Is a secret to personal power sitting right under your nose? It was mine. I grew up a negative, cynical kid, and it wasn't until relative adulthood that I discovered the ability for simple joy to help me find my power in otherwise powerless situations - mostly, but not only, on the job. Turns out...
Good leaders need to be reasonable managers, able to make sure the important stuff gets done from day to day, but a true leader’s potential is discovered and exercised during times of business transformation. It is in those times that the leaders truly change the world.
Ever found yourself wondering about the effectiveness of your goals and how they align with your overarching life ambitions? ‘Intentions vs goals’ is not a competition. Both are important to your overall success, but most of us pay way too much attention to goals and not enough to intentions. Both...
Can an exercise in “expressive writing” reduce your stress, improve your mood and help you get ahead in your career? The answer is yes. Before I started coaching, I took a wandering, self-improvement journey. I quickly discovered that I had a secret “inner coach” living in my head who had amazing...
Lessons for leadership. The holidays are a stressful time for all of us, when we struggle with work-life balance (or not) and work to serve our business and our families with equal gusto, too often at the expense of ourselves. This month when things are so crazy, I’m reminded that the holidays are...
We love it when smart thinkers challenge buzzwords, which is why we love Laurie’s post this week as she endeavors to define Authentic behavior in the workplace and explore the deeper meanings of this important idea. After reading the post, take a moment and think about what is most authentic about...
There are many kinds of leadership and power and I choose to focus on personal power for myself and with my clients – I call it InPower. InPower is that special ability leaders can develop to free themselves from the culture around them so they can choose where and how they place their energy in service to the world and themselves. Our dominant culture doesn’t train us to see InPower and many can’t appreciate it until you do.
So much stress results from our sense of chaos. Most of us are not comfortable with chaos, and we need to be! When we feel out of control we tense up, releasing all that stress-hormone confusion into our body and brain. Lex reminds us that a certain amount of chaos is inevitable. When we get used...
If you pay attention to your language it will provide you insight and power over your subconscious – “natural” – InPower stance. As you practice obtaining and maintaining InPower balance, your language – internal and external – will begin to shift and change, becoming a source of your power. But first you must learn to “hear” yourself from an InPower perspective and listen for your InPower and out-of-power voice. In another post we’ll talk about what you are saying, but for now, just learn to listen to how you are saying it. When you speak – to yourself or to others – your choice of words can quickly tap you into your current power stance. Here are some examples.
Language is important indicator of everyone’s InPower stance, but it may be especially important for women, based on a new study by Judith Baxter.
As we approach summer, I'm reminded of the family road trip. The kind with screaming kids, barking dogs and parents hoping they don't harm one of those screaming kids. The family road trip seems an apt analogy to end this month's theme of preserving your mental health with emotional...
