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I always took great pride in my ability to accomplish a lot. I was one of the fastest “Check it off, it’s done” people I knew. During a leadership program I attended, I pulled aside the leader and told her, “I am getting impatient with all these people. They seem to take forever to come to a decision and want to just talk on and on and on.” She looked at me and smiled.

“Pat, I know that you are capable of accomplishing a lot. I’ve seen it. The place I think you need to look now for the sake …

I almost did not post this blog, because I thought 'demon' was such a powerful word and for me has some negative overtones. But then I went to the dictionary to see how it’s defined. Miriam Webster says it is “a source or agent of evil, harm, distress, or ruin.”

By that definition, I thought yes, we have all experienced some sort of harm, distress, or ruin that has or still is holding us back.

I was at a workshop this past weekend and I met Randy Fortes who is a facilitator, trainer, coach an…

Since my book, Gutsy Women Win, has been published, I have had many people ask me “Why did you write a book?” They never asked me why I wrote this specific book, or why I wrote on this specific topic. No. They were yearning to know my why, my deeper vision and what was strong enough to keep me looking forward through a long and sometimes very tedious process.

I think in my answer they are hoping to find their own answer to writing their own book that they’ve been dreaming of writing.

Here’s m…

“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 to have more impact. I believe we always have the choice to listen to the feedback an…

“Eureka! - I have found it!”  - Archimedes

I don’t know about you, but I really love those “Eureka!” moments.  I love the rush that I get when I realize I have just brilliantly solved a problem, or come up with something very creative, or found the answer to a question that I’ve been noodling.

It’s these moments of insight that I’ve always wanted to understand and now I do…at least a little bit better.

Bubbles by H. Koppeldelaney

Insight is a very different process from analytical thought.…

It was a hot afternoon. I was running errands. I was thirsty. I saw the green canopy and the mermaid logo. Great! I'm in the mood for a Starbucks and I have a gift card a friend gave me. Cool. I got out of my car and grabbed my phone, which also carries my driver's license and a few plastic cards, in my left hand and my car keys in my right hand and shut the door and locked the car. I was looking forward to my cool afternoon drink. Grande, iced, decaf, soy latte...light ice. Yum. I could al…

Have you ever had someone say something to you that shook your world and made you feel totally worthless?  Yes? Well, I can relate.

I grew up in a home where both my parents worked. My Dad worked during the day and my Mom at night. I very rarely saw my Mom when I was growing up.  The only time I saw her was in the morning when she would wake my brother, my sister and I; after school until 4:30 when she left for her job; and then for ½ hour at 8:00 at night when she would come home for her …

I was on a teleconference call this morning and the leader of the call kept saying things like, “I can’t do that.” “I’ll never be able to do that.” “I am awful at that.”

Yay! He knows himself. Good for him. He knows what he is NOT capable of. A good thing for all of us to know, so we don’t haul off and start heading in a really bad direction. The problem I had was I never, not once, ever, heard him say anything kind or nice about what he WAS capable of.  It was all defaming himself.

The ins…

The doing part of leadership is the ‘form’ leadership takes: setting goals, accomplishing, taking action, communicating, etc. It is the answer to the ‘How?’ question.

The being part of leadership is the ‘essence’ that leadership is: Holding the space for open conversations, insightful, self aware, not afraid to fail, transforming, etc. It is the answer to the ‘Why?’ question.

It’s my experience that the more grounded and spacious one is within their being, the more effective the doing becom…

I don't know what this has to do with being Gutsy, other than look at my Mom in that bikini at around 50! That was gutsy! I just wanted to share this memory of someone who taught me that Gutsy is also about taking time to stop and smell the marigolds.

When I was a little girl, I remember the small backyard of our two-flat in Chicago was mostly grass. My Dad took care of it. He watered it, mowed it, trimmed it, watched it grow, and admired it. There was a small strip of dirt between the sid…