My next guest is the Founder and CEO of Shiageto Consulting, where he helps businesses set sharper strategies by providing innovative, emotionally-intelligent facilitation, training and speaking to improve IQ, EQ, and FQ. In addition to his role as Chief Effectiveness Officer, he also provides his followers with a glimpse into his personal life on his blog, which you can find on Medium. Please welcome my next guest, Faris Aranki.
Watch the full interview here on YouTube:
Who is Faris Aranki?
Born and raised in London, England, Aranki grew up the son of Pakistani immigrants who fled war to the UK. After what he described as a somewhat typical childhood, he decided to move off for a while before attending higher education.
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During this time away, Aranki traveled abroad for a year and became an English teacher in the mountains of Napal. When reflecting on this experience, he said,
"This [experience] created the first spark in me for doing something different and really focusing on working with people and getting the best out of them."
Aranki's time teaching and doing development work in Napal would influence his initial career choices later down the line.
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Immediately following his university graduation with a degree in Math and Economics, he took to the road to begin teaching all over the world. Only this time, he utilized his studied experience in the fields of math and economics to influence the core of the material he was chasing.
The Consulting Roots
Aranki then transitioned into working for an energy firm where he would spend time strategizing to achieve internal goals and initiatives. His time with this company helped lay the foundation for the next 12 years which he would spend with a large corporate consulting firm.
While working for this company, Aranki developed a keen awareness of how other people perceive problems and their related solutions. With this skill, he was able to navigate difficult client interactions with ease.
After displaying his uncanny ability to impress clients, his employer began sending him into presentations over topics he would know nothing about, with the sole reason being that they knew Aranki would "work his magic" with the prospective client.
"That's when I realized this was my true skill. Being able to take a room full of different people and get them all to buy into the same idea. That's when I had the ah-ha moment of hey maybe there's a business here."
His Business Now
Aranki's company is called Shiageto Consulting, with Shiageto being the Japanese word for sharpen.
"That's what we do for company's, we sharpen them and make them more effective."
To be successful in life, Aranki believes you need to have a clear problem that you need to solve. Once you have that, there are three elements that he and his colleagues at Shiageto use to help solve complex business problems.
Those 3 elements are IQ, EQ, and FQ.
IQ is the intelligence quotient - you must have the right ideas and solutions to solve a problem. EQ is the emotional quotient - you must have the ability to inspire and take others along the journey with you. FQ is the focus quotient - you must be focused enough on the right problems.
It is with these elements that Aranki and his team help drive team growth and buy-in amongst the companies that they help strategize for.
To implement these theories into daily life Aranki suggests the following.
For IQ - do you have enough quality ideas, do you have enough creativity? Can you come up with 100 ways to achieve a goal and pick the best one. Generate as many ideas as possible and then have the intelligence to choose the best.
For EQ - learn to listen more. Follow the platinum rule, which is, "treat others how they want to be treated."
For FQ - can you limit your distractions? You should be able to determine "what is the most important thing I should be working on right now?"
Closing Thoughts
Faris Aranki was a phenomenal guest on Up to the Mic, and his perspectives on relationship building within the business world are unparalleled. He is creative, unique, and understanding. Through these qualities he is able to develop relationships that foster into genuine connections and ultimately business opportunities.
If you want to learn more from Faris, this blog post is just a short snippet of what we discussed during the full interview so be sure to check it out via YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, or whichever podcast streaming platform is your favorite!
Vin
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