Last night, I had the added pleasure of attending their Burlington event, hosted by Terry Bicycles, full of more inspiring and aspiring women leaders, our treasures in Northern Vermont. Liz Robert, CEO of Terry Bicycles, was the speaker for this event, and a big draw that got me in my car in the midst of the drumbeat of business. Liz’s message of paying attention to opportunity – no matter how it presents itself, is one every leader and aspiring leader needs to keep top of mind in these times of change.

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, we shared some common themes in both our talks. One of which, and I’ll steal a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt to capture it, “You must do the thing you think you cannot do”, is key to seeing and taking the opportunities that open unexpected doors for women who aspire to inspire. As a leadership and change coach, I’m often asked to share tips and techniques in achieving success in change. Here’s the one that goes along with Eleanor’s quote, and which Liz described as ‘taking the quantum leap’ – Pay attention to what you want, without knowing how you are going to get there. It’s about taking action, one action, and then – of course – it leads what’s next.

This way of focusing and taking action is especially important for women because often women have a less direct path to walk through life and work. We’re more apt to have our attention and energy diverted by childbearing, family, and a different set of expectations as we set out to navigate life’s changes. You must do the thing you cannot do to take the quantum leap.

Both Liz and I shared stories at OIWC of taking jobs for which we weren’t sure we had the right experience, without clear expectations of what they would entail – whether it’s the risk taking of the entrepreneur or working within the biz/corporation.

Doing the thing you think you cannot do, taking the quantum leap, means being open to what is needed/offered and knowing you can provide value – even though you’re not sure how it will play out.

Many of life’s greatest gifts are surprises. If you navigate change like riding a bike, you’ll make the most of the opportunities along the way!

Women who inspire and aspire

Following up on my last post about ‘taking the leap’, Mary focuses on the value of creating a high growth team. She defines that team as one where everyone is aligned and team effort and success trumps individual contribution. Learn more and get inspired. Watch the video!

Remember, when taking a leap:
1. Keep it congruent with your values (values are not the place to take the leap)
2. Consider making an experiment – after all, Leap Year starts with a single day
3. Visualize the results you want in terms of what you want to see, hear, smell, taste and touch
and (shameless plug)
4. Hire a coach to make your leap wildly successful!

The purpose of the 5 Year Strategic Plan is to see and plan for the future.
That’s all well and good.
However, who can accurately predict where their company will be in 5 years in the face of the exponential growth patterns of change and complexity we now face?
There are futurists out there making a good living doing all kinds of scenario planning based on multiple possible futures. If we are really serious about thriving in change, it’s time to re-direct our energy to strategies based on real time adaptive capabilities. The nub of the problem with the 5 Year Strategic Plan is that we cannot possibly see and plan that far out in one comprehensive plan.

So, if you are thinking of hiring a good consultant to help you with your 5 Year Strategic Plan, save your money.
Invest instead in equipping your leaders to be able to run their organization like riding a bike.

Put the 5 Year Plan to rest and ride your bike instead

Let us learn what we can about the future (and pack our bags well). And, if your rider – manager or executive, has the awareness and skills necessary to be able to make those quick navigation decisions with agility and flexibility, your company will wind up at its destination… no matter what changes and surprises happen along the way. To do this, managers and execs need to hone their visionary and leadership skills.

Now that’s something I can help you with.

We at the Coaching Center of Vermont wish you a very Happy New Year.
We’re celebrating moving to our new offices at Post Office Square in Essex Junction Vermont.
What are you celebrating?

Or, if you’d rather get your daily hit via video, check out TED in 3 Minutes.
For those times you don’t even have the requisite 20 minutes to watch a regular TED video.

Whatever way you get your information/inspiration boost, it’s your pathway to keep up with the future – which of course is happening now.
This video is a tool we’ve been using lately with some of our customers who want help in developing their ‘slow hunch’ into their next step…

Here’s the story:
I attended a certification training for program leaders on Coaching for Great Work – Toronto, October of 2010. I got a lot out of attending the training and it was fantastic to meet some new folks from across the globe with whom to share the journey of mastering the materials, marketing and delivering the workshop. I was impressed with the generosity of Michael Bungay-Stanier, the developer of the program, who sent us home with not only the training materials we needed for delivery of the program but also lots of extras in the form of books supporting the underpinnings of the program. In time, I finally got around to reading most of them, including Marshall Rosenberg’s Non-Violent Communication and Winning Body Language by Mark Bowden. Gems really. But it wasn’t until a month ago that I dug down to the bottom of the resource bag and pulled out a little book called All My Friends Are Superheroes by Andrew Kaufman.

“What’s this?” I wondered. I picked up the little book…and literally didn’t put it down until I finished it!
OK, I admit it’s a short book.
But, maybe you’ve had that experience? You suddenly get so wrapped up in a good book it takes over your whole sense of time and what’s possible?
And, OK, I admit I was a writing and literature major in college, so I’m a sucker for great writing.
And…the most fantastic thing about the whole experience was that it was so unexpected.
It was the last thing I would have thought to have found in a pile of resources for a training program.
(I’ve written before about the power of the unexpected so I won’t go into it again here.)

Maybe it was there because Michael now lives in Toronto, where Andrew Kaufman hails from? Or maybe it’s just one of Michael’s favorites? And maybe it even has something to do with Great Work, although I haven’t sorted that out yet.

Most important, I saw it as a random act of kindness. Just a gift. Sharing something great with others.
So now I’m sharing this gift with you!
If you like it, pass it on.

Watch the video

None of the contributors or the publishing house are taking any money from sales, and Amazon makes no profit.
The book has 62 thought leaders writing around the topic of Great Work – how to do more of the stuff that matters and less of all the other stuff that fills up your day
Includes such luminaries as Tom Peters, Gary Vaynerchuk, Sir Ken Robinson, Brene Brown, David Allen, Sally Hogshead and Mitch Joel
Divided into eight key areas of insight, including: Create Freedom, Disrupt Normal and Take Small Steps

End Malaria is edited by Michael Bungay Stanier and published by The Domino Project. It has an introduction from Scott Case, Vice Chair of Malaria No More.

$20 sends a mosquito net to a family in need and supports life-saving work in the fight against malaria.

Malaria No More’s mission is to end malaria in Africa by 2015.

A child dies every 45 seconds from malaria.

Susan Szpakowski talks about it in terms of the architecture of Emergent Design in her excellent article Making Sense of Strategy in an Uncertain World. In the article she mentions Christopher Alexander (I’ve been a big fan of Christopher Alexander for years now) for his strategy of “pattern language” which is another way of defining the space so that it continues to make sense within change. One of my favorite ideas from his book A Timeless Way of Building is that of constructing a building one room at a time…that way the structure of the building emerges from its actual use.

In his provocative and entertaining TED video Grant Blakeman shows us his visual representation of our typical day and makes the case for space as an essential element of thriving in increased change and complexity.

At Vital Business, we use our proprietary A to B model, developed by Liz Dallas, where uncertainty actually holds a place in the design that takes you from where you are now to where you want to be. We not only use the “?” – we help our clients to love the “?”.