Becoming - The Blog

Building a Better Community: Change Lives with a Small Act of Great Love

 

 

I changed lives today with a small act of great love.

 

 

Earlier today, I provided the inspirational send-off for Muhlenberg College (www.muhlenberg.edu) seniors completing a weekend of seminars about transitioning to life after university.  Many of them were feeling anxiety, and I told them they did not have to pick a career today or find a job tomorrow.  Rather, I explained that their career is not a ladder to climb, but a path that will wind, zigzag, and meander.   

 

I explained that when I sat where they were sitting back in 1998 (when I was a senior in university), I had just landed a lucrative spot in a management training program with Sprint and thought I would just work my way up the corporate ladder there.  At that time, I never would have envisioned that I would go on to fulfill my passion for education through corporate training and university training, live in Korea for a year, and most importantly, come out of the closet.  I told the students to relax.  It’s good to plan, but that they don’t need all the answers now and cannot possibly predict what they will be doing when they are my age. 

 

 

And in that moment, I changed their lives.  A wave of relief swept the room, and I could see the anxiety on many of their faces dissipate.  They felt better.  I lived my mission – to help people do, be, and feel better.  And it took just a little bit of effort on my part to show great love for Muhlenberg seniors worried about moving into the real world – just an hour of preparation and an hour of facilitation.

 

 

So, now it’s your turn.  What small act of great love have you done recently, or would you like to do soon, to change someone’s life?  Share your stories here – I can’t wait to read them in the comments section of this post!

Semiannual Inspiration: Your 2011 Lessons Learned

 

 

My friends, my friends, my friends - the next installment of my semiannual inspirational messages is finally here!  It was a labor of love to craft - more than 30 of you worldwide shared lessons you learned in 2011.  A sneak preview appears below.  Click here to download more lessons and view past semiannual inspirational messages.

 

• One of the greatest gifts I can give is to be genuinely happy for others and genuinely invested in what they say.  Amy, Philadelphia, PA USA

• Life doesn't end for you when someone you love passes on.  You need to take the time you need to morn before you are ready to move on, but your life does go on.  And I think I had a little help from my very special guardian angel who continues to look after me.  Becky, Allentown, PA USA

• My big lesson this year is to not let the pace and demands of life keep you away from the relationships and people that matter most.  Work and laundry will always be there – your family and friends won’t.  Kim, Charlotte, NC USA

• Accept love as it comes to you...and give, give, give it at no limit in return. Trust your instincts to guide you in taking the proper risks involved.  Lindsay, Baltimore, MD USA

• After moving to London, I realised that I am at the centre of my own life, regardless of what other people think of me.  Mi Wol, London, UK

 

Want to share your 2011 lesson learned?  Share it in the comments section of this post!  Wishing you and yours a happy and peaceful  new year!

Becoming You: Get Time on Your Side – One Simple Rule and Question

 

 

 I intend to post about time management from time to time (pardon the pun!), and I’ll call this series of posts “Get Time on Your Side”.  Let’s start the series just in time for new year’s resolution season!

 

 

One of my favorite ways to manage time more effectively is to employ what I call One Simple Rule and Question.  Just live your life by the simple rule below, and when deciding whether to do something, ask yourself the simple question.

 

 

Simple Rule:  Choose activities based on your goals, mission, or purpose in life.  Don’t know your mission?  Write your own mission statement ASAP!

 

 

Simple Question:  Will this activity move me in the direction I want to go in life?  If the answer is no, don’t do it!

 

 

What do you think?  What’s your overall approach or strategy for time management?  Feel free to share your ideas in the Comments section. 

 

Wishing you a happy and peaceful new year!

What's Your Favorite...?: Stephen Geary Loves to Make ‘Em Laugh

 

 

In this series of posts, friends, family, colleagues, and network connections answer one question about their favorite something.  In each post, the favorite question, as well as the person who answers it, varies.

 

 

Up this week is Stephen Geary.  Stephen and I met nearly a decade ago – he and I were both training specialists at Delaware Investments, and today we are good friends.  He is a stand-up comedian in his spare time.  I asked him this question.

 

 

What’s your favorite thing about being a stand-up comedian?

 

 

Stephen’s Answer:  My favorite thing about being a stand-up comic, as some of your readers might have guessed, is simply making people laugh.  It’s almost too obvious, but the fact is that when a group of people is laughing together, there’s nothing but happiness in the room.  People aren’t thinking about the issues or the day (unless it’s what the comedian is joking about), and they’re not thinking about the challenges they face personally.  They’re in a room full of other laughing people who have also left their problems at the door for the duration of the show.  It’s like church, but with lots of curse words...

 

 

Thanks for sharing, Stephen!  You can contact Stephen at sag1015@gmail.com.

 

 

Now it’s your turn to answer the question – what’s your favorite thing about making others laugh?  Post your reply in the Comments section.  I look forward to your replies, and if you or someone you know would like to share a favorite, please contact me!

Becoming Interview: Amy Dinning – The Glue that Jump Starts Careers!

 

 

This week Amy Dinning is in the hot seat!  I met Amy through our mutual friend Brenda Grove, and I wanted to share with you all her love of education and helping others.

 

 

Tell us about a cool project you are currently working on.

I have two projects I would like to tell you about.  At work I am creating a year-long leadership development program for college recruits and early career employees.  The program is different because it incorporates a bunch of different ways to learn, not just classroom training.  It includes action learning projects, training courses, mentoring, a philanthropic team building exercise, encouraging innovation through improv, reflecting in a learning journal, learning directly from leaders, competency assessment and individual development plans, and utilizing an online collaboration tool.  It is quite fun and challenging to create.

 

The other project is my ministry.  I created a job search workshop called Jump Start Your Job Search last year to provide help and hope to those in job transition.  I assumed it would be a one-time program, but it has now been offered 4 times and I have acquired 3 corporate sponsors!  The participation has grown to over 120 people.  Jump Start came out of my own transition journey these past three years as I have worked contract positions while trying to find my next gig.  Brian, the author of this blog, was one of our fabulous presenters at this April’s workshop, and I have already started to plan for next April.

How would you describe yourself?  What words would you use?  What is your brand? 

My value proposition is to help others to grow and develop.  I am very motivated around helping people and making an impact.  I also believe that I am a connector – people to people, people to ideas or information.  One friend called me the “glue” since I am always the person who gets everyone together – I organize the reunions.

 

What are you passionate about? What type of work makes you jump out of bed in the morning and/or stay up late at night?

I am passionate about learning – my own learning and others learning.  I love to create an environment that is fun and interactive with lots of practical application.  I enjoy creating new training as well as facilitating and helping people to learn new skills and behaviors.

 

 

What is your source of inspiration?  What drives you forward?

My inspiration is God.  He created me with gifts and abilities that I want to use for his glory in my work life and my ministry.  I believe that I am the closest I have been to being fulfilled in what I am doing at work and with Jump Start.  I am most fully utilizing my gifts and abilities and really enjoying what I am doing and I feel very blessed.

 

  
How do you see yourself evolving, or "becoming", in the next year?  In the next 3 years?

 

 

I see myself more fully utilizing my gifts and abilities to honor God through my work and my ministry.  I have always wanted to do something that made a difference and helped people, and I think Jump Start Your Job Search is accomplishing that.  I want to grow in my abilities and continue to use my gifts to help others.

 

 

Thanks for your insights, Amy!

 

 

You can contact Amy via amydinning@juno.com.

 

 

Are you becoming, or do you know someone who is becoming?  I am always looking for the next becoming interview! 

Expanding Your World: Fall in Seoul, Change in You

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s fall, a time of change.  This week, I was fondly remembering Korea in fall - the beauty of the foliage and the cool, crispness of the air – and thought I would share three of my favorite fall pictures from Seoul.  The first is a view of the Han River in autumn’s last light; the second is a view to central Seoul from the summit of Bukhansan (Bukha Mountain); and the third is of a quiet street in Suwon, a smaller city about 30-45 minutes south of Seoul.

 

 

As the season changes, so do you.  So, here’s a reflection question to go along with the pictures – feel free to leave your answers here!

 

 

How are you changing this fall?

Becoming You: A Love Letter to My Home, Philadelphia

 

 

This week, I thought I’d push the envelope a little.  I believe a big part of “becoming you” is finding a place you can call home.  I have found that.  Here’s my love letter to my home.

 

 

Dear Philadelphia,

 

 

Thank you for being the city that loves me back.  And grows with me. 

 

 

For more than a decade, I have thrived here in the closet and out of the closet, depressed and at peace, as the general manager of a uniform company and as a corporate trainer, as a volunteer leader and as an adjunct professor, and as  Jew and as a Unitarian-Universalist.  My friends from Muhlenberg brought me to you, and even though many of them have left over the years, I remain.  I even lived in Korea on and off for 2 years, but I came back to you when all was said and done.  No matter where I’ve been, you’ve always loved me wherever I am.

 

 

Yes, you have evolved into a super hip mecca of amazing food, culture; yet, it’s your core that I love the most.  Here are my favorite things about you.

 

 

1.  Your revolutionary spirit, embodied best by the flame that burns eternally in Washington Square Park as a monument to the soldiers who gave their lives in the Revolutionary War.

 

2.  The way the river sparkles on a sunny fall afternoon as I run along the Schuykill River Trail (http://www.schuylkillrivertrail.com).

 

3. The wide smiles and kind words Jon and I are showered with whenever we enter our favorite Thai restaurant – you are truly a city of neighborhoods and neighbors (www.erawanphilly.com).

 

4.  Meandering through your Reading Terminal Market (http://www.readingterminalmarket.org) in search of new spices, sauces, and meals.

 

 

But my most favorite thing about you is that you brought Jon and me together.  I moved to your Center City for a new life fresh out of the closet, and Jon moved here for an education.  We both got those things, and on July 1, 2006, we got each other.  You helped me find my true home, Jon, in the southeast corner of your Rittenhouse Square Park.

 

 

No matter where the road takes us, I will always call you home.  Always.

 

Love,
Brian

 

 

Now it’s your turn.

 

Can you write a love letter to your home?  If yes, what would you say?  If not, why not?

 

Feel free to share your thoughts, and/or your own love letter, here.

 

What’s Your Favorite…?: Samir Pandya and Unconditional Love

 

 

I am excited to launch a whole new category of posts called What’s Your Favorite…?.  In this category, friends, family, colleagues, and network connections will answer one question about their favorite something.  In each post, the favorite question, as well as the person who answers it, will vary, and at the end of each post, I will turn the question over to you, my readers, who can share their answers to the question in the Comments section. 

 

 

I am launching this series because I want more positive energy in our world, and what better way to get that than to reflect on what we love most about life!

 

 

Let’s start with Samir Pandya.  Samir and I met nearly two decades ago at orientation before our first year at Muhlenberg College (www.muhlenberg.edu). I asked him this question.

 

 

What’s your favorite thing about being parent?

 

 

Samir’s Answer:  Sometimes when I come home at night, my two-year old son Aaryan runs at me with his arms wide open for a hug and crashes into my leg.  It’s completely unconditional love, and I love it.

 

 

Now it’s your turn to answer the question.  Post your reply in the Comments section.  I look forward to your replies, and look for more posts in this category soon!

Becoming You: We Are All Humans Becoming

 

 

This week I was reminded three times of one of my favorite truths – we are all humans becoming.  I will share the three blessings I witnessed or experienced and then ask you some reflection questions.

 

 

1. My partner Jon was informed his temporary job is now permanent!  You might be thinking that he is lucky in this economy.   Wrong!  Jon worked his butt off to prove his value each and every day – he was constantly evolving as a business analyst!  He has helped his company build a database of electronic records and move from worst to best in region on an annual audit.  Lesson learned – striving to continuously become pays off!

 

 

2. One of my best friends, with the help of doctors, helped identify a new medicine to treat a very debilitating illness.  She texted me that she has not felt this good in 20 years!  Why?  Because she never gave up on finding the right medicine.  Lesson learned – striving to continuously become improves your health!

 

 

3. The final situation is a personal one – I was informed this week that I won my department’s Adjunct Teaching Award for Excellence in the Classroom at Temple University’s Fox School of Business.  I was humbled and speechless, and joy and peace radiated from within me.  The point of sharing this is not to brag, but to tell you that it inspired me to continue improving my teaching!  For example, during this week’s class about appropriate and inappropriate workplace behaviors, we spent half an hour debating how sexual orientation should be treated in the workplace, and I really pushed them to challenge their assumptions and be more empathetic to anyone who is “different” than them.  They grew and changed right in front of my eyes.  Lesson learned – striving to continuously become changes lives!

 

 

So, now it’s your turn! 

 

How did you “become” today?

How can you “become” tomorrow?

Who and how do you impact others as a human becoming?

 

 

Feel free to post your answers here.  If not, compile your answers in a comfortable place and know that your journey as a human becoming, with all of its joys and struggles, changes our world for the better!

Building a Better Community: It’s Not Networking - It’s Making New Friends!

 

 

This week’s Philadelphia ASTD (American Society for Training and Development) meeting (www.astdphl.org) reminded me of one of my timeless beliefs about networking.  To me, this word means sharing business cards or working a room (or social media site) for your own advantage.  In contrast, when I go to networking events, I view meeting new people as the art of making new friends. 

 

 

Interested in making new friends?  Here are some tips I thought about sharing with you all as I was making new friends at this week’s ASTD meeting.

 

1. Go to fewer events.  I used to feel the need to go to as many networking events as I could.  If you are looking for work in particular, you should be meeting as many new contacts as possible, right?  I disagree!  Instead, identify 1-2 events per month (okay, 1 per week if you are in job search crisis mode!) in which the participants share your interests and/or values.  For example, at the aforementioned ASTD event, I got to spend time with people who share my love of education, hear some cutting-edge content about learning myths, and make 5 new friends!

 

2. Go to help others.  So many people go to networking events to find work or clients.  Would you want your first meeting with a friend to be all about you?  Absolutely not!  So, I recommend that you ask others what they are working on, listen intently, and think about ways you can help them.  If they are kind-hearted people who share your values, don’t worry – they’ll ask then or later how they can help you.  I am reminded of a passage we read each week at the Unitarian-Universalist church, and I am paraphrasing here, “I drink from wells I did not dig, and I am committed to digging wells for those who will come after me.”

 

 

3.  Practice friendship behaviors.  During the event, focus on shared interests.  For example, if there is a speaker, ask the person seated next to you what he/she thought of the speaker’s points.  After the event, treat people as new friends.  Would you send someone you wanted to be your new friend a lifeless template email asking him/her to join your LinkedIn network?  Absolutely not!  Instead, write about how much you enjoyed meeting him/her, discussing his/her work, and sharing common interests.

 

 

I’ll conclude by dedicating this post to the new pals I met at the ASTD event – Mike, Jennifer, Jim, Paul, Robert, and Carolyn, and to the old friends I reconnected with – Brenda and Diane! 

 

 

What are your tips for making new friends at networking events?  Share them here!  I wish you all the best in networking.  No, scratch that!  I wish you all the best in making new friends!

Becoming You: Leadership is Personal – Passion, Values, and Your Brand of Leadership

 

 

Welcome to the third installment of the series titled “Leadership Is Personal”, adapted from a training course I developed called “Your One-Hour Leadership Lab”.  I have facilitated the course for a variety of audiences, including training professionals in a Saturday morning American Society for Training and Development workshop and a worldwide conference for project managers in Denver, CO.  And the one takeaway I keep coming back to is that leadership is personal (hence the name of this series of posts!).   Throughout this series, I will ask you the questions I ask during the course’s small and large group activities.

 

 

Let’s continue the series with some questions about your passion, values, and brand of leadership.

 

 

• What are you passionate about? What types of activities ignite a spark within you?
• What are your uppermost values in life?  List 3-5 of them.
• Using your answers to the preceding questions, as well as what you have learned from the other posts in this series (i.e. the leader that moved you and the appreciative inquiry interview about a compelling team experience), develop your own personal definition of effective leadership.

 

For Example:  Some examples of values are integrity, honesty, commitment to excellence, and caring for others.

 

If you’re comfortable, post one or more of your answers above in the Comments section for this post.  I’d love to see us get a conversation going about passion, leadership, and personal definitions of leadership.

 

 

I’ll offer another post in this series soon!

Becoming You: Life Is Short

 

 

My normal walk to the commuter train brings me by an inner courtyard where my friend Chris McGinnis and I used to eat lunch together.  We are pals from Delaware Investments (I was a trainer there, and he worked in compliance), and earlier this year, we had a particularly memorable lunch - we not only shared our updates, but our future goals and dreams. 

 

 

Weeks later, Chris died suddenly.  

 

 

When I received the email about it, I literally had to catch my breath.  It knocked the wind out of me. 

 

 

Life is short. 

 

 

Tell your partner, spouse, family, and/or friends how much you value them.

Compliment one of their strengths.

Encourage them to dream big.

Tell them you love them.

 

I wish you and yours a healthy, happy, and peaceful life.

Becoming You: Leadership is Personal – A Compelling Team Experience

 

 

Welcome to the second installment of the series titled “Leadership Is Personal”, adapted from a training course I developed called “Your One-Hour Leadership Lab”.  I have facilitated the course for a variety of audiences, including training professionals in a Saturday morning American Society for Training and Development workshop and a worldwide conference for project managers in Denver, CO.  And the one takeaway I keep coming back to is that leadership is personal (hence the name of this series of posts!).   Throughout this series, I will ask you the questions I ask during the course’s small and large group activities.

 

 

Let’s continue the series with an appreciative inquiry interview about a time you participated on and/or led a team.  The appreciative inquiry approach encourages you to reflect on past successes and use them to reach future success.

 

• Think of a time when you were highly successful on a team, a time that you felt most energized, fulfilled, and effective and were able to accomplish more than you imagined.  What made it such a compelling experience?  Provide a quick summary of the team experience, the people involved, and how you achieved your goal(s).

 

• Without being too humble, what was it about YOU that contributed to the team’s success?  Describe the qualities and what you value about yourself that helped generate success.

 

• What was it about the team environment that enabled you to perform so well?

 

• It is one year from today, and your team is exceeding all of your expectations.  You are more successful than ever.  What does the success look and feel like?  What are you doing that has made you so successful?  How are you working differently, and what factors led to your success?

 

If you’re comfortable, post one or more of your answers above in the Comments section for this post.  I’d love to see us get a conversation going about compelling team experiences.

 

 

I’ll offer another post in this series soon!

 

 

Expanding Your World: A Chance to Pause - The Oregon Coast

 

 

It’s been a while since I offered an “Expanding Your World” post.  If you’re a newer reader, from time to time, I’ll post an inspirational picture from my travels.  In this post, we journey to the Pacific coast of Oregon.  Looking out at the vast Pacific Ocean always gives me pause; so, why don’t we take a pause together.  Here are some questions for the pause.

 

 

 

 

• What is the first thing you think of when you see this picture?  Why?
• Where does this picture make you want to travel to?  Why?
• How can you expand your own world?

 

 

Enjoy the pause, and hopefully some of you will post your responses! 

Becoming You: Leadership is Personal – A Leader That Moves You

 

 

Time for a new series of posts!  This one, called “Leadership Is Personal”, is adapted from a training course I developed called “Your One-Hour Leadership Lab”.  I have facilitated the course for a variety of audiences, including training professionals in a Saturday morning American Society for Training and Development workshop and a worldwide conference for project managers in Denver, CO.  And the one takeaway I keep coming back to is that leadership is personal (hence the name of this series of posts!).   Throughout this series, I will ask you the questions I ask during the course’s small and large group activities.

 

 

Let’s begin with the opening exercise – a leader that moves you.  Answer the following questions with pen and paper on your own, or post your replies here on this blog so that we can begin a robust discussion – whichever you are more comfortable with.  Start by writing the leader’s name (it can be anyone – from someone famous to your grandmother!), and then move onto answering these questions.

 

 

• What is it about that leader that moves you?  What are his or her characteristics?  What do you like about him or her?  Why?
• What does your choice of this leader as one that moves you say about you as a person? 
• Is there anything about him or her that you would change?  If so, what would you change and why?

 

 

Again, if you’re comfortable, post your reply in the Comments section for this post.  I’d love to see us get a conversation going about leaders that move us.

 

 

 

I’ll offer another post in this series soon!

Building a Better Community: Timeless Tips

 

 

Looking to build your network?  Need to nourish existing relationships?  I share below a sample of my timeless tips for building your support network.

 

 

• Seek to be interested, not interesting.  Dale Caregie’s advice is truly timeless.  Let people tell you their stories and find ways to help them.  Then, if it’s appropriate, share your own story.
• Serve with others.  I love to meet others when they’re at their best – doing community service, and you form a powerful bond with those who share your values.
• Make the first move.  When I meet someone for the first time and we agree to meet again for coffee or lunch, I don’t wait for an invitation.  The next time I am on email, I send him or her an invitation.
• Nourish relationships.  Don’t just reach out when you need something – look for selfless opportunities to stay connected, like sending a birthday e-card ).
• Stop thinking of it as “networking”.   It’s just about making new friends!

 

 

And invite you to add to this list with your own suggestions – post them here!   

Career Coach You: Your Best Day at Work

 

 

At my day job, we’re talking a lot about how to become a Best Place to Work, and I was recently struck by one of the questions we’re asking team members. 

 

 

Describe your best day at work.  What made it such a great day?

 

 

I love this question because it makes you focus on what you love about your job and/or what motivates you at work.  So, why not try answering this question?  I think it will help you get clarity about what drives you.

 

 

If you’re employed, it can help you more clearly identify the best part of your current job.  Perhaps you can engage your manager in a conversation about how to do more of what you love at work.

 

 

If you’re unemployed and looking for work, it can help you start thinking about work you could be passionate about and narrow your search.

 

 

Knowing my reader base, I am guessing you’d like to hear my answer to the question.  So, I’ll end with that.

 

 

My best day at work was when I won the Peer Choice Award on Delaware Investments’ broker operations team.  Praise from a manager is great, but being recognized by approximately 50 of your peers for doing what I love to do – educate and build community while helping others do, be, and feel better – was amazing.

Becoming Interview: Roger Zepernick, Padre Roger Still Changing the World

 

 

This week Roger Zepernick is in the hot seat!  I met Roger over a decade ago when I volunteered as a ESL tutor at North Philadelphia’s Centro Pedro Claver.  Roger is one of my favorite people on the planet.

 

 

Tell us about a cool project you are currently working on.

Pennsylvania has more “juvenile lifers” than any other state or country in the world.  A juvenile lifer is someone who was arrested under the age of 18 and given the sentence of “life without parole.”  The USA is the only UN member not to have signed an agreement to eliminate this sentence for people arrested in their youth.  As a member of the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Prison Society I have had an opportunity to be part of forming the Pennsylvania Coalition for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, which advocates for sentencing of youth which would allow for the opportunity for parole review after 10 to 20 years.  We believe that to solve the problem of youth violence in Pennsylvania we need to work with young people, improve their neighborhoods and schools, rather than to just concentrate on punishment.  The purpose is not to forget the pain of victims, but, to reduce the number of victims of youth violence in the “Commonwealth.”

How would you describe yourself?  What words would you use?  What is your brand? 

My “brand” includes the fact that I don’t like the modern use of the word ‘brand’ and the marketing schemes it seems to represent.  Some friends call me “country boy” or “Zeby,” not very sophisticated, but, sincere and caring.  Someone, years ago, wrote that I was a bit haggard, but, the kind of guy you would like to put your arm around and invite out for a beer.

What are you passionate about? What type of work makes you jump out of bed in the morning and/or stay up late at night?

I volunteer at a Spanish language Episcopal Church in Philadelphia where, based on my ordination in a Lutheran denomination, the people call me “Padre Roger.”  I enjoy that role working with people who care about one another and about the values of our faith and the fellowship of our congregation.  I also have six pretty neat children and six pretty neat grandchildren.  I get sort of fired up sometimes thinking about the environment that they will have to live in and the carelessness of growing centralized wealth in my country, growing without adequate regard for human values and environmental health.

 

What is your source of inspiration?  What drives you forward?

I know God through the relationships that I live with; family, friends, and community.  I confess my faith and its inspiration as a Christian, and see it in the life around me.

 

  
How do you see yourself evolving, or "becoming", in the next year?  In the next 3 years?

 

 

Well, I’ve sort of given up on the possibility of becoming sophisticated, no longer haggard.  I’m in retirement, and there are aches and pains.  But, I have years of relationships that I can draw on for some of the work opportunities I have, especially in the areas of criminal justice and education of our youth.

 

 

Thanks for your insights, Roger!

 

 

You can contact Roger via roger.zepernick@gmail.com.  

 

 

Are you becoming, or do you know someone who is becoming?  I am always looking for the next becoming interview! 

 

Becoming Interview: Lisa Waldman – Empowered to Dream

 

 

This week Lisa Waldman is in the hot seat!  I was introduced to Lisa by Jill Meehan, a colleague who recently participated in one of my seminars.

 

 

Tell us about a cool project you are currently working on.

I am currently finishing up a 6-month teleclass to become a certified life and career coach and also starting my own coaching business, Empowered to Dream Coaching.

How would you describe yourself?  What words would you use?  What is your brand? 

Before embarking on this new journey, which came as a result of a job loss due to the economy, I would have used words like fearful, safe, comfortable, routine, structured; however since beginning this adventure I have taken risks to accomplish my goals and dreams and instead of letting fear paralyze me from moving forward, I have done what needed to be done even when I was afraid of failing or making a mistake (believe me I have made many and learned from them what not to do the next time).  I have tried new things and found passion in watching others be released in the same ways.

What are you passionate about? What type of work makes you jump out of bed in the morning and/or stay up late at night?

My passion is in seeing others be empowered to identify and face obstacles in their lives holding them back and overcome them to live lives they have only dreamed of.  I love being a cheerleader for people who have lost hope or vision or are stuck and need someone to walk along side of them and encourage and support them.  However, to be transparent and real, I have to admit that in the early stages of this transition and even still sometimes now, getting out of bed with no plan or structure for the day has been a struggle; but what energizes me and gets me going is thinking about learning more how to help others reach their goals and how to find those people who need that help.  

What is your source of inspiration?  What drives you forward?

As a Christian, my source of inspiration is definitely knowing that there is a bigger plan than what I see and even when I don't know what tomorrow holds, I know who holds tomorrow.  I have seen God's hand through this process in so many ways, from waking up one morning with the name of my business on my lips to deciding on my current fee structure and so much more.  Knowing that He is leading me and guiding one step at a time, I am myself empowered to move forward with expectation and excitement of all that lies ahead.

  
How do you see yourself evolving, or "becoming", in the next year?  In the next 3 years?

 

I see myself becoming empowered first to live the life I was born to live and second to help others to do the same.  I see myself as a successful coach with a prosperous coaching business.   I see many 'clients' achieving their goals and moving forward.

 

 

Thanks for your insights, Lisa!

 

 

You can contact Lisavia www.empoweredtodream.com or eliswaldman@comcast.net.

 

 

Are you becoming, or do you know someone who is becoming?  I am always looking for the next becoming interview! 

Career Coach You: What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

 

 

A friend at work recently posed the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  I think this question is an outstanding one for career coaching.  So, I’ll provide my answer below, and you can provide your answer in the comments section for this blog.  Sound good?

 

 

Here goes…

 

 

“When I grow up, I want to be a passionate educator who builds community and makes a difference in the lives of others”.

 

 

What do you want to be when you grow up?  Comment here!

 

 

As always, I wish you all the best on your career journey!