The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show: Marcel Lal, CEO APAC for InXpress Ep 36.
Welcome to The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show. Each week, I interview amazing people, who share their inspiring stories of resilience. Enjoy our dive deep into educational and amazing insights as I explore the stories of my special guests, learning how they have overcome adversity in their lives.
In each session, together we can learn actionable tools that can help us elevate our mindset, seeing our setbacks as an opportunity to grow to the next stage of our lives. No matter what we are going through, we can overcome it, and discover what we are made of.
To Bend Like Bamboo is to be flexible in our mindset, and when we can transform our ‘story’ we can also change our minds about what can be possible in our minds, bodies, and lives.
Introducing Marcel Lal
Marcel is leading the APAC team & operations in Australia, New Zealand, India, Vietnam, Hong Kong & South Korea, as one of the largest authorised global partners of leading carriers including DHL, TNT/ FedEx & UPS, the InXpress business has an extensive franchise network of over 450 locations that has grown since 1999, and is now in 14 countries spanning the Americas, Asia Pacific and UK/EMEA regions.
Marcel Lal
Introducing Marcel Lal, who was raised in Sydney where he was educated and worked in his career, however now he lives in Brisbane with his wife and daughter. Marcel values family time, opportunities to travel, and watching and playing sports.
Join me in this warm-hearted interview, where Marcel shares his story and what he went through after he lost his father in his early 20s. I loved chatting with Marcel and learned a lot listening to his insights about grief, loss, and how hardship can help us to stretch to be better leaders in our lives. Marcel’s father died at age 49 and he took over the small travel family business, which forced him to stretch beyond his comfort zone at such a young age. He learned to become the rock to those around him, colleagues, family, and friends. This made a lot of sense to me, as upon my first meeting with Marcel in person, he has a way of making you feel totally at ease in his company. Amongst his peers, you can see that he is the rock, and it is always so inspiring to meet a leader as warm and grounded as Marcel. I had the pleasure to deliver my resilience keynote at the Inxpress Gold Coast conference earlier this year in 2022. When I met his team, it was clear that the comradeship that the individual franchise business had, also had a lot to do with the leadership he offered.
Marcel believes that resilience is a state of mind, that we take into situations. Resilience is our approach to adversity and challenges, and he believes our ability to be optimistic plays an important role in how we navigate our way through them.
“Looking at things from a business perspective and what we did in the company to get through that code to still be successful, you take that into your personal life as well. So from a resilience perspective, yes, it's a state of mind, I think it's actually the approach you take to dealing with certain situations good and bad. I am able to see the world naturally as a glass half full. I think that no matter what life throws at you, I think that you've got to take a certain level of optimism into it.” says Marcel.
As a result of taking over his father’s business and being stretched in his early 20s, Marcel says “I had to suppress my feelings after my Dad died to run his company.” He said he had not yet found a way to let his emotions out, and he wasn’t yet equipped to deal with the business, the staff, and the difficult decisions that running a business can require.
“I think that that was very, very challenging. At the time, you don't really get a chance emotionally to deal with what you need to, to let out how you are feeling because you're immediately into a fix-it mode for others. It wasn't until time passed that truly I can reflect on that. And still, it was very, very difficult to do all that whilst having those emotions. I've got a feeling that it helped shape me, it doesn't make me perfect, it just means I've got a few learnings that I think I've I've taken from him and that time in my life, that was maybe forced upon me through circumstance”.
”I think it also forces me to think of self-reflection, for our business during COVID, I know that I am now a little bit older and wiser. I like to think that I reflect more on situations now and try to plan in advance when something happens. I think our ability to have self-reflection is a really important thing, and to try not to beat yourself up.” says Marcel
Talking to Marcel, gave me clarity in understanding that as we get a bit wiser, we realise that sometimes when things don't go our way, it can actually be directing us towards a path that is right for us, and in a new direction that although unfamiliar, is in alignment with what we are ready for next. So we must have that confidence and faith in our ability to manage our emotions, to regulate our reactions, upon reflection, so that we can thrive.
When we go through loss, grief, or big challenges in our lives, especially at a young age, we learn. We acquire new tools that we can bring into our adult lives. What I love about marcel is that evidently in his life and career, it wasn’t what happened to him it was how he responded. He has turned lemons into lemonade, these lessons that we will all be faced with at some stage of our lives, help us to be braver, more courageous, and more resilient.
When we can pause and reflect, we can choose a new path that can seem scary at first, but these steps are critical in allowing us to become our fullest potential. To take a leap to get out of our comfort zone, so that we can lead the way. I admire leaders in the world, you know when you are in the presence of a great leader, who has earned their stripes. They have a little bit of magic and a sparkle in their eye, they lead with courage, and also grace. It’s humbling yet exciting to be in their company. They make things happen, and they get the best out of all that surrounds them, inspiring them to be their best. You feel enthusiastic in their company, you want to try because they have created an environment that makes you want to, that makes you believe in yourself too.
Marcel’s tips:
Maintain connection and communication from the ground up.
Reflection is so important, stop and take the time to reflect on your decisions and your next move.
Surround yourself with good people that share common values with you, like-minded people at home and at work.
Learn more about Marcel’s amazing story, and the company he leads Inxpress, in the podcast and live video on YouTube below.
You can also listen to the interview on the Bend Like Bamboo Resilience podcast
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