Leading With Grit and Grace

In the field of Leadership, the rise of the feminine is causing a deep rumble. Emotional intelligence is gaining perceived value. Communication skills, and the capacity to build shared meaning and purpose in our places of work, are more widely recognized as critical to success. Women are taking up leadership more firmly, with more compassion and more radiance than ever before.

We are “leaning in” at work, as Sheryl Sandberg describes, and we are still carrying the lion’s share of responsibility for the quality of life for our families. “A record 40 percent of all households with children under the age of 18 include mothers who are either the sole or primary source of income for the family,” the Pew Research Center reported in May of 2013, as it released data that certainly won’t surprise many Americans but underscores some dramatic shifts over recent decades.The juggling act that each of us performs in our own private lives is actually a societal and cultural developmental edge. We are on the front lines of a massive experiment in life with less-clearly defined gender roles; the stakes are high, the gains and the losses are very real, and there doesn’t appear to be any going back.

Particularly when working with women, I help them to step forward into the challenge of this experiment in their work and personal lives. Using developmental models, I map out the stages of life and help you to find your place so that you can broaden your perspective on the unfolding narrative. With current and ancient wisdom concerning the masculine and feminine applied to leadership theory, I help you hone your directive/assertive and supportive/receptive aspects and to bring them into a powerful balance. I point you in the direction of what is essential and true to you. While I draw on the successes and failures of my own life, I rely on Integral methodology and many years of research and personal development to help women find their way.

• How do you navigate the demands of your work and personal life without succumbing to Superwoman Syndrome?

• How effectively do you stand up for what you know?

• Do you know when to stand down?

• How tenacious is your follow through?

• Does being authentic and strategic feel at odds to you?

• What do you listen for?

• Do you know how and when to give direction and support?

• Are you able to initiate and foster real and fruitful dialogue?

• How much quiet do you allow yourself?

• Have you discovered the value of silence?

Together we explore questions such as these along with the specific ones you bring to the table.

Together we hold the paradoxes until the contradictions begin to shift and wane, giving rise to the opportunity for transformation.

Together we discover more and more about your leadership style, and what is essential to you; we build your capacity to lead your life with grace and grit.

Artistry

Working the creative process—getting to know it better and use that knowledge effectively—is at the heart of the work I do with artists and creative entrepreneurs. Finding and forging new ways to place work in the marketplace and promote it successfully—taking the work to the next level of recognition—is a critical part of the challenge that artists generally bring to our work together. Here are some examples that might also be relevant for you:

• Responding to the call of the work

• Opening more fully and consistently to “the muse”

• Being guided by inspiration and grounded in practicality

• Managing time in a way that supports creativity

• Developing the capacity for discipline that is required to manifest anything

• Cultivating a devoted following and finding powerful representation

• Wrestling earnestly with issues of sustainability and emergence

At the outset, I ask simply that you begin to see your self as an instrument of creativity, an instrument that is somehow longing to fulfill an essential promise. Everything we take up in our work together—from the practical, to the sublime, to the seemingly ridiculous—flows from that.

Integral Theory

The philosopher Ken Wilber began to develop Integral Theory in the early 1990s, when he went on a three-year retreat to map how all the truths of the world coexist—a philosopher’s peace mission of sorts. He emerged with a map and a theory that enables us to develop human potential in a more complete and groundbreaking way. As an integral practitioner, I am continually amazed at how Integral Coaching's elegant application of Integral Theory allows me to help people make significant and lasting change in their lives. Ken Wilber has been described as “one of the most important pioneers in the field of consciousness” by Deepok Chopra. He is recognized as one of the greatest philosophers of this century, and described as a “national treasure” by Harvard’s preeminent scholar, Robert Kegan.

Ken describes Integral Theory as “an all-inclusive framework that draws on the key insights of the world’s greatest knowledge traditions. The awareness gained from drawing on all truths and perspectives allows the Integral thinker to bring new depth, clarity and compassion to every level of human endeavor—from unlocking individual potential to finding new approaches to global-scale problems.”

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Last Night I Was Sleeping

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that a spring was breaking
out in my heart.
I said: Along which secret aqueduct,
Oh water, are you coming to me,
water of a new life
that I have never drunk?

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures.

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that a fiery sun was giving
light inside my heart.
It was fiery because I felt
warmth as from a hearth,
and sun because it gave light
and brought tears to my eyes.

Last night as I slept,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that it was God I had
here inside my heart.

Antonio Machado