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From Event Planning to Managing Celebrities, Ambiance Entertainment Group CEO Shady Ayach Looks Ahead to the Digital Future

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You started out studying computer science. How and why did you make the jump to the entertainment industry?

I have been playing the piano since I was a child, and loved music, especially live performances. I shifted fields when my brother, the Lebanese pop star Ramy Ayach, asked me to manage his career when he started as a professional singer. So I had to quit the IT industry – I had my own business – to start to manage his career. All the while, I have been continuously learning about artists, events and the entertainment industry by taking intensive courses, during travels, and of course by reading a lot.

Please tell us the story of Ambiance Entertainment Group. When was it founded and what is the vision of the company?

Ambiance Entertainment Group was founded in 2010. The company’s main vision is to offer the best consultation services to our clients according to their needs. This can include coming up with themes, presentations, guidelines, designs, scheduling, planning, preparation and production. 

From wedding planning, to corporate events, to concerts, to occasion-specific designs covering entire buildings, AEG Events’ line of work is very diverse. As a CEO, how do you manage to juggle between these different types of events?

It is a hard but joyful job, and it is very rewarding. I am an entrepreneur, event planner and an artistic person, passionate about design, esthetics and beauty, and my intention is to deliver perfect solutions to our clients: this is what makes AEG a unique company. I am lucky to be working with a professional team of experts that deliver great results right on the spot.

AEG also specializes in talent management and booking public figures. Which personalities are you proudest of having worked with?

Honestly, each and every public figure, celebrity, or artist, has his or her own personality and idiosyncrasies. I have worked with so many different famous people, and each one of them has a unique character. To be honest, I have to say I’m proud to have worked with all of them. 

How were you affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which slowed down the event-planning industry because of lockdowns, social distancing and increased health and safety measures?

This is the big shift. We are now living in a new era, as if each science fiction movie we have seen were happening live, right now, or could happen in the very near future. Society and the economy at large were affected by COVID, and the events sector especially so. We are trying our best to create unique virtual concepts with our own special signature. 

To what extent do you think that the event-planning industry will move to the digital world in the future, and how do you envisage your company pivoting to the virtual realm?

Well this is something that’s real, and we can’t escape the fact that this happening; we have to adapt. I think the event-planning industry is going to turn to the virtual whether we like it or not. The big question is: How should we do it, and what will distinguish us in the industry? At AEG, we are hard at work trying to come up with original answers to these questions. 

The idea of Bigtime Daily landed this engineer cum journalist from a multi-national company to the digital avenue. Matthew brought life to this idea and rendered all that was necessary to create an interactive and attractive platform for the readers. Apart from managing the platform, he also contributes his expertise in business niche.

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Business

The Ultimate Guide to the Essential Social Skills in Business

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Effective communication and strong relationships are essential for success in the workplace. One factor that can greatly influence these qualities is emotional intelligence, often abbreviated as EQ. EQ refers to the ability to identify, understand, and manage one’s own emotions, as well as the emotions of others. Research has shown that individuals with high levels of EQ are better equipped to handle stress, communicate effectively, and work collaboratively with others (Chamorro-Premuzic & Sanger, 2016).

Research has consistently shown that emotional intelligence (EQ) is an important predictor of job performance and success in the workplace. EQ is comprised of a set of skills that allow individuals to recognize, understand, and regulate their own emotions, as well as the emotions of others. In addition, individuals with high EQ are better able to communicate effectively, build relationships, and navigate complex social situations. As a result, they are often viewed as effective leaders and collaborators, and are more likely to achieve their personal and professional goals.

In fact, a number of studies have demonstrated the significant impact that EQ has on job performance and success. For example, one study of 85 upper-level managers found that those with higher EQ scores were rated as more effective leaders by their subordinates (Law, Wong, & Song, 2004). Another study of 151 employees found that those with higher EQ were more likely to be promoted within their organization over a five-year period (Carmeli, Brueller, & Dutton, 2009). These findings highlight the importance of EQ in the workplace and suggest that developing these skills can lead to significant benefits for both individuals and organizations.

According to a study conducted by TalentSmart, a leading provider of EQ assessments, EQ is responsible for 58% of success in all job types (Bradberry & Greaves, 2009). In contrast, IQ only accounts for about 4% of success in the workplace. This suggests that EQ is a crucial skill set for individuals in any professional field. Fortunately, EQ is a skill that can be developed and honed over time with practice and awareness.

There are several key components of EQ that are particularly important for success in the workplace. These include: 

Self-Regulation: This refers to your capacity to recognize and control your emotions. Sometimes treating them when they arise may be necessary. Understanding how to manage your anger is essential. However, it can also cover how to control the feelings you’ll experience.

Self-Awareness: This implies recognizing and understanding your own feelings. Do noisy places make you nervous? Do other people talking over you make you angry? Knowing these truths about yourself shows that you are working on your self-awareness. Being conscious of yourself is necessary for this phase, which can be more complex than it sounds.

Socialization: This category focuses on your capacity to manage social interactions and direct relationships. It doesn’t entail dominating others but knowing how to work with others to achieve your goals. This could entail presenting your ideas to coworkers, leading a team, or resolving a personal disagreement.

Motivation: Strong motivators include external forces like money, status, or suffering. Internal motivation, however, plays a significant role in Goleman’s concept. By doing so, you demonstrate your ability to control your cause and initiate or continue initiatives of your own volition rather than in response to external demands.

Empathy: It’s equally critical to be sensitive to others’ feelings. This may entail learning to identify different emotional states in individuals — for example, can you tell the difference between someone at ease and someone anxious? — but it also requires comprehension of how other people may react to their current situation. Empathy is one of the essential traits in business and business leadership.

A thought leader in this space, Michael Ventura has built a career advising organizations on the importance of emotional intelligence in the workplace. In his book, Applied Empathy, Ventura highlights the value of empathy in business and provides strategies for developing and applying this skill set. With two decades of experience as a leader, facilitator, and educator, Ventura’s work has made impact in with prestigious institutions such as Princeton University and the United Nations as well as corporate clients such as Google and Nike.

Through his work, Ventura advises leaders to focus on the development of EQ in order to help individuals improve their communication, collaboration, and leadership skills, ultimately leading to greater success in the workplace. Experts like Ventura continue to support the growing body of research on the value of EQ in business, and the evidence that organizations who invest in the EQ of their teams help to create a more empathetic and successful professional environment.

And it’s worth noting that EQ isn’t just important for individual success in the workplace, but also for overall organizational success. A study by the Center for Creative Leadership found that EQ was a better predictor of success than IQ or technical skills in the workplace, and that teams with higher levels of EQ tend to be more effective and productive (Boyatzis, Goleman, & Rhee, 1999). By cultivating a culture of empathy and emotional intelligence, organizations can improve their overall performance and create a more positive work environment for their employees.

In conclusion, emotional intelligence is a crucial component of success in the workplace, and individuals and organizations alike should prioritize the development of these skills. The ones that do not only develop a leading edge in their category, but also become a meaningful place to work for their teams. And in today’s rapidly changing talent landscape, the retention of highly capable, emotionally intelligent leaders is one of the greatest keys to unlocking success.

References:

Boyatzis, R. E., Goleman, D., & Rhee, K. S. (1999). Clustering competence in emotional intelligence: Insights from the emotional competence inventory (ECI). In R. Bar-On & J. D. A. Parker (Eds.), Handbook of emotional intelligence (pp. 343-362). Jossey-Bass.

Bradberry, T., & Greaves, J. (2009). Emotional intelligence 2.0. TalentSmart.

Chamorro-Premuzic, T., & Sanger, M. N. (2016). Does employee happiness matter? Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 3(2), 168-191.

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