Speed seems to be the mandate these days. Yet "go slow to go fast" is a key phrase to keep in mind when focusing on productivity and managing personal energy. It's all about perspective. We live in an age of hyper connectivity with soundbites that compete for our attention at a deafening roar. The walls of our organizations are more porous than ... [Read more]
How Do You Embrace A Love of the Challenge?
If you are a high achieving leader, you love nothing more than a meaty challenge. How do you find your sweet spot of being energized by a challenge that will stretch, and maybe tax you, but not overly so? It’s in overcoming our greatest challenges that we can feel really alive and accomplished. Yet there is a fine line between feeling the ... [Read more]
What Are The Critical Questions You Ask Yourself In Chaotic, Uncertain Times?
If you are wired like most humans, when confronted with uncertainty, your questions would be oriented from your limbic brain – how to create stability, security and safety for yourself. Your questions would be oriented more toward the short-term - solving your immediate problem versus satisfying a longer-term vision of where you really want to be. ... [Read more]
Walking On Broken Glass Part 2: Making Sense & Lessons Learned
Just in case you missed it, here is the not-so-flattering picture of me. Yesterday I described my experience of walking on broken glass. Now, I want to reflect on it with you and share what sense I make of it and how I integrate this experience into lessons learned that I can apply going forward. I asked and answered a number of questions for ... [Read more]
Walking On Broken Glass Part 1: A Leadership Exercise
Seriously? Yes, I walked on broken glass and lived to tell about it. Why would you do that you ask? I am participating in a yearlong business mastermind program designed to expand my thinking and increase my results. Here I am sitting in the conference room on day two of a three day retreat. The Instructor presents the next exercise: “We ... [Read more]
Breathe. You Have Arrived.
Breathe, You Have Arrived. This is the sign that greeted me when I arrived at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health last weekend. I was there on a Kundalini yoga retreat. I practice and teach this form of yoga – not for my career, but probably because of it. What I mean is, it’s the pressures of life that fueled me to search for ways to ... [Read more]
Focus Friday: How Do You Maintain Your Leadership Filter?
First, what IS a leadership filter? It’s how you personally filter and process information so you are passing on the right content and tone of your message to your constituents. Are you passing on stress, confusion, or clarity? I had several conversations with clients this week about this very point. When you are on your email late at night ... [Read more]
Magic Monday: Embracing the Unexpected
Tucson at sunrise this morning. Where can you find the magic at work today? I attended a mastermind business retreat in Tucson last week. My flight home was scheduled for yesterday. Of course all flights were cancelled because of the Blizzard that slammed the Northeastern United States this weekend. The first flight I could get home is ... [Read more]
Playing with Relentless Focus
The greater the challenge you are facing, the greater the need to focus. Whether it’s a goal you are trying to achieve or relationship you are trying to navigate, it’s probably a challenge because you either aren’t sure if, or how you can get the results you want, or you aren’t getting the results you want ... yet. In both cases, this can bring ... [Read more]
Inspiration & Presence = Better Engagement
BREATHE. I’m a big practitioner of understanding the root of words – for clarity and greater impact. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word inspire means, “inhaling, breathing in; inspiration," from the Latin inspirationem … inspirare "inspire, inflame, blow into," … "to breathe" in the literal sense, it’s the “act of ... [Read more]
Follow up Fridays: Facing Terror Head-On
This week’s reflection: What do I notice about my body’s cues? How can I use the energy of terror in constructive ways? Lately I’ve been taking risky and bold moves which can activate my terror triggers. It showed up in my breath – stopped - or I was breathing shallowly. My chest constricted, my shoulders were tense and I had a lump in my throat. ... [Read more]