Creating Space. Good-bye 2016. Hello 2017.

Creating space is my mantra for 2017, to ensure I have a joyous, thriving year, regardless of what is going on around me.

This past month, my email inbox has been flooded with people trying to thank me, sell me and give me messages over the holidays and for the coming year.

I waited until the end of the year to publish my message.

My message is a simple, twofold one:

First, Thank you for being part of my professional world. You are either a colleague, a client, a friend, an interested person or a combination of some of the above.

My world is richer because you are in it. My hope is that I have, and can continue to create value for you – to provide provoking questions, thoughts and support that spur you on to grow personally and professionally.

Second, my invitation for you today is to find the time to proactively create space in your life this next year. By this, I mean space in the abstract and practical sense. This is a practical and spiritual practice:

• Create space in your calendar – time when you have nothing scheduled. Time when you DO nothing.

• Create space in your to do list – find time to meander through a task everyday without the pressure of “getting it done.” Relish the task itself.

• Create space in your goals – don’t overstretch yourself that you exhaust yourself or everyone around you.

• Create space in your physical surroundings – declutter and only keep the bare essentials of what you need or use or that which makes you feel joy and love.

• Create space in your relationships – allow silence and time to just be with another and observe and listen more to what they need.

• Create space in your emotional life to allow for what you feel to emerge and be attended to.

• Create space for what is important to you, really.

• Create space for personal, private time with yourself to tune into what is happening within you. I promise this will enable you to be more present to what is happening around you.

My primary practice this year will be to create space to allow myself more room to breathe – literally and figuratively. This requires that I also practice trust and the art of receiving.

By removing things, people, tasks, goals from my life that don’t serve my highest good, I trust I will have exactly what I need. I am entertaining the thought that less is more, truly.

I will create room to receive that which better serves me. When I am served, I can better serve. When I serve, I receive. It’s a beautiful circular garden that needs mindful tending to, to fully blossom.

This mentality requires that I truly believe I am enough and have enough for a thrillingly thriving life.

Will you join me in this practice of creating space? Where will you start? What is getting thrown in the trash today?

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

If you are a high achieving leader, you love nothing more than a meaty challenge. How do you find your sweet spot of being energized by a challenge that will stretch, and maybe tax you, but not overly so? It’s in overcoming our greatest challenges that we can feel really alive and accomplished.

Yet there is a fine line between feeling the tension of a challenge, getting out of your comfort zone, and feeling the stress, pressure or overwhelm of being stretched beyond what you think you can do.
Do you have a sense of where this fine line is? Sometimes your anxiety can fuel you to seek alternative ways to overcome obstacles, and sometimes it can disable you.

If you are in tired, anxious, burnt out mode, you may have crossed the line.

A key leadership competency is as basic as taking a pause, deep breath, and to qualify yourself in any given moment. This is the first step required to recalibrate your frame of mind and be able to push past and through these feeling states. And yet it is the very feelings of passion, desire and drive that can propel you to proactive action.

Here is an exercise you can use in the moment of recalibration to presence yourself so you can think more clearly:

Bring the tips of your fingers together such as presented above. Close your eyes. Take an inhale breath through your nose, counting to four. Suspend your breath for a four count. Exhale through your nose for a four count. Increase the time as your lung capacity allows. Continue this cycle for 60-90 seconds.

Notice any sensations in your body. Notice your thoughts. Pay attention to the quality of your thoughts and the tension in your body. Does this challenge feel to be the right one – you are just growing and stretching? Do you sense excitement, love and passion? Or are your feelings still tense and not good? Is this challenge too much – beyond your capacity to manage?

If the former, how do you move forward knowing this moment will pass?

If the latter, what does it mean for you to admit this to yourself? What then must you do?

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.
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Susan is an executive coach and leadership & organization effectiveness consultant. She also teaches yoga and meditation – tools to keep one sane in insane times. She helps professionals step up to their fullest leadership and growth potential. At times this means overcoming their greatest fears or trauma and getting out of their own way to get important stuff accomplished. Please contact her for a complimentary strategy session. www.sagelead.com.

Leadership Insights From The Big Chill

No, I’m not talking about the movie. I am referring to my “polar bear” dip in the video above. I was at a weekend intensive training class being held at a retreat house on Long Island Sound in Connecticut. The air temperature was about 50 degrees and the water was colder.

This class was a second level training for teachers of Kundalini Yoga on Stress & Vitality. My core business is as a leadership coach and consultant. My lifestyle is as a yogi and I also teach yoga and meditation. I incorporate these teachings into my coaching and consulting practice as appropriate to help leaders be more present, aligned within themselves, intuitive, clear thinking and confident.
On this particular weekend we were all laughing when we arrived as the organizers in their logistics note said, “bring your bathing suit if you want to take a dip in the pool.” It was cold, rainy and just plain raw outside. Really?

I asked “who wants to go for a swim?” Only one person, my colleague Greg Barringer, said sure. This was on Friday. I tested the water on Saturday and thought, “Oh, It’s mighty cold. But something tells me I have to do it…. But not just yet. Maybe it will warm up Sunday.”

While it wasn’t raining Sunday, it still was pretty cold outside. At our lunch break I said to Greg, “are you really game?” “Sure, let’s do it.” His strategy was, we don’t test the water first, we just dive in. I agreed. We counted together and you see what happened.

We were in complete sync on the count and on the dive, almost as if we had rehearsed it. I didn’t stay under water for the full length of the pool, the way I normally would have as I was so shocked at the frigid temperature. It certainly got me expressive on impact – what a switch from how I stood at the edge holding my body in a contracted fashion anticipating the cold. Once submerged, I was wide-awake, completely open and invigorated – re-energized and focused for the rest of the day.

Ironically this dip took place while we were learning tools to better manage stress so we can be more vital. There is a fine line between stress and vitality. Stress results as a real or perceived threat. Yet if we are to grow we need to be uncomfortable. What is the fine line between feeling vital – full of life – and stressed or stretched beyond this alive feeling? This requires a dynamic dance or recalibration, sometimes moment-to-moment.

This was a physical exercise but has so many analogies for leadership and running a business. Some insights and observations:

• How often do we not go for something for fear of how we might be harmed, exposed or not get the results we want? Once I interviewed for a job and my potential manager said, “we only take on projects where we know we will be successful.” He was leading a change agent function. I asked, “What is the balance point of ensuring success and truly shaking the status quo in the name of necessary, hard change?”
• Being at your edge makes you feel more alive – and live more vitally.
• It’s helpful to go for something and really extend yourself when you have a partner risking and doing it with you.
• Sometimes just taking some kind of action and going for it all out is what we need to do to re-orient, re-energize ourselves.
• Being in sync requires a full out commitment and focus in the moment.
• Don’t put off for tomorrow what you can do today.
• Get the benefits as soon as you can.
• Getting out and doing something versus thinking about it moves you to a different place – and then you can readjust how you need to once you are in the experience of it. Sometimes good enough, is good enough, especially in entrepreneurial environments.

What are you some of your insights?
Where are you holding back?
What supports do you need to really be at your edge of growth or performance?
© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

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Susan is an executive coach and leadership & organization effectiveness consultant. She also teaches yoga and meditation – tools to keep one sane in insane times. She helps professionals step up to their fullest leadership and growth potential. At times this means overcoming their greatest fears or trauma and getting out of their own way to get important stuff accomplished. Please contact her for a complimentary strategy session. www.sagelead.com.

Know When You Need To Just "Stop It!"

This is a classic scene with Bob Newhart. I love his humor that cajoles us to look at absurd near truths in our lives.

In my executive coaching practice my job is to help leaders both leverage their strengths and change what isn’t working for them. This change may mean to stop thinking or behaving in a way that is not helpful for them or their constituents. While coaching is definitely not therapy, there certainly are times when everyone needs to tell themselves, or have someone tell them, to just stop it! We all have our “craziness” – thoughts or behaviors that we know are not helpful yet we persist with them anyway, largely out of ingrained habit.

Sometimes examining these, and working with them, can enable a mindset shift. And sometimes we need to not take ourselves so seriously and just knock some sense into ourselves. Keeping perspective and self management can be key.

The first time I saw this clip I laughed at how ridiculous this scene is – and yet it hints at a truth. We all have stuff that we carry around unnecessarily.

My invitation today is to take inventory of your unique craziness. Where can you just say to yourself, just stop it – Let it go and move on to something else?

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

What Are The Critical Questions You Ask Yourself In Chaotic, Uncertain Times?

If you are wired like most humans, when confronted with uncertainty, your questions would be oriented from your limbic brain – how to create stability, security and safety for yourself. Your questions would be oriented more toward the short-term – solving your immediate problem versus satisfying a longer-term vision of where you really want to be.

The reason for this is most people’s tolerance for uncertainty and chaos, over long periods of time, is low – their trauma or stress reactions get activated: fight, flight or freeze. Reactions often create more problems. Responses, on the other hand, can set us up in a more generative, proactive space that factors in longer-term considerations.

The question of how to navigate chaos and uncertainty surfaced for me many times this week as I navigated client meetings, coaching sessions and fielded a number of calls and inquiries from my clients and network.

Historically much of my executive coaching work has been in the context of an organization’s development efforts but I had a number of people come to me this week asking if I would coach them privately. In some cases they are still with their organization but getting, what I call restructure fatigue – a new job, different team, different responsibilities every year or less. In other cases, they have been let go, with stellar performance and outplacement, but the company has changed directions and their position was eliminated.

Here is the common denominator:
They all said in the last decade their job or company has changed significantly every 18-24 months. This required that they change what they are doing, who they are doing it for, or they leave the company because of job elimination, the company goes out of business or is acquired.

One of my clients summed it up well: “The old rules don’t apply. It used to be I pleased my boss and I got promoted. Now I don’t know if I’ll have a job, even if I give him what he asked for. It used to be I was promoted every two years. Now I am kicked out every two years.”

You’d have to be living under a rock to not experience the chaotic, disruptive, uncertain nature of the world, business and the workplace today. Change is constant.

No new news here.

What is new and critical – is that people are starting to ACCEPT that this IS the new norm. So they are no longer looking to the environment to calm down so they can get back to operating in ways that are comfortable. They are no longer expecting that a job or a company will provide them security. INSTEAD, they are asking themselves deeper and more significant questions about ways to stabilize themselves and navigate the terrain with greater clarity, ease and confidence.

Some examples:

• What now must I do?
• Who am I really and how can I navigate my way through this?
• How do I balance my own integrity with what I am being asked to do?
• How do I help my people feel better, even though we agree the situation sucks, about what I am asking them to do?
• Where do I find clarity, confidence and stability when it doesn’t exist around me?
• How do I find my true north and find a larger meaning in the day-to-day?
• How can I continually develop options/contingency plans for myself?
• How do I continue to grow my skills and develop despite what jobs come and go?
• How is my work helping me be more of the person I want and am meant to be?
• How do I stay present to what is right in front me when I am feeling so much pressure and there is so much unclear about the road ahead?
• How do I stay in the place of being creative when I want to be more comfortable?

All of the above questions get at one fundamental one: how do you keep yourself focused on the bigger picture, present and stable despite what is happening around you?

The world does not need any more information. People are in overload and overwhelm. What it needs are more present, embodied leaders who are in the moment with their constituents and the situations they find themselves collectively in. These leaders intuitively decide what their next best move is based upon who they are and what they do know, not the information they don’t have.

To paraphrase multiple conversations I’ve had with clients this week, it goes like this:

“I could go get another job. This is bigger than that. I’m having a personal crisis. This is giving me the opportunity to fundamentally think differently about myself and my relationship to my work and my career.”

In light of the above, here are some questions to consider:

• Regardless of what changes happen around you, what is the capability and value you bring to your work and your constituents?
• How can you best serve?
• What is your vision for creating a better world, workplace or more meaningful work for yourself?
• In order to live your vision, who do you need to be?
• What does this vision require you to do differently?
• In service of this vision, what kind of conversations do you allow or not to go on in your own head?
• In service of this vision, what kind of conversations do you allow/foster to take place at home, in the meeting room, in the board room?

What are the questions you ask yourself to get you the clarity, integrity and stability you need to stay steady in chaotic, uncertain times?

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Are you an ambitious leader who is at a crossroads – with your team, career, or work/life equation?

I work with smart, successful, capable people, who make big decisions everyday. Sometimes it can be challenging to hold your own stuff when you are in the thick of it.

My clients come to me as an objective third party who can hold the space for them, in a safe and neutral way, while they think through where they are, where they want to go, and how they will proceed going forward. Often times this process leads them to a different understanding of who they are as a person or as a leader. My job is to listen deeply, hold up the mirror, and ask provocative questions that both support and challenge them.

Here are examples of situations my clients find themselves in:

• They were recently promoted or started a new job and are looking for ways to manage and lead in different ways so they can have a bigger impact.

• They are challenged with influencing their constituents in more significant ways.

• They are doing well – getting all the external accolades – but something doesn’t feel right internally – they want something more or different from their work or their work/life equation.

In all cases they want something different from themselves or the situations they find themselves in. In some cases, the need emerges from stuff going on within them. In other cases, something external happens that is asking different things of them.

If this sounds like you, please contact me at info@sagelead.com for a complimentary strategy session to see what your next best move could be and if I might be a resource for you to leverage.

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Walking On Broken Glass Part 2: Making Sense & Lessons Learned

Just in case you missed it, here is the not-so-flattering picture of me. Yesterday I described my experience of walking on broken glass. Now, I want to reflect on it with you and share what sense I make of it and how I integrate this experience into lessons learned that I can apply going forward. It I asked and answered a number of questions for myself….

Why would anyone propose such an exercise?
Because that is what it is – an exercise to get at your fear – so you can face it and overcome it.

Does this really translate to other situations?
It’s up to me to reflect on it and extrapolate the learnings. It will only have the meaning that I choose to give it. Otherwise it was just that, an experience in the past. Navigating life and business can feel (metaphorically) feel like walking on broken glass at times – afraid of the sharp edges, getting hurt, not making it through or embarrassing myself in front of others. In our vulnerable moments, we need to lean on others while we keep our vision as there is lots to distract us.

Isn’t this insane – why go to such lengths?
Yes, it is extreme. The objective is to give you a visceral experience that you feel/anchor in the cells of your body so you can recall it more immediately and powerfully than if it was an intellectual exercise.

Aren’t there other more, rational ways, to get at the same learning?
Perhaps, but this is the one that was offered to me at this time.

Would I ever do this again?
I don’t know. But I do know if I do, I need to keep my eyes fixed straight ahead at my vision and not get derailed by “listening to my feet.”

What really got me to do the exercise?

1. Wanting to overcome what is holding me back. Hoping for that breakthrough, to be different afterwards.
2. Seeing the leader do it unscathed.
3. Seeing my peers do it unscathed.
4. Wondering what if I didn’t do it, how would I feel?
5. What if I did do it, how would I feel?

There’s much to be mined and to mind.
Lessons learned:

1. You really can meet most challenges that come your way – with enough focus, breath, and support.
2. Know when you really do need a visceral experience to remind yourself that you can overcome your fear.
3. Follow a leader who shows you they have been where they ask you to go, particularly if it’s a scary place. Do as they do, not as they say.
4. Watch others who have mastered what you want to master and learn from them.
5. When you feel vulnerable, you need to keep a positive mind and lean on others for support.
6. The greater the challenge – real or imaginary – the greater need for community.
7. Listen to your body. It holds the wisdom.
8. When your first impulse is to run or say no – get curious, move closer and explore that space. Even if you land in the same place, it will be a fuller, more enlightened no.
9. Always have Epsom salts, tweezers and bandaids on hand when doing this exercise. Do not do at home without expert supervision.

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Walking on Broken Glass Part 1: A Leadership Exercise

Seriously?
Yes, I walked on broken glass and lived to tell about it.

Why would you do that you ask?

I am participating in a yearlong business mastermind program designed to expand my thinking and increase my results. Here I am sitting in the conference room on day two of a three day retreat. The Instructor presents the next exercise: “We are going to walk on broken glass.”

I immediately say to myself with peace and resolve, “I’m not doing that. I’m just not doing it. I don’t feel the need to do this to prove anything. I know what it is intended to do so I can just skip over this and remind myself from past experience what I need to do to overcome my fear.” At other times, I’ve broken boards with my fist and my feet. I even broke two arrows that were protruding into my neck – all without getting hurt. I have nothing to prove to myself or anyone else.

The workshop leader says, “Just sign the waiver form whether you choose to do the exercise or not. This way, if you change your mind, you (we) are covered.” I sign and walk outside where all one hundred and fifty (plus) of us are gathered in a large circle. The mood is suddenly contracted with a hint of fear and excitement. Bob, who is six feet five inches tall, and looks like a linebacker with a soft demeanor, gives us directions.

There are four stations set up with boxes that are five feet long filled with broken glass chards. Our instruction is to walk across in four measured steps while we stay focused on a word that someone else holds at the end of the walk. This word is one that each of us has written down and placed in a small frame. It’s what stands between us and our success. Mine is TRUST.

We are instructed to lay our foot flat on the glass, test it, and when okay, lift the other foot, placing weight on the first. Once the second foot is placed on a safe place lift the first foot, and so forth. If you go too fast, you will get cut. If you slide your foot once placed, you will get cut. We have two people on either side of us to help keep our balance, not to be leaned on.

I stand there calm and observant while our leader, goes first. I am inspired that she chooses to be vulnerable and do it first. This is one of my personal tenants of leadership – never ask anyone to do something you won’t do yourself. Here is where I start to entertain the idea of actually doing the exercise.

Several more people go. It just emerges from my thoughts, “I think I’ll go. I should do it. Why not?” Terror begins to creep up. I don’t spiral into thoughts but am trying to stay present observing how everyone is doing. I don’t see anyone getting hurt.

My turn comes. I walk up to the two people who will support me. I look at them and I say, “I’m terrified.” I take a deep breath. I place my hands in prayer pose for centering (I’m spiritual, not religious). I take their hands. I place my foot on the glass. Feels okay. I lift the other one. Now pressure is on my first foot. I feel something sharp penetrating the center of my foot. It doesn’t feel like it’s cutting me, but just pressure.

This first step is what you see in the photo. I am not looking straight ahead at my word. My head is tilted. I’m focused on feeling my way through this. It’s as if I am trying to listen for what my feet are telling me. I’m not going to take this foot off and turn around. The only choice is to go forward. There is no turning back. I’m Committed. Once I make this decision, I continue in a measured way aware that I am squeezing (probably too hard!) the arms of those supporting me.

I get to the other side and hug all who supported me. I discover an hour later while standing during the debrief that each foot has, what Bob calls, a dust speck of glass on it. The first one I can brush off. The second requires soaking my foot and pulling it out with a safety pin (they had no tweezers onsite!) as it got underneath the skin like a splinter. Thanks Bob. I do have points on my feet that are sore /bruised but no cuts, no blood. Bob tells me when our leader did this exercise for the first time, she got cut because she shifted her foot. There were two other people who received small cuts in our class. Somehow, I was the only one who got glass speck buried in her foot – but I made it across! I had the experience.

Now what?
Tomorrow I will continue this post with what meaning I make of this experience – how I interpret it and what lesson I learned by going through it.

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Managing Oneself: An Evolution in Human Affairs

I continue to highlight excerpts from Harvard Business Review’s book, On Managing Yourself. Peter Drucker’s article, “Managing Oneself,” gives a different perspective in how to stay engaged during the course of your working life.

Because it is more commonplace today for people to outlive the organizations for which they work, and to be mobile, “The need to manage oneself is therefore creating a revolution in human affairs.”
“Successful careers are not planned. They develop when people are prepared for opportunities because they know their strengths, their method of work, and their values.” It’s more effective to build on strengths than weaknesses.

Key questions to ask yourself:
What are my strengths?
How do I work? Understand how you learn and what environments you work best in.
What are my values? These answers help define what has purpose and meaning for you, which fosters your commitment to the work and organization.
Where do I belong?
What can I contribute?

The aspired to results should be meaningful, visible and measurable. “From this will come a course of action: what to do, where and how to start, and what goals and deadlines to set.”

Managing yourself requires you to take responsibility for relationships that will help make this work come to fruition. Organizations today are built on trust which requires that we also understand individuals with whom we work: their strengths, values, how they perform and their proposed contributions. How do you know this?  You ask those who you work closely with so you can best discern how to complement each other. For some people this can be threatening. The key is to focus on how best to leverage others’ strengths and support them in areas they are not as strong in.

This week’s reflection questions: Where do you need to take more responsibility for yourself – in owning and navigating your work and purpose? What could you do differently in communicating and partnering with others?

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Managing Yourself: How Will You Measure Your Life?

How’s this for a light question on a Friday afternoon?

The other day, while I was in Grand Central Station in New York City, parched and looking for water, I came across this fantastic book: On Managing Yourself – eleven articles from Harvard Business Review. They are short, insightful and impactful. I thought it could be enlightening to highlight one a week for a while.

This first one is by Clayton M. Christensen: How Will You Measure Your Life? He espouses that management can be one of the most noble professions. It enables people to understand how best to allocate resources which, when people apply the principles in their personal lives, can help them attain happiness at home

Key questions he poses:
How can I be happy in my career?
How can I be sure that my relationship with my family can be an enduring course of happiness?
How can I live my life with integrity?

Simple questions without always easy answers. Simple questions that require a strength, rigor and sense of adventure to live into the answers.

Just as in business, so too in life, it is important to be guided by a sense of purpose and be willing to balance short-term gain with long-term viability.

He says: “The key is to define what you stand for and draw the line in a safe place…The marginal cost of doing something wrong ‘just this once’ always seems alluringly low. You don’t see the end result to which that path leads.”

How long and hard have you thought about your purpose and what is your commitment to it? How do you define success on your terms? What are your non-negotiables on this path? What are triggers that entice you to stray? How do you stay focused?

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

What is Coaching?

Coaching can be a powerful tool for developing leaders.

If you are thinking about coaching and want to know what it is, check out this short video that gives you a quick overview on what takes place in the process.

Coaching is about creating a partnership with a coach to help you articulate your vision. The coach gives you support and tools to help you navigate all the challenges and obstacles you will face in realizing your vision. There will be times when you are stretched so far outside your comfort zone that you aren’t sure you can reach your aspiration. Coaching can help you in creating a mindset shift to enable you to persevere, be creative and get the extra support you need to achieve your goals.

The coach does not give you the answers but the tools and support you need to the find the answers and strength within yourself.

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Leading Team Kickoff Meetings

I support my client’s in designing and planning all different kinds of a day or multiple-day team meetings. The purpose of these meetings could be strategy planning, visioning or organizational change meetings, such as restructuring departments.

If you are planning a lengthy meeting (a half a day or more) where you are bringing a leadership team together or individuals who are part of a new project team, what you do and how you do it really matters. If this is a complex project, this first meeting sets the tone for the project in so many ways. It has the opportunity to create the clarity and excitement that can generate fabulous momentum for a new initiative. Or it can derail your efforts before you have started.

Here are a few tips that occurred to me this week in reflecting upon a couple of recent clients engagements:

The Work you Do Before the Meeting is as Important as the Work you Do in the Meeting. If you having a meeting with 8-20 people, I suggest interviewing participants to understand what their orientation is to the project. If it is 8 people, you can interview all of them. If it’s twenty, interviewing 30-50% of the people should be sufficient if you are getting at a cross-section of different backgrounds and perspectives. Draft a list of key questions (5-8) and schedule 30 minute interviews. Act like a reporter and get the full story by probing and reporting what they say. Because I tend to listen deeply and type fast, I typically take verbatim notes. I then integrate the notes stripping out the names, and identify the themes.

This will give you a picture of where people are at with their understanding of the initiative and their general feeling and perspective. This informs where and how you need to have what conversations.

Don’t Assume. If this is a new team but people know each other, don’t assume they know each other well. Don’t assume they know about each other’s backgrounds and career progression. It is helpful to have everyone give an introduction to each other as they may learn about some capability that they didn’t know their colleague had that could be beneficial to the project.

Start with the Basics & Level Set. Here is where I often see leaders trip up. They just want to move right into the “what” discussion. It is important to talk about how the team will work together – support one another, make decisions, deal with conflict. It’s helps to articulate general guidelines, or what I call leadership operating principles. At first, if it’s a new team, this will be theoretical. But once you have experience with each other, then you can tweak your principles based upon what you are seeing show up in people’s behavior.

Go Slow to Go Fast. Getting the basics right lays the foundation for having easier, more aligned conversations in the future, especially when the pressure is on. So don’t skip the previous steps.

Process Matters. Focusing just on the “what needs to be accomplished” is deadly. Pay attention to how you are going to address a topic area is just as important. Sometimes it’s helpful to have an unstructured discussion and sometimes breaking into groups and giving people a short, clear directive can help the team cut through and get right to the core of an issue or brainstorm a better solution.

Here’s to a productive meeting!

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Leadership is About Courage and Conviction

I always remember what Jack Beach, a former IBM colleague of mine once said, “It’s easy to be a leader in good times. You just go along with the flow. The sign of a real leader is seen in difficult times.” Jack was also a Colonel in the Army, having served as a psychologist during Vietnam. So he knows from which he speaks.

Courage and Conviction are attributes of a strong leader. People can talk a good game but when it comes down to it, how many really stand up for what they believe – in times of trauma, despite what others think? How many push for real change not just an incremental shift?

I saw these attributes – courage and conviction – this week with my Senator, Chris Murphy. Regardless of where you stand on gun control, it’s clear we need to figure out a compromise between those focused on more guns and protecting their second rights amendments and those concerned about public safety.

Two weeks ago I Marched in Newtown, the next town over from me, for better gun control laws. I was astounded at some of the statistics cited during the speeches. For example, in the U.S. there have been over 100,000 lives lost in the 3 ½ years since Sandy Hook. I was also deeply effected by the stories and statistics highlighted in the documentary Under The Gun. If you haven’t watched it yet, I highly recommend it.

I don’t consider myself a political person but a person who cares deeply about people. I will fight for causes I believe in and get disheartened with politics and agendas focused only on profits.
Creating a safer country is something I am wholeheartedly behind and I want to thank Chris Murphy for being the brave one to not just say it, but act on it. We have had enough. Taking a stand in heated times may divide people. One thing I think we all can agree on: no one wants their brother, mother, sister, daughter, father shot in cold blood.

It takes courage and conviction to effect change when the country is divided. Thank you Chris Murphy for taking a stand.

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Everything I Need to Know About Leadership and Business, I Learned in the Strawberry Patch

Well, maybe not EVERYTHING – but a lot!

I belong to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm share. This means I take on some of the farmer’s risk. I pay for the promise of so many fruits and vegetables for the season. Sometimes it’s a bumper crop and sometimes bust. If s/he is a good farmer (leader/manager) with consistent methods (tools and processes), the unpredictable part of the equation is the weather (environment). There are different ways to address non-ideal weather conditions to minimize the impact on the crops. And sometimes there is only so much you can do.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day here in Connecticut so I took off early and went to pick up the first share of the season. Some of the crops are in bins and some we have to go out in the field to pick. Yesterday I went out in the strawberry field to pick two luscious quarts.

Here is what I noticed… There was an abundance of just ripe strawberries bursting with juice and color. There were very few that had turned past their prime. And there were a lot that were still white or early in the growing season.

Here are my learnings that translate to business and leadership:

1. When crops get what they need by way of support and resources (rich soil, water, sun, right temperatures, and weeded early and often), they thrive.

Some people thrive in certain environments and fail in others. Most people thrive when they do what they love and are good at it, and they have the right kind of coaching, support and recognition.

2. Get in early to harvest the good stuff.

There is no need to focus on what is not ripe (lack) when there is so much abundant all around if we just look. Sometimes we don’t need to look too far but pay attention to what is right under our nose. I was able to fill up two quarts only by reaching within an arm’s radius. Like life, it’s too easy to focus on what needs fixing versus leveraging what is a strength or working. Nothing and nobody is perfect.

3. Next to mature, ready crop you can have crop just at the beginning of development.

This is like people – they can be uneven in their skillset. It’s best to focus on their strengths and take time to nurture their development.

4. Be grateful for such a wonderful crop, despite all the crazy weather.

People can be unpredictable as can the business environment. Recognize what is within your control to effect and what isn’t. When the economy is strong, get in early and boldly with new products, services and ideas. Be grateful for the breaks you have as there is also some grace (or luck) involved.

5. Enjoy the process of picking and eating the harvest! Celebrate!

It’s so important to celebrate wins large and small as that energy and mindset builds on itself. I have found in my career that this is not practiced enough – pausing long enough to really enjoy the hard work and accomplishments. Enjoy the juicy, yummy parts too!

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Breathe. You Have Arrived.

Breathe, You Have Arrived.

This is the sign that greeted me when I arrived at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health last weekend. I was there on a Kundalini yoga retreat. I practice and teach this form of yoga – not for my career, but probably because of it. What I mean is, it’s the pressures of life that fueled me to search for ways to unwind or better cope with my challenges.

The yoga lifestyle has given me tools and a way of being in the world that I wouldn’t have if I didn’t practice it. I teach yoga to master it. There is nothing like having to teach something that makes you really learn it.

First, and foremost, practicing yoga and meditation have given me a different relationship and experience of myself in relation to others and the world around me. “Breathe. You have arrived,” is geared toward people coming from the world to indicate they can now let go and relax because they are taking a break from it.

I saw so many ways to interpret this sign. When I pause to breathe deeply, I shift my energy to respond versus to react. Breathe, you’ve arrived at your destination in life – achieved what you hope to achieve. Once you’ve achieved a goal, you set your sights on a new goal. So, there is a never-ending sense that there is always something more to do or be.

After having a consistent practice for a number of years now, I finally really get why it is so important to breathe IN THE PROCESS of arriving, in the process of life. This enables us to be in the flow of life. We live in a culture that cultivates the necessity that achievement equals stress. Somehow if you aren’t stressed you can’t be achieving something of challenge or importance. When you are too stressed, it becomes near impossible to be really creative.

Some of the best advice I ever received is, you better ENJOY the work versus the title or thought of the work, otherwise you will be miserable and ultimately not effective.

I have been thinking about this a lot lately – what do I really enjoy? What excites me? What would I do even if I didn’t get paid for it?

I came back from this retreat feeling really refreshed, able to sink deeper into my practice and my life. Paradoxically it is the consistency and discipline of the practice that frees and lightens me up.

Reflection question: Where do you need to be breathing more deeply in your life? How can you be more present and lighter to the process of your life, not just focused on the end goal?

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Go Slow to Go Fast

What does it mean “go slow to go fast?” When I googled to find an image for this, I was amazed at how many words and images I found.

Here is what it means to me: when I am the most stressed, stretched or unfocused, it is precisely the time I need to slow down and regroup. And this is precisely when I am most resistant to doing it – it’s counter-intuitive and contrary to my conditioning. My thinking goes like this, “AH! I don’t have time! I have to speed up and get all these tings done. There are too many competing priorities.” This is where the illusion of time – and bending it – comes into play.

Time is very much a mental construct. We’ve all had experiences where time seems to painfully stretch out or goes by in a nanosecond. It is not the linear concept of time but our experience of it.

When I work with my clients, we balance WHAT is getting done – the results – with HOW it is getting done. Everyone wants to just focus on the results. When you do this at the expense of the how, paradoxically, you will not get the results that you seek.

Here’s an example: I am working with a senior leadership team to set an offsite strategy-planning meeting. It has taken a lot of discussion for them to agree they need this concentrated time together. It has taken a lot of coordination of calendars to set a date. Then when we finally get everyone in the room, it takes a lot to turn off laptops, cell phones and be fully present to the issues that need a concentrated focus. Once this happens, I have often witnessed teams changing either the work itself or how they address it. This includes the priorities – how they think about them and align to them – and how they feel about the work. Inevitably everyone leaves thinking and feeling differently.

This shift can surface as experiencing a reality check in terms of what it is really going to take to move forward – renewed hope, optimism or just being more in sync.

With all our technology and ways to speed up communication, there is nothing that takes the place of getting in a room together and hashing things out. This is slowing down. This enables you to make better, more bought into solutions. This alignment can save you weeks and months of misunderstandings, conflict or churn.

This week’s reflection question: Where do you individually or collectively need some time out to reflect, regroup and re-energize?

I am off to a yoga retreat for the holiday weekend here in the states. I have no doubt I will return refreshed and different. After all, recreation is where we get to re-create ourselves to bring fresh eyes to our work. This is resiliency and the key to sustained productivity.

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Leadership & The Art of Boundary Setting

Being a great leader requires you to have clear, strong boundaries – and also know when to be flexible and collapse or expand them. It’s knowing in any given moment where your boundary needs to be in light of:

1. What you want to accomplish
2. How you need to lead your constituents – what they need to hear and the way in which they need to hear it.

Having clear boundaries means knowing when to say no and when to say yes authentically. Everyone talks about being strategic but few really do it. Truly being strategic means there are more things you need to say no to, so you can say yes to the few things that truly matter. It means making forced choices and really not trying to do everything. It means being very discerning and making a commitment about what gets on the “yes” list.

Having clear boundaries means having downtime and not being on call 24/7. Downtime is where we re-create ourselves. It’s what enables our true creative juices to flow. If we have no separation between our work and personal lives, this leads to many undesirable outcomes: burnout, unhealthy addictive patterns, eventually a lack of creativity or renewal in mind/thought and body.

This week’s reflection question: where do you need to be clearer about your boundaries – what is okay and not okay for you? What is okay and not okay for your people to focus on? Where do you need to reset a boundary?

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Leadership Tips from Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton shares his thoughts on what makes a great leader. He gives clear and varied examples from world leaders on four key aspects of leadership.

A great leader:
Envisions
Explains
Includes
Executes

A great leader explains “here’s where we are and here is where we ought to go.”
“You need to have a 30 second version, five minute, and 20 minute version of it.”
Clinton says our job today is to accelerate the positive ways in which we are interdependent and reduce the negative ways we are interdependent.

If you have a chance to listen to the whole talk, I recommend it. If not, then think about the ways in which you can implement his four key aspects in your own leadership.

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Focus Friday: What Inspires You to Exceed Your Own Expectations?

For me, it is surrounding myself with others who are striving or doing what I am trying to do. When I am going into unknown territory, it’s reminding myself that I possess a unique combination of skills, talents and experiences never before existing on the planet. It is my job to take full advantage and use my unique assets to make the world a better place. Sustaining this perspective can be hard amidst the challenges of life and self doubt that we all experience. I need to continually tap into my supports and resources to keep my focus while also heeding some of the feedback from my environment to make adjustments. What inspires you?

Reflection questions: How do you go beyond and step into your greatness?
What blocks you from being your magnificent self?
What supports and resources do you have to help you hold the space for your self to serve the world with your talents in a bigger way – in a way that you are meant to serve?

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Focus Friday: What to Do When You’ve Plateaued.

Tony Robbins gives great advice if you’ve hit a plateau, are in a rut, or too comfortable. You need something to get your mind and body going again.

• Read Something Inspirational.
• Engage in Intense Physical Activity.
• Be Crystal Clear on Goals & Learn from Great Role Models.
• Give Service.

This is all great advice. People can support you but ultimately it is up to you to make things happen and change your life. Getting inspired opens up your mind. Exercising energizes your body. Getting clear and seeing someone else do what you want creates a clear pathway. Giving service helps put things in perspective and generates good will.

Reflection question: What is one thing you can do today to shift your life?

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Focus Friday: The Empathic Leader and Self Care

There is a lot written in recent years about the need for a leader to demonstrate empathy when creating a safe, high performing culture for their constituents. When I refer to an empathic leader, I am not referring to someone who can demonstrate empathy. I am referring to someone in a leadership role who is considered a highly sensitive person – an empath. This is someone who feels what others feels and may often feel overwhelmed by this sensitivity and the environments in which they find themselves. Maybe they have been accused of being too emotional. For more information, you can refer to the work of Judith Orloff, MD, who has written a lot about this way of being.

Often people who are empaths shy away from leadership positions because, if they don’t have solid daily practices, exercising self care to manage this way being, they can be easily overwhelmed. Here is how it can show up: You are constantly stressed or overwhelmed. You are stressed by the deadlines and workload. You absorb and are stressed by what your employees feel consequently your employees feel that from you. It doesn’t matter what you say. They experience what you embody – your emotions and the energy vibe you give off. All the way around it creates a chaotic and unpleasant environment for you and for them.

The good news about being an empath is that you are aware (sometimes painfully so) of how everyone feels. The bad news is, you may take it all on and not filter it or distance yourself from it. When employees are stressed they want two things: the sense that their leader gets them and cares, and wants to, and can fix it for them – create calm or remove the stuff (people, deadlines, projects) that are stressing them out.

But you can’t give away what you don’t have. You can’t create calm if you don’t have calm. It generates from within you. For the Empathic leader the greatest thing you can do is, as the famous analogy states – put the oxygen mask on yourself! First, notice when you are feeling really stressed. Notice the source from which this stress is coming. Exercise extreme self care by mentally and emotionally, and sometimes physically distancing yourself from those employees who are negative. Sometimes you may be sitting in a meeting and it is just your mental or emotional orientation you shift if you need to still interface with them.

Then there is the single more important thing you can do to keep yourself grounded, or to re-ground yourself if you are feeling stressed: Have some kind of daily practice that keeps you centered within yourself. This could be: running, walking, meditating, doing yoga, journaling, talking to a trusted colleague over morning coffee, driving, swimming, prayers, affirmations, etc. It could also be an activity, practice, person or some sort of support group you tap into.

Whatever your “thing” is, do it for at least 20 minutes religiously everyday. This will give a certain baseline from which to navigate from. When you are really stressed, do another 20 minutes and another, etc. A leader’s job, like a parent, is the hardest one as people look to you for support, vision and help, especially when they are stressed.

At Sage Leadership Strategies, this is what we do well – hold the space for leaders to understand their patterns and enhance their approach for greater impact. If you know you can get better results with your constituents but just need some additional support to gain clarity and sort things out, please call us for a complimentary discovery session: 203-730-2103.

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Focus Friday: How Do You Maintain Your Leadership Filter?

First, what IS a leadership filter?

It’s how you personally filter and process information so you are passing on the right content and tone of your message to your constituents. Are you passing on stress, confusion, or clarity?
I had several conversations with clients this week about this very point. When you are on your email late at night mulling over some upset – do you fire off emails to your team or do you sit with it, filter and digest the issue? It’s about responding versus reacting.

When you react, you are being triggered by something and may come across emotional – tense or stressed. When you respond, you have paused and thought through multiple scenarios and carefully crafted your point of view or request.

A filter is not necessarily about how intelligent you are. It’s mostly about how you are managing your stress and triggers. Are you throwing up your “stuff” on everyone or communicating in a clear way? The first is charged and has a lot of negativity in it. Everyone is triggered by something. The more triggered you are, the more likely it is related to something that was either a traumatic or upsetting event that happened in the past and is no longer relevant, or a worry or anxiety you have about the future. In most instances a strong trigger is related to something that happened when you were a child and felt helpless. Your brain doesn’t always realize you are an independent, strong adult now and it can regress and act from that place.

The more time and workload pressure you are under, the more susceptible you are to throwing stuff to others unfiltered. I call this acting in your back-up style. This is where you literally want to make sure you breathe, pause and compose. By the very nature of it you may not be able to. This is where your amygdala gets “hijacked” The amygdala is a structure located in the temporal lobes of the limbic brain and has the role of memory, decision-making, and emotional reactions. When it gets triggered, I use the word “hijacked” because that is what looks it like – someone took your rational brain and your emotions are off and running.

What is the danger of this behavior? You are expressing (usually) negative emotions and passing the buck by generating stress for your constituents – direct reports, peers, maybe even boss – versus filtering and tempering the message and emotions so it can be received better. In other words, your reaction starts a chain of reactions or escalates things. When you filter, you also shape the message in ways that your constituents can either best digest it or act upon it. It’s not just a “pass through” of information.

So, a filter is not just editing what you say but how you say it. The tone is the most important thing people usually react to. Make sure it is music (a clear, less-charged request) and not noise (panic).
Reflection question: How do you manage your emotions when the stakes are high and the pressure is on?

At Sage Leadership Strategies, this is what we do well – hold the space for leaders to understand their patterns and enhance their approach for greater impact. If you know you can get better results with your constituents but just need some additional support to sort things through, please call us for a complimentary discovery session: 203-730-2103.

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Focus Friday: Setting Your Day With Daily Rituals to Support Your Success

It has often been cited that successful people have daily rituals that they practice first thing in the morning that supports them in accomplishing their goals.

If you don’t have a daily ritual, I encourage you to discover one. If you do, I encourage you to revisit what you do and why you do it. Why? To make sure you are setting the right tone to your day – in terms of attitude, mindset and content. When I don’t practice my daily ritual first thing in the morning, my day is usually off. I am not at the top of my game.

Here is my daily ritual: Once I am aware I am awake, I practice alternate nostril breathing while lying in bed. This rebalances my brain. I get up, wash my face, brush my teeth and take a quick shower and have a glass of warm water with lemon. I then go into my home office and sit on the floor. I write in a journal listing all the people and things I am grateful for in my life and then do my Kundalini yoga and meditation practice.

If I wake up late or have an early meeting and can’t get my full practice in (45-75 minutes), I will do at least a 15 minute warm up and the rest later. It is a non-negotiable for me to do everyday. When I don’t do it first thing, it doesn’t set my day the same way.

Since there is often a lot that is uncertain or unresolved in my business, my practice helps me lower my anxiety. I will often open a couple of emails that are daily inspirational videos or quotes to give me a lift. I then go to my calendar and to do list I drafted the night before to determine where I start my workday.

I will admit there are days where I check my email on my phone while lying in bed or just before I wash my face. (I do not keep my phone by my bed but in the bathroom behind a closed door so I have to get up and get it). What happens when I do this? I am setting my day in a reaction versus proactive mode. It is enticing to be in this mode. It really requires discipline to not peak at all those emails. Some are junk and some are urgent but not important. In any case, it does not put me in the drivers seat for my day so I am working on eliminating doing this at all until I have finished my practice. But it can be so enticing!

What are positive ways you set your day? Where are you vulnerable to jumping in, in reaction mode before breakfast?

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Focus Friday: The Journey from Trauma to Nurturance – Dentists Who Lead In Creating a Nurturing Environment

Dentistry, leadership and nurturing environment. Do all these words really go together in one thought? I don’t know anyone, other than my daughter, who loves going to the dentist. Most people hate going, perhaps because they fear needles, pain, the drill sound or just the unknown.

I myself had a really bad experience about eight years ago. The dentist I had been going to retired, and someone bought his practice. At that time, I had been going to the practice for probably about fifteen years so I stayed and went to “the new guy.” After one or two visits, he discovered a cavity, which I don’t recall having in the previous fifteen years. Here is where it gets hairy.

Ever since I was two years old, I have had an aversion to needles. I was hospitalized with pneumonia and had so many shots of penicillin that it created a hole in my skin and in my psyche. Since then I was terrified of needles. Today, although not pleasant, I can tolerate a poke in the arm. My mouth is a different situation – I’m a sensitive type and have a sensitive nervous system. Even though I practice yoga, and have strengthened it, it’s still sensitive.

But at this time, I had not yet developed a consistent yoga practice and when I went to “the new guy” to fill my cavity, here is what happened: He gave me a shot in my gums. I don’t remember being given a local anesthetic and I don’t remember feeling particularly numb after the injection. When he started to drill, it really hurt. I tried to bear it. Pain is a relative thing. How does one really, objectively know their tolerance for pain? I always say that, even though I am sensitive, I must have a fairly high level of tolerance since, after all, “I gave birth to my daughter without medication.” Shouldn’t that count for some kind of hero’s acknowledgement? It certainly wasn’t a cakewalk and required perseverance, stamina and a gritty will.

Back to the drill. After a while, it was so unbearable, and I felt so vulnerable – there with my mouth open and unable to speak – that I started to groan in agony. The dentist had many options at that point. Here is what he did: he said, “You can feel that?”
What did he think, I was groaning for jollies?
I said, “Yes, I can.”
“You can’t feel that. You shouldn’t be able to feel that.”
“Well I can.”

I don’t remember what happened after that – if he gave me another shot or not. What I do remember is I felt traumatized and shamed. It was a small office and when I walked out, I felt people, including the receptionist, looking at me since they could hear my groans. Was I a baby?

Here is what I did: I wrote a letter to the dentist about my experience – what it felt like for me in his chair. I encouraged him to think differently about how he practiced. I told him I was leaving the practice and I never went back. I sought a holistic dentist who replaced half of my mercury fillings (all paid for out of pocket!) without the trauma. I didn’t do anymore as it was costly and I didn’t want to upset more mercury in my mouth.

A year later, I asked around and had a friend refer me to a dental practice that was covered by my insurance. I have been going to this practice for seven years now. On my first visit, I told the dentist about my previous experience and what I was looking for. She listened and gave me all the time in the world. On subsequent visits, the hygienist does most of the work and the dentist comes in to check – and always with a smile and something upbeat to say. In this timeframe I have only had one small cavity until last week when I needed a crown. I have never had anything other than cavities so I was nervous over this procedure.

I am writing about this today because I had an extraordinary experience that shifted my previous trauma and sense of being taken care of. What happened in this practice is unbelievable.
On the day of my crown, I made it clear how sensitive and nervous I was and reminded the dentist of my traumatic incident. They walked me through in detail everything they were going to do. They handled this procedure so differently than that day eight years ago. First, they gave me a local gel anesthetic before putting a needle in my mouth. Then, they used an instrument, not their judgment, to gauge my level of pain.

After giving me a couple of shots of Novocain, they placed an instrument on my tooth, and had me place my hand on the instrument with the doctor’s so I was in control. I could pull it away when I started to feel it. The way my system works, I didn’t do that but raised a leg instead. The doctor got the message. This instrument had a measure and I had to get up to a score of 80 before they felt it was safe to start to drill. They were surprised, but not upset about how long it took. She kept giving me small dosed shots of Novocain, waiting and checking on my level of sensation. I lost track after six shots. Finally I was ready.

Before they started to drill the dental assistant suggested I could use my iPod. I put in my earplugs and they started to drill. The high pitch of the drill affected me. No problem. She gave me a heavy set of headphones. I turned up my yoga music, closed my eyes and breathed deeply. A couple of times I had a moment of sensation. They stopped. My eyes started to tear. I couldn’t help it. A couple of times I apologized for taking so long and being “such a project.” It also helped that I had my partner there who rubbed my feet during most of the procedure.

The reaction from the dentist and dental assistant was, “no need to apologize. You are just sensitive.” It wasn’t, “you are too sensitive.” It is what it is. They said, “This isn’t bad. There are people who are worse. You just have a hot tooth. It’s not happy. It’s okay.”

A procedure I was told would take ninety minutes took three hours. No complaints or attitude from anyone in the office – just understanding and patience. This was healing for me on so many levels. The entire atmosphere felt accepting and nurturing. I never thought I would use that word for a dentist, but I do. Even the staff in the office were so pleasant, helping me navigate the last month of my dental insurance.

I was so touched when I left that I hugged the dental assistant and the dentist. I now do not have the same sense of dread for future procedures. Because my nerves were tended to with care, I have a lot of nerve for next time.

I also reflected on all of my experiences with this office over time and decided that an office doesn’t just get this way by itself. This is an environment that is set and cultivated by the doctors – the dentists and leaders of the practice are the ones who set the tone. There is a pervasive sense of friendliness and that they are there for the patients and that they really care. Care is the operative word. It’s the water everyone is swimming in, and it’s infectious. I am overwhelmed with gratitude.

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Focus Friday: Are You Living In Passion or Stress?

Passion and Stress both harness strong emotions. Both move energy. It’s a question of what kind of emotion you are experiencing.
What is passion? It’s a strong, exciting feeling that energizes you and is generative – it builds on itself. The online Merriam Webster dictionary also gives the following definitions:

1. A strong feeling (such as anger) that causes you to act in a dangerous way.
2. A strong sexual or romantic feeling for someone.

Let’s focus on passion being a good thing, and something that enables you to tap into your life force energy. Specifically, let’s focus on harnessing your passion for your work and how you show up in your workplace.

First, it’s really important to know and notice what you are passionate about, and when you get ignited during the day. Often we experience the opposite.

Many of my clients complain about being stressed or show they are stressed-out more times than they are excited or turned on about something.
What is Stress?

1. A state of mental tension and worry caused by problems in your life, work, etc.
2. Something that causes strong feelings of worry or anxiety.
3. Physical force or pressure.

The operative words are worry, problems and pressure. You can be full or overfull with work and not be stressed. It all depends upon how you are holding this work in your thoughts, and what feelings you experience.

If it is work you don’t want to do, aren’t good at or don’t like to do, most likely you are stressed. If it’s work you love to do then most likely you are passionate and it feeds you in some way. How are you managing your personal energy? It’s about perspective.

It’s key to be clear on what gets you tuned in, tapped in, or turned on. You can’t do this just by thinking. You discover this in the doing of the activity and then notice what you experience by way of thoughts, emotions and sensations in your body.

We all have things we don’t like to do and maybe aren’t that good at, that are parts of our job. The key is looking at what is the ratio of stress versus passion you feel during the day.

My invitation this week requires courage. Courage means moving forward with a full heart. Stop doing what causes you undue stress and start doing more of what you are passionate about.

This week’s reflection questions: What activities give you joy and energy? What depletes you and feels like an obligation? How can you bring more of what energizes you into your work and workplace?

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Focus Friday: Are you REALLY a Leader?

Are you REALLY a Leader?

What does it means to you to be a leader? Do you self identify as a leader? If so, how do you define what is unique about your leadership? If you don’t identify as a leader, why not?

My perspective is that everyone has leadership potential that gets conditioned into or out of them. Sometimes circumstances choose leaders. Sometimes people choose leaders, and sometimes people seek leadership.

Many of my clients are leaders and very successful at what they do – and some secretly aren’t confident or clear about their leadership impact or don’t readily identify themselves as a leader. They may not tell you this, but this is what gets revealed in a private conversation.

I have known people in significant leadership positions who feel like an imposter – one day they will be found out. This is more common that you might realize. I have also known people who are not in formal leadership positions, and don’t want to be – but they have a significant and positive impact on those around them. And of course there are those who would rather be in the background, and are terrified of leading, but will be the first one to criticize how someone else is leading.

Let’s be clear – leading, especially these days, is a very hard job. Leaders are held to a higher standard than everyone else. And the context for leading today is especially challenging. We are all almost constantly living in transition – from what was, to what could or needs to be. No matter your industry, all the old systems and ways of doing things no longer work or irrelevant. Some are excited and embrace this way of being, but many of us are overwhelmed or struggling to let go of the old and embrace the new. We are constantly pulled in a million directions challenged with focus, consistency and leading in ambiguous, uncertain times.

So, what does it mean to be a leader today?

Here’s my sense of what it means – you lead people or projects, or possess thought leadership that captures people’s attention and imagination. You have people who listen when you speak. They follow your direction. You have a positive impact on people.

Today people can lead from anywhere – working inside an organization, or being a consultant working with organizations. They can lead in their personal or private lives. How you self-identify is critical to what kind of energy you put out there – how you move forward and what kind of an impact you have on those listening to you.

This is exactly what I do with my clients – help them build clarity and a well-integrated sense of your identity as a leader. This leads to greater confidence, which leads to living in more ease, and having a deeper impact on your constituents.

My reflection questions for you this week/end: What do you stand for or want to be known for? How do you know you are having a positive impact on people? How is the impact you have on others connected to your greatest gift or talent? How can you deepen this impact?

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.

Follow up Friday: Fluid Priorities

When I searched for an image for this post, I got all sorts things that portrayed “Fluid Priorities.” Many of the images were medical – how to know someone is hydrated, nursing moms, what do when someone is in shock, etc. I even got images related to oil changes.

This week’s reflection question was: How do you stay focused on the task at hand yet also aware of changing needs – so you can discern and adapt accordingly – all this while staying sane and ensuring you are getting the stuff done that matters?

Here is what I discovered: priorities can be fluid because they need to be – because your client’s needs change or the environment is changing. These are causes for the change that arise in your external environment, outside yourself.

Or priorities can be fluid because there is a cause for the change inside yourself: you are the one who is changing and maybe, perhaps not as clear on what should actually be your priority; you are at the whim of the urgent versus the important; or you are not sure how to respond to the changing environment so you keep trying different things to see what sticks.

When you change the priorities you are focused on, the key question is why? Here are some answers that make sense: the client’s needs change or your goal changed and that item is no longer important. Everything else is noise intended to distract you.

In my own reflection this week, I discovered that a lot of the reasons why my priorities were changing were because of static going on within myself – I wasn’t as clear on what my priorities should be. Sure, I was clear in the big picture sense of the word – delivering on client services first, marketing next and operations last. This works well in the short-term but not the long-term. If my operations suffer long-term eventually it will effect my client’s experience. This prioritized list is also so high level that it doesn’t always give clear criteria for deciding on what to focus at the next level of defining the task.

This question caused me to reassess where I was spending my time everyday; how was I allowing my calendar to run away from me? I questioned what return I was getting from my activities. This process reminded me that busy does not always mean productive or results producing.

Let’s look at the beakers in the image above. We can use these as a metaphor for how we think about priorities. Are they the right shaped container? Do they have the right color liquid in them? How full are they? What needs more liquid? Less liquid? Ultimately the answers all depend on what it is you are trying to achieve. It all starts with achieving clarity on what your goal is and how you can best get there.

So, too, in approaching your work: what resources and supports do you need to hold all that you do? Are you focused on the right goals? What is the tone or attitude you need to accomplish the tasks at hand? Whose help do you need? Where do you need to be aligned in approach and outcome? Where do you need to redistribute some of your energy or focus? How do you know? What are the results you are seeking?

This line of questioning landed me here: A primary focus of my business this year is to grow my executive coaching practice (I have a few spots available!) and to develop an online program to be able to help more people. In service of these two top priorities, I decided that, while personally I love to write and blog, business-wise, the amount of time I spend engaged in this activity is not the best use of my time. I made the difficult decision to, after six months of writing in this format (Magic Mondays and Follow up Fridays), to change what I am doing and how much time I spend on this task.

After today, I will be writing once a week on Fridays, highlighting a key topic, question or issue as food for thought to get you reflecting over the weekend and ready for a strong Monday. This doesn’t mean that I might not occasionally share an interesting article or provocative post. It means, I am not committing to it. I’m giving up one day, so I can redirect my energy in another area of my business.

So, my weekend reflection for you is: What do you need to let go of? Is there some activity you have been actively engaged in for a time that is not giving you the results you need – in terms of clients, dollars or your own peace of mind or satisfaction? Has the environment changed that requires you to redirect your efforts elsewhere? What is the difference for you between experimenting on discovering what clients respond to and aimlessly firing shots in the dark?

At Sage Leadership Strategies, we create the space for you to reflect on your opportunities and challenges. The outcome is greater clarity, ease and confidence in how to best move forward. We are all always in process. We do our own work too, so we can be most present for you.

Please call us for a complimentary discovery session: 203-730-2103.

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.

Magic Monday: The Complexity of Priority Setting Today

Where can you find the magic at work today?

Some people say that setting priorities is very simple – it’s a yes or no. Yes, focus on this task now. No, not now (defer) or ever (discard). However, in today’s current environment deciding which of these labels to put on your to do list in a given day or week can be more complex than at first blush.

What is the balance point of priorities shifting because of an environment in flux and not getting traction in getting stuff done because the priorities change too frequently? I call this fluid priorities. This is where you want to put a stake in the ground to move things forward but you also need to be vigilant and nimble to shift if you need to, constantly discerning if what you are working on is still relevant: the most important, not just the most urgent.

We are navigating a constantly wired environment where we can too easily be in an addiction mode of responding to the latest email, text, tweet or Facebook or Linkedin post. Where are you in control of responding to a changed priority versus reacting to an urgent request that may not be your agenda but someone else’s?

This week’s reflection question: How do you stay grounded – – stay focused on the task at hand yet also aware of changing needs – so you can discern and adapt accordingly – all this while staying sane and ensuring you are getting the stuff done that matters?

At Sage Leadership Strategies, we create the space for you to reflect on your opportunities and challenges. The outcome is greater clarity, ease and confidence in how to best move forward. Please call us for a complimentary discovery session: 203-730-2103.

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.

Follow up Friday: How do you Know your Sales Managers are Engaged in Activities that will Give you Growth that is Sustainable?

Reflecting on Monday’s question: How do you know your sales managers are engaged in activities that will give you growth that is sustainable?

When most sales leaders think about accountability, they think about whether or not someone hit their number.

Sounds logical – right? Accountable for results.

That’s all well and good, unless you want to have an impact on those results. You can’t manage results – you can only analyze results and do the management version of Monday Morning Quarterbacking on them.

If you want to impact results, you need to be managing the things that lead to results.
So, “How do you know your sales managers are engaged in activities that will give you growth that is sustainable?” You can’t get there by looking at the end results of their team.

If you want to know if they are doing the right things, you need to know what those right things are, agree with the managers about them, and meet and work together with management about those activities to see how they are progressing, whether they are getting done, done right, and leading to the results you would like to shoot for.

Sounds too simple to even bother writing down – right?

But be honest with yourself. Do you really manage activities? Are you really working with management at a meaningful level of granular accountability? Most of the time – when you look hard and get really honest with yourself – the answer is no.

So why is that? Most of the time it is because there is no explicit agreement about what those activities should be.

And why isn’t there this kind of explicit agreement?
Usually it is because no-one took the time to articulate what specific steps and activities need to happen to get new business.

My friend David Masover just completed a free mini training course and is hosting a webinar next week where he will address these questions – and more importantly – the specific details about how to get that level of granular, activity based, results oriented agreement embedded into your sales organization – from the reps up the org chart and into the CRM.

You can sign up for the webinar here – I hope that you find it useful.

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.