Blog Post

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

Just Start

Note:  I’ve been thinking a lot about creativity  recently.  Today, I’m republishing a blog from my art site  Creative Spirits Unleashed, because sometimes, you just have to start. Originally published February 2015.Recently I drove by a Michael’s craft store that I visited only once. It brought back memories that made me smile and helped me remember that

Context Changes Everything

The lesson of power of context keeps coming back to me.  One of my first experiences in seeing how context can change everything came when living in Charlotte, right after I got my first car with a key fob that unlocked my car.  (Ok, this was a long time ago!)  I asked my husband “Is

Free to Be

I was speaking with a friend the other day who is reinventing her life in huge and profound ways.  We talked about how the word “reinvention” sounds so big and daunting.   “Isn’t it just a natural and growing evolution?” she asked.  Well, yes and no.  In her “reinvention”, she is breaking through lots of beliefs

Learning at the Speed of Light

Many of the leaders I work with these days are in a bit of a paradoxical dilemma.  They have a significant role for which they have been deemed highly competent, and yet it’s like riding a bucking bronco.  The world is changing, the role becoming more complex, and leading in the role becomes more difficult

Calm, Anxious, or Excited?

Copyright: inspirestock / 123RF Stock Photo   Anybody who has ever had to perform under pressure knows the physical commotion and symphony of feelings that course through the body.  Whether a long planned sales presentation, a speech in front of the top brass, or pitching in your softball league, you know the many ways your body

Decisions, Decisions

Photo credit:  123RF.com We spent the weekend cleaning out the “big closet” in our house, the one where we shoved everything with impunity.  We were stunned at how much – well –rubbish had piled up through the years.  We said this all weekend:  “Why in the world did we keep all this stuff?!?” The truth

Our “Ambassadors”

While teaching a self awareness program, one of the participants mentioned our “ambassadors” in context of how we relate to each other.  What?  Who are these ambassadors that he is talking about? With a little more explanation, it struck me as one of the best analogies for what often happens in relationships.   Have you ever

Alignment before pressure

As an avid water skier, I’ve learned over the years that my body position over the ski determines the ​acceleration of the ski from one buoy to the next.  Faster is better.  Watching a webcast of a ski tournament one day, the commentator (also a pro skier) summed up the “stacked body position” this way:  “It’s