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November 16th, 2012
 Innovation. It’s a buzzword. But, if we dig deeper and elaborate a bit more, the term takes on a much greater significance. In this case, we’re talking about Innovative Leadership.
How important is this in education? Critical.
When you have more to do with fewer resources, innovative leadership makes people the focus. If executed properly, this matrix diminishes the limiting beliefs touted across all levels of an organization.
In his book, “The Reinventors: How Extraordinary Companies Pursue Radical, Continuous Change,” Jason Jennings highlights the pitfalls of accepting the status quo. He vehemently rejects the idea of “leaving things alone,” even if an organization is doing perfectly well for themselves.
The bottom line: innovators actively seek improvement.
If there’s an environment of indifference in embracing or rejecting ideas before they’ve even been heard, you’re losing out on innovation opportunities.
“Creative activity could be described as a type of learning process where teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.” — Arthur Koestler
Recently, IBM conducted a poll of roughly 1,500 CEO’s and found that the apex of leadership over the next five years is, you guessed it, CREATIVITY. Forbes Magazine propelled this notion into the mainstream when they published their list of the world’s most innovative companies. The news-maker begged the question, “Why are some companies able to create and sustain a high innovation premium while others don’t?”
They uncovered 3 principle caveats:
PEOPLE, PROCESSES, AND PHILOSOPHIES
“You don’t understand anything unless you understand there are at least 3 ways.” — M. Minsky
Much to the avail of Minsky, innovative leaders leverage the 3 P’s based on human economics. Leaders lead through their behavior and how they “show up” each and every day.
PEOPLE will follow suit based on this culture of consistency. Leaders also understand how innovation unfolds, imprinting this knowledge-base as PROCESSES to streamline an organization. And, in the most rudimentary sense, the PHILOSOPHY behind any great leader can be construed by their actions.
As you reflect upon these leadership leverage points, consider the vast difference between being vs. doing in your organizations. How are you maximizing your leadership leverage points to increase innovation in your schools?
Susan Gonzales, MA.Ed, CPC, PCC, ELI-MP
Vice President, Coach Training Programs
Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC)
This is the second in a series of blogs addressing topics for today’s educational leaders. Check back for more postings.
(SOURCE: Four Rules for Innovative Leadership, Entrepreneur.com)
Tags: creativity, education, leadership, opportunity, workforce engagement
Posted in leadership, Susan Gonzales - Vice President, Coach Training Programs, C.O.O.
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November 12th, 2012
 Nurturing your body through regular exercise and proper nutrition is vital for keeping your body in the best shape it can be and for becoming the best version of yourself. It’s a matter of connecting the choices you make with the outcomes you really want.
One way to begin shifting your perspective on exercise is to link it to who you are – to your values.
Is fun one of your values? Then make exercising a fun activity for you.
Is having time alone something you value? Then look at exercise as time for you – time you can be with yourself.
Is music something you love? Then combine exercise with music to help you enjoy it.
How do you connect the choices you make with what you really want?
—Bruce D Schneider, MCC, PhD
Founder, Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC)
(Today’s blog is excerpted from iPEC’s self-mastery personal development program, The Law of Being.)
Tags: attitude, choice, creativity, happiness, self-improvement
Posted in Bruce D Schneider - iPEC Founder
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May 23rd, 2012
The most difficult part of writing is drafting the first sentence. Believe it or not, those eleven words you just read took about fifteen minutes to put together. Oh, I knew what I wanted to write about. I had my plan as to where this blog was going, but I needed to think of a powerful first line to capture your attention – the perfect start that would inspire you to continue on to the next sentence. And the one after that, and the one after that, and so on. But how could writing eleven words take so long? Basically, I was thinking about it too much. I couldn’t make a decision because I was thinking and not creating.
Creating has a different energy than deciding. Deciding says, “I’ve got a process; I’ve got to think this over.” It’s a way we procrastinate and try to think it all out, whereas creating allows us to look deep inside and realize that we already knew what we wanted to do. When we trust in ourselves; when we conquer those areas of our minds where fear, doubt, insecurity, and anxiety live; when we learn to trust ourselves, that’s when we reach the place where it’s almost like creation on demand. We’re in the flow. We’re at ease. We’re in motion before we even realize we started moving. We’re already taking action. It’s a seamless movement: from feeling the thought to committing the action. It’s like one big boom that comes from a high level of trusting ourselves.
In your heart, there exists faith, trust, and love; everything is pure. So when you have a feeling, by definition, it’s pure, it’s real, it’s you. The distance between your heart and your head is about a foot and a half. In that foot and a half, your feelings go through a long process of deliberation. We sort through them. We waste time and energy analyzing them – analyzing what we already know is true and pure and real!
We think, “Oh, is this gonna work for this? But what about this?” And it’s complete agony. But, when we put the faith and trust in ourselves and begin acting, then we’re creating! Acting before we think. How that’s for a philosophy?
Live on Fire!
D. Luke Iorio, CPC, PCC, ELI-MP
President & CEO
Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC)
Tags: attitude, change, choice, creativity, opportunity
Posted in D. Luke Iorio - iPEC CEO, leadership
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April 18th, 2012
“How might this work?” This is how a coach (or Coach Centric Leader™) tends to approach new ideas, information, and feedback.
When we receive new information, feedback (and even feedback that isn’t exactly what we want… ever gotten that?) or a new idea that’s thrown our way that directly challenges how we typically or always have done something, our first thought is to resist – to justify our view or way of doing things.
However, since you already know that script by memory and can recite it quite well on cue, I encourage you to instead ask, “How might we do this?”
Seriously, take that challenging idea or the feedback to do things differently. Clarify it, if need be; make sure you fully understand it and where it’s coming from and why, so that you can think it through and ask, “IF we were to do this, how might this work?”
Most people are afraid to think through a new idea in this manner because they assume others will perceive them as agreeing to, or accepting, what the other person has said and, may then have to move forward on it. This isn’t the case at all. This is just about thinking something through. Now, you may have just read that and are about to say, “Well of course that makes sense; this is simple, who wouldn’t do that?” Well, the truth is: most people. Most people can build their resistance wall in 0.2 seconds and do not want to be misconstrued as “agreeing” with the other person.
So then, name your intention. Say “Hey, I’m not sure if I agree with you, but let’s talk this through.”
This is part of fully understanding anything – considering what it would look like, how it could come to fruition, and what might be accomplished. Now, you have more information to decide if it gets you to where you want to go and may even be a better path than the one you’ve chosen. And, better yet, what happens most of the time is that the new idea isn’t quite on target, but it sparks a conversation into which two or more people dive and find a new way that really does work a lot better.
To make a decision, you need to think through where that decision leads. You need to follow through the course of action and events that will reasonably follow that decision.
In considering “how might we…,” you give yourself more options, and then the decision you make is one you can completely commit to, engage in, and be resolved with to follow through.
Live on Fire!
D. Luke Iorio, CPC, PCC, ELI-MP
President & CEO
Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC)
Tags: Add new tag, choice, creativity, intentions, new perspective, possibilities
Posted in D. Luke Iorio - iPEC CEO
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December 21st, 2011
Yes, YOU.
You who’s been putting off that big decision (you know the big one that requires change and transition) or that difficult conversation because you don’t want to upset the other person or don’t know how to have the conversation without it getting heated or causing an argument.
But wait, there’s you, too. Yes, YOU.
You who’s been thinking about undertaking that new project that’ll get you ahead, which you’re excited about, but you know a lot of people will be watching to see how you do and what makes you sweat.
It doesn’t matter how big or how small, there’s likely something that’s important to you right now, in some way, which you’re avoiding or putting off. You may not be clear on what to do; you may be worried about some of the potential consequences (you know, the vivid and wonderfully creative stories of worst case scenarios that you’ve had running in the back of your mind). You may simply be afraid that it won’t work out as expected, even though you really, really want it to.
That’s life. It wants to be lived. It wants you to step into the moment and actually be there; be there in the moment — present, fully engaged, playing full out! Life doesn’t have regrets, but you may if you don’t take action – if you don’t jump in and play.
Life won’t always (or even most of the time) go as expected. Big surprise. Get back up and put your confidence in the way you want to live your life, instead of life needing to be a certain way in order for you to enjoy it. The joy is in the living; it’s in the process.
Whatever part of life is waiting for you, consider what small step you could take to get it moving again. What’s one giant leap you could take? What’s something in the middle that feels right – in terms of action, progress, and process?
Stop waiting; Live on Fire!
D. Luke Iorio, CPC, PCC, ELI-MP
President & CEO
Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC)
Tags: achievement, choice, creativity, intentions, motivation, new perspective, opportunity, power of choice
Posted in D. Luke Iorio - iPEC CEO, leadership
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