In the early 90’s when I was a facilitator for an outdoor education company, I had the opportunity to work with a group of business leaders and elected officials from the state of Virginia. Except for the alligator in the final event, for the most part, it was your standard ropes course and outdoor team-building […]
Emergency Maneuvers as a Metaphor for Transformation
Through a rather strange sequence of events, I began thinking about how an emergency maneuvers clinic for paragliding can actually be a metaphor for transformation. This post is partly about flying, partly about life, and partly about professional coaching. When I started paragliding, I was instantaneously in love with the sport. Literally, within the first […]
Vision, Cookies, and Marshmallows
At first glance, it’s hard to see any connection between the vision one may have for a corporation, department or one’s self, and Cookies or Marshmallows. I have to admit, it was a strange set of circumstances that tied these three together, but it actually makes for an interesting story. Earlier this evening, myself and […]
Don’t Read This!
Too late… you already read the title, didn’t you? Well, there’s actually a deeper point here and it involves reading the signs within our organizations. The peculiar thing about learning to read is that once we know how, it becomes very difficult to look at printed words without actually reading them. It’s one of the […]
What distinguishes between Coach, Mentor, and Friend?
I’ve been pondering the relationship between a coach, a mentor, and a friend. All three roles overlap in three intertwined circles (Venn diagram), but I’m not sure how.What I’m wondering is the defining characteristics of each role that distinguish it from the others. Is one a subset of the other? Can one be all three? […]