Coaching: A Way of Being
Coaching, leading, and teaching are words that are susceptible to a lot of confusion and mismanaged expectations. I believe the reason for this is because these words are all professional titles as well as behaviors, values, and ways of being. “Coaching is available to all of us and is not a profession, but a way […]
Eager to be Judged?
You want to be famous? You want to be heard? You want to go first? You want VIP status? BUT, are you eager to be judged? Are you eager to go public with the ideas inside your head? Being heard invites judgment, and judgment is often avoided at all costs. Once you accept that judgment […]
Commitment to Curiosity
“I commit to growing in self-awareness. I commit to regarding every interaction as an opportunity to learn. I commit to curiosity as a path to rapid learning” Commitment 2: Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman, and Kaley Warner Klemp Curiosity is one of my core values. My personal definition for living in alignment with curiosity is to […]
Untangling FACT from STORY
Ready for an audacious claim? The mental skill of untangling facts from stories is the single most important performance enhancing and well-being inducing tool available to anyone and everyone… Fact: “That which is unarguable, e.g., people don’t argue with it. What a video camera would have recorded. Factual and objective description. Black and white reality” […]
Testing Capacity vs. IMPROVING CAPABILITY
Deliberately making this distinction is about understanding the importance of context to inform your behavior. The only wrong answer is deciding one over the other without understanding what for. Testing capacity is all about performance outcome. The purpose is to compete with yourself and/or others and see where you rank. This is valuable feedback… every […]
Organizing Idea(s)
Friedrich Nietzsche, in his book Ecce Homo: How One Becomes What One Is, proposed the concept of “an organizing idea” as representative of what nowadays is commonly referred to as a personal philosophy, purpose, Just Cause, WHY statement, or, as Seth Godin refers to, “the change one seeks to make.” “The organizing idea that is […]
What’s the point?
When an unfavorable outcome seems inevitable, the knee-jerk reaction is “what’s the point?” Common justifications are “my vote won’t make a difference,” “that’s just the way it is,” “this is how the game is played,” and “everyone does it this way.” UNTIL THEY DON’T! The point is… That there is life beyond this set of […]
The 5 C’s of the Leadership Cycle
1. CHOICE Leadership is a decision. You can be a leader if you choose. However, you cannot choose just once or when you feel like it. Leadership is actively, regularly, and consistently choosing to behave in service of something bigger than yourself. When you are behaving in service of something bigger than yourself, you 1(a). […]
Thoughts About Expertise
I am not an expert on expertise. Nonetheless, I do have a Compelling Point of View on the matter of expertise. Expertise requires depth and breadth of domain knowledge, repetition, application, insight, improvisation, and discernment. Richie Norton wrote this incredible post called Discernment Will Be the Key Competency of This Decade. In this article, he […]
Leadership DEVELOPMENT
as opposed to leadership “learning” or leadership “training.” According to Robert Keegan and Lisa Lahey, authors of Immunity to Change, leadership learning and/or training involves the acquisition of knowledge and skills; however, one’s capability to utilize acquired knowledge and skills, especially under pressure, is dependent on leadership and adult DEVELOPMENT. “True development is about transforming […]
