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.
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Monday, December 7, 2015
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.
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.
Sunday, December 6, 2015
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.
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.
Saturday, December 5, 2015
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.
Friday, December 4, 2015
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.
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.
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Inspiration & Presence = Better Engagement
BREATHE.
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.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
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.
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.
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