In this article of the Business Insights Series, I sat down with Anthony Tse from Institute for Greatness (IFG), a former finance leader who built and exited a kindergarten group in Singapore and now coaches professionals and executives.

IFG is a coaching and advisory firm that works with professionals through to senior executives. The team supports career advancement and leadership development via 1‑to‑1 coaching, group training, and executive workshops. Programmes include career design, communication and influence, and preparing managers for C‑suite responsibilities.

The mission is to take your career to the next level so you can live a more fulfilling life. We talked about career pivots, sales in high‑trust services, coaching patterns he sees across industries, and how he plans to scale IFG with a clear method and smart use of AI.

Anthony has delivered several TEDx talks over the years and took part in a major speaker event where he won the Audience Favourite award. Readers can explore his Business Insider feature and the event video titled “Your career is not a ladder – it’s a story” to see how he presents his ideas in action. These platforms continue to carry his message about careers as evolving stories to a wider audience. You will find practical ideas for brand, leadership, and growth. Let’s start with the belief that shaped his journey.

Why ordinary people can pursue greatness

Anthony explained the origin of his institute in direct terms, showing how the name links to the mission.

“Yeah, so the genesis of IFG Institute for Greatness really is to let ordinary people know that anybody can one day be great if they, if more like you, can pursue greatness.”

Anthony’s belief is rooted in lived experience rather than abstract theory. For him, greatness shows up in the willingness to act when the safe option is to stand still. The people he coaches often arrive with doubts about whether they have the right background or the right timing. His message is that action, however small, builds the evidence you need to trust yourself. This is advice worth carrying into any boardroom or shop floor. Many leaders wait for the perfect plan, but by the time it arrives, the market has moved. Progress belongs to those who start with what they have.

Recent studies reveal that “41% of people have taken a career pivot in the last 36 months while 35% have no planned career path at all.” This data reinforces Anthony’s philosophy that traditional linear career paths are becoming obsolete, and that embracing action over perfect planning is increasingly vital for professional success. As one career transition specialist notes, “Gone are the days where employees would start their career and end it with the same company. People are looking for more variety, progression and fulfilment from their careers.”

Here is how that belief looked in his own life. In 2009, during the financial crisis, Anthony lost his job in finance. He chose to treat the change as a release and moved fast. Within months he launched his first business, a hedge fund, at 30. The quote that follows is the line he uses to explain that shift.

“Unemployment actually equals liberation.”

That was how he reframed being laid off in 2009. Instead of reading the event as a closed door, he treated it as space to create something of his own. The way he tells the story matters as much as the event itself. By choosing the word “liberation,” he gives a signal to anyone listening: language shapes the way we act.

If you call it failure, you stop. If you call it freedom, you search for options. Leaders can apply this directly in moments of disruption. A team that sees crisis as a constraint will shrink into caution. A team that sees it as opportunity begins testing ideas that might carry them forward. The insight is practical, the mindset serves as a decision‑making tool. The challenge is to see the space that has opened and take a deliberate step into it.

Career is a story, not a ladder

Anthony often returns to a phrase that frames how he thinks about work and life.

“Career is not a ladder, it’s a story.”

That is the working title of his TEDx talk. The idea comes from the many shifts he has lived through: a long career in finance, then building a kindergarten group, and now coaching. Each stage required him to rethink what success meant and how to approach work with fresh energy. Those experiences gave him a clear sense that careers cannot be reduced to promotions or job titles. He views them as stories that evolve, with turning points that often appear first as obstacles.

Harvard Business Review research confirms this narrative approach to careers is particularly effective for leadership development. In their analysis of executive recoveries from setbacks, researchers found that leaders who view their careers as evolving stories rather than linear progressions are more likely to bounce back successfully. As one study noted, “Even a dramatic career failure can become a springboard to success if you respond in the right way.” The key is to “determine why you lost, identify new paths, and seize the right opportunity when it’s within your reach.”

“Every obstacle is really just a building block towards a climax of a chapter of your life.”

When leaders adopt this mindset, they often feel permission to stop defending past choices and instead focus on writing what comes next. This way of seeing work encourages people to bring their values into career planning. For a manager, it might mean shifting energy toward a role where influence matters more than hierarchy.

For an entrepreneur, it could be the freedom to close a chapter on a struggling idea and begin testing a new offer without shame. The story frame changes the pressure. Instead of asking whether a role is high enough on the ladder, you ask whether the current chapter advances the plot you want to tell. That question is more useful because it ties your daily effort to meaning as well as progress. If your current role does not fit your values, begin sketching the first lines of the next scene and give yourself permission to keep writing.

From finance desks to school halls

Anthony spent two decades in finance, then bought and ran kindergartens, growing from one site to five and scaling staff from eight to about fifty. He turned around distressed schools during lockdowns and later exited to another operator. The work was hands‑on and demanded that he learn operations, hiring, and even direct customer engagement on the spot.

“I handled the school tours and open houses myself, speaking directly with parents about their concerns and hopes.”

This approach reminded him that each enrolment was a long‑term relationship built on trust. Parents choose a school with care, and the decision carries strong emotions. Anthony led tours and open houses himself, listened to concerns directly, and refined how he explained the school’s value. For founders, the lesson is that when selling something that relies on trust, you need to be close to the customer at the start.

Early conversations are where you hear unfiltered questions, learn the objections, and shape a story that resonates. Once you have that understanding, you can equip your team to carry the message forward, but the original insights come only from being in the room yourself.

What coaching clients ask for most

After a year and a half of IFG, Anthony has started to see repeated themes in the work he does with clients. The requests arrive from different industries and at different levels of seniority, yet the struggles look familiar.

Anthony explained that even in his early stage of coaching practice, certain themes repeat themselves. Many of his clients share similar pain points, whether they work in finance, consulting, or tech. This observation gives weight to his advice, because it shows that the barriers leaders face often repeat across industries and seniority levels.

Communication is the most common challenge. Many leaders discover that what made them effective as specialists does not work when they need to influence a wider group. Others arrive with questions about how to build a personal brand strong enough to travel with them if they change jobs. Another frequent request is support in moving from being a competent manager to being seen as a credible leader.

“Most people are just not great communicators, which you would be amazed to see even at senior levels.”

Anthony’s own practice of showing up online has doubled as both marketing and learning. His consistency on LinkedIn brought him new clients, but it also clarified his voice. Publishing weekly forced him to sharpen his thinking and create material he could use later in workshops. For readers leading teams, the insight is that regular output builds trust in two directions: potential clients see your expertise, and your own team sees the values you stand for. Try a weekly rhythm: one short post that tells a useful story and lands a clear lesson. Over time, those posts stack into a body of work that people recognise and return to.

Building a failure‑proof mindset

In our discussion, Anthony kept returning to the idea that setbacks, if handled deliberately, can strengthen a career rather than endanger it. He advises his clients to treat challenges as raw material for the next stage of their story, something that can be used to build momentum and inform the next stage of progress. When people realise that lessons learned in difficult chapters can make the next one richer, the pressure to appear flawless eases and growth becomes possible.

“People hire me because I tell them I’m just being human.”

This captures how Anthony frames adversity. It is a practical instruction with clear applications. He has lived through failed ventures and industry shifts, and he shares those details openly with clients. That openness builds credibility: it shows that failure is part of the process, not a reason to step aside. His willingness to name mistakes in public talks and in his book (“Breaking the Glass Ceiling”) gives clients permission to explore their own setbacks honestly.

For readers, the application is clear. Keep a short reflection log after each major challenge at work. Write down the event, the lesson you see in it, and one adjustment you plan to make. Review these notes monthly. Over time, you create a personal archive of resilience that can guide decisions and remind you of progress. Leaders who practise this exercise often notice that their teams follow suit, making reflection a cultural habit rather than a private one. This is how a failure‑proof mindset begins to spread beyond one person and into an organisation.

Scaling an institute

Anthony named his company an institute on purpose. He aims to build a method that other coaches can deliver, extending beyond a brand tied only to his name. He is building a structured framework for coaching, adding corporate training and speaking, and lining up a roster of coaches for when demand rises. He also wants to use his recorded sessions to train AI helpers.

Anthony explained that he has already collected hundreds of hours of coaching conversations, each filled with questions, responses, and reflections. The value is not in the number itself but in the way these sessions can be tagged and analysed. With structure, his approach can be turned into a clear method that other coaches can learn and apply. That allows consistency for clients and ensures the experience is not dependent on a single person’s style.

“I do want to expand it in 2026, potentially having a roster of coaches, potentially scaling, potentially putting in AI.”

That ambition points to a shift from a personal practice to a scalable organisation. It means designing training pathways for future coaches, creating clear playbooks, and ensuring quality control. It also means considering how digital tools, including AI, can capture patterns from his sessions and make them available as guidance. These plans show that scaling involves more than expanding headcount. It requires preserving the depth of the work while also reaching more people. The goal he set for himself is clear: scale in 2026.

On ownership, agency, and relationships

We both share a bias for building. When you run a business, excuses are expensive. That lesson applies whether you are running a start‑up or leading a department inside a global firm. Ownership means stepping into responsibility instead of waiting for someone else to fix the gap.

Anthony spoke about the way this principle shows up in careers. “A career is a life story inside of an organisation and then across organisations, right?” The comment points to how careers are often shaped by the relationships that open doors, as much as by the plans written on paper. Skills matter, but they need to be seen, trusted, and connected to the right projects.

“Results are almost secondary because you need the… Relationships to achieve the results.” This line highlights a truth that many leaders discover late: outcomes rely on networks as much as effort. For readers, the practice is simple. If a project is stalling, draw a quick relationship map. Mark who needs clarity, who could use a visible win, and who simply wants to be heard. Often, the path forward comes through one focused conversation rather than another spreadsheet.

Closing thoughts

Anthony’s journey across finance, education, and coaching reveals that growth rarely follows a straight path. Each stage added a new skill set, from analysis to customer trust to personal storytelling. For business leaders, the insight is that careers and companies alike thrive when they are treated as evolving stories rather than fixed ladders.

A practical growth lesson emerges here: resilience is built by structuring what you learn and making it teachable. Anthony’s plans for IFG show how personal experience can turn into a method, and how that method can scale with technology and people. For readers running their own businesses, this is a reminder to capture processes early, to test them in small cycles, and to make them transferable to others. That is how momentum builds without being tied to one person.

If your work needs a reset, write the next chapter. If your business needs structure, start with one repeatable process today.

Anthony also shares ideas regularly on his YouTube channel. You can explore his talks and interviews here: https://www.youtube.com/@Institute_IFG/videos

If you want help to turn these ideas into a plan for your business, book a discovery call with Serenichron: https://calendly.com/serenichron/30min

Source from:
Why resilient leaders turn setbacks into stories