Who do I work with?
This page describes who I work with, some of the most common
challenges my clients face, and the characteristics clients need to have in order to be successful working with me.
I work with transformative
leaders, those who feel a deep call, in the face of critical global challenges,
to step forward to define sustainable pathways to the future. They come from different backgrounds, work in different
contexts and focus on very different challenges. But they share one deep and passionate commitment: to help radically transform
the way we are living so that the entire web of life can thrive.
They see
themselves as part of the 'Great Turning', an evolution of consciousness, culture, and systems that is necessary if we are to continue inhabiting this planet.
As the the old cultural story and structures unravel, my clients recognize the need for deep, systemic change.
They know that their capacity to make a difference depends not just on what they do but who they are. As they navigate uncertain territory, they are guided by their commitment
to question old ways of being and doing and by their creative capacity to re-invent themselves as they re-invent the world.
Their resolve brings them to embody deeper levels of integral understanding and wisdom as they lead.
They are the artists
of being alive, the avant-garde of a more conscious, enlightened society, and the
architects of a future worth living. Despite the seriousness of the task, they come from a place of joy, of passion and gratitude
for being alive at this moment of history. Do you experience any of these challenges?
Challenge #1: How to create meaningful, fulfilling work in service of the world
"I want to bring more of me and what matters
to my work." "I feel an urgent call to contribute and really make a difference through my work. But how?...”
Your heart and current global challenges are prompting you to make
a change in your career. You're tired of leaving your values (and a part of yourself) at the door when you go to work. You
want fully express what matters - your beliefs, skills and talents - through work that makes a real difference.
Maybe you wish you had more time to do what you love, to turn it into full time work, but you're drained by the work you're
doing to make a living. You need to pay the rent and yet you know your job isn't fulfilling you – or making a difference.
Maybe you're committed to the job or sector you're in and want to make more of a difference there. Yes, it has
it's challenges but you know that you could play a transformative role there. You're just wondering 'how?'
Maybe
you have no idea how to use your talents and skills. You just know that you're not fulfilled or making a difference where
you are.
Maybe your business is draining you and it's time to look seriously at what you're doing and how you're
doing it.
Whatever your situation, you know in your heart that your life could be more fulfilling if your work
was fully in service of what really matters. And you're aware that the clock is ticking - on your life and your contribution.
Challenge #2: Bringing Your Emerging Leadership
Out of the Closet You
want to become powerful agent of change but have some ambivalence towards actually stepping into it fully. Maybe you resist
thinking of yourself as a leader because you've seen the damage that the dominant paradigms of leadership and power have created.
Maybe you don't think you can be a leader because you don't fit the usual leadership 'profile'. Or maybe you know
you have something to offer but don't want the things that often accompany leadership – too much work, responsibility,
burn-out, and the resentment of others.
You'd like to overcome these challenges so you can focus on your impact.
You want to relax into your own authentic style of leadership. And you'd like to create a framework for leadership that you
could buy into – one that would excite you, help you engage others and earn the respect and love of those around you.
How can you navigate the responsibility and costs of making an impact? Challenge #3: Growing your capacity & impact as a transformative
leader You
care deeply about the transformative impact you know you could make. And, for the most part, you know that you are making
a difference. But you know there's a gap between what you could do and what you are accomplishing right now.
You
have practical outcomes that you are committed to achieving. And yet, you have to balance the 'doing' with how things are
done. You want to lead and create change in a way that avoids the blind-spots and old patterns you encounter – in your
friends, the organizations you work with and even in your own behavior.
Maybe you want to grow your capacity for
integral, holistic decision-making so that you can hold and make sense of 'all the threads' - both the details and the big
picture. Maybe you want to deepen your capacity for creativity so you can lead from a place of innovation. Or maybe you want
to accelerate the rate at which you are learning practical skills.
The bottom line is that your vision of what's
possible is asking you to grow yourself as a leader – to grow your skills, your capacities and your impact. It's also
asking you to take the time to work through your blind-spots - the old limiting beliefs and cultural paradigms blind-spots
that we've all internalized – so you can think, act and create from a place of deep, centred wisdom.
Because
you know that if we're going to transform the world, we need to re-think the way we do change – in the world and in
our lives. Challenge
#4: Your own sustainability: from burn-out to on-fire You have a deep commitment to make a profound and enduring difference. And that commitment
is a driving force of change and inspiration for others. But as the challenges of this time multiply, and the stresses and
demands on social and environmental leaders increase, you're feeling the strain.
You know that your personal balance
and sustainability is at the core of your capacity to make an impact. But sometimes you lose track of how hard you're actually
working. Maybe the clues are in the irritability of people around you, or maybe you're just feeling tired and less inspired
than you used to be. Or maybe you're so focused on what you want to see happen tomorrow, that you lose track of what matters
to you today.
You ask yourself: "How can I maintain or increase my commitment, effectiveness and impact without
burning out? How do I protect my enthusiasm, creativity and inspiration? Do I have to chose between making a difference and
having a life?" Challenge
#5: Designing a business with transforming impact You have, or are planning, a business dedicated to the well-being of people and the planet.
Perhaps you want the freedom to create your own 'right livelihood' through a business devoted to service and transformation.
Or maybe you're an academic who wants to create a practical, grounded application for your work.
But you question
traditional business practices and you want to create an alternative model, one that can support your your values, lifestyle
and mission. And you still need to make money so that you - and your impact - will survive.
You want to create
a business model that you're proud of, that has integrity, and you want to market in a way that is in alignment with your
personality and values. And you want to shorten the learning curve on how to create a business so that you can move forward
with the core purpose of your work.
But, to be honest, you feel a bit overwhelmed with all of the tasks associated
with a business and you're tired of figuring
it all out alone.
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Do any of these terms describe you?
Transformative Leaders Integral Transdisciplinary Scholars Social & Green Entrepreneurs Healing & Creative Arts Professionals Spiritual Activists Evolutionaries Thought Leaders Wisdom Teachers Visionary
Pioneers Change Agents Social Innovators Sustainability Leaders...
What sectors do I work with?
I'm dedicated to working cross-sectorally because I am convinced of the importance of a perspective
that is truly integral and inclusive of the entire diversity of approaches that contribute to deep, systemic change.
However, I am drawn to increasing the transformative capacity of these particular sectors because of my conviction that each
of them play key roles in the global shifts that must occur to ensure the sustainability of life. . . Transdisciplinary
Academics – who bridge both disciplines and social, cultural, political spheres, blending
a critical perspective with creativity, systems thinking, and whole-hearted, embodied knowing.
Non-profit groups dedicated to advancing social justice, protecting the environment,
addressing the needs of vulnerable populations & redefining definitions of international development
Green Science & Technology: those who are defining new technologies
to support the transition to a more humane and sustainable lifestyle.
Healing
Arts & Spiritual Practitioners: those who are engaged in healing, mind, body and spirit,
and who help us access our own wisdom through both traditional eastern and indigenous systems of knowing wisdom together with
western science particularly forms that bridge east and western forms, intuitive & rational, art & science.
Social & Green Entrepreneurs and Transformative Businesses who are
redefining business and economic practices, making it more humane and values-driven. These are the people who are in the process
of sifting through our business and economic practices and paradigms, retrieving the critical, foundational aspects of business
and placing spirit, values, sustainability with profitability and the capacity to create right livelihood. They are doing
the leading-edge work of redefining new economic possibilities.
Creative Arts
(Art, Music, Dance and other forms of Creativity): Those who help help others access and express
their voices, their creative impulse, their capacity for joy, presence and non-linear ways of knowing - capacities and skills
that are critical if we are to generate and recover the capacity to see, think and pose solutions outside of linear, dominator
models.
Facilitators, Speakers & Trainers
who are facilitating critical aspects of social transformation within the community, public or private sectors. Examples
include Non-Violent Communication, TheWork-that-Reconnects,
WorldWork . . .
Corporate
Transformers who work within traditional structures, focusing on areas of sustainability, social
responsiblity or helping them to make the systemic changes that are necessary to transition into a more life-sustaining world.
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They are willing
to forge new pathways
of thinking, relating, and creating . . .
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My ideal client. . .
My clients typically share many of the following characteristics. If these beliefs
and values describe you, chances are that together we can form a powerful container for creating transformative change. They feel the danger in present global challenges.
They see the challenges of this moment in time more clearly than most and are touched deeply by them. They may feel a sense
of hopelessness from time to time but are not stuck in a state of grief or despair. They transmute those feelings to strengthen
their vision and resolve, deepen their compassion, build community, and to experience both joy and opportunity in the present
moment. Because they know that our beliefs about the world and what's possible can influence the outcome. To quote the scientist
Freeman Dyson, "tragedy is not our business."
They want to be participants, not spectators,
in co-creating the future. They feel
a passionate sense of responsibility for creating what's next in the world. They don't wait for someone else to figure out
the solutions and they don't simply adjust to challenges. They use challenges to grow and they find meaning and a sense of
purpose in contributing to something greater than themselves. Their impact may be felt at work, in the community, or on a
global scale – but they are deeply engaged in defining and creating their contribution.
They're on the 'leading edge'.
Because they experience the old paradigm of leadership
and power as so problematic, they may or may not welcome leadership roles or see themselves as a leader. But they work to create new definitions of what it means to lead.
They are willing to forge new pathways of thinking, relating, and creating in their own sphere of influence. The core of
their leadership is defining new ways of being and doing, pushing the boundaries of old forms and sifting through old practices,
structures and paradigms to determine what works and what doesn't.
Their view of the world
and change is holistic and integral.
They see the world as an interconnecting web of systems. So they see the relationship between the dominant worldview, and
our social, economic, political and environmental challenges. And knowing that we have all been shaped by the systems and
cultural story in which we live, they believe that changing the world involves changing our consciousness, our patterns of
thought and action. They are
willing to develop their own capacity for awareness, to examine and shift their own assumptions, their beliefs and self-concept
as a part of letting go of old internalized maps and worldviews. And as important as this conceptual shift may be, they know
that they are also called to navigate with their hearts and spirit. They grow and lead from the inside out.
They are acutely aware that time is running out and the need for action is great. And they are aware that acting quickly
and decisively without shifting their own consciousness, their own culturally-engrained patterns of thinking and acting, is
a recipe for entrenching rather than transforming our current global challenges. Their vision of what is possible asks them
to grow and transform as human beings, to acknowledge the shadow side and blind spots of their personal and collective history.
While they recognize their fallibility, they continually strive to deepen and extend their emotional capacity – for compassion,
to process pain of the world, to be centred in difficult situations and midst of conflict, to maintain courage in face of
adversity and to stay in community despite its inevitable challenges. As they grow and transform they become more effective
leaders. They are creative and
think outside the box. Their creativity
may manifest through the arts or through unconventional ways that they deal with challenges or build solutions. But they
know that creating the world of tomorrow requires the capacity of letting go of - and recreating - old patterns of seeing,
doing and experiencing. They are artists of life. They
strive to live and embody their values.
My clients hold core values of peace,
social justice, environmental responsibility, diversity, and respect. They value a holistic, integral orientation and appreciate
both the complexity and the mystery of the web of life. They value ancient wisdom traditions and the growing of their own
wisdom and capacity for presence. They value the capacity to be open-hearted, compassionate, and in community. They hold
all life as sacred. Now that you know the kind of clients we work with, the issues we help them resolve
and what our clients need to do to ensure their success, click on this link to learn more about how I work.
Copyright: VisionLegacy Coaching. All rights reserved.
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Their vision of what is possible asks them
to grow
and transform as human beings...
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