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Love Fiercely, Lead Boldly, Make a Positive Impact

Love fiercely, lead boldly, and make a positive impact. For Patty Obermaier, former Chief Growth Officer at Microsoft Life Sciences and the CEO of Resigility, this is not just a motto; this is a trio of guiding principles to embrace every day. Few people manage to live up to such high aspirations, but Patty is well on her way.

Leadership development

Live Life from the Inside Out

Early in his life, Don Johnson became curious about what lived within him other than his thoughts. “I realized through different experiences that I'm not my thoughts,” he recalls, “and that brought me into my monk, ashram, Yogi experience where I wanted to find a connection to my inner, higher self - to my spirit. I began to appreciate being centered, grounded, and more intentional about what I say and do.”

Leadership

You’re the Boss. That Matters More Than You Think

Sabina had no idea of the impact she was having on others until a colleague told her that one of her teammates was crying after meeting with her. Sabina had fallen into a trap many of us fall into as managers. We go into uncaring, command-and-control mode. This was contrary to how she was raised. “Growing up, caring was part of our culture,” she says. “So, this was a gut punch. I felt shame and despair.”

Serving by Boldly Speaking Truth

You’re in your 20s, and your country of origin is at war. As you watch the horrifying news from your home in the United States, you are deeply curious about what is true and have a strong desire to uncover what is happening on the ground. What do you do? If you are Lisa Haisha, you plead with your Iraqi father to take you to Baghdad to interview Saddam Hussein. Unfortunately, he refuses.

Leadership

The Power of Space

“Every moment is an opportunity to drift away from who you are,” says Tuula Rytila, a former senior leader at Nokia, former Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, and board member of multiple corporations, including Bang and Olufsen. “If I’m connected with myself,” she continues, “I can have a connection with others, so staying centered is very important. I use various practices for that.”

What Would Sister Roch Do?

In his twenties, Scott Richert, currently Chief Information Officer at Mercy Technology Services, was enjoying a fulfilling job with a broad range of responsibilities at a small software organization. “I got to make product and sell it and see the customers enjoy it and go back and refine it and make it better,” he recalls. At this point in his life, he was not aware of the importance of having purpose in how he spent his career.

What Do You Do With Big Feelings?

Is stress really a bad thing? Well, if you’re Ashley Reid, Founder and CEO of Wellist, you might not think so. Ashley believes that stress is simply your body’s way of giving you the energy to tackle a problem. By reframing the narrative from “I’m frazzled right now” to “I care about this going well,” she gratefully accepts that her body is giving her the energy to connect deeply with herself to solve a problem. She has learned to notice when strong feelings are present and to “metabolize” or process them before they “spill out” onto others, especially those she is close to.

Thrive with Joy in the Center

Long before he became acquainted with the term “connectedness,” Jim Lang sensed a “spirit of connectedness” in the consulting firm he was part of. “[As consultants] we talked about the “house” we wanted to live in,” he recalls. “We were all about culture and values. I think we all acknowledged we were running the business with values as the key steward, as opposed to other dimensions of business growth like strategy or ops excellence.”

To Be Authentic Accept Yourself

When Cees was a kid in the Netherlands, he had his own garden where he grew vegetables and dreamed of being a farmer. In school, he scored poorly in reading, and his future prospects appeared to be limited. But when his father started teaching him to read at home, and a fantastic teacher fired up his self-confidence, he soon rose to the top of his class. From there his intuition drew him away from farming and toward environmental engineering.

Superficial Autopilot or Conscious Authentic Intention?

Living life on autopilot is an easy trap to fall into. But, even as a young girl, Yvonne Higgins Leach felt connected on many levels. She was often the first one up in the morning, walking outside in nature, perhaps with a dog or cat as a companion. “That,” she recalls, “set my course for life – finding that quiet time no matter how crazy life gets.”

The Gifts of Psychological Safety

It takes a lot of self-knowledge and inner strength to withstand peer pressure. For Matt, that strength came through the gifts his parents gave him: deep psychological safety, unconditional acceptance and the freedom to be himself. To this day, he prioritizes psychological safety, starting by taking care of himself, for example by exercising, sleeping well and praying.

The Compassionate Overview Effect

There’s something exquisite about experiencing a bird’s-eye view of the world for the first time. When Jill Meyers was 12 years old, a family friend took her for a ride in his private plane and from that moment she knew she was meant to fly. She could hardly wait until she was 17 when she was finally able to get her private pilot’s license. “I was completely enamored,” she remembers.

Help! Which Fork Do I Use?

Debi remembers sitting in the office prior to the dinner learning the basics of using the seven utensils she would find around her plate at the event. “It had nothing to do with the day job,” Debi laughs, “but she took me under her wing to show me things. We had a fork at our dinner table [at home] and maybe a knife but there wasn’t all that other stuff around. She took the time to make me feel comfortable and welcomed.

Committed to Commitments

Robert’s wife recently “voluntold” him he was to be a flag football coach for his kids’ two teams. Right away he said ‘yes, I can do this.’ Then he asked himself, “I have six kids. How can I rearrange my schedule and make this more of a family activity?” With that shift in his mindset toward alignment with his values and away from victimhood, Robert was able to see the possibilities and hold true to his commitment while embracing an opportunity for his family to connect more deeply.

Embrace the Beautiful Struggle

The events of 2020 temporarily dimmed her bright outlook. Vida and her husband Steve were set for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Africa. Vida wanted to connect physically with her roots…to allow her feet to touch the soil of her ancestors and say, “I am here. I returned and I am whole. We want to affirm that your pain is not in vain. Your resilience bore fruit you may not have been able to see.”

Forbes

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ARTICLES

Connected Leadership: How To Communicate Your Authentic Truth

“We should include this framework in our next workshop,” said my colleague, whom we'll call Tim. I thought, "That is never going to work," but I said, “Great!” The situation highlighted a common problem in the workplace: When you disagree, how can you effectively balance honesty and respect?

Crocodile Growth Leaders Network

Connected Leadership: Tapping Into Divergent Possibilities

The primary function of our nervous system is survival. Therefore, our first impulse when challenged is about survival—physically and emotionally. "How can I get out of this situation unscathed? How can I make it go away as quickly as possible?" I call this survival impulse our "crocodile," signifying the reptilian fight-flight-freeze brain that is hellbent on protecting our sense of safety.

Harvard
Business Review

ARTICLES

What is a Hero's Journey?

A staggering 88% of companies listed in the 1955 Fortune 500 are nowhere to be found in the same list today. They have gone bankrupt, merged, or simply shrunk off the list. Half a century ago, the life expectancy of a firm in the Fortune 500 was around 75 years. Now it’s less than 15 years.

What FDR Knew About Managing Fear in Times of Change

In our work with leaders we’ve found that managing successful transformational change has a lot to do with managing fear. This includes fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of change, or even fear of fear itself. This is especially true when making bold changes — the kind of change that could take an organization to a whole new level of performance, or, out of a paralyzing tailspin. The bolder the change, the bigger the fear, as fear is our resistance to change.

Other
Articles

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What does it mean to be a True Leader?

A business leader who leads to truth is willing to question any assumption, and to start from not taking reality as given, but as something to be examined carefully, from multiple angles. That is when innovation happens.” says Andrew Blum, CEO and Managing Partner, The Trium Group. We sat down with him recently to talk about the...[...]

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Taming Your Seven Crocodiles: Unlearn Fear & Become True Leader

"Are you about to take on an inspiring new role and are looking for inspiration? Or maybe you are looking for a change? Maybe you feel overwhelmed by your to-do-list? Or maybe you are looking to inspire your team to its next level of excellence? Whatever your question is, if you were to have lived twenty-five hundred years ago in ancient Greece you may have taken it to the oracle in Delphi. You would have learned there to 'Know thyself.'

Your career is your hero’s journey: 7 lessons from life

Does life sometimes feel random? You are sitting in your office and remember like it was yesterday playing with your friend in the schoolyard. While you may have children now, you remember being their age and going on your first date. You are at the seeming pinnacle of your career and in a year or two, you’ll retire. “What’s it all for?” you may ask.

Enough! No longer fooled by the money monster

“How much money do you need to feel safe?” is one of the questions in a game called “Confessions.” In today’s world, we equate safety with having money. This is understandable: money buys us a roof over our head, food to eat and the means to buy things and experiences we enjoy. And yet money has become so much more than just a means to an end. It has become an end in and of itself. Money has become a core driver, if not the primary driver of our lives today.

Leadership as Gym – How Microsoft's CMO & a Yoga Entrepreneur See Growth

“Why don’t you do another 20 pull-ups?” my trainer asked this morning as I was on my way out. “Oh no,” I thought. Then I decided to do it any way. Leadership and learning seem to work that way. There is a constant tension between wanting to be comfortable, wanting to walk away from challenge, and knowing in our gut we must do it anyway, to be true to ourselves, as many of us enjoy tapping into deeper sources of strength and wisdom.

How Are You Growing Today?

Who am I truly? Will I ever find out? Or is self-discovery an endless road?
I have been intrigued by these questions for as long as I can remember. Looking back over the years, I have noticed how each new insight has evolved not only my inner, but also my external world. New glimpses have shaped my interests, my friends, my livelihood, and where I live, to name a few examples.

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