Encouraging individuals and organizations to be more creative: empowering individuals and organizations to make better decisions: taking my clients to a higher level of inquisitiveness and a higher level of confidence to advocate change.

Paul’s passion lies in the art of persuasion. Obtaining the position of Senior Manager in a large financial institution at a very early age and in a foreign country, Paul learned the difference between managing and leading. Whereas a manager has the authority to order subordinates to do specific tasks, leaders must always obtain their followers’ vote of confidence. A leader must always remember that his followers have to buy into the leader’s message. A successful leader, therefore, has to be a persuasive communicator. As a skills trainer, therefore, Paul strives to be 100% facilitative which means persuading trainees to take control of their own improvement. In the end, trainees must make their own conclusion regarding if, when and how to employ any knowledge and techniques introduced by the trainer. Paul’s objectives and skill lies in convincing trainees to employ their gains from training in their actual job: long after training has taken place.

Paul started his career in contracts and negotiations for a Japanese oil company which put him in the thick of cross border negotiations involving high priced lawyers, governments and major international oil companies. He moved into the front office of ING Bank and for seven years continued to broker deals involving Japanese trading companies and top ranking company managers in primarily developing countries.  At this time he was involved in a World Bank consulting project to build capacity in smaller Russian banks. The project entailed instructing bank managers how to improve all aspects of their bank`s operations.  Paul left banking in 2001 for an internet start-up and soon acquired a controlling interest. The company has completed hundreds of client projects and now owns and manages over 150 websites including two high profile networks: www.kuchikomi.com (Japanese for "word of mouth") and www.kanko.com (Japanese for "sightseeing") which are accessed by over 1 million unique users every month.

Paul has an undergraduate degree in Economics from The University of Chicago and an M.A. in International Relations from The International University of Japan. He has remained active in academics teaching an academic writing and critical thinking course for IDE Advanced School (IDEAS) which was founded by Japan’s External Trade Organization (JETRO) in 1990 for the purpose of training front-line development specialists in the field of economic development and economic cooperation.