Success is a path, not a destination. It’s a way of thinking and doing, an extension of inspiration and expansion for and with the people around you. Tanya Diesel, Co-Founder & CEO of Aspirall, believes that success is about how each of us has profoundly explored and understood what our unique gifts and talents mean for our expression in and for the world around us. She shares that being purposeful and knowing what makes us unique allows us to give our best to ourselves, our families, our community, the organisations we work with and the world.
Her sense of her measure of success is about a deep-seated feeling of delight and joy for all that she does for herself and the people in her life. It comes down to being kind and being of service to oneself and others. “For me, success is not about the outer world and material or status-oriented aspects. Success is an inner exploration and an outer expression that means the world and all I touch is better off and indeed able to advance, learn and grow,” says Tanya.
Challenges & Roadblocks Encourage You To Walk Different Roads, Making You Stronger
The foundations of Aspirall are connected with Tanya’s early desires as a child to trade and provide services. Since she was six years old, she was a shopkeeper and a fruit trader. Her love for gardening is the marker of whom she has become and what Aspirall stands for. “The essence is about growing beautiful things, nurturing and tending to magnificent plants and this has led me to express this deep passion in my world today. For me it is now about the preciousness of human beings, each of us; and the shared expression of how we come into community working in our organisations together to bring joy and prosperity”, she explains.
Growing up in apartheid South Africa, she has firsthand seen the horror of hatred and prejudice. As a child, Tanya could see there had to be a kinder and more loving way forward for humanity. The core of Aspirall is grounded in a deep desire to bring a heartful and graceful way to grow and build together in the workplace. She claims that her drive is to create success and prosperity in ways that honour and respect people.
Tanya has faced both inner and outer challenges. Of course, the inner ones are the most challenging of all. ‘Can I do this, am I good enough, will I be strong enough to hold this;’ these have been the deep inner questions that stir with her. “I have learned that it is important for me to breathe and pause so that I take the time to let everything fall into place. I have a ‘hurry up and be strong script’, so allowing others and the passage of thoughtful wisdom to come forward has been immensely valuable to learn,” she says.
The challenges on the outside have presented themselves around the larger economic waves, like the GFC, and more personal aspects around relationships and the roles we play together. Tanya shares that her most considerable insight here is to reach out to those with more insight or experience and get support and help.
Redefining The Industry With Innovative Ideas
There are many facets to the human performance industry. The notion that high performance comes from a mature and creative well inside each of us, along with a depth and capacity to explore and express our inner purpose is an age-old and sage knowing. So what is the innovation? Tanya says it is about “absolutely matching the tools and processes that support the revelation and consciousness-raising that is deeply required for human mastery. We cannot codify humanity, at Aspirall we honour and work with the subtle and complex nature of human beings”. Raising consciousness is Aspirall’s bread and butter. Over the past 13 years, they have grown exponentially while becoming a high-quality, niche consultancy that brings forward the magic at the confluence of strategy, leadership, culture, and inner identity.
Recognition Received As A Leader
Tanya’s career began at Deloitte Consulting, an experience that provided a broad and deep understanding of large-scale organisations. She learned about the highest quality delivery to serve clients and an impeccable focus on elevating success and performance. The people around her were passionate about their fields, and they learned to create a culture of excellence and fun.
“One of my most special moments of recognition was in the early 1990s, when a man in a workshop for a large mining organisation came to me at the end of the day, with a translator in tow, and let me know in his own language and through his eyes that the gift he had received that day was to know that although he could not read or write he could still make a real contribution to his family,” she says. “A moment that sits with and in me forever”.
As Tanya looks back over her life, she says that she feels incredibly fulfilled and blessed to have learned all she has, to have met the amazing people that she has and to have been given the opportunities that have allowed her talents and gifts to flourish. Her dream is seated in the creation of a world where there is peace and kindness, and she says that this is still a work in progress.
Responsibilities As CEO Of Aspirall
Tanya says that her role at Aspirall is to build and extend the reach, excellence, capacity and value of what Aspirall has to bring to the corporate landscape. As the founder and CEO, she steers and creates space for the expression of Aspirall’s purpose to elevate strategy and bring conscious leadership to organisations. “In a few words, I am essentially a Knight Rider bringing good service with excitement and delight. I have spent my career as a management consultant with a large global firm and niche boutique strategy consultancy”. She explains that experience in financial services and construction has given her great exposure to highly divergent industries.
Maintaining A Balance In Life
Balance for Tanya is an integrated concept that runs through all areas of her life. It is simply a whole life balance. Balance means that she does all the things that bring her joy and fulfilment. She says that she experiences profound rewards from her work, family, friends, cats, multiple hobbies and explorations of beautiful and natural places. “My life is full! I build time into my
life for these areas to flourish in a waxing and waning of enthusiasm and flow,” exclaims Tanya.
Plans For the Future Of Aspirall
The company is now looking to what the next ten years hold for Aspirall. For Tanya, it is
about extending Aspirall’s reach and building their capacity to fuel the movement to create sustainable and prosperous ways of working in the world. Finding kindred professionals who want to work in the community, bringing a force to be reckoned with in the way they deliver services for high performance and extend and expand their understanding of human performance. They intend to find ways to seed the ripples that will create amazing organisations.
Tanya’s message to aspiring leaders is simple; “Find ways to be of real service to others by growing and expressing your unique talents. Ruthlessly focus on understanding your purpose, why you are here and what you bring. Of course, it is then up to each of us to be of service to others in bringing about a movement of purpose and prosperity.”
