Interview with Hamid Safaei, Author & Coach

Today, we had a chance to interview Hamid Safaei, who recently published First-Class Leadership, a manual on how highly effective teams can achieve breakthrough results. Below is an exchange between Hamid and FIND the CLIENT’s Brian Farrell about the book.

As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?
A very good question. I always wanted to do something significant for Mother Nature and mankind. I visualized myself as the one who was inspiring thousands of people. For a very long time (until I finished my master’s and passed the exam to start a PhD program in 1997) I wanted to be a professor at university. However, my affinity with leadership and working with senior leaders changed my perspective.

What was home like?
I am the 4th child in a crowded family. My parents never went to school. My father had to work very hard and was nonstop involved in many businesses to feed 10 children. He was a farmer and urged all of us to study hard to make it to a better level than what he achieved. And he was right. My mother was very often ill and we had a challenging life. We all came short on many things, but as I and my brothers and sisters often tell each other we never came short on loving and caring for each other. And my parents did whatever they could to teach us the things that matter most. Examples were: word is word, don’t do to anyone what you don’t want others do to you, and be kind and generous to whoever comes your way.

First-Class Leadership was recently published. What inspired you to write?
On Feb. 2^nd, 2015 when my wife and son were visiting my parents in Iran I had plenty of time which I usually spent on them. So, I reconnected with myself and visualized what a fulfilled Hamid would look like. Then I wrote down as my mission: By 2025 I have achieved breakthrough results in the peace process in the Middle East. I knew and still know I am one of very few who believe in such a huge thing.  I broke this down into several milestones. The first one included a 3-year plan that should lead to connecting with at least 3 world leaders and publishing two books. First-Class Leadership was my second book and Your Journey to Fulfillment was the first. Just before my deadline I achieved all parts of the first milestone. The idea of publishing First-Class Leadership was a tool via which I could connect with world leaders and top 500 CEO’s. And it works!

Who or what has influenced your writing?
My publisher Gerry Robert has had an important role in shaping First-Class Leadership as it is. Whenever I got stuck, I reached out to Gerry and he helped me out.

Is there a message in your book you want readers to grasp?
Learn to lead yourself before even trying to lead anything or anyone else. Reconnect with the deepest level of your true self, identify your biggest why, find out what you love to do, develop your vision around your passion,  set a sound strategy to bring your vision to life and then implement like hell. First-Class leadership takes your hand in every step of your journey.

Since this website is about sales & marketing, talk to us about some of your favorite blogs and websites you visit for marketing advice.
Gerry Robert is the best person I have known when it comes to marketing. I follow his advice whenever I can. His website: https://blackcardbooks.com.

I also admire Sir Richard Branson: https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson and Bill Gates : https://www.gatesnotes.com/

And here’s the link to my own blog: http://first-class-leadership.com/blog/

Finally, any advice to writers just starting?
Don’t wait for the perfect moment to start writing. Start to write right here right now. Whenever something comes to your mind while you are not in a position to write, take a note of the idea and whatever comes to mind and save it in your notes/cellphone/email. Then explore on your notes. This is how I wrote a great part of my books.

If your audience visit my website they can download two free eBooks: http://first-class-leadership.com

About Hamid Safaei
Best known for mentoring on leadership and personal development, Hamid Safaei is a certified executive coach who helps leaders, senior managers, and budding entrepreneurs overcome their fears: Fear of being found to be incompetent, fear of failure, fear of losing everything, fear of losing beloved ones, and so on.

Hamid is passionate about helping both individuals and teams to always be at their best. He has led successful business transformations for a number of Fortune Global 500 companies. Hamid is the author of bestselling First-Class Leadership and Your Journey to Fulfillment.

He has developed ImOcean Academy, a unique institute where he applies first-class coaching tools and techniques combined with best practices. He regularly publishes learnings on www.imoceanacademy. com and www.first-class-leadership.com on subjects such as leadership, realizing goals and dreams, target setting, and bringing potential to fruition. His passion is to create a better world by and with better leaders.

His biggest dream is for peace in the Middle East, which he sees as a fundamental step for the peace on a global scale. Hamid aims to achieve breakthrough results in the peace process in the Middle East by 2025. Originally from Iran, Hamid Safaei lives in the Netherlands with his family.