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People
A few weeks ago, I introduced the PULSE© coaching model that I use to help clients get their lives back in balance. Last week, I wrote about the first letter in the acronym – “P” for paradigm. This week I’m writing about the second letter in the acronym – “U” for unearth.
Imagine an archaeological dig that unearths treasures that have been buried for years. I did some research about archaeological excavation and discovered the following interesting facts:
Archaeological material would, to a very large extent, have been called rubbish when it was left on the site. It tends to accumulate in events. A gardener swept a pile of soil into a corner, laid a gravel path or planted a bush in a hole. A builder built a wall and back-filled the trench. Years later, someone built a pig sty onto it and drained the pig sty into the nettle patch. Later still, the original wall blew over and so on. Each event, which may have taken a short or long time to accomplish, leaves a context. This layer cake of events is often referred to as the archaeological sequence or record. It is by analysis of this sequence or record that excavation is intended to permit interpretation, which should lead to discussion and understanding.
Our life becomes our own archaeological sequence. All you need to succeed already lies within you. Now it’s time to unearth it and reclaim it.
You already have treasures that lie within you. You have strengths, character traits, and gifts that only you possess.
Sadly, many times these are hidden or buried. Perhaps they were visible and used at one time but due to circumstances or insecurities they got put away. Tragedy may have caused them to be buried.
Your life is a series of events that leaves a context. Each layer or event has made you who you are today. The exciting thing is that the strengths and character traits you possess are still present. The precious gifts that lie within you don’t disappear. They may become squelched or hindered but they still exist.
There was a time in my own life when I began to lose sight of my own talents and strengths. It’s often easier to believe a lie about yourself that you’re not strong enough or good enough or that you will ever succeed. It’s not enough to just push through those times. It is imperative to have a specific plan in place. We need to learn new tools and behaviors that allow us to dig deep and tap into that strength that is inside each and every one of us.
My passion is to empower clients to move past self-limiting barriers and begin to live the life they are meant to live. When you choose to live in truly active manner instead of always reacting to situations around you that’s when the real magic happens.
Are you ready for the next step? Use the contact form on my page and let’s chat about this exciting coaching journey together! https://execexcellence.wpengine.com/team/jenny-jacobs/
For over a decade Jenny Jacobs has studied the principles of healthy living, life balance, stress management, positive psychology, and self-development. Jenny is a dynamic speaker, coach, and blogger and is passionate about helping people integrate their personal and professional selves.
Driven by the premise that excellence is the result of aligning people, purpose and performance, Center for Executive Excellence facilitates training in leading self, leading teams and leading organizations.
Business In Focus
A closer look at companies executing leadership excellence
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Trust is a hot topic today. In our fast-paced business world, “speed is everything,” says Stephen M.R. Covey, “and nothing impacts speed more than trust.”
Consider this example about the legendary culture of trust at Southwest Airlines. In 1996, leadership expert Ken Blanchard had just published a book with former Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula called Everyone’s A Coach. Ken was at the San Diego airport to check-in for a flight to the east coast. When he got to the Southwest ticket counter, he realized that he’d forgotten to bring his ID. He didn’t have time to get it and he didn’t want to miss his flight. So he got an idea.
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Sticky Solutions
Sticky solutions to your everyday business challenges
Question: Are leaders born or made?
Answer: Good question. It’s one that we get asked a lot. Many people assume that leaders are born. They come into the world with a natural capacity to lead. This is the basic tenet of the great man theory, popularized by historian Thomas Carlyle in the 19th century. The mythology behind some of the world’s most famous leaders helped contribute to this notion. Think Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great. Carlyle suggested that effective leaders were those gifted with divine inspiration and the right characteristics to take control of a situation and lead people to safety or success.
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Letter from the Founder
Welcome to the second issue of CEE News!
John Maxwell wrote a book a few years ago called The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. The 1st law is the Law of the Lid.
The premise of the Law of the Lid is that an organization is only as effective as the people who lead it. If the leaders are at a 6 or 7 on a scale of 10, then the organization cannot reach level 10.
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Uncategorized
In today’s information economy, predictability has gone the way of the VHS and fax machine. Organizations are struggling to keep up with fluctuating customer demands. Workers are becoming disillusioned and disengaged.
The tension between organizations optimised for predictability and the unpredictable world they inhabit has reached a breaking point. Those led by traditional, transactional, command-and-control practices will not survive.
The pyramid of power
When we picture an organizational structure, typically a pyramid comes to mind. Under the pyramid model, power and privilege are concentrated at the top. It then trickles down through lesser and lesser ranks, leaving those at the bottom with the heaviest workload and the least privilege.
For centuries, the pyramid structure kept monarchies stable, dictated the rank-and-file system of the military, and yielded highly reproducible goods from assembly lines. The model served America’s manufacturing economy well, helping it surge for most of the 20th century.
The leadership style under the pyramid was transactional. The relationship between leader and employee was strictly quid pro quo where work was traded for wages. Companies needed “hired hands” to produce goods in a highly repeatable, efficient process. Greater efficiency meant higher profit for the company. It also meant devaluing the dignity of the employees.
The 21st century information economy is marked by global connectivity and destabilization. Information and telecommunications technologies have created a new economy of information that collapses the traditional boundaries of space and time.
Information is the new raw material. As that material is applied to organizations, everything changes. The collapse of time and space boundaries requires organizations to follow by collapsing their organizational structures along with their hierarchical notions of power. The command-and-control leadership style is no longer sufficient.
Ditching the Pyramid
To be successful in the information economy, leaders must be willing to remove themselves from the power paradigm. They must be willing to be transformed – to learn and grow from those they lead.
Under transformative leadership, the flow of information and influence is bi-directional. Leaders and followers collaborate to advance to a higher level of understanding, transforming both in the process. Together, they turn the raw material of information into knowledge, and that knowledge into service.
I suggest that the best test of transformative leadership is to ask, “Do I grow as a person as a result of my leadership of others?”
I’m thrilled to be one of the featured speakers at the upcoming Future of Work Conference in Boston where we will unpack this topic in greater detail. If you’re interested in learning more about the Future of Work Conference in Boston December 7-8, 2015, and other featured speakers, please click here.
This blog was adapted from the CEE Vantage© White Paper released October 1st. Click here to receive a free copy of this white paper or subscribe to our monthly CEE Newsletter to get free resources delivered to your inbox.
Your life is a series of events that leaves a context. Each layer or event has made you who you are today. The exciting thing is that the strengths and character traits you possess are still present. The precious gifts that lie within you don’t disappear. They may become squelched or hindered but they still exist.
