Magic Monday: The Gap Week

Words of Manic Monday by The Bangles and modified by Susan Shaner. Musician: Dan Brodax. Where can you find the magic at work today?

Your place of business is either crazy busy this week trying to wrap up the year or very quiet with many people on vacation.

I call this week the gap between what was and what could be. That is, this is the week that we typically reflect on the past year and project or plan for the year ahead. So it includes celebrations of goals achieved, regrets for those not achieved and setting goals and resolutions for the year ahead. This word resolution actually means making a “firm decision to do or not do something.”

Most resolutions fail within the first 30 days. I believe this is because of two reasons:

1. These are goals made from the head and the place of “should” versus the heart and the place of “passion.”
2. People often don’t get the support they need to make the resolution stick.

If you are going to embark upon something bold or new that requires change, you need the right, consistent supports to overcome challenges. True, sustained change is hard – even when it’s desired change.

This week’s reflection question: What is one thing that helped you navigate change this past year that you want to take with you into 2016? Or where do you need more support?

© Copyright 2015 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.

Magic Monday: Looking at What is Or What Could Be

This is the week when college kids come home for the holidays. For those who celebrate Christmas, they embark on last minute frenetic shopping or gift wrapping. For those in business, it means tying up the year as strongly as you can. For those in education, it means a deserved break from students. For those in healthcare, it can mean more emergencies – or quiet time where you can really focus on one patient at a time.

Depending upon your beliefs, practices and places of work, you might look at these last ten days of the year differently.

I always notice a different energy in the air this time of year. Some of it is because of the holidays and some of it is because we are coming to the end of a yearly cycle – an ending and a beginning. Reflecting and planning.

Generally people are either more stressed and closed or more open and curious. Even if you still have presents to wrap, many miles to travel, cookies to bake, or financial books to close, I invite you to step back, breathe, and notice what is currently working and what could be a blessing. Live into the gratitude of what you already have. Open to the question of what could be. It is in this space of positive energy that all things are possible.

This week’s reflection question: What do you notice when you step back from the task at hand and notice the positive of what is or could be?

© Copyright 2015 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.

Follow up Friday: Trauma and The Workplace

Monday my reflection questions were: Where are you challenged in your own leadership with bouncing back from set backs or traumatic events? What can you do to foster more open dialogue and listening in situations that involve tension or trauma?

The American Psychological Association defines trauma as “an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape or natural disaster. Immediately after the event, shock and denial are typical. Longer-term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships and even physical symptoms like headaches or nausea. While these feelings are normal, some people have difficulty moving on with their lives.”

Trauma is an extreme term that many leaders, if you are not working in fields directly that manage trauma (such as healthcare, the military, security, etc.), shy away from. And yet leaders or office workers are traumatized everyday – because of situations that happen at work – or because of toxic relationships with bosses or co-workers. Ultimately it comes down to the nature of the situation and that person’s make-up – if they are a sensitive person or not.

A traumatic situation at work could be where your life is in physical or emotional danger, or both. Examples could be a bomb threat, shooting or emotional disrespect or abuse. For example, years ago when I was pregnant with my daughter there was a gas leak in my company building. Ironically I was working for a healthcare company at the time. HR evacuated everyone to investigate and, those who had any physical reactions were sent to the hospital. Given my condition, I wanted to make sure nothing happened to the baby.

When I got back to the office, I told my boss I wasn’t comfortable working there that day, even though the inspectors cleared the building. She asked if I wanted to see the EAP (employee assistance program – counseling). I was taken aback. No, I did not. I said there was nothing wrong with my being concerned – it was based in reality not my feelings about reality. I felt my perspective was invalidated. I am not against counseling at all. As a matter of fact, I was trained as a therapist early in my career. In this instance, counseling was not the solution. I didn’t think I was traumatized by the gas leak, just appropriately concerned.

Different situations will trigger different people, based upon their history and sensitivities. You can also be traumatized by abusive or disrespectful relationships.

Here is what I realized this week: if you experience trauma in the context of a relationship, you can do your own work within yourself to come to terms with the relationship going forward. Yet the greatest reconciliation takes place in dialogue with another person.

What do I mean by trauma in the context of a relationship? We all have different levels of where we feel a trauma or not. A colleague and friend of mine uses this term to refer to a situation with a former boss. She says she was traumatized by how she was treated when she worked for that company – blatant yelling and swearing and sabotaging of her work. Sound crazy? It’s not as uncommon as you think. And this person worked in human resources!

A key question is, why does the people system allow behavior like this to continue?

© Copyright 2015 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.

True Confessions: Commitment, Consistency and Goal Achievement

I made a commitment to write in my blog everyday for 30 days (Nov 17 – Dec 16). I did this for several reasons:

1. To get more of my thought leadership public.
2. To strengthen my commitment muscle.
3. To unclog my mind, unblock my writing and be more consistent with it.

Today is day 31 – and I am celebrating that I did not miss a day – even over the Thanksgiving holiday! Goal Achieved! Woo hoo! While some days I may have posted at 10 pm, it still made it on that calendar day. Given all the other things I juggle, this was a huge commitment and achievement for me.

Before, I committed, I didn’t give this particular goal a lot of thought – as I typically would with such a commitment that required a daily consistent practice. I noticed an invitation email the day before the challenge was to begin. I said, I’m in, I’m going to do it. I had no plan – unlike me. I just said, I’ll figure it out as I go along.

After I said yes, my questions and fears began swirling: Would I have enough to say? Would anyone read it? Would anyone care? How am I going to do this with all I have going on? Is this really what I should be focused on right now? What if I set this goal and didn’t achieve it? It was more about my doing something I set out to do that I knew would translate to other places in my life where I need to channel more of this commitment energy.

A couple of times I wrote more than one blog entry in a day, and I had a few topics that I explored over several days. But generally, I allowed topics to surface on a daily basis. I felt like a hiker wandering in the woods, being guided by my internal GPS.
Here is what I experienced and learned:

1. When it’s not an option to not do it, I found a way – to find content or make the time.
2. Trust the process: On days when I had little time, suddenly an article surfaced that moved me so I felt compelled to write about it.
3. The more I wrote, the more ideas flowed. I started a writing journal to capture my thoughts for headlines for posts and ideas to be developed.
4. The practice of writing and reflecting helped me get clearer on my priorities and my message to the world.
5. The act of writing for public consumption forced deeper reflection and commitment.
6. Writing allows me to better connect to myself and how I process my life and my work.
7. I heard from people I didn’t know who found value in what I had to say, which gave me further encouragement.
8. I heard from former clients, colleagues and friends who found posts helpful.
9. It helped to know 3,000 people in my blogger community – learntoblog – were also taking this challenge. When up against a huge challenge, I really need to get support and energy from others because I do have moments of doubt, fatigue, etc. – and that is okay! Plan for it and expect it.
10. I need to trust my inner guidance (intuition) more. It will deliver even when I (my mind) doubt I can.
11. Any worthwhile challenge is going to push me beyond what I think my limits are.

So, I addressed all three reasons of why I took the challenge:

1. I got feedback that my thought leadership was of value.
2. I came through on my commitment.
3. My mind is unclogged and writing is flowing. Now, if I can just fix my kitchen sink that clogged today. 

Here is my plan going forward: To continue to write in my blog at least twice a week (magic Mondays and Follow up Fridays) and as the spirit moves me on other days. I will channel the daily writing into completing my book, which I have been challenged with finishing this year – a 2015 goal not achieved. I am giving myself another chance – another year. The difference this next year is me – my commitment and consistency with action and getting the supports I need when I have my moments of waver.

Here is what I now know for sure: When I make something a non-negotiable, I always find a way through any challenge or obstacle. Commitment is willing myself to take action, especially when it’s hard. When this happens to reach out for support and I will get it. It’s working with my wavering commitment that makes all the difference in my results.

Where do you notice a little waver you need to bolster? What resources do you have to help you with reinforcing your commitment?

I work with leaders to give them the support they need to discover the insight, strength and resiliency within themselves to overcome any obstacle or challenge. Since you can’t give away what you don’t have, I continue to challenge and strengthen my muscles in these areas as well. We always have the next level of growth to be realized!

You may contact me for a complimentary 30-minute strategy session as you plan for the New Year.

© Copyright 2015 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.

Leadership, Trauma and the Capacity to Stay Present Amidst Tragedy

What the President secretly did at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Wow. This made me sob.

Thank you Joshua Dubois for giving us a peek into the character of President Obama.

I don’t care what anyone thinks of his politics – for or against – Doing a good job or not.

This man is an amazing human being – To have the strength, authenticity, compassion and tenderness of heart to hold these people’s unfathomable pain in the midst of such tragic loss.

This is what a great leader does: listens, is present, and can bear the unbearable for those he serves. On this day three years ago, President Obama was heroic.

© Copyright 2015 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.

Reflections in Radioland: Leadership, Trauma & Gun Control

I co-hosted another radio show with Xander Gibb on Saturday. We dedicated it to the victims of Sandy Hook, as it was the third anniversary of this tragedy, and John Lennon, as it is the 35th anniversary of his death.

Xandermonium Talk Show

Regardless of where you stand on the gun control issue, one thing is clear: The United States has a problem that needs solving, and it will require concessions on both sides of the issue. In the last 25 minutes of this talk show, Xander Gibb, Brad Greene and I discuss this complex topic.

© Copyright 2015 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.

Magic Monday: Leadership & Trauma

 Words of Manic Monday by The Bangles and modified by Susan Shaner. Musician: Dan Brodax.

Where can you find the magic at work today?

Today is the third anniversary of Sandy Hook. I am particularly aware of this since I live 15 minutes from the school. When traumas of this nature strike, we are effected on all levels. In the case of Sandy Hook, it hit such a chord because of the nature of it: young, innocent school children sitting in their classroom learning. It undermined the inherent trust we, as parents, have in society when we send our child to school everyday.

First, your mind tries to process what really happened. Then you are overcome with shock, anger, sadness, grief – a range of emotions. These become physical and manifest in the body if not fully processed. Getting clear on your emotions and expressing and releasing them is the way to not have any negative emotions lodge themselves in a vulnerable spot in your body and surface weeks or months down the road via illness or disease.

Leaders are not immune from the stress and effects of trauma. The difference is they have more pressure because all eyes are on them and they have to react in a timely and thoughtful manner. They are responsible, which means having the ability to respond. At a time when they may be experiencing all the emotions of the average person – they have to ensure their frontal lobe – rational brain – is working on all cylinders. So it doesn’t mean they don’t feel to the depths or in ways others do. It’s more a question of what do they do with those feelings and when and how they process them. 

I heard that one of the first responders to Sandy Hook, a professional with many years experience, handed in his resignation immediately after responding to the scene. It was more than he could bear. Everyone has a different capacity to handle such trauma and you never know what your capacity is, until you are confronted with it.

Some people choose professions where managing trauma is a daily occurrence – therapists, doctors, EMTs to name a few. Being an elementary school teacher is a profession where you would not expect to be confronted with trauma on a daily basis. Yet many of those teachers instinctually rose to the occasion – because they put survival and protection before anything else in that moment. In order to do this, parts of the brain have to shutdown. Otherwise, the individual would be overcome with the horrors. Developing strength, resiliency and the ability to compartmentalize are core skills needed for all leaders today in order to navigate crises and traumas so you can effectively lead people to safe solutions. 

Three years from Sandy Hook and sixteen years from Columbine and we still have a serious problem with guns and violence in this country. We all need to help our elected officials better problem solve this issue. In times of crisis and with complex problems, we need deep reflection, engagement and open dialogue to come up with viable, sustainable solutions.

This week’s reflection: Where are you challenged in your own leadership with bouncing back from set backs or traumatic events? What can you do to foster more open dialogue and listening in situations that involve tension or trauma?

© Copyright 2015 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.

What Does Delegating Really Require?

The last couple of days, I have been reflecting on having a full versus overfull plate. Being full, achieving a goal or overcoming a challenge gives us a sense of accomplishment and deep satisfaction. When this fullness becomes overfull, we need to either take things off our plate or think of how to get the same amount of tasks done differently. Often this differently means delegating.

Why don’t we delegate? Usually it’s because of five factors: Time, No one to delegate to, Money, Competence, Trust

Time: We say we don’t have the time to show someone else how to do what we know how to do. This is a myopic perspective. Teaching someone today will give you much more time in the future. And often we overestimate how much time it will take to teach or coach. You time is money and if you invest it wisely, it grows giving you time back.

No one to delegate to: This depends upon how you think of delegation – we have resources in other people everywhere whether it’s an employee, spouse, co-worker, an intern, friend, or we hire someone. I challenge you to think of how you can think of delegating more creatively.

Money: Sometimes you have to pay someone to do some things for you. What is it worth to you in terms of your time and potential to earn more money? Sometimes this time is just psychic time, knowing you don’t have to worry about that task so you can focus on something else more important.

Competence & Trust: These two sometimes go together and they are ultimately about control. You need to give up control and trust that someone else has the competence. They might not do it exactly how you do it but unless that’s really necessary then just focus on getting it done in their way.

Delegating frees you up to focus on what you do best, and must do, to achieve the success you desire.

For example, for twenty five years I have had someone come clean my house – even when I said I couldn’t afford it. It’s not just because I’m allergic to dust, but it’s because I didn’t want to spend my time and focus on that task. I would much rather forgo a night out to dinner or cut somewhere else. Sure, there have been times when I have varied how often I have this service – every 1, 2 or 3 weeks – but it’s worth every dime to not only clean up my physical space but psychic as well – it’s one less thing I have to think about and do.

Where can you free up and lighten your load to stay focused on what really matters to you?

© Copyright 2015 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.

Know What Charges You & Stay Calibrated to Full

Yesterday, I shared about the woman business owner who had an outrageously long list of to dos she accomplished in a given day. Some might say this is what energizes her so good for her, go for the insane list! She’s engaged with her life and accomplishing a lot for so many people.

Yet, her email “Are You Ready to Quit” says otherwise. It comes down to knowing what really gets you charged up, energized, excited and engaged… AND to what degree.

Think of it like making a delicious boiling pot of soup. You have all the herbs and fresh chopped vegetables. You keep putting in ingredients to add to the soup’s complexity. You are enjoying creating it and it is stimulating your sense of smell. You continue adding ingredients. And then with the last pile of carrots, the pot overflows. The pot did not have the capacity for anything else.

So, it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Having a challenge and a lot to do may energize you to a point. It’s important to know what that point is. With too much, you risk becoming ineffective, stressed, or worse completely burned out.

Calibration is key. Often we don’t know what our limits are until we have reached them. Then we have to scale back a bit to get back to that sweet spot of having our load be energizing and regenerating versus depleting.

Check-in with yourself today – where are you in loading up the ingredients for a juicy life? If necessary, recalibrate to full versus overfull. This is a key to staying resilient – paying attention and regrouping and refueling as necessary.

© Copyright 2015 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.

Follow up Friday: Striving Toward What?

On Monday I asked you to think about what you would do with your free time, specifically time you have gained as a result of delegating and developing your team. Your team could be at work or at home. The point is, what are you striving toward and what is it that you really need to be focused on that no one else can do?

Then I got an email from a woman business owner this week with two long, dense paragraphs detailing all the tasks, personal and professional, she handled that day. This included not eating until dinner time. I’m a pretty high energy person and I was exhausted just reading the list. No wonder her subject line read: Are you Ready to Quit? As a leader, working professional (first employee then entrepreneur) and single mom for most of my daughter’s childhood, I have been where she is. The difference is, I got to a point where it wasn’t sustainable. My head started to implode (migraines) and my body shouted at me to stop (fibroid gone beserk).

I am not judging her and how she is leading her life. We all make choices and what is right for someone else may not be right for me. At my low point 10 years ago, it became unsustainable for me and came out in my body through breakdown.

No matter how hard your striving mind is, your body never lies and knows what really works for you. It will give you many clues along the way, if you listen. If not, then it eventually blows up in inflammation – minor illness or full-blown disease. Or it comes out in your not making someone happy – your boss, your team, other stakeholders, your spouse, your kids. We like to think we are heroes and can handle it all. As an American, this is part of our cultural myth – the lone ranger who saves the day. This is outdated. Even if you CAN handle it all – SHOULD you? Do you NEED to? Is it a HEALTHY choice?

Someone may read her list and say – wow, aren’t women amazing at all they multi-task with family and work! I read it and had two reactions: Wow, I am so glad I am not there today. Why isn’t she delegating more? I don’t know any details about her life other than her business, the very long list of all she accomplished that day, and she is married with two young children. But I thought, couldn’t a number of those tasks have been delegated or deferred? It felt like a lot of running around from home, kids school, office, store, kids school, store, office, home. I wondered what kind of charge or payoff is she getting from this franeticness?

Here’s what I realized this week, freeing up my time requires that I am crystal clear about how I define success in holistic terms – how my business and life fit together. I often have to prioritize one against the other, in a given moment, day or week. When I asked myself why am I not getting to what “I need to” as often as I would like – a host of words surfaced: discipline, fear, self-sabotage, trust, confused. Ultimately it came down to managing my mind and myself to be more focused and accountable and to being willing to let go of control (a big one) and trusting others to handle things I don’t need to handle!

© Copyright 2015 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.

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 up all kinds of emotions – fear, panic, terror, frustration, intrigue, curiosity, excitement. Some people are energized by challenge and drive toward it. Others are overwhelmed or move away from it, if it appears to be too much. The key is perspective. How are you holding this challenge in your mind?

Even if you are the kind of person who loves a big challenge, you may still find yourself experiencing a range of emotions. Sometimes you may not be aware of your emotions and have your mind in overdrive on a push toward overcoming that challenge. If so, you may miss somethings with a linear relentless focus.

It is at this time, I recommend you put on your mindfulness hat and stop, pause, breathe and notice what is going on – with you and the other people involved. Lean into the situation with a more relaxed attention and you may notice some ways in which you are getting in your own way.

Relentless focus helps in striving to overcome challenges but, it doesn’t have to be intense and hard driving. It can have more of a quality of being relaxed, aware, consistent and persistent.
Try a different stance – perhaps more playful – just for today and notice if anything shifts.

At Sage Leadership, we are catalysts and enablers helping leaders maintain focus while facing significant personal or organizational challenges. Please contact us for a complimentary strategy session.

© Copyright 2015 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.

The Power of Freneticness & The Illusion of Productivity

Frantic energy is so strong – and it’s contagious. If this is what is showing up in you or your team, you want to make sure you are harnessing and channeling this excitement for directed, not wildly distracted action.

Thefreedictionary.com defines “freneticness” as: “from Greek phrenītikos, from phrenītis, brain disease…1. distracted or frantic; frenzied or, … insanity.” MerriamWebster.com cites this word as “filled with excitement, activity, or confusion : wild or frantic.”

Wow. It is a disease of the brain fogged by activity and confusion! Sound familiar?

Many organizations suffer from this disease because they are going through massive changes – either because they are growing or because they are not growing. One is trying to keep up with demand. The other is searching for demand.

Even though you may have a plan or strategy in how you are leading your team or business, plans don’t always reflect reality. People may not be clear on, buy into, or follow the plan. Also, when unplanned stuff happens – as is inevitable – then often adjustment to the plan goes out the window and busy reactions ensue.

When you notice you or your team are stricken by the freneticness disease, you must STOP the insanity, STEP BACK and ASSESS if you are actually on purpose – aligned and making progress toward your vision. If it is the former, then you will have the illusion of being productive. But is it the right kind of busy?

To keep yourself sufficiently inoculated against, or to recover from, the freneticness disease, exercise mindfulness and consider the following questions:

• What is the energetic quality of you, your team and your business – purposeful: on purpose and full or frenetic: busy and distracted?
• Where are you feeling frenzied?
• Where are you feeding the frenzy?
• Where can you stop, pause, assess and regroup for more purposeful direction instead of being jammed in swirling activity or back-to-back meetings.
• Are you and your team jamming and flowing or just jammed up?
• How can you channel the excitement to directed action?

© Copyright 2015 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.

Taming Fear: A Leader’s Job

In his article, Cognitive Therapy for the Country, Dr. Friedman highlights some of the most recent events of violence and social unrest here and abroad. It’s a provocative article with equally thought-inducing comments.

Dr. Friedman advocates that Obama uses the technique of Aaron Beck’s Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to calm American’s fears. CBT is a process where you analyze your irrational thoughts and replace them with rational thoughts, to better manage your emotions.

There is a lot of research that supports managing the mind and perceptions can be a helpful approach to not allowing fear to overcome you. At the same time, some of those thoughts may be accurately based in reality. It’s important to also assess the events that are causing the fear, and get at the root cause of these events, to minimize or eradicate future such events. Another important question to consider is to what degree is the fear fed and escalated? Who benefits from this fear? So, this is a complex equation.

A job of any leader is taming the fears of it’s constituents in times of uncertainty, insecurity and unrest. A leader’s job is to protect, provide comfort and engage people in a hopeful vision for the future. There is a lot more I can say about this article and the political events happening today, but my intent is to use it as a prompt for reflection on your own leadership.

Who counts on you to lead them to a better future? What fears do they carry? Get clear on their thoughts and emotions – and speak to, and act on, those concerns in an honest, rigorous and authentic way. People know the difference.

At Sage Leadership, we support leaders in times of transition and challenge to get clear on their next best move. We are living in an era where sometimes, all you can discern – is your next best move to stay directed and focused on the path to making your vision a reality.

© Copyright 2015 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.

Magic Monday: Freed Up For What?

Words of Manic Monday by The Bangles and modified by Susan Shaner. Musician: Dan Brodax.

Where can you find the magic at work today?

One of my clients had the goal this year of freeing herself up so she could be out in the community more – the face of her brand. She has worked with her team in the last few months to enhance their capability so she could be doing more strategic work.

While her team isn’t completely where she wants them to be yet, she has realized some more choice about her time. She was recently asked to take a leadership role in a community-based nonprofit organization. She declined. I asked her why? Didn’t this fit in with the goals you espoused a few months ago? Isn’t your plan working the way you anticipated?

A deeper, not articulated goal surfaced. She wanted to spend more time with her young son and this would require a lot of her evening time. So, while it met the strategic goal of being out in the community – it not only surfaced another goal but identified a way to further clarify her original goal – to be out in the community during the day versus evening, whenever possible. In addition, it identified the need to get clearer about work life integration (versus work life balance) goals.

Balance is a relative thing for everyone, and these days the lines between work and personal life is blurred. When and where you do work is more fluid and dynamic than ever before. It’s a more relevant question to ask how work and life fit together in the context of one’s definition of success.

In addition, my client was feeling that her team didn’t need her as much, which was a little unsettling for her. In what ways will they now need her? How will she continue to add value for them? I left her with these reflection questions until we meet again.

This week’s reflection: As you look to free up your time, what are you freeing your time up FOR? How will you know when you have gotten enough time freed up? As you develop your team’s capability, in what ways will your value-add to them change? In what ways will your team still need you?

© Copyright 2015 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.

The Yoga of Leadership

When I refer to the yoga of leadership in the business context, I am not referring to leadership in the yoga world but bringing a yogic mindset and practice to how you approach your leadership in business. My intent is not to condense the volumes written on each discipline here (yoga and leadership), but to open the door to an ongoing exploration of how both disciplines can learn from each other.

Business is about creating value for your constituents: business and client, leader and employee, or business and shareholder. To be a strong leader requires you articulate a clear vision, engage stakeholders in that vision, give people the support and resources they need to do their part to make that vision a reality, and recognize people for a job well done.

Yesterday I shared Stanton Kawer’s article, Yoga Made me a Better CEO. I love his subtext: “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.”

Of course yoga, if practiced consistently over time, brings you physical flexibility. Much of this happens from working with the patterns of your mind and emotions to accomplish what you physically didn’t think you could a mere few weeks earlier. The ultimate benefit of a physical practice is to foster mental and emotional flexibility that creates a resiliency and vitality of spirit. This flexibility enables you to make optimal decisions while navigating an often chaotic and uncertain world.

Yoga promotes a calm and clear mind, a strong body that is stress-resistant, and clear emotions – being clear on your emotions and the ability to clear negative emotions. When you embody all these states of being than you have a vital spirit typically engaged in purposeful activity. These are all ways of being that the 21st century leader needs to embody, and given the context of today’s business world, can be challenging.

Technology has compressed time, leveraged resources and connected people like never before. It requires that a leader have the mental stamina and emotional flexibility to make decisions quickly with very little information, change gears on a dime, and breakthrough their own internal barriers as to what is possible. There is a need to react quickly without being reactive. Often this happens in the context of a physically demanding schedule of long hours and traveling across multiple time zones while navigating high stress/conflict situations.

This is why mindfulness practices are so desired today. Yoga is about managing personal energy – how you move through life. Yoga literally means to unite or yoke together as one. It refers to the unification of body, mind and spirit. When a leader can embody this state of being within themselves, they create the conditions to support others in doing so. An individual in alignment, creates a team and an organization in alignment. When all are aligned, this creates the conditions for success.

Where do you feel aligned and in sync, within yourself, team or organization? What needs adjusting?

We work with all three: self-care for leaders, team and organization effectiveness.

© Copyright 2015 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.

Yoga and The Making of A CEO

I am a leadership and executive coach with over 25 years in business. I also teach yoga and meditation.

Some of my yoga friends have judgment about big business. Some of my business colleagues have judgment about new age yoga types. The reality is that each camp – yoga and business – have more similar practices and mindsets than they realize.

Both require great discipline and are about employing self mastery to achieve success. Self mastery cannot happen without the uniting of body, mind and spirit focused on an intention.

My business challenges give me fodder for the yoga mat. My yoga practice gives me what I need to face my business challenges – a calm mind, strong body, clear emotions and a resilient & vital spirit. They feed each other.

Stanton Kawer, the Chief Executive Office & Chairman of Blue Chip Marketing Worldwide, articulated the benefits of yoga for an executive so well: “yoga helps make me a more effective CEO by reorienting my outlook on life–my buoyancy of spirit.”

Check out his article, Yoga and The Making of A CEO, in Forbes, to get more details.

© Copyright 2015 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.

Follow up Friday: How Do You Stay Dialed In?

Listen to Post

Monday I asked you to reflect on where you can more closely align your passion with your leadership or how you can unleash other people’s passion and leadership. How do you say dialed into passion?

Here is what I noticed: While passion is an emotion, it starts and ends with the mind. Many of us have the tape running in our head that says, “this is what I LOVE to do…but this is what I HAVE to do.”

This is a mindset – a setting or set of messages in our inner landscape that is based on who we inherently are and our conditioning (messages others have given us). This statement says I can’t do what I love.

When your mind clicks into what you love, you know it, you feel it. When you are not in this space, it’s usually because you have given permission for someone else’s voice to override you. Claim yourself. Claim your passion.

It’s not an either/or situation. We all have things we don’t like to do but have to. When you approach the “HAVE Tos” from the perspective of being in your passion, they are easier to do, because you are loving the ride. It is a matter of degree.

Living in your passion 80% of the time, gives you the energy and positive attitude to address the 20% of tasks you don’t like. If the situation is reversed and you are spending 80% of your time on things you don’t like to do, then naturally you are going to experience a slew of negative thoughts and feelings (boredom, anger, depression, resentment) that will leave you stuck or in a downward spiral.

Passion is your greatest leverage and inoculation against being overwhelmed by challenge. Life can be hard. Who wouldn’t welcome more ease and flow? When you are dialed directly into your passion, it effects everyone around you and compounds the collective energy.

How do I stay dialed in?

I NOTICE where my mind goes and I am VIGILANT about LISTENING to my inner thermostat and RESETTING the dial when I need to turn up the heat. I NOTICE and LISTEN to what excites other people and ADJUST my actions to better support them.

How do you stay dialed in?

© Copyright 2015 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.

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 inhaling.”

What’s the theme?

Breathing in. Breath is life. Breath is energy. Breath is creativity. It’s a taking in of – energy, ideas, words, people – their perspective and needs. As a leader, if you aren’t inspired – full, infused, overflowing, abundant – with life, activity and ideas – how can you expect it from others?

If others don’t have it, and you do, then your job as a leader is to create the conditions by which they get on fire, ignited from within. An average employee on fire is worth so much more than a highly competent employee going through the motions. When you are present and attuned to what your people care about, a resonance happens between you and they are able to make connections to experiences, ideas, or people that wasn’t previously possible. The momentum builds on itself.

Your presence matters. This requires that you seek to understand who they are and what they care about. In this way, you can make connections and build a bridge to get them more engaged. When you are both better connected to what excites you about the work, it flows and speed of activity ensues.

Where are you today? Do you need TO BE INSPIRED – to hear, see or read something that jazzes you? Or do you need TO INSPIRE – to better connect to those you lead? Take one step in the direction that will fuel the fire – within yourself or within or among your people.

© Copyright 2015 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.

Strategic Planning & The Power of Clicking

When you meet someone for the first time, within an instant you register a sense of them. You immediately feel a liking and want to move toward them or disliking and want to move away from them. Then you look for evidence to support this sense. Sometimes they surprise you with behavior that counters your initial gut reaction – either they grow on you or they do something that violates your trust or what “you thought you knew” about them.

When you click, you will forgive a lot. You can hear things from this person that, if said by someone else would put you in a space of denial or defense. Clicking is a short cut to getting and being in the flow, in the moment. There is no second-guessing. The dance of resistance or force doesn’t occur as it does in relationships where there is no click.

Paying attention to your gut is important. Your body doesn’t lie, but your mind might interpret the felt sense with a distorted filter. Use your conscious mind to make sure you are interpreting the signals accurately. Clicking expands your energy. If it’s positive energy, that will expand. If negative, that will expand.

When you experience the click, go with it if it lands you in an uplifting, creative and expansive place. If you click over a complaint, go with it if it helps you validate your experience. Stay with it to the extent it moves you toward focusing on constructive change. Leverage the easy, click relationships, as you will need this positive energy to manage your “nonclick” relationships.

This morning I experienced what I call a ripple effect of the click. I am enrolled in a yearlong mastermind group as part of my professional development. I clicked with two women and we formed our own support team to supplement our other activities. I got some direct feedback on things I needed to change. I believe 100% their objective is to support me without any static (competition, jealousy, hidden agendas, etc..). I was able to take in and work with this information, which took me to a more expansive place. If I doubted their intent, I would have closed down or rationalized my position. Instead, I shifted to a different mindset and energetic space.

My very next meeting was with a client with whom I click. I was able to give her direct feedback and she experienced a shift. The ideas flowed as we planned the offsite strategy meeting she is having with her leadership team in January.

This is the time for reflecting on the year past and projecting to the year ahead. Doing this with people you click with is exciting and regenerating. With people you don’t click, but need to work with, getting aligned may be more challenging, but it is crucial to your success.

Please contact me if you would like help planning or facilitating your next leadership & strategy meeting. Getting off on the right foot sets the direction and tone for the year.

© Copyright 2015 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.