Leadership

When I left my full time corporate job in IT many years ago, I had no idea what I was going to do next. I just knew it wasn’t what I always did before. When I reflected on what I loved doing in my Corporate work, I enjoyed developing my people and in doing so, developing myself. Therefore, I stepped into my work as a leadership coach. And here I am in the same fulfilling profession of developing people into better leaders. 

As part of my own development, I study with experts. I am currently stu…

"She was a 'what if' personality and because of that she never really happened." ~ Anne Wilson Schaef

For us to be truly living and to feel that aliveness, we must continually invest in ourselves. The quote above reminded me of how much of our lives we live in that "what if" place. Or that "if only" place, or that "someday" place. Lots of us get stuck there and live our entire lives there.

Do you know anyone like that?

In the past I have talked about the GULP factor and what a juicy place…

"A peacefulness follows any decision, even a wrong one." ~ Rita Mae Brown

I have let go of the notion that there are "right" decisions and there are "wrong" decisions. I have learned any decisions I make are the best decisions I make at a specific point in time with the information I have at that one point in time. As time changes, my decisions change.

Even the "wrong" decisions have shown me the many, many ways I do not want to go. They have been some of my most valuable lessons and with …

"Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary." ~Margaret Cousins

"Can I give you some feedback?" Why is it when we hear that question, we freeze and tell ourselves something bad is coming?

I have grown to really appreciate feedback...at least the type of feedback that is very constructive with suggestions on how I might change my behavior for the better. I believe we always have the choice to listen to the feedback and sta…

"I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers." ~Ralph Nader

In my work I am frequently asked what the difference is between managers and leaders. I believe we all have the capacity to lead and that managers can, and need to be, great leaders. At least those managers that are given the opportunity to display leadership skills in their positions. I've seen this called 'leading from any seat at at the table.'

Some differentiators of …

I presented at a luncheon the other day at an international biotechnology company. It was a talk I had given before and I knew my material really well. I was prepared with stories from my own life that demonstrated the points I wanted to make.

What I wasn’t prepared for was the comment by a participant when she came up to me after the presentation and said, “I so appreciate your vulnerability.” 

Interesting. I simply said, “Thank you.”

She responded, “I don’t see that in too many people and I…

"God, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the Wisdom to know the difference." ~ Reinhold Niebuhr

I struggled with what to use as the topic for this post. I just kept thinking and thinking and thinking and nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

Then I took a deep breath, leaned back in my chair, closed my eyes and just breathed. Deep... long... full breaths. The idea came to me. Serenity. That ever elusive, but wonderful, glorious feeli…

"The greatest need of human beings is for a sense of meaning and purpose in life." ~ Victor Frankel

One of the most valuable lessons I am learning in my life is that I don't need to do it alone. 'It' can be defined as almost anything I do, including developing a new program for one of my clients, running my business, needing help in repairing something and even walking my dog. What's freeing about this is it saves me time and energy, I get to a better end result because of the shared idea…

“Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.” - Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)

Louis Pasteur was a French biologist, microbiologist and chemist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization. When I think of tenacity, I think of Pasteur who required a huge amount of persistence and relentlessness in his research.

I need a bit of that.

One truth I know about me is I love to start things.…

“It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable." - Moliere

“Accountability” seems to be the buzzword lately. This has been coming up a quite bit over the past year, but it seems to be more predominant now than ever before.

I remember working in companies when the question, “Who is accountable for this work?” would bring up fear when the boss asked it. We knew that he was looking for one individual to blame. It was viewed as negative and we were always lo…