curious, what are some of the ways that you're thinking about making sure that you keep those strong ties?

Yeah, it's a tough one. The time difference between Australia and Canada is 17 hours. So as we're getting up here in Canada, they're going to sleep and vice versa in the evening. I think the world is so connected today. I think I'd just be picking up the phone a lot more.

FaceTime, make sure I stay connected through fantasy football, of course, which I'll be connected with my close friends as well. I'm not doing too well this year. Hopefully I can turn it around.

Uh, you know what you and I could talk off a lot. I'm about to go to 73 this year. So there you go.

Yeah, I think it's just making that time. I've made sure to keep in touch with a lot of friends that I have back home in Australia and my family, of course, as well. Whenever people come to mind, I just make sure to pick up the phone and give them a call or just send them a voice note saying, I'm thinking of you.

Okay. Love you. Hope everything's going well. Let's catch up soon. Give me give me an update from your end type scenario.

Absolutely. And you know, when you do finally get back to Sydney and part of what you've told me is that this is an appropriate time for you to start thinking about family, to start thinking about how to have a completely different set of wonderful new experiences and how what you have gone through up to today will help influence that new unknown world for you.

Yeah, I know I'm sure you can speak to this and all the audiences out there your life completely changes as soon as you have kids

I still remember the first day that I saw my son. Like, okay, my life changed.

so I'm ready for that. I think, and my partner Zoe as well, we've talked about it. It comes back to really timing and where we see the best place to raise children.

We need to be close to family. Either my family in Australia or her family back here in Toronto. We will see where we're fortunate to be able to live in two amazing countries. So we don't take that for granted, but I've had a long time thinking about waiting for the family side of things. And I know once I get to that place, I'm going to be a great father.

I wasn't fortunate to have a father around for at least the first 15 years of my life, which is a hugely important stage of your life. So I know once I get to that position, I will love whoever comes in front of me.

I'd love to, as we begin to wrap up, and I always. Reference, the last lecture by Randy Posh and how he wrote a wonderful book as he was coming to the end of his life and he talked about the head fake and that his final head fake was this book was written for my kids. So let's fast forward the clock, say 10 years from now ? Your kids are old enough to hear this recording and to be able to understand what are the things you want them to take away.

what a profound question.

Great question. I think the most important thing is that I was present. I think I heard it right there, to be present. And that I was a good, kind person. I think at the end of the day, when you strip it all down, the success, the money, what are you going to be remembered for? And if I leave a legacy for my children, and if they listen to this, I just want them to know how much I appreciate them and how grateful I am to have kids at that point.

And that I was someone who cared about people and wanted people to become the best version of themselves. It's really something I would stand behind.

That is something so aspirational and phenomenal and if anybody in my audience wants to be able to reach out to you and to be able to learn more about your story and what you do, obviously, after the travels. Not before the travels, after the travels, right? How can they do that?

They can reach out to me on LinkedIn. I post three to four times a week. I mostly write about leadership and a little bit about personal growth. You can also reach me at chrismarchcoaching. com as well. Feel free to reach out via LinkedIn. Always looking to connect with. And to hear what you're up to and see if I can help you on your journey in any way possible.

And another big thing that you have is your newsletter that people can subscribe to and get episodic wisdom from you. Is that right?

That's correct. Yeah, at the start of this year as I started posting on LinkedIn more and more often, I decided to post a newsletter which is called The Leading Edge, which is exactly that. With leadership, it's complex. My goal really is to help people be on the leading edge of leadership. And I just share tips and tricks through my own leadership and what I see in my clients as well.

Excellent. And we'll make sure when we put this episode up that. All the links to your LinkedIn, the leading edge, et cetera, are all there. So that if you are listening to this, it will be one stop shop to connect with all of that. Chris, any final thoughts or words before we close down this episode?

No, I just wanted to say thank you for the opportunity to be on the podcast and for anyone that is listening. Scott and I met this year via LinkedIn. This is the amazing opportunity when you're open to things and connecting with people as well. Scott opened up The opportunity for us to meet. And here we are sitting down today and having a conversation.

It just goes to show you what is possible out there. So Scott, thank you so much for your time.

Oh, thank you. I mean, this has been a phenomenal conversation. Authentic and genuine conversation goes a long way in life. This has certainly been time well spent. And to all of my listeners, if you did enjoy this episode, if there are any people who you feel would benefit from this, please have them check out the course effect.

com have them subscribe for future podcasts so that they can get those words of wisdom so they can help soar towards their legacy. But Chris. Thank you so much. I hope you enjoy all of the travels upcoming and when you get back home, I'm sure it would be one big party in Sydney.

Yes, it will. And I'll make sure to keep you posted as you're battling winter. I'll send you a few sunny Sunday snaps. So thank you, Scott.

Sounds good. All right guys, take care until our next episode. Be well.

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