Focus on What's Possible

Fear is only useful if it keeps us safe from harm. Otherwise, it drains our energy - preventing us from moving forward in very difficult situations. When the way ahead is uncertain, clients often ask me: What will it be like when I get on the other side of this challenge? I respond that I know it will be better and easier because I've traveled this path so many times with other courageous clients like them.

When leaders navigate ambiguity, sometimes all they can leverage is their courage. That courage - coming from the heart - enables them to hold on as they inch forward. This incremental progress is smarter than leaping forward because the prevailing winds of change would blow them off course.

Courage is Contagious

I agree with Ben Zander...Leaders never doubt the capacity of the people they lead to believe in a shared vision. I also know that who you are as a person is who you are as a leader. So if you want to feel more courageous as a leader, ask yourself these big picture questions about the challenges you face.

• When I stop focusing on what's not possible, what possibilities do I see?
• Where is the opportunity in the challenge that confronts me?
• What possibility am I ready to live into?

Have your staff and teams ask the same questions - changing the "I" and "me" in these questions to "we" and "us." Notice the fertile ideas that emerge and the re-energized focus available to implement what is most likely to work. 

Is Your Attitude Asset-based? 

Have you noticed that women in business are prone to use more self-defeating language than men? That's because when it comes to their abilities, women tend to err on the side of modesty rather than express themselves with an asset-based attitude.

Years of coaching female executives and entrepreneurs have taught me that often successful women do not appreciate how good they are at what they do. Instead, they undervalue their accomplishments and discount the value of their leadership.

Elevating your attitude to asset-based infuses you with energy and confidence. You learn to leverage what works well for you and savor the satisfaction you get from your remarkable achievements.

Which attitude describes your professional and personal attitudes about yourself and your leadership?

A Secret of Successful Business Women 

Look at your audacious achievements! Do you secretly hope no one finds out that you're not what your hard-won success declares you to be? If so, you may be suffering from a super-achiever malaise called the Imposter Syndrome. So many highly successful women have feelings of inadequacy that books have been written on this Fake Syndrome for the last 30 years. These feelings are rooted in the belief that you are not good enough. Well...Who told you that? And why do you still believe it?

Oprah Took Marianne Williamson's Advice

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Prepare for an Emergency Landing

4 bells - a signal that I had to go immediately to the airplane cockpit. I entered and saw the flight engineer's face. He looked like he'd just seen his life flash before him. As I sat in the jumpseat behind the Captain, he told me there was a "problem with the flaps." Since I was #1 Flight Attendant, my role was to tell the cabin crew and then lead them in by-the-book procedures. I made all of the prerequisite announcements to the passengers so the flight attendants could prepare them and the aircraft cabin for an emergency landing at JFK. 

Leadership Attitude 

I'm what you would call a natural leader. It's in my DNA. I even went to college on a 4-year leadership scholarship. Why do I tell you this? So you'll understand that being a leader in this airplane emergency was the best role for me. My leadership reflexes and instincts directed passengers to remain calm. When a flight attendant working her first trip expressed fear, I reminded her that she had just passed rigorous emergency training and FAA certification. She would just put into practice what she had learned. It never occurred to me to think negatively about the situation. Instead, I was fully present - focused on making sure everything was ready for the safest possible evacuation of passengers and cabin crew.

Attitude is a Choice

What worked for me in that emergency at altitude can be practiced wherever you are. 

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10 Characteristics of Savvy Business Women

What good is success if it doesn't sustain you? Or as one client of mine put it, "I want to know how to cope with a job that does not fit with being a person." Sustainable success need not cost you what is priceless about you. 

Instead, try on for size 10 characteristics of savvy business women who have built and run thriving enterprises. As you read this list, notice what naturally and effortlessly fits you.

Where Are You On The List?

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