“We are shaped by practices and shape ourselves through practices.” Bob Dunham Are your practices creating a more powerful life for you? Or, are they creating more of the breakdowns limiting your life? I recently read a great blog by an associate and friend of mine, Jerry Holtaway, entitled “My morning disconnectionism“. Jerry breaks down how his practices...
I recently met with a new coaching client, a leader of an NGO, to better understand her leadership challenges. I had been asked by her Board to support her in hitting the goals and milestones she had been repeatedly missing in the past year. The conversation ended up being mostly her one-sided rant about how...
The great thing about running a marathon is that you just have to finish the 26.2 miles and you are a marathoner. I am a marathoner, (notice I did not share my Personal Record time, remember, you just have to finish) and both the running of the marathon and the training for the marathon has...
I recently led a leadership program for an international group of technical managers. We met by phone on the same day and at the same time for eight weeks in a row. One of the explicit promises we made to each other was that we would be on time and fully present for every call....
Feeling stuck? Want the secret to more satisfaction, creativity and meaningful relationships in your life? It’s simple. It’s very hard to do, but it’s simple. Here it is: Judge less! We judge constantly and aren’t even aware of it most of the time. ‘I don’t like that.’ ‘I do like this.’ ‘I agree with them. ...
As human beings, we are very good at creating and then automatically repeating patterns; patterns of behavior, patterns of feeling, patterns of thinking and patterns of posture. At one level, we are biologically wired to do this, as many of our internal biological systems exhibit homeostatis – blood pressure, body temperature and glucose concentration, to...
Sure, you’re doing well — but could you do better? Absolutely you could. We all can. There’s always a new summit to climb, a goal to set our sights on, a new adventure just ahead. We all want to be prepared for that next great opportunity, but what do we do and how do we...
There’s an old line about every journey, even the ones of thousands of miles, beginning with a single step. Leadership, as a concept, really isn’t any different. It all begins from a single place — but oftentimes, getting to that initial step can be hard for many leaders. Bob Dunham, the CEO and Founder of...
What do you get paid to do? Don’t be too quick to answer this question. Most everyone I ask this question of answers by describing some function that they carry out in their organization. You may have initially answered by saying that you develop strategy, make decisions, plan, set direction, sell, work in fundraising, do financial analysis...
One critical skill a leader can put into place is the ability to listen powerfully. As represented by the title of this book, Stop Controlling, Start Leading, when the going gets tough, some of us (I am guilty of it, too)try to impose control and structure. When this happens, a major way that control shows...
