Life is messy. It has the tendency to kick the livin’ snot out of us. And sometimes, we run out of gas. It is during these times that we need the supportive people in our lives to step in.
Yes, goodbyes are hard. The time leading up to them is often even harder as we wrestle with what is working and what is not, and the temptation to get out of dodge as quickly as possible weighs on us.
Many executives fall into the trap of continuing to do what they have always done. Starting anew means we have the chance to create new neural pathways by thinking, behaving, and speaking differently.
Telling the so-called truth is further exacerbated by the fact that talented, hard-charging, highly valued, ambitious professionals know stuff. And they want to share their experience and hard-won wisdom with others.
Last month, my team and I gathered together with an executive team whose members came from all parts of the globe for an offsite meeting. As the facilitator, I knew the time together had to be powerful, high-energy, and valuable in order to warrant three days away from the office for this group of hard-working, high-performing leaders.
Apologies are hard. And often times, quite frankly, the ones we get suck. There are blaming apologies. Excuse-laden apologies. Clueless apologies. There are few, all-in, I-get-what-an-ass-I-was apologies.
How we look at the cross is how we deal with suffering – ours and that of others. How we sit with our suffering and the suffering of those we love deepens our connection.
I’m sharing some lessons learned from the front lines of high school; wisdom that reminds us of the importance of being accountable and stepping away from self-deception that can be so comfortable:
As a clinically trained psychotherapist-turned-executive-coach-leadership consultant, I have the best job in the world: helping people to wake up, address their get-in-the-way-stuff, and lead from a place of wholeness.
