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Arete
This morning, I tried a new practice at the suggestion of my meditation teacher, Jonathan Gustin. When I first awoke, before getting out of bed, I recited a simple invocation, expressing gratitude that my soul was returned to my body for another day. The invocation was powerful, helping me appreciate what a gift it truly is…
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Creating Space
Last week, I was invited to facilitate a session with an HR team. As they planned for 2024, they wanted to brainstorm techniques to improve their effectiveness as a team and in support of the broader organization. They quickly generated over 30 ideas and then used multi-voting to determine which ones to spend time developing.…
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Shared Background of Obviousness
When I teach the framework for effective requests as a tool to improve delegation, one component that inevitably generates discussion is the shared background of obviousness (which I’ll abbreviate as SBO for convenience’s sake). Today, we’ll unpack this concept. Understanding the SBO can improve your empathy for others, especially when communication issues abound. What is the SBO? Considering…
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Your Future Self
Shifting Perspectives is one of my most popular articles. In that post, I walk through a favorite exercise, enabling you to view a situation from several different perspectives leveraging your physical space to support the shift. Over the past month, I’ve engaged in a daily practice similar to this one, where I seek the perspective of…
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From Subject to Object
A fundamental goal of ontological coaching is to help the coachee generate an ontological shift. Through work with a coach, the coachee gains a new perspective on how they view the world, and holding that perspective, they can examine and shift it as needed to serve themselves better. We sometimes refer to this as “The Big Eye.”…
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My Second Year
Two years ago, I split off from the software executive trail I had trod for thirty years to explore a new path as a leadership and life coach. Today, I celebrate that milestone with some reflections on my second year. You can read about my first year here. Meta-Metaphor I have written several times about my program on…
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Never Grow Up
Last week, my daughter Meera celebrated her 21st birthday. Today, I celebrate this milestone and explore some reflections that arise from our shared song, “Never Grow Up” by Taylor Swift (Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube). I’m aware that a mere two weeks ago, I had a post entitled We Are Always Growing, and this may feel in conflict to…
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Missing Conversations
One of the three foundational areas of ontological coaching is our use of language. You may think of language as a communication tool to describe the world. It is that and so much more. Language can be generative. For example, a new country was created through the Declaration of Independence. As I began to understand this, I realized…
