
Clear Confident Leader Weekly Observer, Issue #68
From the Greenbelt of Boise Idaho, Gray Skies, Spring Blossoms
“That’s what is holding me back, in my career and in my life.”
It was an Ah-Hah moment in a coaching conversation with a client.
Life constantly offers problems to solve, deals to win, and goals to achieve in life. We develop ways to respond to them much like the way we learn to ride a bicycle or drive a car.
We learn through experimenting to see what works and what doesn’t. When we find a method that serves us well enough, it moves from our conscious foreground into unconscious automaticity. How often do you consciously evolve your practice of riding a bicycle or driving a car now?
As we become proficient with a given method, we begin to identify with it, and say “I’m a problem solver”, “I’m a deal winner”, “I’m a goal achiever”, “I’m a leader.” This approach works for us until it doesn’t.
Inevitably life brings new situations where our learned habits no longer serve us. When we think it is so bad that we can no longer take it, the opportunity for an Ah-Hah moment emerges.
We have several choices for the perspective we take:
- We could double down on what has worked before, using the identity and habits we’ve formed to focus only on the problems, deals and goals we can see.
- We could choose to shift how we lead in this instance (another problem solved, deal won, or goal achieved with a new skill added to our toolkit).
- We could also accept the invitation to see all moments as opportunities to learn, grow and evolve the way we lead and create.
By choosing the third perspective, we offer our best in the moment AND we pay attention to what the moment offers us to learn, grow and evolve our practice of leadership. Through practice we develop our presence and resilience, become more self-generative.
The growing rate of interdependence and complexity in our world today is flooding us with new moments in which to choose.
Consider the implications of choosing resistance to change (the first option) or single step changes (the second option). Will they suffice, or does the reality of our current situation require us to step into continual evolution of our practice of leadership (option three)?
I work with teams and leaders to create better results through the conscious evolution of our practice of leadership. Let’s create a better future today!