Mentor vs. Coach - Which is best for you?

Is a mentor or a coach best for you? If you want someone who is significantly older and more skilled, who has walked in your shoes for many years and mastered their craft, who will teach you while you listen carefully and take notes, you're looking for a mentor.

On the other hand, if you're a successful leader who has reached a performance plateau, wants to take it to the next level, isn't sure what you don't know, and doesn't want to waste time learning a new skill that might not bring immediate results, you're looking for an executive coach.

 If you’re like my CEO and business owner clients, you’re highly capable at solving problems -- once the problem has been clearly identified and defined. You're more than happy to hire consultants and experts to get things done. The challenge arises when you have a sense that something is amiss, or could be better, but you’re not sure how to attack it.

Enter your executive coach. An executive coach can:

1. Create a space to block out distractions and enable you to focus energy on what matters most
2. Help you discover and clearly state your most important goals
3. Hold your goals as the top priority and persist in pointing you toward them
4. Enable you to bring order from chaos and determine a single path of action
5. Challenge you and hold you accountable for achieving results 

 An executive coach works alongside you as your peer.

Authentic Networking - Giving Helpful Help

Reid Hoffman has a great approach to networking!  I particularly like his rules:

In the next day:  Look at your calendar for the past six months and identify the five people you spend the most time with - are you happy with their influence on you?

In the next week:  Introduce two people who do not know each other but ought to  Then think a bout a challenge you face and ask for an introduction to a connection in your network who could help.

Imagine you got laid off from your job today.  Who are the 10 people you'd e-mail for advice?  Don't wait - invest in those relationships now.

In the next month:  Identify a weaker tie with whom you'd like to build an alliance.  Help him by giving him a small gift - forward an article or job posting.

Create an "interesting people fund" to which you automatically funnel a certain percentage of your paycheck.  Use it to pay for coffees and the occasional plane ticket to meet new people and shore up existing relationships.

Read the entire article here:  http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/01/24/reid-hoffman-linkedin-startup-you/

Best Martin Luther King Day Photo!

"Not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

Unleash your hero!

 

"Do not lose your knowledge that man's proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step that travels unlimited roads. Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach."

My new favorite inspirational song

Blessings

by Laura Story

We pray for blessings

We pray for peace

Comfort for family, protection while we sleep

We pray for healing, for prosperity

We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

All the while, You hear each spoken need

Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You’re near

What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom

Your voice to hear

And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near

We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love

As if every promise from Your Word is not enough

All the while, You hear each desperate plea

And long that we'd have faith to believe

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You’re near

And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us

When darkness seems to win

We know the pain reminds this heart

That this is not, this is not our home

It's not our home

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

And what if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You’re near

What if my greatest disappointments

Or the achings of this life

Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy

And what if trials of this life

The rain, the storms, the hardest nights

Are Your mercies in disguise

Empowering vs. Disempowering Others

A couple of weeks ago, I learned a great lesson in empowerment at my church picnic. Our Men's Fraternity organized things, and did most of the work. Lots of people prepared food, cooked food, set up, kept the drinks coming, and cleaned up. Many of the picnic-goers brought chairs, blankets, and side dishes. Everyone had their own assignments and very little oversight or supervision.

I remembered a church supper where I single-handedly disempowered a whole group of people. Several years ago, we belonged to a church that observed Lent with Wednesday night suppers. These were simple affairs, typically soup and salad. No dessert and nothing complicated.

I happened to read the church bulletin and notice that different groups had signed up to host suppers: the choir, the youth group, etc. But some dates were open - no one had volunteered.

I thought, "well, I could easily put together a committee to host a supper." Of course, I forgot that I was travelling internationally and spending little time at home. And I hate committees. (They seem such a waste of time, isn't it easier just to do things myself?) Even so, I signed up with great intentions.

As you might guess, when the day of the Lenten supper drew near, my committee had not met. In fact, I never drafted a committee.

Undeterred, I went to the grocery store, bought a lot of supplies, and made a mess of soup and salad. I enlisted my hubby to help set the tables. (And I knew that people would volunteer to help clean up.)

The supper went off rather well, or so I thought. The problem - no one else was willing to sign up to host suppers. Rather than making it seem easy, I made it seem difficult. I had not involved others. In fact, I had disempowered a whole group of people who were interested and willing to participate, if asked. I forgot my leadership role.

OK, so I'm learning the hard way. Often, it seems quicker and easier to simply do it myself. But this approach is not sustainable in the long run. Better to recruit and empower others.

Remembering Gettysburg

Tom and I visited Gettysburg on July 2nd to see battle re-enactments. The highlight of the day was hearing Robert E. Lee and his lieutenants explain their actions.

My mind is still struggling to hold all the ideas I heard.
When I first learned about the Civil War, my history books had everything boiled down and simplified. Hearing from individuals added back complexity and texture.

Last night we watched the movie Gettysburg. I was struck by the humility and sense of honor exhibited by many of the soldiers. I feel a deep gratitude and sadness.