“Trust Me” I suspect that these two words may be the two scariest words in English language. I recall times I’ve heard these words as I was laying in a dentist’s chair or balancing atop an icy crest on a mountaintop as my skiing partner beckons me to follow him down a minefield of moguls. […]
Tag: Leadership
The Link between Psychological Safety and Team Effectiveness
Imagine you’re a team member tasked with a highly complex problem and your boss tells your team, “Failure is not an option; we are under close scrutiny from the executive team and we only have one chance to get it right. And if you mess up like we did the last time it’ll be every […]
What Is Resiliency?
When I began to offer Pause II Power workshops for resiliency and self-mastery, I noticed that most people had a very narrow definition of resiliency. To them resiliency was the “ability to bounce back” after a challenge or setback. To me resiliency means that, and much more. It means self regulation in the presence of […]
How do you ask for the help you need (even though your brain resists!)?
Why is it sooo hard to ask for help? While there are many reasons why you might resist asking for help, such as ego, fear, rejection, relinquishing of control, it’s impossible to succeed if you don’t ask for assistance. Success is not created in a vacuum and no one achieves anything amazing without the help […]
When Perfect Isn’t Perfect
As a reformed perfectionist, I understand the appeal of perfection. Whether it’s the aesthetic appeal of a perfectly cut diamond or the yummy perfection of a beautifully decorated wedding cake, we all appreciate perfection on the occasions it shows up in our lives. We marvel because perfection is so rare and often beautiful. While perfection […]
Empowering Questions for the Coach-Centric Leader
When I do workshops on Coach-Centric Leadership, we spend a lot of time crafting empowering questions that leaders can use with their teams to empower, engage, and problem solve. The most challenging thing about this is that sometimes the most empowering questions require that you “play dumb.” When I’m doing a 1:1 meeting with the […]
What Do Coaches Do?
At a recent Central Florida chapter meeting of the International Coaches Federation, our table topic question was, “How do you clearly and succinctly describe what you do, so that others fully understand what coaching is?” The coaches in the room were a diverse group of life or wellness coaches, executive and leadership coaches, business coaches, […]
Intentional Leadership: Wear your Values on your Sleeve
When I begin a coaching relationship with both teams and individuals, I begin with a values clarification exercise. Why? Because people don’t follow the leader, they follow their values. The best leaders articulate their values and wear them on their sleeve; in fact, they live their values. Everyday. Even when it appears to “hurt” them […]
Mindfulness: It’s not just what you do, it’s who you are.
I had the privilege of sharing some of my Every Day Mindfulness tips with the readers of D.I. magazine. It’s sometimes a challenge to explain how to be mindful in 500 works or less because Mindfulness is not just what you do in the moment it is also who you are. In a state of […]
Leadership Lessons from the Dancing Guy
This video is a perfect illustration of the nature of leadership and how we can create movements and attract followers. It starts with one crazy, shirtless guy, who eventually attracts a follower. Notice the momentum that happens when one follower turns into three. And see how easy it is to create a mob when you […]