Leadership is a valuable skill, making leadership training a top priority for any organisation that wishes to thrive in a competitive and constantly evolving environment. Effective leaders inspire teams and navigate challenges with confidence, and these are among the traits Ayanthi Philip has instilled in teams through corporate training sessions held around the world.
A corporate trainer, leadership coach, and consultant, Ayanthi Philip leverages her decade-long corporate experience and journey into coaching to help individuals and organisations rethink their approach to leadership and personal growth. In an interview with Echelon, she discusses the experiences, philosophies, and strategies that have come to define her impactful work in Sri Lanka and beyond.
What led you to become a transformational trainer, and inspired your commitment to empowering others?
I wanted to give back what I gained in my corporate life. I spent over a decade in apparel sourcing and technology, becoming a manager at 26 and travelling across the Far East, where I learned the value of communication and relationship building. After 12 years in corporate life, I convinced the company that trained me in 2005 to launch a training arm in Sri Lanka, beginning my career in training. Building credibility meant investing in certifications, practice, and patience, which laid the foundation for my work today.
I began with a focus on training that has since evolved into a deeper practice of transformational coaching—guiding clients to shift mindsets and embrace authentic leadership. What inspires me most is helping individuals unlock their true potential, making training and coaching a natural extension of my passion and purpose.
How do you measure lasting impact in your work with individuals and organisations, beyond short-term results?
I once led a leadership workshop where a senior manager realised mid-session that his autocratic communication style was silencing his team. He committed to change, and six months later his team achieved the highest engagement scores in the company. That’s transformation in action, and it’s what I strive to see every day.
To measure lasting impact, I track behavioural change before, immediately after, and three months following a programme—an approach I consider essential. For me, corporate training goes beyond imparting skills; it is about reshaping mindsets. The experience is immersive, reflective, and at times deliberately challenging—creating the conditions for genuine growth.
In today’s fast-changing world, what qualities do leaders need most to thrive and stay resilient?
Leaders thrive through emotional intelligence and inner security. Leaders who empathise and regulate emotions build trust and guide teams through uncertainty, anchoring relationships and keeping teams aligned. A growth mindset is vital: leaders who evolve and embrace feedback adapt more effectively and inspire their teams to show the same resilience. Often, leaders focus on external validation or positional authority, when true resilience comes from confidence in one’s values, strengths, and identity. Through this, setbacks become opportunities to learn rather than threats to self-worth, allowing us to stay calm under pressure, make thoughtful decisions, and lead with clarity even in turbulent times.
The most effective leaders combine self-awareness with adaptability, empathy with strength, and ambition with humility, transforming change into growth.
What makes your training approach unique, and how do you adapt it for different audiences, from students to executives?
Eighty percent of the work is in workshop preparation, and I find it to be an extremely creative process. When designing a workshop, I step into a quiet space where I visualise the facilitation, anticipate audience responses, and consider how participants will think, feel, and act. I invest significant time in conceptualising, researching, and refining. Once the workshop comes together, I experience a deep sense of accomplishment and completion. From experience, I also recognise when a session doesn’t resonate as intended, and I return to the drawing board to identify and address what may be missing.
How do you help people and organisations overcome fear, barriers, and limiting beliefs to embrace change?
I use a range of tools designed to help individuals build self-awareness—the foundation of both personal and professional growth. One client once told me, “You didn’t just help me lead better; you helped me live better.” That simple yet powerful reflection reaffirmed for me that coaching extends far beyond business performance. It is not merely a corporate tool but a deeply human one—enabling people to lead with authenticity, find balance, and create meaningful impact in every aspect of their lives.
What is your vision for the future of transformational training and leadership development in Sri Lanka and globally? What legacy do you hope to leave?
My vision for transformational training and leadership development in Sri Lanka, and beyond, is to help leaders evolve into more self-aware, authentic, and human-centred individuals. I believe true leadership begins with self-awareness: the ability to understand one’s strengths, limitations, and impact on others. Leaders grounded in this awareness foster compassionate, inclusive, and resilient organisations. Effective leadership development is intentional, combining structured training, personalised coaching, mentoring, and wellbeing support, ensuring leaders are skilled, emotionally grounded, and future-ready.
As part of this journey, I am writing a book to share insights, frameworks, and stories that inspire transformational leadership. I also aim to build a thriving community for emerging female leaders, mentoring and empowering women to rise with confidence and authenticity. The legacy I hope to create is a generation of leaders defined not just by titles, but by the lives they touch, the mindsets they shift, and the positive cultural transformations they spark. If my work can help nurture such leaders, then I would consider it a legacy worth leaving behind.