For any business, training is an important aspect to retain and develop talent. Although, when it comes to training and skill development, the corporate industry lacks practical knowledge. Most of the training workshops are based on theoretical growth which is hard to apply in the actual job. A corporate employee who came across this deficient training process was motivated to leverage his expertise to help other talents grow. Gary Lo, the Founder and Managing Director of Glo Consulting, established the firm with an aim to use his experience and learning through his professional life and provide training materials, which can actually be useful in everyday work.

Gary begin his career in marketing and it took him 6 months to find his first client who believed Gary could deliver a class for their staff. “At that time I was still struggling how to structure my content and price my classes,” reflected Gary. Understanding that opportunity should not be taken for granted, Gary worked extremely hard for every opportunity he got to ensure that he was able to create a difference for the participants. He received good feedback for the first few workshops, and later translated into referrals. With most of the clients being international, Gary was able to expand the business with global companies. By far Glo Consulting has catered to over 100 clients and has more than 30,000 people attending the classes.

Making a difference in Corporate Training

Glo Consulting is a professional training consultancy firm that focuses on topics in the presentation, storytelling, influencing, and leadership skills. The team works with the client as a talent management partner, where they provide customized and practical training solutions to add value to their workforce. The clients include leading Fortune 500 companies, local conglomerates, and professional organizations.

Glo Consulting distinguishes itself with ‘practicality’, which also is the most common feedback that it receives from the clients. Having first-hand experience, Gary attended one of the training incorporates and realized the gap in workshop training. He added, “I felt like a workshop is only successful when participants know exactly what they should do differently after the class and what impact would be created.” Gary has included a lot of his real-life cases in his courses which prepares the participants for the actual job. Glo Consulting courses are making a difference in corporate training. Gary outlines, “Teaching people skills is one thing, making them believe and commit is another thing. The key is whether they have the opportunity to apply it and feel the differences themselves.”

Virtual Expansion for the firm

Digitalization is gradually influencing business operations. With COVID-19 the acceleration of digital tools had increased. Considering the rise in digitalization, companies have to adopt digital tools to stay aligned with the trend. Gary acknowledges the rapid adoption of digital tools and thus is conducting a lot of virtual training for its clients around the region currently.

The virtual sessions may be difficult for the clients, thus Glo Consulting conducted the virtual training with several other interactive sessions and redesigned the course structure to ensure it fits the digital environment. Gary swiftly pivoted to turn the pandemic crisis into an opportunity for Glo Consulting. Around 70% of the classes in the past quarter were conducted virtually. Gary adds, “This will continue to be our growth engine and how we expand our regional coverage.”

Leader Speaks:

Gary is a TEDx speaker, Corporate Trainer, and Career Coach. He is a former Fortune 500 Executive and MBA program Admissions Head. Leveraging his experience, Gary founded Glo Consulting in 2018. Gary’s current clients include global leading firms such as BlackRock, HSBC, Google, Chanel, L’Oreal, Johnson & Johnson, FedEx, Cisco, Shell, AIA, etc.

For our readers, Gary has curated some of the great learnings that have helped him in the journey:

1. “Do not start with a business idea. Start with a product/service that you would love to have.”
   Every piece of content I share in my classes is things that hugely benefited my corporate career. Whenever I plan for a class, I would simply be thinking:” What mindset or skillset would I personally find very useful when I was in the corporate?” If you want someone to find value in what you do, you need to be the one who has experienced that value first.
2. “Do something you are talented at, and still work harder than everyone else.”
   Look at the successful athletes and artists around us – who aren’t gifted yet working extremely hard? I work 6 days a week and till pretty late at night, as I understand that is the effort needed to be truly good at something. If you want to achieve something that others cannot achieve, you need to put in the work that others are not willing to put in.
3. “Focus on value creation, not revenue generation.”
   Clients would want to pay you because you focus on solving their problems, not on how to profit the most from them. When we show that we care as much as our clients about something, the financial return becomes a natural outcome. Who wouldn’t want a partner that cares as much as you do? From that point onwards, clients will come to you as versus you going to them.
4. “Find motivation from people around you.”
   When I first started, I was only thinking about how I can help others excel in their career and how I can provide a better life for my family. Thinking about how we can make a difference to people around us is always a better motivator than working only for ourselves. Who will be the reason for you to start something, and why do you want to do this for them?

How to become one of the fastest-growing companies in the industry?

“Trust the process.” Focus on value creation for your clients, and financial returns will be the natural outcome.