Listening for LessonsWelcome, Subscriber First Name! This is the first reflection in a new series of newsletters marking my 10-year anniversary as a coach. After 10 years, I recognized that my websites (yes, I had two sites) no longer reflected who I was as a coach. Neither fully captured the spirit of my work, nor all that I offered my clients. And . . . I had no idea of how to “fix” them, or where to start. As an Executive and Career Transition Coach I help my clients identify their strengths, the values that drive their decisions, the types of work that lights them up, and the qualities that set them apart. I help them see what they are too close to see on their own. So here I found myself in the same place: I knew I needed a change and I couldn’t do it alone. Over dinner with a dear friend (and fellow Career Coach), Tammy Gooler Loeb, I asked if she knew someone who could help. Her face lit up and said she had the perfect person: Connie Steele of Flywheel Associates. At the start of this year, I began the journey with Connie and her brilliant design partner, Ana Silveira. It was fascinating being on the other side of the Zoom screen, where they were asking me what lit me up and set me apart. They challenged me to identify my guiding principles. They interviewed some of my clients to get a sense of what it is like to work with me, and to hear what they learned during the process. During the big reveal on Zoom, when Ana walked me through my new site, I noticed that at the bottom of every page, there was a button to Join my Newsletter . . . What? So here we are. Just as I challenge my clients to trust the process and Leap, and the net will appear (a fabulous quote from John Burroughs, that I picked up from Julia Cameron’s great getting-unstuck book The Artist’s Way) Connie and Ana set the stage for me, and invited me to step up. The process does work. When you clarify what you’re looking for and what you have too offer, things magically fall into place. As I’m writing this first newsletter, I take a break to check my inbox, and what’s there? A message from a potential client who was given my name a few years ago, but has finally decided to reach out.
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