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Leading with New Eyes

April 27, 2018 By Deb Busser Leave a Comment

Nobody comes back from a journey the way they started it.”

— Unknown

I was incredibly fortunate to ring in the New Year at the swanky Sumaq Hotel in Aguas Calientes at the base of Machu Picchu in Peru. A mere seven hours later, my 20-year-old daughter, Julia, and I were at the base of Huayna Picchu (the mountain often shown rising up behind the lost city) to be part of a limited group that would hike to the summit that day. This capped days of travelling the Sacred Valley and interacting with as many native Peruvians as we could.

What do travel and time off have to do with leadership, you may be wondering. Only everything.Tweet: What do travel and time off have to do with leadership, you may be wondering. Only everything.

Being in a new place, with new sights, smells, tastes, and sounds is one of the ways we wake up from our daily lives. We have the opportunity to look at ourselves and the world with fresh eyes. Being in a different environment brings new questions to our consciousness. Who are you in that place? How does it compare to how you experience, or are experienced, in your natural habitat?

And the even bigger questions we can forget or avoid: Who are you now? What do you really want?

Master the art of checking out, so that when you check back in you do so with new thoughts and ideas, increased energy, and greater commitment.Tweet: Master the art of checking out, so that when you check back in you do so with new thoughts and ideas, increased energy, and greater commitment.

I used to work with a coach on the West Coast who takes off one week every month—yes, every month! As an author, public speaker, coach to ultra-high-achievers, as well as a dad, he focuses on his work for the first three weeks of the month, then takes the last week off to focus on his own growth and renewal. Sometimes he travels to his native UK. Sometimes he spends time writing, hiking, or being in nature. Often he is off to explore the globe.

Choosing to immerse yourself in unfamiliar places and situations expands your thinking and broadens your perspective. Tweet: Choosing to immerse yourself in unfamiliar places and situations expands your thinking and broadens your perspective.

A technology CEO who took his company public last year is always traveling to new places and pushing his physical edge—snowboarding, hiking, biking, and running. He recently completed a multi-day run through the Sahara Desert. His ability to create space for this in his life has been hard won, yet he has learned over the years that doubling down on work when he is running out of gas can make his fuel burn all the faster.

International travel can spark new synapses in the brain, increasing neuroplasticity, and revitalizing the mind.Tweet: International travel can spark new synapses in the brain, increasing neuroplasticity, and revitalizing the mind.

The science is there. Adam Galinsky, a professor at Columbia Business School, has authored numerous studies on the connection between international travel and creativity. Foreign experience, particularly when immersive, increases cognitive flexibility and “tends to change the way we approach the world” making our minds more open and able to “make connections between disparate forms.” Spending time reflecting on your experiences is also key to getting the most benefit, says Galinsky.

Last May I attended a yoga, wine tasting, and meditation retreat in Tuscany—I kid you not. While there, I had lots of time to just ‘be’ in my surroundings, to watch the sky change colors outside my window, to smell unfamiliar flowers as they were beginning to bloom—not to mention the ‘fresh scents’ of the nearby stable. And don’t get me started on the meals that came straight from the kitchen garden, or the best olive oil and Chianti that have ever passed my lips. What I am able to re-imagine most however, is the warmth and kindness of our Italian hosts, and the international group that quickly bonded and shared their hearts deep into the night.

Returning home, we are the same person and yet changed. We know more about ourselves, and the broader world we live in. We have greater tolerance and compassion. We are more hopeful, creative, and open to possibility. Tweet: Returning home, we are the same person and yet changed. We know more about ourselves, and the broader world we live in. We have greater tolerance and compassion. We are more hopeful, creative, and open to possibility.

My recent experiences in Peru and Italy, along with all of the places I have visited have enhanced me in ways that are hard to quantify or explain, but they are deep and true, and contribute to who I am today in immeasurable ways.

Where are you headed next? How will you see and lead and with new eyes? Tweet: Where are you headed next? How will you see and lead and with new eyes?

I’m thinking Portugal.

 

Filed Under: Leadership, travel

Leading From Your Power Center

February 14, 2018 By Deb Busser Leave a Comment

We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”

—Anais Nin

You have heard the saying “we create our own reality”.  It may resonate at an intellectual level. We know that we bring our beliefs, filters, expectations, biases, and unique lenses for viewing the world to everything we do—and so does everyone else. It is one of the reasons we often feel like we are living and operating in different universes these days. The truth is, we are.

As hard as it can be to embody this knowing in every moment, we can create our world more consciously by understanding what is really running and driving us.Tweet: We can create our world more consciously by understanding what is really running and driving us. So how do we leverage that power? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: leadership, power

Leading When You Are Away From the Office

August 3, 2015 By Deb Busser 4 Comments

Untitled design (1)

“The breaks you take from work pay you back manifold when you return because you come back with a fresher mind and newer thinking. Some of your best ideas come when you’re on vacation.”

–Gautam Singhania


Summertime! Here in New England, along with our glee about warmer weather and longer days, we are also excited about realizing our daydreams of long, lazy weekends and carefree beach and lake vacations that got us  through one of our nastier winters.

Unfortunately, just underneath the excitement, there is anxiety about what will happen at work while people are away. The biggest concerns seem to be centered on falling behind, not being able to trust staff to get things done, and creating the perception that you are not as committed as you ‘should’ be.

Luckily, there is data to put your mind at ease on all fronts. And actually, that is what vacation is for – putting your mind at ease! [Read more…]

Filed Under: Leadership, Uncategorized Tagged With: vacation

Leading with Vulnerability

May 6, 2015 By Deb Busser 1 Comment

Hillary at conferencelupita

The hardest thing about being a leader is demonstrating or showing vulnerability… When the leader demonstrates vulnerability and sensibility and brings people together, the team wins.”

—Howard Schultz

At a conference a few months ago, I was able to hear and experience  a number of successful and dynamic speakers, including former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o, entrepreneur Tory Burch, author Gail Sheehy, former Cosmopolitan editor Kate White, and more.

On the trip in, I was thinking about a recent engagement where I partnered with a high performing, three-time biotech CEO who had brought his flourishing company public two years earlier. Despite his successes, this CEO wanted to make even more of an impact. Our work together centered on his becoming a more inspiring and charismatic leader.

In their book, Compelling People: The Hidden Qualities that Make Us Influential, authors John Neffinger and Matt Kohut delve into two qualities that make a leader influential: strength – the root of respect, and warmth – the root of affection.

Strength is your capacity to make things happen with skills and willingness, while warmth is the sense that you share the same feelings, interests, and view of the world as the person you’re speaking to.”

The most influential – and inspiring – leaders have mastered the balance.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Leadership, Uncategorized

Leading When You “Don’t Have Your Act Together”

April 7, 2015 By Deb Busser 6 Comments

Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.”

—Richard Branson


Oops Blog Post CroppedIt was a cold winter day in Boston. I was crossing the snow-covered business school campus, anticipating my first in-person session with a group of international executives.

As I entered the room, I received a panicked text message: “A rough, unformatted, trial email just went out to your top contacts.”

Deep breath… What now?

I reassured my office manager that it would be okay–while I wondered if it would be–then mentally, I put it down. I committed to being present to the waiting exec. ed. participants, and made sure that everyone in the room had the incredible experience that I knew was possible that evening.

After the session, we re-grouped. I was disappointed that the email introduction had not gone as planned, but I knew immediately that the experience would be perfect to share in a blog post. Though we all want to be perceived as ‘looking good’ and ‘having our acts together’, occasionally we make mistakes.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Leadership

Leading from Our Bodies

February 12, 2015 By Deb Busser Leave a Comment

There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy.”

— Friedrich Nietzsche

people-dancing

I was fortunate to be in London this summer with 100 coaches from around the world. If you ever want to be in room that just buzzes with potential and possibility, a roomful of powerful coaches uniquely committed to transforming reality as we know it, is the place to be.

In this master class with my coach, Rich Litvin and Steve Chandler, Steve drew a picture of the ladder of consciousness.  At the bottom of the ladder you had states of being like worry, depression, reactivity, defensiveness. At the top were states like optimism, receptivity, safety, connection – generally the places most people would say they would prefer to hang out in.

And what was the quickest way up the ladder?  They jokingly said it was LSD – laughter, singing and dancing.  As the music started, the group immediately began to move. Many of us could not dance without singing. And by the time the song was over, we spontaneously broke into applause and laughter.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Leadership

Leading with Our Voice

January 18, 2015 By Deb Busser Leave a Comment

When we own our Voice, we own our power.”

– Arthur Samuel Joseph

leading-with-our-voice

You may be surprised that one of my first posts is about ‘voice’.  I used to assume that the ‘people at the top’ were willing to take bold stances and had mastered speaking their truth.  And yet, that is often not the case.

I recently worked with a Partner at a global investment management firm.  Marc had been asked to lead a major change management effort that would bring departments from across the firm into one centralized function.  He was well known for his relentless drive for results, no-nonsense street smarts, and razor sharp wit.  He was funny, full of energy, and definitely not a wallflower!

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Leadership

Being the Leader of Your Life

December 6, 2014 By Deb Busser 1 Comment

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”

—John C. Maxwell

being-the-leader-of-your-lifeMarch 2006.  I am atop a rocky outcrop on Cyprus, watching the sun begin to lower over Aprhrodite’s Rock and a shimmering Mediterranean Sea.  As one of the trainers at an advanced coaching training program in Europe, we have scheduled one afternoon of the program to connect with and experience the environment in which we find ourselves.

For me, it was a peak moment.  I had the privilege of leading talented coaches from around the world. I was learning continuously from the participants and my colleagues. And I felt fully alive and aligned.  I knew in my core that I was exactly where I should be and I was inspired by who I was being.

I’m interested in how to intentionally create more of those moments for me, and for all of the leaders I partner with.  What made Cyprus so special, was that the state of being I was in – the lens though which I viewed and interacted with the world.  The way I called out the brilliance in myself and others.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Leadership

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Recent Posts

  • Leading with New Eyes April 27, 2018
  • Leading From Your Power Center February 14, 2018
  • Leading Without Feedback: How Even Good Leaders Stop the Flow April 3, 2017
  • Leading Your Own Career Part III: Intentionally Growing and Evolving October 13, 2016
  • Leading in the Space Between September 22, 2016

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