I met Sean Magennis soon after I moved back to Dallas and began consulting with Earth Day Texas. Sean is a green energy entrepreneur from South Africa (with a great accent), and founder of Gateway Green Energy Holdings, LLC. In our interview, I spoke to Sean about his role as President and Chief Operating Officer of YPO (Young Presidents Organization). YPO has more than 24,000 members, in over 130 countries.

Sean and I discuss that 50 percent of the YPO senior management team is comprised of women, and the majority of CEO members are men. He says today’s C-level executives have to be better communicators. Learning how to avoid ambiguity takes a high degree of self-awareness. He provides examples of how to ask questions to avoid the triggers that cause one to over-react or act negatively. He comments on why the brilliant and former CEO of UBER stepped in it because he didn’t have a trusted dialogue with all stakeholders.

Learn how to ask people how you’re being perceived to “nip” communication problems “in the bud” before they become a problem. Sean has broad international executive experience across the USA, Canada, the UK, Europe, Mexico, Asia, and Africa. He is the past International President of the Entrepreneurs Organization, (EO), one of the world’s largest peer to peer networks of successful entrepreneurs over 16 years. Smart and as kind as they come, Sean has a BA degree from Rhodes University in South Africa with postgraduate diplomas in business management and financial management. He is a graduate of the Stagen Leadership Institute in Dallas and is married to businesswoman Maria Cintron.

YPO is a global community of chief executives dedicated to becoming “Better Leaders through Lifelong Learning and Idea Exchange.” For more information visit http://www.ypo.org.