A WOMAN who had a devastating stammer is going on a speaking tour across the United Kingdom to help more women get into business.

Chantel Sachanna, a business coach from Birmingham, spent decades battling with a stammer that was sometimes so severe she couldn’t say her own name.

Now Chantel, who overcame the stammer around three years ago using techniques she taught herself after seeing no results from conventional speech therapy, is carrying out speaking events in Birmingham, Manchester and London this year where she’ll be helping entrepreneurs to start and grow their own business.

Next year, she will carry out events  in additional major cities across the country.

Chantel said: “I can’t believe how much my life has changed. Three years ago I was struggling to say my own name. Today I’m getting ready to speak in front of large groups of people all around the country!”

Chantel had a stammer ever since she was a child and it carried on until she was around 29.

She overcame the speech impediment by using techniques she taught herself and says: “After decades of not having a voice, I finally know how to speak confidently. And now I use my voice to help women get into business and to create a life that makes them feel proud of who they are.”

In the UK, it’s estimated that stammering affects around 1 in 100 adults, with men being around four times more likely to stammer than women.

Source: The Voice Newspaper - 26th September 2019

​When life knocks you down, what do you do? Do you let it and give up or do you get back up and keep going?

How do you react when things do go as planned?
 
This quarter this is a topic I am thinking about - something that I am inviting you to think about as well.

"Embracing our resilience"

Why is that you may ask? I am presently in Jamaica and hearing the news regarding the collapse of Thomas Cook, the world’s oldest tour operator. This news had me thinking about how challenging it is to stay relevant in business with our goals and aspirations in today's market.  What is the impact on the people who were stranded abroad? This company was started in 1841, meaning that its collapse ended 178 years of holiday-making. Lots to think about for anyone in business today.

Resilience isn’t about floating through life on a breeze, or skating by all of life’s many challenges unscathed; rather, it’s about experiencing all of the negative, difficult, and distressing events that life throws at you and staying on track optimistic, and high-functioning. Just imagine If we never ran into disappointment in the first place, we would never learn how to deal with it. 

The story below demonstrate there is power in embracing change and our resilience - Bad luck? Good Luck? Who knows?

"There was once a farmer who used an old horse to till his fields. One day, the horse escaped into the hills. When the farmer’s neighbours sympathized with the old man over his bad luck, the farmer replied, “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?”

A week later, the horse returned with a herd of horses from the hills. This time the neighbours congratulated the farmer on his good luck. His reply was “Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?”

Then when the farmer’s son was attempting to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone thought this was very bad luck. The farmer’s reaction: “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?”

Some weeks later, the army marched into the village and conscripted every able-bodied youth they found there. When they saw the farmer’s son with his broken leg, they let him off. Was that Good luck or Bad luck? Who knows!

Who knows? Invite acceptance. Great leaders accept the idea that in chaos there is order, and that sometimes you have to work with what you’ve got, accept what happens, and move on. When it appears there are more questions than answers, more trouble than solutions, more failures than successes, more bad then good, to lead with greatness is to sometimes say, “Who knows!”  When everything seems to be bad luck -  it may just be good luck in disguise - and when not everything has an answer, and not everything can be figured out - that is when true leadership emerges.