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To say yes, first we have to say no. No to the other things that would require our time and attention. Yes to the things we want to pursue.
This podcast has morphed as my life and career have morphed. It’s never been a drastic change, but over time a change in just a few degrees alters the outcome significantly. It’s time to morph once more. And I have my reasons.
Reason Number 1
Over the past dozen years or so my coaching career has shifted from hardcore business-oriented work where I focused almost solely on the trifecta of business building: getting new customers, serving existing customers better, and not going crazy in the process. My roots are steeped in business. Selling, marketing, managing, operating, leading – these are activities I’ve engaged in for almost 50 years. They’re second nature pursuits.
Shortly after I began coaching I noticed a bit of a shift in the requests, the things clients wanted me to help them figure out. Things like succession planning, how to work with family members, how to train emerging leaders – these kinds of things began to bubble up more and more.
Over the past few years, about a year prior to the Pandemic, I’ve increasingly worked with local city government leaders where the trifecta of business building isn’t in place. Serving customers (citizens) is the only part of the trifecta that really applies to the space of local city employees. These are not elected officials, but rather, they’re the professional leaders and staff members who do the work given to them by the elected officials, a city council.
Reason Number 2
We manage the work. We lead the people. All the work focused on both sides of this same coin. My view of it was being “an operator.” Great operators know how to both manage and lead. Well.
Most folks dub such work as “leadership,” but I saw a distinction between it all. Good leaders may not be good managers. Good managers may lack superior leadership abilities. In my experience, the best operators were both good leaders and managers. I was yearning to no longer be bound by the term “leadership” coach. And “executive” coach seems too pretentious, especially when tasked to serve a client who didn’t see himself as “an executive.”
Reason Number 3
For many years I’ve taught clients that leadership is a two-fold endeavor: influence and a focus on others. Over and over I continued to focus on that word, “influence.” Daily I worked to help clients influence their own behaviors and performance…then, to influence the growth in others. Sometime last winter I was feeling the increasing urge to shift away from pursuits that weren’t congruent with what I most cared about – helping people have a greater impact by influencing growth in themselves and others.
When The Epiphany Arrives, Listen!
Influence.
High impact.
Making a positive difference.
That was THE work.
That needed to become the focus of the podcast, too.
Stay tuned for more details…especially about a brand new 90-day online course with live Zoom coaching session with me.
About the hosts: Randy Cantrell brings over 4 decades of experience as a business leader and organization builder. Lisa Norris brings almost 3 decades of experience in HR and all things "people." Their shared passion for leadership and developing high-performing cultures provoked them to focus the Grow Great podcast on city government leadership.
The work is about achieving unprecedented success through accelerated learning in helping leaders and executives "figure it out."