Clients' Testimonials
“The planning day facilitated by Focus One was a huge success. Ahead of the event, Douglas took time to clarify the precise objectives of the day and make sure all members of the leadership team were adequately prepped. The workshop remained focused with a mixture of light touch and firm facilitation (where required) with the result that everyone participated fully – a critical element in ensuring widespread buy in. The day culminated in a clear and concise set of key business objectives for the ensuing year which was, in due course, cascaded to all regional staff.”
- Ken McGowan, Regional Director Asia, Lloyds TSB Bank
"I have had 7 coaching sessions with Douglas and I enjoyed every single one of them. He guided me to clearly identify the key improvement areas for myself, supported by very useful advice for me to put together an effective action plan to drive the improvement along. I've seen personal growth throughout the coaching process, which has also started to have a positive impact to my team as well. I would highly recommend managers and leaders of all backgrounds to go through such process."
- Ronald Lam, General Manager, Cathay Pacific Airways
“The feedback I received from my team has been very positive, Douglas Gerber and Focus One set up the spark to create a new sense of team spirit and values.”
- Chris Riley, Managing Director Ogilvy One
"Douglas deepened my management expertise. His knowledge of Asia was commendable. Douglas provided an innovative framework which can be applied across all management disciplines. A valuable experience that would well serve others in a global, constantly changing company. In short, I would recommend Douglas for any senior coaching assignment."
- Roger Lew, Sales Head, Bloomberg
“Thank you for an enlightening three day key account program, the feedback from the training attendees was simply fantastic. It was a well presented and orchestrated course and we look forward to the remainder of the sales & marketing team being trained in the New Year.”
- Andrew McClaren, Moet Hennessy Australia
Throughout the coaching process with Douglas, I learned a lot more about who I am as a leader and who I can be. I learned how to focus my energy to achieve my vision. I built better working relationship with my customers, my colleagues, my direct reports and solved more & more difficult problems. Today, I see more opportunities, more growth and more dreams to go for."
- Anthony Leung, Account Director, Johnson & Johnson
“If you are looking for somebody to support you to lead your people forward to help you grow, I totally recommend Focus One.”
- John Bower, Director Behavioral Assessments Human Potential Ltd
“Douglas quickly found the most productive structure. He guided me through value and priority analysis which then flowed naturally to methods for approaching projects, issues and people. As coaching is not the provision of an instruction manual, the most valuable part of the interaction is his facilitation of ideas. That is where Douglas' skill is so evident. I found that I was consciously and quickly adopting many of the approaches we discussed. Douglas is a top class coach and I feel that I, my company and my family have benefitted significantly from our sessions.”
- Philippe LaCamp, General Manager, Cathay Pacific Airways
“Douglas has proved to be a valuable and insightful coach in what has been a time of great change. He has been adaptable to my changing needs, offering a mix of coaching styles and models to help me to navigate a more complex work environment. I feel I have come out of the other end more robust and better equipped to deal with more senior managerial roles.
I would recommend Douglas as a coach.”
- Bruce Hodgson COO Lloyds TSB Bank
“I developed a level of trust for Douglas as a coach and a real sense of the achievable benefits of the process from the beginning. Douglas combines a strong knowledge of working in multi-national countries along with an extensive experience of the business environment in Asia. The coaching process is enriched by being free from text-book methods or a prescriptive focus. I found the whole experience invaluable.
I would not hesitate in recommending Douglas to anyone who is willing to embrace some level of change to strengthen their managerial ability.”
- Chris Daniells, Country Head Cathay Pacific
“Focus One has removed the obstacles and helped us increase the sales, our customer service is up. My staff and their loyalty and desire to work here have never been better.”
- Andrew Robbins, Founder, Shambala
“Douglas helped me focus on the objective and the clear goal setting helped me. KPI’s were clearly set which drove behaviour change. The relationship with my team has improved. I have been more focused.”
- Alex Pan, Swire Beverages
As part of a multicultural cross functional leadership team spread throughout Asia, Douglas facilitated two workshops centered on developing and improving the team’s overall effectiveness and performance. The program he developed helped the team firstly to build greater self-awareness around our own and our colleagues’ different management and communication styles. Better understanding of each team member’s operating preferences, strengths and blind spots through the individual assessments he administered and team sharing exercises gave us new appreciation and perspective of how each of us managed our respective areas. In turn, it helped the team to improve how to approach roadblocks, communicate, and build transparency and trust with each other and work more effectively toward the common goals of the group. Douglas designed a clear roadmap throughout the workshops that allowed us to quickly identify and focus on areas for improvement and tools for continuous ownership and follow up. I would highly recommend Douglas for facilitating programs in developing high performance leadership teams.
- Jamie Gould, Office Depot
Over the last year Douglas skillfully and effectively facilitated two workshops for my leadership team with the goal to develop a mission purpose and identity statement for my organization within Roche. I am impressed by Douglas's ability to quickly understand our needs and the resulting work done, which nicely straddled the space between being comfortable and pushing the boundaries of the team. Douglas's deep understanding of Western and Chinese culture was apparent and I believe instrumental in the success of our workshops. I look forward to continuing to work with Douglas.
- Malte Schutz, VP & Site Head Product Development Shanghai at Roche
I first met Douglas in late 2013 in one of his “Good to Great” team leadership workshops and I was amazed of some simple but effective ways to diagnose the team and bring the team performance to a high level. We then worked with Douglas on a teambuilding programme for a new project early this year. It was a highly interactive workshop and was well received by each and every one in the team. We started with understanding our values, to building trust and alignment, and finally developed a fully committed and collaborative road map for continuous implementation. Douglas is great and inspiring executive coach who provides insight and professional support throughout the coaching process. I enjoyed working with Douglas in this programme, and I would recommend him to anyone seeking an effective teambuilding advice or service.
- Desmond Sze, Operations Manager, Leighton Asia
Douglas is my executive coach, and I have benefitted with positive effects on my career and business results. He has helped me to identify the key improvement areas for myself, with commensurate action plan to ensure improvement. He has given me a step by step process to build the team. I have witnessed a positive impact to my team, which now has high spirit, productivity and increasing trust. This has led my team to move to high performance which is recognised by my company. I would highly recommend business executives to go through this coaching with Douglas.
- Kevin Guo, Vice President, Roche
Douglas is a great coach and had a profound impact on my career in a very short period. After receiving a promotion and acquiring a much larger team, Douglas was able to quickly and methodically recommend approaches for building a more cohesive and high performing team, forming a more strategic mindset and establishing my career aspirations at Cathay Pacific. Above all else, I valued the candid conversations and straight-forward advice in matters both private and professional. Thanks Doug!
- Robert Weider, Cathay Pacific
Douglas has worked seamlessly with us on our Leadership Team over the past year. He skilfully aligned the team around values and behaviours, imperatives, and commitments, and a roadmap, while taking us deeper and closer. We now have a clear understanding of our roles and strengths, and how each team member can leverage them for the benefit of the team. I highly recommend Douglas for any leadership team seeking to move to high performance.
- Renaud Bailly, Managing Director, Chanel China