Circle of Joy

Circle of Joy

March 2014

On June 26^th 2013 I was told that I had breast cancer. My life as I knew it had ended.  Nowhere in my life plan was cancer a conscious choice, but at the age of 43 there it was, a lump the size of a golf ball glaring at me.  For the first time in my life I completely let go.  It was a whirlwind of Doctors, surgeries, scans, tests and people came from everywhere to help heal me.  Writing was a great help in constructively dealing with my emotions.  I published a book of Poetry while I was going through cancer treatment.

http://www.amazon.com/Poetry-Life-Thus-Sarina-Sorrenti/dp/1499000995/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425608941&sr=8-1&keywords=poetry+of+a+life+thus+far

I wrote this towards the end of my treatment. 

Lump in the road

 

I was flying high

Healthy and fit

And then I tripped

 

There was a big lump

Totally unexpected

It stopped me in my tracks

 

You have cancer

Said a distant tunneled voice

My life shattered

 

A whirlwind of pain

Lots of Doctors in my face

Tests after tests, so much information

 

My world became so small

All I could focus on

Was surviving and not fall

 

I had my trusted partner

Always by my side

My darling girl so strong holding my hand

 

And then my Angels came

Angels from heaven

Angels from earth

 

They came as family, neighbours, clients and friends

They came with words, food, packs, cards and love

They came and they healed

 

All my energy I had focused on others

Was immersed and focused only on one

I worked on the inside out

 

Meditation became my daily mantra

I shielded myself from the darkness

I hid myself when I could not face others

 

First there was conventional war fare – the lump was sliced out

Second there was chemical war fare – poison within

Third there was nuclear war fare – radiated until my skin glowed

 

My eastern healers complimented the war fare

With soft crystals, massage

And good council

 

My treatment is still going

Though each day I start to see the light

Hope that I will be stronger – my spirit, my body, my heart and my mind

I am no longer in a hurry

My world has slowed totally down

I savour my daughter’s smiles, my partner’s kisses and my puppy dog’s love

 

I am living in the moment

With a constructive mind

Happy to be alive one day at a time

 

It is now nearly two years since I was diagnosed and I am ready to face the world more and rekindle my joy. 

The Gift Cancer Provides

I always thought I had a well-balanced life and was healthy, but I was wrong.  So much of my day to day energy was being directed outwardly to clients, staff, family, friends, mother mafia, community and too little was directed internally to me. There were too many ‘shoulds’ in my life, I wasn’t being kind to myself. Cancer provided me with the opportunity to release all.   I shed the lump, hair, dignity, humility, work, control, friends who weren’t really friends, family members who really didn’t care and stripped back to my core being.  What was left? Pure light energy and joy, it was hiding all the time and I was too busy to notice, nurture and be it.

I am now very selective of whom and what enters my life and my circle of joy.  My life is slower and I love this.  I am no longer busy.  I am even more present and quite discerning on who I work with and who I befriend. A harsh, over pleasing, martyr part of me has been released.  I don’t need her anymore.

I created a 30 year life intentions plan and my wonderful husband and daughter added their intentions.  We have it on a piece of butcher paper in our bedroom to remind us of all the things we want to experience.  For me it represents hope to have something to live for. 

Some tips I would like to share with anyone who is going through a health scare or if you have loved ones experiencing cancer:

1.     Don’t fight the cancer, acknowledge it, accept it, thank it and then release it (visualise the lump disappearing and the chemo and radiation killing off any dregs). Put all your energy into being well. Have a healing mindset, heal yourself and accept healing from all around you.

2.     Switch your mindset into constructive zone – there will be many bad days, but do not go over them and dwell on them.  Mix chemo sessions with a facial, favourite food, funny movie and whatever can make you feel happy.  Appreciate the days you can get out of bed and be grateful of the blessing of life itself. Immerse yourself with love and your favourite things.

3.     Get your best western and eastern healing team.  I combined surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy with crystal healing, acupuncture, Chinese medicine, meditation and massage.

4.     Get your partner to guard you from well-meaning friends and family who pop up out of the wood work.  You cannot spare any energy on them.

5.     Receive help – food, care packages, cards, books, DVDs, taking care of children, taking care of husband… You know you would be there for others and now it is your turn to receive.

6.     Always have someone with you when seeing Doctors or receiving treatment – too much is going on to be on your own and mistakes can happen.

7.     When you have had a blessed life it is easy to say that is enough and let go – BUT renew your hope to live and focus on WHO still needs you and what YOU still need to experience.  My daughter Siena saved my life she was 7 when I got cancer, she was my motivation to live.

8.     Have a dog by your side – your Chief Happiness Officer.  My Jack Russell Terrier lay by my side while I was recovering through chemotherapy and unconditionally licked my tears when I was sad. She was and is my companion in healing.

9.     Disease is a universal wake-up call – remember what is most important for you and let the rest go…

10.  Have courage, you need every ounce of your strength to get through this.

I wake up every morning feeling blessed to be alive.  I nurture and put energy into my own well-being.  I am now having enough energy to give to others, sparingly and selectively. I see healing and well-being as my on-going work in progress. I am extremely mindful of whom I work with, help and choose clients with aligned values and who have the desire to grow and learn.

I am not delusional; my western doctor visits are very good at reminding me of my on-going risks.  I am choosing not to focus on the risks, this only brings sadness and fear.

I am choosing to be as healthy and joyful as I can be one day at a time. Thank you to all my Angels that have helped me and continue to be part of my circle of joy.  I hope you don’t have a circle of sadness, anger, boredom, frustration, apathy – life it too precious. I hope you have your own circle of joy.

Improved Well-being = Healthier and Happier World

Simple Idea

Our Well-being Check-up iPad app is a tool to help individuals and teams reflect on their well-being. It is a simple idea. Reflect on your well-being, focus on your well-being, improve your well-being and the world will be healthier.  According to Corporate Wellness Magazine, every $1 invested in employee wellness programs yields roughly $4 in savings through reduced sick days, higher productivity and decreased overall health costs. Healthier People = Healthier Business Results. 

As an Executive Coach and Management Consultant I have had the privilege of working with thousands of leaders. In my experience, Leaders with positive well-being are more energized, innovative, approachable and more fulfilled.  There is a huge payback to society, business and our communities when people are healthier and happier.  The burden on our healthcare system would reduce. Our schools will be filled with healthier children. More energized people are more creative and can positively impact our economy.  Parents with high well-being have children who are happier and more confident to learn.  In line with reducing school and workplace bullying healthy human beings need to be developed.

When I was a little girl I remember thinking that if every person had peace in their heart the world would be at peace. It is another simple idea. As Nelson Mandela said – It starts with us.  Our Vision is that our simple idea will help focus and improve individual well-being and this will help us have a healthier and happier world.

This need spurs us to continue our development in spreading the message through our Well-being Check-up app.  The Well-being Check-up helps people stop, pause and reflect on their life balance.  The well-being wheel has 10 dimensions; these 10 dimensions are not exhaustive, but are a good place to start.  The check-up gives you a baseline against the 10 dimensions.  The dimensions include Work, Health, Mind, Adventure and Money. The iPhone app allows you to focus on the dimensions in your life that are most important for you and develop an action plan.  The iPhone app also provides tips and hints to improve each of the 10 dimensions.

Crossing the Chasm into Software Development

To make the Well-being Check-up more accessible we are about to launch our iPhone version.  Android phone and tablet development are in the pipeline.  The iPad development lessons learnt was a fantastic process we reviewed features and functionality of the app based on user feedback and overall development process. We had a lot of feedback on the design aspects of the app this became our starting point for the iPhone development.  We wanted the iPhone app to be a more positive experience aesthetically and functionally.  We called in help from Designers and we experimented with the harmonizing of design, functionality and costs.

 I am still a novice and what I thought would be a small development process moving from an iPad app to an iPhone app has proven to be much bigger than anticipated. I am now entering the black box of software development; I am a positive person so I will rename this to the rainbow box of software development. In this world there are native languages that can only be used with certain tribes at certain times. There is a universal HTML language that can cross chasms between Android and Apple, but beware there are dangers… If we use the universal language; design and colours are comprised.  HTML provides leverage and the ability to create Apple and Android devices at the same time. For our new Well-being Check-up iPhone app we have decided to program in native language and visually the app is 1000 times better than the HTML iPad version. Ongoing we will continue to explore the dilemma of leverage v design, when to do native or universal development. 

We are fortunate to have an-in house partner locally in our office who is leading the app software development.  We are also looking at broadening our capability to access more resources locally and abroad.  The risk management aspects of building the right software development capability are becoming apparent and we are now actively looking at deepening our capability and spreading the risk.

Crossing the Chasm into Social Marketing

As my previous blogs have highlighted we are light on in the social marketing space.  My research has me discovering some wonderful Social Marketing sites.  I was blessed to meet Rhiannon Colarossi founder of the Well-being Web.  She has amazing resources on her fantastic website and Facebook pages –

http://www.wellbeingweb.com.au/

https://www.facebook.com/WellbeingWeb?ref=hl

We have agreed to form an alliance to support the cause and spread the well-being message.  I am going to continue to explore wonderful social marketing partners to spread the word.

Vision for Product Development

Now that we have had a taste of app development we are broadening our vision for product development.  We have always used technology as an enabler to support effective learning, organisational development and business improvement.  Our technology powered solutions include global on-line surveys, knowledge portals and information dashboards.  We are now adding mobile app development to that suite to support in the moment access to knowledge and learning.  We are talking to clients right now about how blended solutions can in particular reinforce learning on the job. Watch this space for updates! 

Please look out for our iPhone app, it will be out in the next couple of weeks. Spread the well-being message and  keep well!

Trials, Tribulations and Triumphs of Launching an App

The weather in Melbourne has been fantastic, sunshine, blue sky and warm balmy nights.  It is much harder to be grumpy when the sun shines on you.

It has been nearly three weeks since we launched our Well-being Check-up iPad App and we are gaining some interesting insights from our new development.

STAGE 1 FEAR & TREPIDATION

 

When launching a new product and service there is some fear and trepidation. Will our baby, I mean app be noticed, accepted, supported, rejected or just ignored?  Once 10 people in the world purchased the app, my fear subsided.  Totally illogical I know, but subconsciously I just needed 10 people to validate the app and suddenly the fear dissipated.

STAGE 2 SOCIAL MARKETING

    
Well, this is an area I sort of know not a lot about!  I certainly didn’t want to have anti-social marketing this just didn’t seem nice.
We had done the research; all good apps are supported by effective social marketing.  This included a website that links to the app, a blog that talks about the app, a Facebook page where people could share their stories and experiences and access more knowledge. There was also talk of Twitter.  The social marketing needs to be relaxed and personable and give people an opportunity to socialize.  Apps that go ‘viral’ are the ones that really are successful, it is funny in other contexts viral could be the last thing you would hope for…

There were also the traditional marketing techniques, including media releases, sending free trials to Connectors and Mavens, and hoping and praying!

One of the biggest dilemmas we experienced was getting our App rated which means people need to review and provide a rating of their experience of the app.  We had been waiting for the magic 5 reviews as this then triggered an overall rating. It was a triumph when we hit 5 reviews and ratings, it did put a smile on all our faces.

If you really enjoy using an app I would encourage you to spend the extra 2 minutes providing a review. Your feedback is worth a lot more than you realize.
So our social marketing has been poor to average. We did do the Internet page, blogs (obviously), we did pre-launches and launches on LinkedIn. We still need to do a lot more work on getting the right strategy and content for a Facebook page – so I’ll keep you posted on how this progresses.

STAGE 3 FEEDBACK SO FAR

Thank you to our colleagues, friends and family who have invested the $2.99 and cared enough to give us feedback; we really appreciate this.  The other part of releasing something new, it is always interesting to see who cares and who doesn’t.  There are always surprises in who you can reach, when people in Switzerland, Canada, Columbia, Brazil and China purchased our app – it was kind of cool and amazing.

The feedback we have received has been consistent.  There are small enhancements that can help such as an action plan and more tips to improve, a get results button…we will prioritize all the feedback in our lessons learnt session next week. There were obvious things we forgot, like a link back to our website and the ability to email us for further assistance. We are aware that an iPhone and Android versions are in demand, all part of our future development plan.  Here are some comments we received:

Great to see where I’m going well. It’s great to be able to pinpoint exactly where your improvements should be. It’s like you know there are things missing but you don’t know where or what.  Gotta go, got some thinking to do.
You have been busy what a fun idea well done
I never really thought about some of the life aspects highlighted by this app.  Now that I do, I can take action in those areas.

There are more comments on the app review page, if you are curious.

STAGE 4 NEXT STEPS

 

 

We have a lot of learning and development to continue doing.   The best part is that I am working with fun, smart people and we are in it together.  I look forward to sharing more of the trials, tribulations and triumphs after our lessons learnt session.
By the way if you still haven’t seen our Well-being Check-up App – here it is (you need an iPad):

 https://itunes.apple.com/app/well-being-check-up/id589563823?ls=1&mt=8

STOP living busy START living fully – Well-being Check-up now released

Here it is our first iPad App - Well-being Check-up!  Our intention for this App is to learn and share a quick snapshot tool to help people focus on their Well-being. We hope the App gives you time to reflect and focus on your whole life. 

We wish you more enhanced Well-being and a more fulfilling life.

To view and purchase the App for $2.99 you will need an iPad and click on this link:
https://itunes.apple.com/app/well-being-check-up/id589563823?ls=1&mt=8

Official Media Release:

Busy professionals juggle and struggle with doing and being everything… our lives have become too busy. We have coached many successful people on how to move from living busy lives to living more fulfilling lives and achieving their definition of Well-being. We have designed the Well-being Check-up iPad App to help people stop, pause and reflect on their whole life and get a snapshot of their Well-being. The App offers a Well-Being Wheel Assessment with 10 Dimensions, so you can gain insight into areas like family, health, adventure, work and money. Working professionals are surprised when they discover their scores on these 10 dimensions.  Convenient and affordable at only AUD$2.99, the engage Well-being Check-up App tracks where you are now, where you would like to be and how to get there – perfect for serious New Year resolution-makers.

“The engage Well-being Check-Up App is the culmination of my team’s experience in getting people – and their businesses – to flourish in every area,” says Sarina Sorrenti Co-Creater of the App, engage consulting group.

 “It will take you from living busy to living fully. It’s your own coach on your iPad!

STOP living busy START living fully

January 2013

Busy professionals juggle and struggle with doing and being everything…our lives have become too busy.  We have coached many successful people on how to move from living busy lives to living more fulfilling lives and achieving their full potential.

Many of our clients are grappling with increased responsibilities, global roles and time zones, balancing family and work, keeping healthy, keeping wise and feeling fulfilled. We of course do not have a magic bullet, even though it wouldn’t be a bad R&D opportunity…we do though have a new Well-being Check-up App to increase awareness and focus in this area.

On New Year’s Eve, in between drinks, great food and a lot of laughs a number of my friends lamented their current life balance experiences.  There were common themes - busy lives, feeling tired and not feeling on top of the day to day. On my reflections for 2012 I felt the structure and routine I had put into my life to be extremely efficient and effective and tiring all at the same time.  There were many weeks where I would feel I have given my best to my clients, business and there was little left for my daughter, husband and my dog, let alone myself.  On reflecting on my own well-being over the last 4 weeks of holidays I remembered I could choose to reset my focus and consciously work on my own well-being.  Yes, practicing what I preach does come to mind…

I have a few busy addiction confessions:

-          I like being busy it stops that chatter in my mind (my ego loves creating noise)

-          I was conditioned to work hard and long and put work above all else

-          My identity is strongly linked to achieving and doing not necessarily thinking or being

I am not asking for forgiveness I am just acknowledging these are some of the reasons I have put my own well-being on the back burner.  Another assumption I have is the importance of credibility and being a good role model. So rather than set some goals and plans we developed an iPad Well-being Check- up App.

The Well-being Check-up helps people stop, pause and reflect on their life balance.  The well-being wheel has 10 dimensions; these 10 dimensions are not exhaustive, but are a good place to start.  The check-up gives you a baseline against the 10 dimensions.  The dimensions include Work, Health, Mind, Adventure and Money.

The personal changes I have experienced from focusing on my own well-being so far include giving myself permission to having a well-being day, zip lining 20 metres above the ground in a rain forest, becoming an Apple App developer,  increased health and vitality and more quality times with my family. 

If you are curious about your own well-being and finding out your scores on the well-being wheel our App is being released on January 29^th.  Let us know if you would like us to send you link to the app once it is released.

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Make sure 2013 brings lots of opportunities to live fully.

Reflections for Another Year November 2012

Insight 1: Trust your gut feel
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then stop treating it like a Swan – it’s a duck! When it is too hard to work with someone or a situation and a pattern of behaviour and disappointment continues to repeat itself, well then it is a good time to stop and get out of the land of denial and confront the situation. You can’t work with everyone, even with the greatest intentions. This year I had to confront a number of situations where I had to see things as they are and extract myself out of situations that just were not working for me anymore. Great learning for an optimist like myself, who always wants to see the positive in a situation and is always hopeful that things will improve - sometimes they don’t!

Insight 2: Don’t be afraid of your own success
Sometimes I have played too small (for myself, never for my clients). Maybe I should practice what I preach? My Partner has always encouraged me to play bigger. I like my clients to shine and to work behind or beside them. This year we have experienced amazing growth and I am now allowing myself to be OK with our own success… I think I have been hinging too much on my client’s success… I have recently joined a Board with amazing people and I told myself that I would just observe and sit quiet. At my first strategy session I had an outer body experience where I saw myself driving and leading and challenging, the part that was observing this side of me wanted to gag me and tell me just to shut up! One of the other Directors commented “I should hide my light under a bushel”, this very much reinforced my natural inclination to play hard or not at all! So to all my client’s, family and friends yes I can be perceived as intense at times and please know it is coming from an intense passion to get the best out of each other. I am going to continue to be happy with other’s success and now allow myself to be OK with my own.

Insight 3: Surround yourself with exceptional people
I am blessed with exceptional Partners, Associates, Mentors, Colleagues, Developers and Office Managers. Our recently appointed Office Manager is our Office Angel, she just gets everything done with a smile on her face! I have people around me who are better than me at a lot of things – and together we create magic. I am letting go of that whole control freak issue and working collaboratively with likeminded and aligned value people. Life just works so much better now!

Insight 4: Constantly reinvent
We have dabbled with Applications and now are registered Developers with Apple. We have been part of a team that has commercialized a business to business app and now have a number of developments in the pipeline. The Applications support our core business to get the best out of people and business. It is giving us a vehicle for innovation, experimentation and learning. It is also fun to play out of our comfort zone. Always be open to reinvent and redevelop your business offerings it brings a new lease of life to the business.

Insight 5: Lifecycle – Born, Live and Die
We are born, live and die. We lost one of our Grandmothers this year after 94 years of life – she has left an amazing legacy 17 Grandchildren and 18 Great Grandchildren. As the Matriarch of the family she was a powerful influence right to her dying day. Another reminder to live fully and not complain or put off anything you really desire. So brush off your bucket list. Make sure 2013 brings lots of opportunities to live fully.

New Skin
We have been in our own business for over 12 years and each year there are new discoveries, new opportunities, new insights. Each year as we evolve we seem to shed products, services and replenish them with a new skin. There are of course our constants – our values, our purpose and our core offerings.
The act of renewal is cleansing.
Renewal is a natural part of our ecosystem, we see it in our body every day through our in-going and out-going breaths and our scaly, exfoliating skin.
Nature constantly renews itself, each brand new day we are reminded of this by the sunrises, leaves changing and flowers blooming.
We have recently shed our home office into our ‘real’ office (5 minutes walk from home) and we were amazed with the business clutter that had taken over our home. Clearing the clutter has created open space. Our rooms even have an unusual echo to remind us of the cushioning we once had to pad out our existence.
Our homes and offices like businesses need a refresh and renewal on a regular basis. What clutter have you built up in your business that perhaps is weighing you down and preventing you from moving in a new direction?
Where is the white space in your business to allow new ideas, opportunities or challenges to be identified?
My recommendation at the start of a new year is to shed, let go and see how it feels. Who knows what you will uncover and discover.

Winter Moments

Instead of hibernating like a bear, I have used my winter moments to do some winter reflections. I hope this provides some warmth for you today.
A Best Day
Every day is a new beginning to live life fully and allow potential to flow and be fulfilled.
One of my favourite sayings from my 5 year old daughter is ‘today is the best day of my life’, she says this at least a couple of times a week. I retort ‘of course it is, because today is all that matters’.
What if we did live each day as the best day of our lives, what would it look like, how different would it be from each and every other day. Would I experience less groundhog days, days that feel they are a repeat of the previous? Would I get more done, or less done? Would it be a faster or slower?
What if every day was framed to be the best and get the best from one another, how would our work places look, how would our families behave? If we are not framing our lives this way, how are we framing them? Are our intentions to create mediocre or stressful work days? Do we design our work flow and teams for people to step up and use their talents or do we just assume people will thrive and achieve in any situation.
Please try this experiment - frame every day for a whole week as the best day of our lives, I wonder what we will discover…

Acknowledgement
I have recently been running focus groups with the intention of discovering customer’s real experiences and using this as research to learn and improve my client’s offerings. What I am discovering is that you can put 7 people in one room and they all have their own stories. The variation of experiences is quite extraordinary even though they were supposed to have experienced the same offering.
Their interpretation of reality needs to be heard and acknowledged and not judged. People’s body language and presence changes when they are heard, their faces soften up, their body opens up and they seem to have a weight taken from their shoulders.
Validation of the experiences we have in life is an important aspect of our being heard and being alive. I often hear people say ‘I don’t understand XYZ’s view, how could they think this way’. Many times I think people should be saying ‘I don’t agree with XYZ’s view’, understanding and acknowledging someone’s view is sometimes all people require. We don’t have to agree with what they are saying, we can just validate what we are hearing. I think this helps with creating more harmony and less conflict in our communication and relationships. Try acknowledging people around you, see what happens next…

I Am Aware

I Am present for this Blog.
I Am aware of my laptop’s churning sound.
I Am aware of how my fingers lightly tap the keyboard.
I Am present and aware of my physical state, creaky knee and all
I Am AWARE.
In my life roles of Coach, Advisor, Facilitator, Strategist, Mum, Wife, Partner, Daughter, Friend, Aunt, Colleague I am not always so AWARE.
In the roles of Coach and Mum I am most AWARE. I think I might have a bias for these particular roles in my life as the more AWARE and present I am the greater value I experience and create.
When working with Business Executives a lot of energy goes into helping professionals become AWARE of their stories, barriers and strengths and co-creating better ways of being. It seems that in the business of life we forget to pause and remember what state we are actually in. We then allow questionable habits to dominate our life and negative language to restrict our potential. Have you ever heard yourself saying ‘I am too busy’ , ‘I have too much on my plate to look at innovation’, ‘I will get to that when I have a quiet time’…
These scripts play out in reality every day and translate into back to back meetings, task orientation, urgency addiction and working extraordinarily long days. Does this approach to working translate into value and success? For some organisations it does and some it doesn’t. My question for you today is to be Aware of your state - your thoughts, language, physicality, being and then ask yourself this is the most constructive way of being to fulfill your potential and the potential of your organisation, team and colleagues.
Where our attention goes energy flows. Be AWARE of where you are putting your attention and ensure that its focus is what is most important to supporting your success and the success of your organisation. Remember it is OK to pause and reflect and be AWARE, it may only take a few seconds…

Creating Meaning

Which Life Will You Create – Pleasant, Good or Meaningful
Holidays bring with them time to reflect, time at the beach and time to catch up with my TED talks. A couple of the TED talks that stood out for me included Martin Seligman’s State of Psychology and Brene Brown’s Power of Vulnerability.
As a recovering control freak and an eternal optimist both of these talks resonated with me. The Power of Vulnerability highlighted to fully live and reach your potential you need to stop controlling everything. You need to be OK with a bit of mess. You need to be OK with the uncertainty of life. You need to acknowledge your own vulnerability and let it breathe and flow. By doing this you can take risks, be OK with things not working out and therefore know that you can get through any situation. Exercising your vulnerability allows you to step up and grow in different ways that you could not imagine compared to trying to fully control a situation. Being vulnerable for me is exposing myself to failure. Without risking failure how can we fully succeed? We have had many great ideas that sizzled and then fizzled. That has not stopped us from creating new ideas, we don’t know which idea will work. All previous ideas were great practice experiences to help us really appreciate when an idea actually does work!
Allow yourselves in 2011 to be a little risky – create a little mess, trial new experiences seek new adventures and allow your teams and families to play too.
Martin Seligman spoke about the more positive lives we could live and categorized them into 3 types: Pleasant, Good and Meaningful.
Pleasant lives – emotionally feel positive in the moment, but the feeling dissipates quickly. For example the feeling you have when you watch a funny movie, or buy a new pair of shoes or new clothes. Allowing ourselves to be fully present and mindful to savour our lives can make a pleasant life even more enduring.
Good lives – when time stops and you are in the flow/zone and you are immersed in whatever you are doing. You are so into your experience you do not recognise anything that is going on around you. For example athletes, musicians, artists are totally immersed in their experiences and nothing else exists. When I am coaching, dancing and writing I am in this zone – it feels like time just stops. At these times we are generally working with our strengths and allowing them to shine.
Meaningful lives – ability to use your strengths to contribute to something bigger than yourself. Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jnr and Nelson Mandela are examples of leaders who have led meaningful lives. Becoming a parent definitely added a new dimension of meaning to my life and any work that we provide to charities and community groups definitely has a long lasting positive impact on me. The challenge is to find your own meaning in your life.
Which life are you living?
In our work lives what environments are we creating for ourselves and colleagues – are we amplifying the work stage to allow vulnerabilities to be tested and shine? Are we creating pleasant work environments, where people love to come to work? Are we encouraging people to work in their zones playing to their strengths? Are we creating meaning in our workplace where people can contribute to a greater cause?
If we truly want our businesses to be innovative, rise to the new technological and environmental challenges we need to take risks and create meaning. Live fully in 2011.

Choose to create and not complain
I love working with strong, visionary, creative leaders. These leaders are inspiring to work with and have an amazing ability to help others work in the zone and achieve. I work with men and women who display these characteristics. I also work with men and women who do not display these characteristics. Why do we have such variation in our leaders? Surely the thousands of books on leadership and management and the thousand more leadership courses available have improved our leaders? I have recently attracted a lot of information on women in business. I have never felt being a woman a hindrance in the corporate world, if anything it is an advantage. I am extremely fortunate to work at the highest levels in corporations and lowest levels. A couple of my favourite CEOs refer to me as ‘fair but firm’ and ‘the feather coated sledge hammer’. I would love to hear the saying – ‘Women are their greatest advocates’ and never want to hear again ‘Women are their worst enemies’. As a woman or man in business I truly believe that our mindset, self confidence, capabilities and drive can take us wherever we want to go. It is ultimately our choice, something I learnt very young in my life. I am constantly reassessing and evolving my leadership role in business, family, community and society. For me remembering where I have come from and my evolutionary stages is useful in reminding me of the power of choice.

Quiet, Shy, Afraid Stage
Yes for those of you who know me this is hard to believe. For the first 12 years of my life I was quiet, conforming, studious and tried to do the ‘right thing’ all the time. The bullying I experienced at Primary school between the ages of 10 and 11 pushed me deeper into my shell. I was not even a follower, let alone a leader. I was paralyzed like a deer in headlights, too afraid to move. I would say my leadership skills were close to zero.

Awakening and Wonder Stage
I am not sure why, but when I transitioned to high school I wanted a fresh start. I was no longer a push over, I found my voice and my new teenage body was not going to take any ‘%^&#@’ from any anyone. I chose to assert myself. My awakening happened when I was 16 and a fabulous teacher took the time out to Mentor me. At 16, I thought my life was predetermined, be a good Australian/Italian girl, get married and have children. My wonderful teacher – Mr Quinn gave me the greatest gift of self awareness and choice. I could choose my life, I could have a vocation. I didn’t have to be stuck in the country. Being a woman was not a hindrance, it was a blessing in disguise. He gave me books such as I’m OK Your OK to give me tools to help process my thinking and interpret the world. I was hopeful and ready to spread my wings. I was the first Australian/Italian girl to leave my country town and go to University. I chose the big City.

Ambition and Drive Stage
I was hungry for life and wanted everything to happen as quickly as can be ( sort of sounds familiar to Y gens?). I completed my undergraduate degrees in record time, accelerated through a Graduate program and was promoted every 12 to 18 months in my first 9 years of my career. I was flying. I was married by 23, had my first home at 21. Travelled around Europe by 25. I went out and made my opportunities; I was planned, driven and rewarded. I was a very busy bee and about to embark on another week of work travel, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth when my husband had an acute asthma attack and rushed to ICU. Then my world stopped. That life changing week made me realize that I was spending very little time with my best friend – my husband. I then spent the next 18 months redesigning my life so I could spend more quality time with the people I love. I also realized what was the hurry? What am I rushing for? What am I rushing to – death? I also had a crisis of confidence, my employers and clients believed a lot in me – but was I any good at practicing what I preached, could I create my own viable business? I chose to leave the security of a full time job and take on a contract role and start our first business.

Credibility and Flexibility Stage
We formed our first business 11 years ago. Our businesses have changed and evolved, our business gives me the space to be credible and have flexibility. I choose to work with clients that are innovative, smart and have aligned values. I choose to coach and mentor others to fully utilise their potential. I choose the clients that I can best help to support and grow. I get a lot of joy in seeing clients grow personally and professionally. I love my vocation and I am continuously learning.
I also choose to be a good mum and good partner. Spending quality time with my family is joyous. I have been blessed with one daughter who teaches me a lot every day. I continue to work with my best friend who is my husband – when it is good it is amazing and when it is bad it is horrid…
I have chosen to work flexible hours to be there for my clients and my family and of course myself.

What choices are you making and what stage are you evolving from and to?

We are a product of our choices – some are quite conscious and others unconscious. We can spend our lives complaining about what is not working or we can devote that energy into making our lives better. Great leaders do this, they don’t complain they create.
Our businesses, our families, our communities and our planet need more great female and male leaders
Choose to create and not complain.

Spring Growth App

Instinct or ‘gut feel’ as more commonly termed is an interesting phenomena which is underrated at work and home at times. When we have so much going on in life and work, we become distracted with the action and task at hand and lose our connection with our inner wisdom.
Malcolm Gladwell reinforced the importance of first impressions in his book Blink a refreshing reminder that no matter how easy it is to access global knowledge, lets not forget our own inner knowledge and wisdom.
It is a little ironic that we can Google anything that we are not sure about, a good eatery, best coffee place, stages of grief, comparisons between iPhone 4 and HTC Desire (just to give you a couple of my latest Google searches) and yet stopping and listening to our natural instincts can be a novel activity.
I recently experienced a rude awakening from my own body, I obviously wasn’t listening or aware of my state of being and found myself in hospital, having surgery and off my feet for a month. I pride myself on reading others so well, yet I forgot about myself. My gut feel turned from a hunch to a major ache! My intuition radar for myself was way off, I am now recalibrating it to be more aware.
My own winter remedy that I hope will be helpful to others:
• Stop and breathe and become centred
• Stop doing everything
• Take help – good help, surround yourself with people who have better skills than you and welcome them into your lives
• Create space to pause and go outdoors
• Hug someone you love
• Surround yourself with people that give you energy and joy
• Book a holiday
• Stop taking yourself so seriously, life is to be lived and not endured
• Stop the instant messaging and go for a walk in the park and reconnect with yourself
As I am getting back into my zone I know I have more clarity, clearer intentions and have less distracting noise at work and home.
I am slowly reconnecting with my inner core, holding on to this as Spring emerges will be not a challenge, but a great springboard into my favourite season abundant with new growth.
Celebrate and embrace our own inner wisdom and allow ourselves to keep this app (application) permanently switched on…maybe we should develop a widget for it?

Understanding Your S Curve

I recently read Jim Collins book – ‘How The Mighty Fall’ which was a suspiciously thin book compared to his previous classics. It was an interesting reminder of what goes wrong when companies capitulate into decline. I have worked in two organisations that experienced significant decline. I remember seeing the significant changes in technology, government support and new emerging client needs. I also remember the blindness of those companies in addressing these changes and leading indicators.

Collins highlights 5 stages of Decline:
1. Huburis Born of Success – here you are at your peak, arrogance emerges
2. Undisciplined Pursuit of More – greed
3. Denial of Risk Peril – blinkers are on and excuses emerge
4. Grasping of Salvation – clear that the business model has fundamental flaws
5. Capitulation to Irrelevance – death of the business

Collins makes an interesting observation that you do not know when you will decline, everything on the outside looks good but there is a disease forming on the inside.

Things to avoid:
-People with too much vested interest in the old ways of doing things
-Poor succession planning, leaders forget to build the capabilities of the future
- Arrogance
- Not believing in luck
-Stop learning
-Stop focusing on core strengths and capabilities
- Working in isolation to market trends
- Believing your own ‘BS’

I do believe organisations can extend their S curve lifecycles if they keep humble, open to their market, competitors and substitutes, deal with uncertainty in a constructive manner, keep learning and benchmarking their performance and develop future scenarios and contingencies. Organisations need to be prepared to stop investing in dying businesses and reinvest in future business opportunities. Keeping an active business and client portfolio is a key success factor for extending growth – companies such as Wesfarmers, Siemens, GE practice this very well.

In our own strategic planning process we religiously review external forces that impact our success and the success of our clients, suppliers and partners. The Leading Indicators that we monitor include changes to government legislation, new technologies particularly around web/social networking and connectivity, tax reforms, unemployment, % of companies experiencing bankruptcies, ageing population and implementation of carbon taxes.

In our own scenario planning we see the ageing population, energy transition/environmental impacts and healthcare needs as key areas that will impact growth and create new opportunities for us and our clients. We also anticipate X factors – things that just happen like Volcanoes, 9/11 and other natural or manmade traumas. We just don’t know what the X factors will be and in preparing for these we know we should have a cash flow base to ride us through these events.

It is OK not to know about the future, but it is not OK not to be open to it and prepared.

The reality is there is a lot of luck associated with reinventing and extending your business life. Being open and aware helps you attract and realise these opportunities.

Untold Stories

I have worked with the Lominger Leadership competencies for nearly 12 months now and there is a lot for me to learn. The comprehensive Leadership Architecture outlines the 67 ideal competencies for talent and career development. I am now accredited in the Voices360 assessment which is one of the most comprehensive 360 tools on the market.

The breadth of the research highlights a lot of untold stories such as the Big 8 competencies most Leaders struggle in and the skills required to be politically savvy, another understated competency that is essential for career development.

Insight 1: Big 8
Through Lominger’s extensive research conducted globally over the last 15 years they have discovered the Big 8 competencies that are the most challenging, less practiced and super essential. The Big 8 are - Dealing with Ambiguity, Creativity, Innovation Management, Motivating Others, Planning, Strategic Agility, Building Effective Teams and Managing Vision and Purpose. The insight I gained from this is that these big 8 are the areas that keep me most employed. I would probably add a ninth, which would be Political Savvy. Most of my clients engage me for one or more of these nine competencies and the realization that there is a world wide need in this area, highlights the great challenges and opportunities available to make a positive difference to leadership and talent management.

Insight 2: Political Savvy
Lominger’s 48th competency is Political Savvy, which is the capability to maneuver through complex political situations effectively and quietly to achieve goals. It is refreshing to see Political Savvy written down and assessed as a real competency, because in practice it is not often spoken about openly. Lominger provides tips on how to develop this skill in a very constructive and ethical manner. By combining Political Savvy (No. 48), Comfort Around Higher Management (No. 8) and Interpersonal Savvy (No. 31), suddenly you have a palette of behaviours that supports managing up and other key stakeholders. This combination of skills strongly supports effective stakeholder management and enables Leaders to know who to influence in the best way possible. I’d like to express a different take on the old phrase ‘It’s not what you know, but who you know’ to ‘It’s important to know what you know, who to know and how to access both expediently’.

Insight 3: Connecting Business and People
Helping others to find their light, purpose and reach their potential and their business’s potential is most motivating for me. The Lominger Competencies provides me with another colour to add to my palette of paints to share at the appropriate times with the right clients. I look forward to creating rainbows and creating greater insights to achieve sustainable personal and business results.