In the world of entrepreneurship, Maïthé Quintana is not just a success story; she is an inspiration. She is the Director and Founder of IKIGAI International Academy and an extraordinary individual who has triumphed over formidable challenges. From childhood, she has grappled with dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, attention deficit disorder, and hyperactivity. Despite her learning differences and the hurdles, she faced, she went on to achieve remarkable success, emerging as a millionaire entrepreneur.
Maïthé’s journey is one of incredible resilience and determination. Her academic path was marked by difficulties, culminating in only obtaining a secretarial BEP. Yet, this did not deter her from pursuing her dreams and proving that academic success is not the only path to achievement.
Drawing strength from her experiences, Maïthé decided to pay it forward and help others, both adults and children, unlock their hidden talents, reach their full potential, and discover their purpose, their IKIGAI. She is on a mission to guide individuals towards finding their rightful place in the world.
To empower people to achieve their goals, Maïthé has developed a program that amalgamates artificial intelligence, neuroscience, and human guidance. Her approach is a harmonious blend of cutting-edge technology and personal mentorship, making it accessible and effective for all.
All About IKIGAI
Maïthé shares that the academy’s culture is very simple: everything is centered, refocused again and again on the human being, their deepest self, their future, their skills, their values. Whatever thoughts, emotional encoders, emotional wounds an individual may have, the important thing for her is to attach herself to everything that’s good in them, and to tell them that they’re a beautiful person at least once in their life!
In the next 15 to 20 years, this will mean less background work for coaches and less time wasted by individuals, which can be counted in years.
- What is ikigai?
Ikigai for finding or rediscovering one’s path. It’s possible to rediscover one’s professional motivation and life path, thanks to Ikigai-based coaching and training. Maïthé Quintana, president and founder of France’s only international Ikigaï center based on artificial intelligence, tells us more about this happiness secret straight from Japan.
- What is Ikigai used for?
It’s a way of rediscovering well-being and serenity, and finding one’s “way” in all areas of life, both professional and personal. This coaching method, which originated in Okinawa, aims to help individuals overcome their malaise and bring out their talents, so that they can feel at home in all circumstances. It encompasses both the ideal life and the motivation to achieve it. One’s Ikigai can evolve throughout their lives. To find it, individuals need to ask themselves the right questions about their passions and talents, and match them with what they’re capable of bringing to the world and making a living from. Ikigaï coaches are there to help them, to guide them to get there, and to work on it.
- Who is Ikigaï for?
Everyone, individually or collectively. Ikigaï helps to reduce emotional burden and defuse internal emotional conflicts. An Ikigaï audit analyzes Quality of Working Life issues and the emotional temperature of corporate teams. Coaches help individuals to look at things from a different angle and to begin a process of benevolence. Training courses range from 7 hours to 318 hours and can be delivered face-to-face or remotely. In her view, managers have a duty to make resources such as Ikigaï available, so as to give their staff the opportunity to find a better way of seeing their talents and strengthening their positive points. Better well-being leads to better performance.
Maïthé adds that Ikigaï gives new meaning to one’s professional and personal life… It’s often said that “when one is well, others are too.” Ikigaï is useful at any age, at any stage of life… Finding it can help individuals to get out of a “brown out” or quiet quitting, a “burn out,” or to move forward in a reconversion or a more radical change.
Endeavors in IKIGAI Coaching and Investment Fund
According to Maïthé, IKIGAI is positioned in a wide range of fields, but her common denominator is the human factor. In fact, the Institut Pédagogique Neuro-Assimil Center (Ipnass.com) in France is dedicated to training Ikigai Adult; Junior 14/20 years and coaches Ikigai Quality of Working Life consultants, and setting up annual workshops dedicated to the search for one’s ikigai, either face-to-face or online. They have a skills assessment coaching unit that is essentially dedicated to professional retraining and the readjustment of the human mass following a life accident, job loss, or search for meaning. Maïthé also offers management training based on neuroscience and collective emotional intelligence. These courses are designed for level 1, N-2, and N-3 managers to improve working conditions and increase team involvement and productivity. They have agreements to certify and train on part of the content dedicated to Mediators with the Groupement National des Commissaires Médiateurs based in Paris. A consultancy department focusing on distribution strategy, reorganization, and the integration of artificial intelligence into their consumer ecosystem enables them to be the benchmark for the tools to be installed, the re-implementation of resources, and to support them with a real “change management” program.
In 2008, Maïthé set up an investment fund, Dharma & Associés, dedicated to digital and artificial intelligence investments. Her role is very simple, given her experience over the last 36 years and her acute appetite for IT, AI, and people. She has the talent to be a visionary on how to shape a business, to be able to model it from A to Z and put it into production until it becomes viable. Her management style is short and based on a desire to get things done and creativity. Her teams experience life in a new way every time they take on or create a project. She employs talent and know-how, not curriculum vitae.
Role of AI in Society
Maïthé’s development strategy is very simple: they are entering the U.S. at the end of 2023/beginning of 2024 with AI-based tool solutions in English and Spanish, and, of course, in French for the French-speaking community. In the spring of 2024, they will open up Canada and all the U.S. states. By 2025, they plan to expand into South America, unless they can find high-performance allies with the same values as theirs.
Unfortunately, she finds herself in an industry that serves as an emotional ambulance to save employees. Whether it’s today’s crisis, the threat of war, or other parameters in the societal ecosystem, she regrets to inform those who don’t know that our lives have changed and are going to change. Life as it used to be is no more, and what was the leitmotiv 10/5 years ago, or even post-COVID, is already a long way from it. Artificial intelligence has arrived like an axe in our lives, even though it was already 15 years ago. With all these parameters of fear being stimulated, humanity will need to refocus on itself and reconnect with the true values that drive it if it is to redesign a future worthy of the name. Ikigai and coaches are there to help individuals realign themselves and take back control of their lives.
Significance of Continuous Learning and Emotional Intelligence
Maïthé continues to perform well, maintaining a high level of creativity at 95% of her performance. She focuses on learning three new skills a year to keep herself engaged and avoid getting tired when acquiring new abilities. She dedicates 5 to 8 hours a week to surfing development forums, exploring the most downloaded applications, and staying updated on the most searched words on Google. She remains closely connected to the field and her teams to anticipate decisions and, most importantly, to maintain agility in her decision-making. She acknowledges that the syndrome affecting many, including leaders, managers, employees, and even children, is the need to be “right all the time.” Maïthé points out that this syndrome often hinders people from being right, which is a key lesson in neuroscience. This behavior becomes an emotional encoder, leading to a constant struggle for territory and a gradual, silent emotional war. As a result, emotional intelligence and collective intelligence struggle to flourish.
Maïthé also recommends that today’s and tomorrow’s managers focus on managing their emotions, as it enables them to better and more swiftly manage projects and teams. Emphasizing emotional management is one of the keys to achieving faster success, as there is no longer time to wait for one’s turn.
Vital Role of the Director and Founder in Business Strategy
On the criticality for the Director and Founder role to be engaged in business strategy, Maïthé thinks it’s vital that the director or founder is involved in strategy and debriefings. They alone hold the vision and the model for the project, and they are the only ones who can anticipate future problems, assist with lobbying, and make swift course changes when needed. She points out that over the last 30 years, there has been a regrettable development of the skill of “non-decision making,” which in some companies has evolved into collective decision making. She questions how a sensible manager can believe that the inside of their brain is connected to their co-CEO and the rest of the board of directors. Maïthé adds, “A creator, a leader, a project, a success! And if they are a good manager, they will say “WE!”
A Vision for the Future
Maïthé envisions that the future, with the integration of artificial intelligence, is going to change everything. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated our capacity to telework, but it has also highlighted the shift in salaried employment. In fact, teleworking subcontracting is emerging as one of the most suitable solutions for hiring a skill rather than an employee.
The “Digital Nomad” lifestyle is a dream shared by many at 30, and it remains Maïthé’s dream today: to travel, generate wealth, and become a better person through their actions. This has been her way of life for 20 years. She believes that corporate culture can be maintained if the manager who leads their team is capable of effective communication, teaching, motivation, organization, supervision, setting an example, taking a step back, and being fair.
Words of Encouragement
Maïthé has just one piece of advice for those who are starting out, who are scared, who are lost: If they’re here, it’s not by chance; whoever recruited them saw in them what they don’t see! And they should never forget, “it’s by doing that we learn!” She encourages them to be the manager, the customer, the employee they wish they had. This “schizophrenic model” has helped her a lot over the years.
