If you have followed my blog for a while, you may be noticing a new pattern. Some of you have called it out to me directly. I’m talking less about leadership and more about life.
I see the pattern. It’s not a deliberate, premeditated choice on my part. It’s simply the way the wind is blowing right now. In many ways, this blog has mirrored my own life journey over the past 4+ years.
When I began writing back in late 2021, it was part of a business plan. I realized LinkedIn was the network where I was most likely to find prospective clients. It was important to me to start posting regularly on LinkedIn and to post my own content. And so, I started writing.
I thought I would hate it. I wanted to spend all my time coaching. As the weeks went by, I began to get in a groove. I received a lot of encouraging feedback. I actually began to enjoy it. Topics would surface organically from coaching sessions, and taking the time to write about them reinforced my coaching. It became a real win-win. Now, as my clients will tell you, I often follow up a coaching session with links to blog posts related to our coaching topic.
Somewhere along the way, the blog stopped being about business development. It became a vehicle for expressing whatever was on my mind and sharing it with the world, so long as I thought it was worth reading. At times, this has caused tension for me. I’m an Executive Coach. My primary role is to coach senior leaders, helping them improve their leadership skills. With most of those clients, there’s plenty of life coaching that surfaces organically along the way, but that’s not what an organization hires me to do. So some blog topics have given me pause, as I questioned whether I’m stepping too far out of the leadership space, potentially alienating future clients.
But here’s the thing. It’s rare that a blog post produces a client. I’m sure this blog has contributed to my success. It reminds everyone that I’m still here, still coaching, and still open for business. But over my 4+ years of blogging, with this being the 206th edition, exactly two clients have found me through the blog.
Those two clients had no prior connection to me. The first one stumbled across my blog in her feed and began following it. Eventually, she decided she was ready for a coach and knew, from her experience reading my blogs, that I would be a good fit. I drafted this post the day before reconnecting with her after many months. Perhaps anticipating that call inspired it.
The second client had just read about a concept in a book that piqued her curiosity. She went searching for anything else written on the subject and found my blog. That inspired her to explore coaching with me. Three days after I drafted this blog, she reached out to me, months after our last session. Clearly, there is a shift in the winds, and I’m paying attention.
These were two of the most rewarding clients I have ever worked with (they know who they are, and I’m pretty sure they are still reading). I’m sure that’s in part because this blog helped them understand me and what I would bring to the table as a coach. But even more so, these clients didn’t come to me for executive coaching. They were interested in the journey of life and felt I could be a great thought partner on their journey.
And so, at the risk of panicking my father, who worries I won’t make enough income, I’m hanging out a second shingle. I am still, first and foremost, an Executive Coach, and I am eager to work with any organization committed to accelerating the growth of its leaders. I’m now voicing a second coaching role I’ve been playing for some time, just less publicly. I’m not doing this with great fanfare. No updates to the website, no marketing launch. I’m just putting it out there like a bat signal to anyone who is ready to heed the call.
I am a Consciousness Coach.
I’m not attached to that name. It resonates with me, but I recognize it may not resonate with the people I want to work with. I know with your help we’ll refine this over time. As a Consciousness Coach, I want to help people raise their consciousness. This can take many forms. At its essence, it’s being the best version of yourself. For me, that path has included discovering my life purpose, actively exploring spirituality, treating every life experience as a teaching moment, and tons and tons of introspection.
As Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki put it, “Each of you is perfect the way you are … and you can use a little improvement.”
I got great clarity about this in December during my week-long meditation retreat:
I did not have any spectacular moments of awakening. However, I did receive a clear message in meditation early in the week.
I imagined a river that represents taking the first step towards spiritual growth. On the right bank of the river, there are many beings who have taken at least that first step. It could be a meditation practice. It could be any number of organized religions. It could be spending time in nature as a sacred practice, not just for entertainment.
On the left bank of the river are those beings who have not taken their first step. The message I received was that my role, at this moment in time, is to help as many people on that left bank as possible find their bridge across the river and the courage to cross it. If every being on the planet could find a path that resonates with them and take the first step on their path, this would be an amazing world.
I’ve spent the last four years of my life undergoing major personal transformation and growth. The pace of change has accelerated for me throughout those four years. At times it’s exhausting, and it’s also exhilarating. I know that growth isn’t likely to slow down anytime soon.
Now I’m ready to lean into helping others do the same. If you want to raise your consciousness and you’d like a coach, thought partner, or guide to walk with you on your journey, I’d like to talk with you. Your bridge may be very different from my own. Whatever that bridge is, I want to help you find it and step across.
If anything about consciousness coaching strikes a chord with you and you would like to explore it, please schedule time with me.
I am an executive coach and consciousness coach with software executive roots in higher education and EdTech. I coach because I love helping others accelerate their growth as leaders and humans. I frequently write about #management, #leadership, #coaching, #neuroscience, and #arete.
If you would like to learn more, schedule time with me.