Someone exercising leadership is orchestrating the process of getting factions with competing definitions of the problem to start learning from one another.
– Ron Heifetz
Harvard University
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I am now interviewing experienced salespeople and business developers to join a small community of learners.
If you are interested in having a conversation about the possibilities for you write to me at the address in the flyer. Click here for a printable brochure on The Learning Salesperson.
Qualified applicants can try two sessions free.
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Years ago, an experienced coach and mentor began our meeting by asking about my first child. Just 18 months old, he was eagerly crawling and using a few words.
“It’s a fascinating time,” I replied. “You can almost hear the wheels turning in his head as he experiments to find out what combination of noises and movements is going to get him what he wants.”
I heard myself and paused to absorb the insight.
“Wow!,” I continued. “That is still how I spend most of my day.”
But not every day. How often do you actually examine how well your “noises and movements” are serving you? Don’t we all expend a lot of energy just repeating tired and familiar strategies rather than observing our results and experimenting with new communications?
It is rare to be as eager and innovative as a baby yet how can we fail to be impressed with the child’s rapid progress? One reliable technique for enhancing our learning, of course, is to work with a supportive and insightful executive coach.
How do you stay green and growing?
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My executive coaching clients often ask how to translate their new insights into regular practice so that the benefit of the coaching is integrated into their lives. This is crucial, since the adult executives I coach have well established and largely successful habits that are expressed automatically.
How do we make new strategies and methods just as habitual? One of my favorite techniques is the traveling pennies.
Is there a practice you and your coach have developed that you want to make a part of your life? Perhaps you choose to center three times per day, express gratitude more often, or ask a clarifying question before responding to a inquiry. Here’s how to “operationalize” your good intentions.
Each morning for the next few weeks place
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Business Week has a short article about Jerry Levin, the former head of Time Warner. He lead the merger with AOL. The merger is generally considered a disaster for Time Warner and Levin left under pressure. What did he learn?
From the article and his life after leaving the executive suite, it sounds like he learned how to learn:
…understanding that it’s O.K. to be open and vulnerable, to ask for help.
To state it in different terms, it’s probably helpful to invoke the feminine principle and be compassionate, empathetic, understanding, give respect to everybody, don’t get deluded by the natural hierarchy. And don’t get too self-satisfied that you have all the answers.
He has gone on to establish a holistic retreat, Moonview, with his wife. What learning is he most eager to share with executives?
My strong advice would be to find a calm, meditative state every day. With the tempo of executive life, that seems almost impossible, but it’s probably the most important thing that you can do.
Namaste, Mr. Levin, and thank you.
See also Gandhi on silence.
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