by Caroline Leach | Jan 31, 2025 | Leadership
Just weeks ago, the year seemed shiny, new, and full of possibilities. So much has happened since then. As a result, what’s important for leaders?
Pondering this question reminded me of a talk I gave with Tom Larsen last fall at the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Tom and I spoke about executive presence for Executive MBA students. Tom leads the EMBA Career Strategy & Development Team, and I’m an executive coach for students in the program.
As Tom shared, executive presence is about a feedback loop:
1️⃣ PLANNING: how do you want to show up?
2️⃣ EXECUTION: how are you showing up?
3️⃣ REFLECTION: how did you show up?
4️⃣ IMPROVE: what do you want to change?
How are you executing and showing up when business moves faster and becomes more complex each day?
As leaders, we need to move quickly and easily, even and especially in difficult situations.
It’s about BEING AGILE, moving speedily and seamlessly, and being adaptable, responsive, and effective in the face of rapid and unprecedented change and uncertainty.
Here’s what I shared with students about agility:
👉 Don’t get stuck on or too attached to points of view or courses of action.
👉 Pay attention to what’s going on around you – with your team, organization, industry, and the world – and how that may impact your priorities and focus areas.
👉 Be flexible, and bend in the wind – don’t be rigid and break in the wind.
Related to that is the Italian concept of “sprezzatura.” It’s an effortless grace and the art of making the difficult appear easy. It’s maintaining calmness and nonchalance while executing complex tasks. And it links to agility by having a light touch and not being too attached to the outcome.
To do this well requires that you take good care of yourself, so you have the capacity and the wherewithal to pivot and spring into action when needed.
How are YOU being agile as a leader?
by Caroline Leach | Apr 30, 2024 | Work/Life
“There’s a reason we are drawn
to gazing at the ocean.
It is said the ocean provides
a closer reflection of who
we are than any mirror.”
-Rick Rubin, author of The Creative Act: A Way of Being
What gives YOU a closer reflection of who you are?
by Caroline Leach | Mar 31, 2024 | Learning
How can you use AI more often in your daily work? 🤖
I’ve been contemplating how to best use AI in my communication, consulting, and coaching business.
And it feels a bit overwhelming at times.
When that happens, I break things down into simple steps.
What’s the easiest way to start?
For me it’s been using the existing AI features in my business and personal tech stack – all the digital tools I use frequently.
Most everything has AI features, so increasingly I’m using them. Just a few:
1. LinkedIn: rewrite with AI
2. iStockPhoto: AI generator
3. MS Teams: speaker coach
In the last example, I’m now using the Speaker Coach feature of Microsoft Teams in meetings where I’m presenting.
Speaker Coach analyzes your speaking along six dimensions:
1. Filler words
2. Pace
3. Inclusiveness
4. Intonation
5. Monologue
6. Repetitive language
It sends a private report just to you as the user right after the meeting.
A sample report from a client meeting is below.
During the meeting, I got a private notification that I was speaking too fast.
Although it was momentarily jarring, it helped me slow down in the moment.
Filler words are also a challenge for me. Too often I say “like” and “you know” that can detract from my message.
In this client meeting, I used filler words 6 times.
In a bigger presentation later the same day? Only 1 time.
So AI is helping me be a better speaker. And a better communication coach for other leaders.
How is AI helping you do better work? Drop a comment 👇
by Caroline Leach | Jan 28, 2024 | Change, Learning
How do you learn to do something new?
Not by thinking, planning, or strategizing.
Instead, we learn simply by doing the new thing.
We learn by being okay feeling uncomfortable and awkward.
We learn by experimenting and having a beginner’s mindset.
Over the weekend, I was reminded of this.
One of my new endeavors for the year is taking adult ballet classes.
It’s been decades since I studied dance almost daily as a teen.
My mind remembers, but my body needs to re-learn how to do the steps.
Our instructor told the packed classroom at the outset, “the way to learn to dance … is to dance.”
So simple. Yet maybe it’s not the first thought when we start something new.
It could be anything new, whether it’s leading, marketing, designing, or something else.
For those who follow me, you know I’m learning to speak Spanish.
This year I’m also learning more about AI. I’m curious about how to better apply it to my work communicating, coaching, and leading.
One of the cool new LinkedIn tools is “rewrite with AI.” So this post appears in two versions, A and B. What resonates with you in each post and why? Drop a comment and let me know. 👇
This is Version A, written by me.
_____________________________
This is Version B, rewritten with AI.
How do you learn to do something new? Not by overthinking, but by simply doing. We learn by embracing the discomfort of being a beginner and experimenting with a beginner’s mindset. This weekend, I was reminded of this while taking adult ballet classes. Though it’s been decades since I last danced daily, my instructor reminded us that “the way to learn to dance…is to dance.” It’s a simple concept, yet one we often overlook when starting something new. Whether it’s learning a new language like Spanish or exploring the possibilities of AI, the key is to take action and learn by doing. So what new skill are you looking to tackle this year? Share in the comments below.
__________
P.S. One of the most fascinating learnings from this “rewrite with AI” experiment? I did it 3 times as I made slight edits to my post, and each time the rewrite was fairly different. Trying to decide what to make of that.
by Caroline Leach | Dec 28, 2023 | Change, Work/Life
How was your 2023? What are your hopes for 2024?
Here’s a fun and easy exercise to consider both. It’s called “The Wheel of Life,” from the the Co-Active Training Institute.
Pick a number between 1 and 10 for your satisfaction in these areas of your life (1 is the lowest and closest to the center of the wheel; 10 is the highest and closest to the outer edge of the wheel):
- Career
- Family and friends
- Significant other
- Fun and recreation
- Health
- Money
- Personal growth
- Physical environment
Feel free to modify the categories if you like.
Each category is like a wedge or a slice of pie in the wheel.
Plot your numbers around the wheel and then connect the dots.
The purpose? To see how smooth or bumpy your ride of life is.
The bigger the variation in numbers among categories, the bumpier the ride.
You can also use this to reflect on:
- What’s going well in your life?
- What would you like to improve?
- What actions will increase your satisfaction?
The wheel of life is one of the first exercises I learned in coach training at CTI.
It was fun to revisit it today with year-end reflection and year-ahead planning.
What are your reflection and planning rituals? Would love to know in a comment!
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