Lynn Carnes

Why Women Ski

Given that Waterski Magazine recently ran a story titled “Why Don’t More Women Ski?”, the topic naturally came up at Coble Women’s Week.  I would like to report that we have that question figured out – however, for this particular group of skiers, we are stumped. Every single woman in this week’s camp has in some way arranged her […]

Strong Is The New Strong

Sitting amongst the 40-60 something women skiers this morning, one of the instructors, a young woman in her 20’s said “We all (speaking of the other young women instructors) hope we can be as fit as you all are when we are your age.” I have to admit, it’s pretty impressive to look around and

Addiction-The Good Kind

It started at dinner with eight of us discussing stories of fixing a starter relay, or how we always make sure we have an extra impeller in the boathouse, or sharing challenges we have had trailering our boats.  Eight WOMEN talking about the normal things that happen when water skiing is your addiction. It’s Women’s

Learning To Learn

“If you want to be a leader, you have to learn to accept help.”  Those words hit me square between the eyes. Spoken by a coach soon after I had assumed the biggest leadership role in my career, I wanted to deny the truth of it: Leadership means asking for – and accepting – help.

Jump Thinking

It happened again.  There I am, in the middle of a 19 second, six ball pass through the ski course, and at the 4th ball, my intensity went down.  Letting up was not a conscious decision – it’s such an old habit, that it’s almost “natural”.  Too natural.  This time, the coach watching in the

Grit

Sitting in a high school graduation ceremony recently, I found myself in tears from beginning to end.  Was it because I was proud of my child walking across the stage?  Nope, she’s 34, and while I was quite emotional (relief mostly) 16 years ago when she crossed the stage, it didn’t compare to the emotions

Resistance Can’t Be Good, Right?

When giving a, TED or TEDx speech on anything, you can expect people to watch you to see if you are actually living your subject.  So was the case with me last week. I was doing a short workshop with a group of Women in IT (Information Technology) at a Fortune 50 company.  First, I

The Courage to Speak…and Hear

He turned to me and asked “Do you think I am too vague when giving someone an assignment?”  Just as I started to answer we got interrupted, so it was the next day when I brought up his question, with a question of my own.  “What are you hoping to learn by asking that question?”

Leadership IS Conversation

When he knocked at my door asking for a few minutes, the resentment rushed from head to toe.  I was gleefully buried in a budget spreadsheet, playing the annual game to beat the system, keep everyone on staff and avoid layoffs.  “Can’t he see I’m busy?” I thought while slowly turning a fragment of my

Feedback

Washing windows during spring cleaning, I was feeling all happy and proud that I found a perceived shortcut using my new microfiber rags.  Cleaning the windows seemed as simple as wiping them down.  No visible streaks at all.  Until there was light.  Once the sun shown on the “clean” windows the next morning, streaks and