Pere Rosales is passionate about leadership training and organisational development. For over two decades he has worked in this field, fostering positive transformation, both for individuals and for organisations and companies.

Through the company he founded and currently directs, Inusual (Unusual), he has advised hundreds of leaders from different sectors to help them reconnect with themselves, not only learning the keys to personal improvement, but also challenging them to unlearn in order to grow, taking control of their lives.

 

Take the plunge

Question: How did Inusual begin, and what was happening in your life at the time?

Answer. Inusual is a company that is now 11 years old, but it comes from a project that is almost three decades old.

It was born as a community while I was working as an executive in a company. In those years I was teaching at the university, and there I began to discover my vocation as a 'trainer' (although I don't really like the word).

The students suggested that I should keep in touch with them after finishing the masters or the doctorate. I was very surprised, but I accepted. Then, we created a community based on a mailing list that I called Inusual.

That was in 1997 and it became a group of restless, creative, innovative, enterprising and entrepreneurial professionals.

That community was my travelling companion, as a side project throughout my professional career. After leaving that company, I entered the field of consulting and service delivery, first from a business and strategy perspective, and then from a people perspective.

That was in late 2013 and early 2014. Since then, the company has gone through different evolutions, basically two stages.

It started as a consultancy for very innovative projects, the kind that people inside the company don't even know where to start because they are too strange or too risky.

We work from the inside of the person so that they are able to serve others, to make their environment grow and to grow themselves

There was a two-year break when I went with my family to live in the United States because of a professional opportunity that came up for my wife. We also wanted to open a company there.

During those two years, the company evolved and, when we returned, it acquired a new structure and a new phase began.

Today we define ourselves as a school of executive re-education for innovative leaders. We work from the inside of the person so that they are able to serve others, to make their environment grow and to grow themselves.

 

Q. How did you experience the leap from being an employee to developing your own business? For many people, that gives them a bit of vertigo

A I went from being an employee of a multinational and feeling like a little ant in a big anthill, to being a consultant, first in an SME and then in a company that, in turn, was part of a large international group that bought us.

I always worked as an employee, but increasingly closer to management. For the last four and a half years, before starting my own company, I was CEO.

At that time we already had 35 employees and I was in charge of everything. During that time I was trained in several business schools, developing the ability to lead an organisation from a management point of view.

When I reached that CEO position, I realised that I could not go any higher. In a company, when you reach that level, there is not much more: you can change companies, manage bigger teams or bigger budgets, but there are no real new challenges.

At that time, I began to reflect on my situation and my future. It coincided with major changes in my personal life: I became a father of two young children, and time started to get tight.

Furthermore, there were new projects and the pressure at work started to increase, which did not help at that stage of reflection.

I felt that the ship was heading towards a destination I did not want to reach. I left the company seven months later, after discussing it with my five partners, who also worked in the organisation as managers.

I felt that the ship was heading towards a destination I did not want to reach

The pressure came from unexpected places, such as finances: although we were doing very well, they wanted more. They wanted to sell more, earn more... and that didn't fit me anymore.

That is when the vertigo you mention arose: up to that point, I had always been accompanied. Joining that group of partners had been a well-considered decision, but if I went out on my own, I would be alone to face the danger.

I had a good salary at the time, and I did not know whether I would be able to make even a decent income when I took the leap.

That decision matured little by little, until I finally felt at peace about what I should do. I jumped into the pool as if it were full of water. And indeed, there was water!

 

Success and leadership do not mean the same to everyone

Q. What are the principles that led you to take such action?

A. Basically, you realise that the more money you have, the more you can spend, but that does not make you more fulfilled. In my case, those values were already with me, but when you become more aware of it, you ask yourself: what do I want so much for?

It was not so much the money as the work itself. I thought: why spend day and night thinking about this, constantly checking WhatsApp to see if something was happening? It was a real nightmare. And even though the company was going great - we were selling more and more, we were entering more and more markets - I felt that it did not make sense to me.

I like to find meaning in what I do. When it does not make sense to me, I stop. I do not go around like a headless chicken, it's not something I am used to do. So, when I saw that something was not working, I stopped and reflected.

 

Q. Inusual is a company that, even in its name, presents itself as different. How did this concept come about and how is it applied today?

A. Inusual was born from a group of people who are always looking for something more, people who want to change things, who do not conform.

Basically, they are looking to become better, to find their best version, to fix what does not work and to create prosperity.

It all started with a mailing list focused on improving communication between companies and organisations, but that was just the beginning. Little by little, the project evolved, as did my career.

I went into organisational development and strategic consulting with large companies, and I came to an important conclusion: processes, products, services, all that is fine, but in the end, it is all about people.

We realised that, at the end of the day, the same thing was always needed: that flame that people that want something more. That is what we call leadership.

Although I did not name it until just before creating Inusual, I understood that this leadership had very specific characteristics. The problem is that in our culture we use the word "leader" very broadly. We can call anyone a leader, even someone like Hitler. But for me, the ultimate model of leadership is Jesus Christ.

For me, the ultimate model of leadership is Jesus Christ

Leading by that inspiration means leaving a positive impact, as other great leaders throughout history have done, who have improved the world and left it better than they found it.

At Inusual, we took the best learnings from those great leaders and consolidated them into a method.

We created five habits of innovative leadership that contrast with usual leadership, the typical leadership that is more about management than real influence. For us, a leader is not just a boss: he or she is someone capable of transforming a situation, of taking a team from point A to point B.

Based on that, we designed a methodology and a framework. I also wrote a book while I was in Boston, and then we structured it into an executive coaching programme.

We have been working exclusively online for two and a half years now with leaders around the world who want to improve as people and as leaders.

Our methodology aims to put into practice concepts that sometimes sound abstract, such as "seeking the good of others" or "serving your team".

Easy to say, but how do you do it on a day-to-day basis? That is what we teach, with tools and personalised transformation plans.

Each week we accompany participants in their process: when they fail, we help them stand up; when they succeed, we celebrate it with them; and when they face doubts, we guide them to find answers. This accompaniment is part of what we call the Evolution Framework for Leadership, which is people-centred, not business-centred.

 

Q. Do you think there is a leadership crisis in our society?

A. Absolutely, I think society today faces deep disconnections. Beyond a crisis of leadership, there is a disconnection with oneself: there is a lack of self-knowledge and awareness. We are also disconnected from others. We have lost that social bond, that inclination to help others, and we are becoming more individualistic and selfish.

We are also disconnected from what we do. Many people work in companies without really caring about what they stand for or seek to achieve, because they are only there for the salary.

And finally, there is a disconnection with the transcendent. For Christians, this means disconnection with God. But even those who do not believe in God seem to be disconnected from something greater than themselves.

Such disconnections lead to social crises that result in conflicts, wars, and global problems such as climate change. We lack responsibility, love for others, and even for ourselves.

Regarding referents, I believe that the the problem is not only the lack of referents, but also that there are very bad referents. Nowadays, even questionable people become media references, which generates confusion.

The problem is not only the lack of referents, but also that there are very bad referents

There used to be more clarity between what we considered good and bad; now there is too much complexity and noise. This also applies to politics. In the past, the benchmarks were clearer, albeit imperfect. Now, with so many options and so much noise, people feel more lost.

The complexity of our society, with so many variables and impacts, makes it more difficult to find solid points of reference for the new generations.

In short, we need more positive references, especially current ones, to guide with clarity and purpose.

 

Learning, unlearning, relearning

Q. In Inusual you work with three concepts: learning, unlearning and relearning. Can you give us a synthesis of each one of them?

A Learning is what we all do when it comes to work, isn't it? And I want to make a special mention here, because we don't only work with leaders of for-profit companies. We work with any kind of human organisation.

Wherever there is a micro-society, i.e. a human organisation, there is leadership.

It is clear that companies have a different pattern of behaviour than a non-profit organisation, or a political organisation, or a hospital, but in essence, the same leadership roles are exercised at different levels.

When we prepare for something, we acquire knowledge, and that is learning. We crystallise and learn from knowledge, and we move from "knowing" to "knowing how to do". It is a process where, mentally, I already understand how to do something.

For example, I know that in order to swim I have to dive into the pool, but then I have to dive in, practice and finally do it well.

In this learning process, we crystallise habits, convictions and beliefs. These become very fixed, almost permanent. But when what we have learned begins to fail, then we must question it and perhaps unlearn it. This requires commitment and intentionality.

Often people do not unlearn consciously, but simply accumulate lessons the hard way. But proactive unlearning means recognising that we must adapt and anticipate what is coming, be proactive and not reactive.

Unlearning is inevitable; we all do it. We say "either we change or we are changed". But if we want to have a meaningful life, we need to intentionally lead that change, humbly assume that what we learned in the past may not be useful now, and seek out what will be.

We cannot go through life like toy cars, continually crashing and backing up only to find another obstacle to crash into.

 

Q. I was thinking about my nephews. For a few years they learned piano at an academy, and then they went to the conservatory. When they entered the conservatory, they had to unlearn the vices they had: very high shoulders, some bad posture... Is this a valid example of what you are talking about?

A Yes, absolutely! And something even worse happens in companies: they talk about "success". Just as a person needs to learn, unlearn and relearn, so do teams and organisations. But it is much more complex.

The most difficult thing is to unlearn in an intentional way. It is difficult to question and analyse what we are doing wrong and what we should improve, because we tend to think that, if we are where we are, it is thanks to what we have done.

 

Q. You have talked about values, the example of Jesus as a leader... As a Christian, how are these convictions reflected in your work?

A. Faith is key in my life. If I waited to always have absolute certainty, I would still be in the first step of my life.

In the end, you have to make decisions, and I like to make those decisions in a thoughtful and anticipatory way. I reflect on my values, on whether I feel the peace I need to act or whether I should wait.

The difference between faith and fear is small

So my faith has been central to this process. As a Christian, I reflect a lot before deciding, but in the end I trust and take the leap, even without seeing if there is water in the pool. That trust has been key to moving forward.

We all make decisions with a margin of uncertainty, but the difference between faith and fear is small.

To have faith is to believe that something will go right, while to be afraid is to believe that it will go wrong. What separates one from the other is that confidence that you are aligned with your principles and values.

This article was produced for the Líderes Empresariales section of Protestante Digital, an initiative of the Gospel, Economy and Business (Tres-E) group in Spain.