Jubilation! I don’t use that word often, but its what I felt last week! Jubilant.
Why, you ask? Ah, it’s been a bubblin’ and a steamin’.
For a over a month, I wended my way through all the ups and downs of creating my first ever webinar, “21 Days from Timid to Awesome” which came off despite some technical difficulties (always, always learning). There was a store to set up, email blasts to send out, a change in publishing to undertake, a software program to master and more. Yet, I undertook all of it.
And then, along the way, I got good news.
A prestigious university’s business school was interested in the material and invited me to fly in for a brainstorming session. The questions? How to serve female MBA students on the cusp of leadership? How to support all MBA grads in taking on their new roles?
It happened because I had chosen to “step it up.”
Years of working with amazing women who flinched a little at standing fully in their power, led me to designing a course. And broadcasting the key components of the much needed shifts, the ways to stop undermining or diminishing themselves, the steps to cultivating their capacity instead, was a commitment I took into the market place in a new medium, with technology that I had to master. Not to mention my own fears. BY the way, you can read some of the beginning steps on my blog: http://www.thevaliantgroup.com/5-secrets-brilliant-women-in-charge-need-to-know/
I had to model the “stepping up” by making big changes to way I had done things up ‘til then. (I didn’t name my company The Valiant Group lightly.) What that meant was a lot of learning, asking for support (and getting it) and widening (often with a crowbar) my perspective about where change can happen. It was a wonderful though frightening process. Change is not easy!
Yet, look at what happened!
Not only did I create a course I am loving teaching, but I also ventured into avenues I hadn’t imagined. Isn’t it great when life steps in to surprise and support you?
After conversations with the Dean and Associate Dean, we agreed that the business school was poised to support students in becoming emotionally intelligent, strategic and resilient leaders. Many offerings could support that transition. And my input was useful. THEY WANTED MORE. Yay!
How wonderful that business school might become the place to break the mold of “old school” leadership, often held in place by entrenched ways of doing things from the last century. How wonderful that business school might prepare leaders for dealing with themselves, their colleagues and bosses, their direct reports with compassion alongside the skills of strategic planning, process orientation, customer service, operational excellence, accountability and so on.
As the title of a Marshall Goldsmith book states eloquently, “What got you here won’t get you there.” And the new “there” includes leadership of a different order.
As for myself, the new “there” keeps opening up. As I design new workshops, courses and programs…as I learn to interface with clients in ways other than face-to-face, as I reach out beyond my geographic area, I grow more fully into what’s possible. I learn new skills, hone some of the existing ones, master new technology, expand my vision around learning and teaching, and trust myself and my team to find direction, correct course and bring value forward.
As I said, “Jubilation.”
