The increasing speed of change and technological breakthroughs, combined with the growing fascination regarding “millennials” and their impact on the world has raised (older) people’s consciousness about the fact that they will not be the ones writing the history books about this period in human history. While this feverishly plays out on the world stage of geopolitics, gun laws, sexuality, gender equality and nationalism, it is also a great question to ask regarding one’s own domain of work. Within our domain of leadership development, coaching and performance, one of the biggest
Category Archives: Blog
Because you are human, you have a story about who you are, where you fit into the world, what you can accomplish, what you want, what you can’t do, what you aren’t good at, etc. Maybe that’s obvious to you. What isn’t so obvious is that whatever story you are currently telling you about yourself is one that YOU MADE UP. What’s worse is that you forgot you made it up and now you believe it’s true. I can’t go back to school at this age. My boss just doesn’t like
“We are shaped by practices and shape ourselves through practices.” Bob Dunham Are your practices creating a more powerful life for you? Or, are they creating more of the breakdowns limiting your life? I recently read a great blog by an associate and friend of mine, Jerry Holtaway, entitled “My morning disconnectionism“. Jerry breaks down how his practices were having a negative effect on his daily routine. The article reinforced what I know to be true in my life and in the life of every one of my clients. Our practices shape how we
I recently met with a new coaching client, a leader of an NGO, to better understand her leadership challenges. I had been asked by her Board to support her in hitting the goals and milestones she had been repeatedly missing in the past year. The conversation ended up being mostly her one-sided rant about how hard she was working, how little respect she got, how toxic the work environment was and how incompetent everyone else was around her. OK, I get we all need to vent from time to time and
The great thing about running a marathon is that you just have to finish the 26.2 miles and you are a marathoner. I am a marathoner, (notice I did not share my Personal Record time, remember, you just have to finish) and both the running of the marathon and the training for the marathon has been a great learning experience for me. After completing a few of them I see that there are correlations between running a marathon and being a leader. Here are a few: You have to practice. Running
I recently led a leadership program for an international group of technical managers. We met by phone on the same day and at the same time for eight weeks in a row. One of the explicit promises we made to each other was that we would be on time and fully present for every call. During one particular meeting, a manager showed up 15 minutes late to the call and said, “Sorry I’m late! This call didn’t make it on my [electronic] calendar.” Well, that damn calendar – the nerve. No
Feeling stuck? Want the secret to more satisfaction, creativity and meaningful relationships in your life? It’s simple. It’s very hard to do, but it’s simple. Here it is: Judge less! We judge constantly and aren’t even aware of it most of the time. ‘I don’t like that.’ ‘I do like this.’ ‘I agree with them. I don’t agree with them.’ ‘They’re right.’ ‘He’s wrong.’ ‘That’s good.’ ‘That’s bad.’ ‘He’s lazy.’ ‘She can’t be trusted.’ ‘I should have known that.’ Etc. We not only spend much of our time and energy judging
As human beings, we are very good at creating and then automatically repeating patterns; patterns of behavior, patterns of feeling, patterns of thinking and patterns of posture. At one level, we are biologically wired to do this, as many of our internal biological systems exhibit homeostatis – blood pressure, body temperature and glucose concentration, to name but three. What this means is that our body is uniquely designed to self regulate and ensure stability of function. A body that is unable to self-regulate quickly runs into problems: a well-known example is
Sure, you’re doing well — but could you do better? Absolutely you could. We all can. There’s always a new summit to climb, a goal to set our sights on, a new adventure just ahead. We all want to be prepared for that next great opportunity, but what do we do and how do we get ready? What does it take for me, my team, my company to take our game to the next level? To many, the “what” and “how” of success remains a mystery and thus we continue to
There’s an old line about every journey, even the ones of thousands of miles, beginning with a single step. Leadership, as a concept, really isn’t any different. It all begins from a single place — but oftentimes, getting to that initial step can be hard for many leaders. Bob Dunham, the CEO and Founder of the Institute for Generative Leadership, has said that leadership happens when a leader declares a future that people commit to. Vision is about declaring a future, and that is exactly what leaders do. OK … so