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September 12th, 2011
This week, I’ll stray from my traditional messages to share a story I heard — and love.
His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.
The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman’s sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.
“I want to repay you,” said the nobleman. “You saved my son’s life.”
“No, I can’t accept payment for what I did,” the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer’s own son came to the door of the family hovel.
“Is that your son?” the nobleman asked.
“Yes,” the farmer replied proudly.
“I’ll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my own son will enjoy. If the lad is anything like his father, he’ll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of.” And that he did. Farmer Fleming’s son attended the very best schools and, in time, graduated from St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.
Years afterward, the same nobleman’s son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia. What saved his life this time? Penicillin. The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son’s name? Sir Winston Churchill.
Someone once said: What goes around comes around.
—Bruce D Schneider, MCC, Founder
Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC)
Tags: achievement, finding purpose, possibilities
Posted in Bruce D Schneider - iPEC Founder, Life Potentials, Monday Morning Motivation
4 Comments »
April 8th, 2011
In the spirit of the pending shut down by our government, I felt moved to point out what a wonderful job they’re doing in being role models for how NOT to make progress.
Now, please bear in mind, both political parties are using the same, traditional, negotiating handbook that’s been used for decades (perhaps centuries now). They’re following the playbook to the letter. But times have changed. Not sure about that? Pick up a copy of the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Inc., or any other publications covering the culture change that’s closing in on the business community.
Transparency, collaboration (not consensus!), open-minded solution seeking, and alignment/reconciliation (of values, agendas, perspectives) are key aspects of the new leadership paradigm, and the revised negotiating handbook – to which, apparently, politicians haven’t yet been exposed. (No doubt they’d benefit from some powerful coaching!)
So, without further ado, if you want to negotiate in a manner that erodes trust, entrenches other parties in their perspectives, and burns bridges to solutions, then please follow these steps:
Step 1: Make sure to use public pressure to paint the opposition as the problem and discredit their intentions whenever possible.
Step 2: Don’t let the other party find out your real agenda or key hot button issues.
Step 3: Be sure to add on issues that everyone knows are for show, only to use as “concessions.”
Step 4: Be sure to add unrelated issues to the negotiation to leave your opponents bewildered as to why those issues are even being discussed at this time.
Step 5: Make the negotiation about power and making your opponent lose, as opposed to seeking solutions that align the sides.
Step 6: Absolutely focus only on the differences and gaps in perspective and not the similarities and relative proximity of opinions.
Step 7: Ignore or discredit any solutions that “your side” didn’t think of.
There are many more we could add from recent examples… but this a blog after all, not a novel.
We’ll publish some Coach Centric™ negotiation tips next week – but beware, using them usually leads to win-win solutions, trust, buy-in, and results that get both sides excited.
Live on Fire!
D. Luke Iorio, CPC, PCC, ELI-MP
President & CEO
Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC)
Tags: attitude, coaching skills, Government shutdown, leadership, Negotiating, new perspective, possibilities, success
Posted in D. Luke Iorio - iPEC CEO, Life Potentials, Networking, leadership
2 Comments »
March 23rd, 2011
Remember, life can never take from you, your response-ability – your ability to respond. This is why it’s personal to me; I hope it is to you as well.
When the doctor told Bruce D Schneider, founder of iPEC, that at 18 years of age – after being nearly crushed in a car accident, thanks to a drunk driver – he would likely never walk again, he could have succumbed to the mental anguish and believed the doctor. Instead, after failing repeated tests to prove the doctor wrong, he succeeded when no one else (but he) believed that he could. Just several days later, he walked out of the hospital, on crutches, but on his terms. He went on to become a highly competitive athlete, and to launch an institute that became a movement.
Bruce’s response-ability was not only to live a healthy life, but to make a difference doing so.
When the oncologist told my grandfather, Bill Roether, a marine-engineer, that he had a very rare and advanced form of lung cancer, he was also told he had four months to live — if he was lucky. He could have completely given up and waited for his life to end; instead, he moved himself and his wife across the country, so they could be with their family. He built her a house, got her moved in, and even provided me with my own personal Tuesdays with Morrie (er, Bill) sessions. He lived more than 18 months, and passed away just a week after my grandmother received the keys to her new house. I’m not sure whether he or us laughed more in our lives than during those 18 months. He’d go, but it’d be on his terms.
My grandfather’s response-ability was to live the remainder of his life as productively and as joyfully as possible. With that choice, he not only extended his life by more than a year, he forever changed my life as well.
These stories have touched me directly and personally, but, at the same time, it’s the everyday stories that inspire me most.
It’s the single mom who, in the face of mounting pressure and seemingly endless bills, takes the time to finish her degree, online, while also making sure to never miss reading bedtime stories to her son or helping him with his homework.
That’s yet another example of life showing me that I always have the chance to be clear and resolved on how I will live MY life.
It’s the rising number of women who have faced, and overcome, infertility in their own way – through persevering, through finding purpose in their struggles, or, perhaps, through adoption. Their response-ability is to choose to live life through loving, learning, and moving forward.
Think of these people in your life — those who recognize their response-ability and decide to do something with it. Take notice of them. Let their lives and their stories, inspire you.
Feel free to post those stories here, in the Comments, or share them on our Facebook page. If these stories inspire you, please let them inspire us too.
Until next time, Live on Fire!
D. Luke Iorio, CPC, PCC, ELI-MP
President & CEO
Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC)
Tags: achievement, attitude, coach training, finding purpose, intentions, leadership, life coach training, new perspective, personal achievement, power of choice, self-improvement, success
Posted in Business Development, Coaching and Coach Training, D. Luke Iorio - iPEC CEO, Energy Leadership, Life Potentials, leadership
1 Comment »
March 18th, 2011
Achievement is always fueled by one key ingredient: YOU!
Your values and your purpose provide motivation. Your passion generates energy. Your commitment creates resolve. Your strengths enable progress. And, in combination with alignment, these all generate effortless performance and calculable results.
When was the last time you looked at your values, purpose, passion, energy, commitment, and strengths to determine how well aligned they were?
‘How do I know if they’re aligned?’ you ask? Great question!
Start with your purpose – that clear vision that you want to accomplish. How well does that purpose, or that vision, represent your values? How much energy and passion does it create inside of you, just visualizing it? How committed are you to achieving it?
Napoleon Hill said you should have a “burning desire” for the fulfillment of your purpose. How well does that describe you? What strengths do you have that are brought out in this work?
How well aligned are you? What do you need to adjust?
Don’t put this off. Align YOURSELF. Reread the formula above and compare it to your life, adjusting where you see fit. This will give you a chance to play the game with FULL ENGAGEMENT – fully bought in, fully aligned, fully committed, fully energized.
How much fun could you have living life like that? How little effort would “work” feel like?
What on earth are you waiting for?
Live on Fire!
D. Luke Iorio, CPC, PCC, ELI-MP
President & CEO
Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC)
Tags: attitude, become a coach, coach training, expectations, intentions, iPEC Coaching, leadership, life coach training, opportunity, personal achievement, perspective, possibilities, power of choice, self-improvement, workforce engagement
Posted in Business Development, D. Luke Iorio - iPEC CEO, Life Potentials, leadership
No Comments »
March 9th, 2011
The catch phrase of the month (and certainly for the first two months of 2011) seems to be Charlie Sheen’s “Winninnnggg!” Now, this isn’t going to be a Sheen-like rant, but let’s take a look at what winning is really about.
Winning can be equated to the vague and illustrious word “success.” And coaches – whether a Certified Professional Coach, a life coach, an executive coach, an internal coach, a Coach Centric Leader,™ or a Coach Centric Educator™ – define what winning is at all times, in specific terms.
One of the things I do with clients, and what our team here at iPEC tries to do at all times, is make sure we’re clear on what we’re trying to accomplish.
To be “clear” means that we take everyone’s unique and differing perspectives and understanding of “winning” into account. We talk about it. We discuss what it looks like to us. And, we acknowledge what it looks like to others.
Once you create a vivid, 3D picture of “winning” in the minds of others, you can ask everyone how committed they are to achieving it. You can’t commit to winning, and you can’t ask others to commit to it, unless you and they know what that win looks like.
But wait! One last element to the winning formula that coaches and Coach Centric Leaders and Educators create - they don’t define the “win” solely as a destination. Almost everyone thinks of a goal as the end result only.
Coaches help their clients, employees, colleagues, and even students, define the process of achievement. How you’re going to be, how you’re going to communicate, how you’re going to adapt, how you’re going to perceive, how you’re going to relate to others. The process is about how you show up. Showing up the way you intend – putting your best effort in, putting your best self forward – that’s what creates “Winninnnggg!”
We need the end result in mind, of course. We want to know where we’re going to end-up. How else would we be able to chart our course? But, pay attention to the journey - to the process of achieving that much sought after win. It’s the process that will get you there and, it’s the process (and the adaptability and flexibility you exhibit in that process) that provides focus, clarity, and control along the way.
So, HOW do you win?
Live on Fire!
D. Luke Iorio, CPC, PCC, ELI-MP
President & CEO
Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC)
Tags: attitude, coach training, coaching skills
Posted in Business Development, Coaching and Coach Training, D. Luke Iorio - iPEC CEO, Energy Leadership, Life Potentials, leadership
2 Comments »
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