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I’m Dr. Joni Carley, a
leadership coach, consultant and
speaker. And this is my blog. It’s dedicated to creating the work you love, the life you desire, and the world we all want to live in.
I have the privilege of coaching and consulting with extraordinary clients throughout the US, Canada and the UK - all in the same day because I work mostly by phone with individuals and MasterMind groups. I also work at the United Nations on creating a values-driven international community.
All of my work, including this blog, Wisdom at Work ↔ Wisdom in the World, is dedicated to helping people:
- capitalize on your vision, passion, good work, and determination to maintain the leaderful edge
- close the gaps between where you are and where you want to be
- align life and livelihood
- develop a healthy triple bottom line: people, profit, planet
- develop legacy leadership.
Wisdom at Work ↔ Wisdom in the World connects the dots between the leaderful edge and best practices, science, current events, economics, politics, philanthropy, philosophy, ethics, spirituality/consciousness, and human potential/ forward evolution. I promise you a highly stimulating, deeper cut on what’s going on in the world and how it impacts your professional path as well as the greater good.
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Tags: executive coaching, leaders, leadership coach, leadership coaching, professional coach, success, United Nations, values-driven leadership, Welcome, Wisdom at Work
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You are not here merely to make a living: You are here to enable the world to live amply, with greater vision and with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world and you impoverish yourself if you forget that errand. - Woodrow Wilson
And entrepreneurs have always done just that - with a unique “spirit of hope and achievement.” More and more people are turning toward entrepreneurship now that the economy’s tanked in their own sectors. Although many are in more of a forced entrepreneurship than the labor of love that’s often the entrepreneurial catalyst, there are important payoffs.
“If there is a silver lining, the large-scale downsizing from major companies will release a lot of new entrepreneurial talent and ideas — scientists, engineers, business folks now looking to do other things,” said Mark V. Cannice, executive director of the entrepreneurship program at the University of San Francisco, to the New York Times. “It’s a Darwinian unleashing of talent into the entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
I agree wholeheartedly that the entrepreneurial flow of time, talents and treasures is an important current in an evolutionary tide.
photo credit: eriwst
Tags: Entrepreneur.com, entrepreneurial coaching, professional benchmarks, professional coach, yin and yang of Success
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What can you do in your current job in 100 days that might jump-start your career and land you that promotion?
1. Figure out what would make your boss look good and do it. Use a friend or trusted colleague to work through any ego backlash/personal homework. Greatness happens when people get into service mode.
2. Exercise - feeding the brain with oxygen and real ingredients and unclouds judgement, revs up the internal fire and brings new energy
3. Meditate - several studies indicate that professionals who meditate make far better decisions than controls
4. Do some research on creative approaches to issues at hand
5. Interview people doing similar work for other organizations - people are remarkably generous in offering a view from their chairs and the perspective can be ground breaking
6. Go to lunch with co-workers you don’t usually socialize with
7. Do something really nice for someone under you on the ladder - putting good energy into the system always yields good things down the line, in unimaginable ways. This is not just altruistic - by creating a giving culture in your own support system, you’re building a stronger professional foundation.
8. Clean out your desk, cubicle or office and/or change it significantly - changing surroundings changes perspective and changes energy and approach; clearing up clears the way, no doubt about it (I often give closet cleaning as coaching homework!)
9. explore other possible jobs - relieving the sense of being trapped can make all the difference for being able to really commit to a jump start
10. Find out what the biggest challenges are for the next 3 levels up from you. Don’t try to solve the issues by yourself but stay in a results oriented conversation (maybe in a conversation with yourself even) about those issues.
11. Check out the corporate mission statement. If it’s done right, there should be values-based wording that can inspire you to a new alignment with the company. Also, when you look at the essential nature of the company, it’s like pulling back from being between the trees to see the whole forest - which opens eyes to new paths…
12. Leaders need to inspire. Do something that really inspires you so you can spark others.
13. Look for issues that are common in your work and personal life. Hire a therapist to get a good honest look at what feels stuck.
14. Create a new vision for yourself and your place in the company - start out as outrageous as possible in crafting that vision and then pare it to what feels like a stretch, but real. Hire a coach to get on track and stay on track with it.
15. Write a letter to your boss and burn it. Better yet, say a prayer from the time you light the match until there are only ashes.
Secondly, what should and shouldn’t you do in your first 100 days in a new position, at a new company?
1. Don’t try to impress!!! Think about how you’re being rather than what you’re doing - no one expects you to do everything perfectly but they do want to know that they will be working with someone who’s authentic.
2. Read the mission and purpose statements, also the code of ethics. These are what you’ve ultimately signed onto.
3. Get a clear job description and note whether or not the job is turning out to match the description. If not, get one that does asap. For some reason, people on both sides of the desk can find creating job descriptions to be intimidating or threatening, even just annoying.
4. Try to eat lunch with everyone in your immediate area at least once.
5. List your accomplishments at the end of the day. To-do lists overwhelm and undermine confidence. Put some focus on what you’ve accomplished and you’ll be not only be energized but it will give you a great attitude adjustment for facing the next day.
6. Tell the truth about EVERYTHING.
7. Look for similarities with your old situation. If issues followed you, chances are there wasn’t a conspiracy between the 2 companies - chances are you’ve got some personal homework. Hire a professional and deal with it to clear the path for the new position to flourish.
8. Hire a coach! Wisdom at Work Leadership coaching helps successful professionals and entrepreneurs to close the gaps between where they are and where they want to be.
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I taught Ethics to Drexel U students who were just entering the business world a few years ago. According to their evaluation forms, their work lives were deeply impacted by class. However, ethics is a living, breathing, adaptive science that can’t be taught like Math so although we got a good start, they’ll need to revive the moral conversation for themselves - ongoingly until the end of their careers. I did some
leadership coaching for the NetImpact conference at Wharton School where some of the world’s best and brightest, and most socially responsible graduate students gather. In both cases, it was really refreshing to see how committed the next generation is to raising the moral bar.
Ethical decision making is something we all refine as we face inevitable life situations that challenge our moral ground. What we can do best for people entering the work world is to teach them how to be in touch with, and how to develop, their internal moral compasses. It’s important to teach at orientation. But, especially now, it’s critical that we not relegate ethics to an orientation course.
Underneath the current economic crisis has been a moral crisis. As the next generation hits stride, we need to recognize that the individuals and organizations that keep the values conversation alive are the ones that thrive.
Ongoing leadership coaching and good training supports people as they move up the chain in negotiating the increasingly complicated ethical dilemmas they face. I currently do values development work with United Nations departmental leaders in NY and have an international coaching practice where I support successful leaders, professionals and entrepreneurs through countless moral considerations and other professional concerns.
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Summer can be a challenging time for business - especially in these challenging times! Potential buyers are in vacation mode and everything slows down. But you can capitalize on that by planning now to use the natural rhythm of the season to take your work to the next level.
Summer is a time to scheme and dream. It’s a time for inspiration, reflection and chilling out. I see too many clients who worried and fretted all summer only to start the fall with such a downtrodden outlook that it’s a wonder they attract any buyers at all. They hire me in September to jump start a career that usually turns out to be plenty strong enough not to have hit such a rut to begin with.
Creative Commons License photo credit: jaeWALK
If you re-frame summer slowdowns as the opportunity to work on your business instead of working so hard in your business, you can grow your professional life by quantum leaps. It seems counter-intuitive - but sometimes the only way to move forward is to step back and summer is the perfect time for that.
Plan now to take full advantage of summer slowdowns. Buy a special notebook to record thoughts for a fall campaign, do some research and development, take a hard look at what the competition is doing, make a list of what you do best, give yourself permission to shut down and take off if showing up feels too depressing, make plans to do a few things that jazz you but that you never ever make time for, create a full-blown fantasy about what your business would look like if it went over the top of your definition of success, gather a few people you respect together specifically to talk about work or join a MasterMind group that’s already established, make time to hang out with a mentor, read a biography of somebody you look up to or some leadership literature or success stories, read trade publications to brush up on best practices and how to integrate them…
I’m offering only one MasterMind Group this summer so spaces are really limited. I know that summer can be a hard time to commit to and make 6 phone meetings but putting your business on the table with 4 others in an intensive, highly focused group is a powerful way to capitalize on the rhythm of the season. Even though summer is naturally slow, the MasterMind process will put a rocket on your back.
Tags: Add new tag, business, leadership coaching, MasterMind coaching, MasterMind groups, professional development, success
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The Wisdom at Work methodology is a unique professional resource - clients capitalize on an out-of-the-box, values-based perspective to enhance professional success and to build their legacy. Coaching helps you make the right moves.
by mjp3000
By signing on to Wisdom at Work coaching or MasterMind groups or even onto the RSS feed on this site, you’ll find:
Cutting edge ideas for moving beyond health and sustainability toward a dynamic realization of your personal and professional vision. With the right coach, you can explore:
- how to maintain a strong personal, professional and organizational foundation for realizing full potential
- making consistently high quality choices
- ways to align life and livelihood
- risks worth taking
- and what it takes to make courageous decisions that may leave you feeling like you’re swimming in the opposite direction of the cultural stream
Well-rounded perspective and uncommon insight to connect the dots between:
- business/professional concerns
- science
- current events
- philanthropy
- philosophy
- spirituality and consciousness
- human potential and forward evolution
- ethics
- and professional best practices.
Practical, down-to-earth analysis of how the news of the day impacts your life and vice versa. At the same time, you’ll experience a common sense barometer on how current events reflect the state of human evolution and vice versa. In other words, WWWW explores the micro and the macro by offering a highly stimulating, deeper cut on what’s going on in the world and how it impacts personal paths as well as greater good.
A community of people who:
- refuse to live life with blinders on
- believe that “liberty and justice for all” aren’t just words
- share a sense of personal responsibility for creating a peaceful, civilized world
- understand that self-care isn’t narcissism and open-mindedness isn’t a weakness
- know that hope and positive regard, as well as having passion for compassion, pave the path to the great life
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“You are not here merely to make a living: You are here to enable the world to live amply, with greater vision and with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world and you impoverish yourself if you forget that errand.” - Woodrow Wilson
As a leadership coach whose worked with a wide range of sucessful professionals, I’ve learned that when values rule, abundance flows. I’ve learned that when people focus on enriching the world, they create legacy leaderships.
Tags: Add new tag, Coaching, executive coaching, leadership coaching, professional coach, professional development, values-based, values-driven leadership, Wisdom at Work, Wisdom in the World
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I saw a segment this afternoon on
Don Lemon’s show on CNN where a class of blind elementary school kids did an opera. There was a very precious about 5 year old girl who opened and closed the segment. She talked about love and everything being good and how we can all be proud of ourselves and she did it with such purity, dignity and joy that she stopped me in my tracks. Here’s what I wrote on
Don Lemon’s blog:
Please show us more wise people like the little blind girl who opened and closed the opera segment this afternoon. She touched my heart - in other words, she hit a resonance in me that feels so primal, the only analogy I have for it is a primary organ! It’s really more of a “spiritedness.”
She gave us a particularly pure portrayal of it but we all have that noble seed within that’s genetically coded to grow love and good will. Please give us a more fair and balanced representation of just how big that spiritedness is in the world. If our national storyteller, the news, could only remind us at least as much about that side of our humanity as it does about its opposite - if those were the stories we heard about ourselves - we might better realize human potential.
Cultivating the human spirit is the only way to lasting peace and prosperity. Please tell us more stories about the spark that’s unique in each of us but common to all of us. Because I believe more of us value the purity of heart we saw this afternoon than we do the parade of weaponry and banal blather that fills so much news airtime.
Tags: code of ethics, cultural development, human potential, leadership development, sustainability, The Last Lecture, values driven, Wisdom in the World
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- Do something creative
- Learn something new - about work or life. Stay curious - especially about people who are different than you.
- Read a biography of a leader who intrigues you.
- Give yourself think time as well as dream time.
- Review and update job descriptions for yourself and everybody around you - schedule any and all meetings necessary to get them into their best shape and then schedule regular future meetings to review.
- Ask yourself the $5 million question: If I could put $5 million behind my best idea, what would I make happen?
- Change the one thing you think is impossible to change.
- Increase your bandwidth: delegate, drop or re-frame a to-do.
- Don’t should on yourself and don’t should on anybody else.
- Hire a leadership coach.
Dr. Joni’s MasterMind and Individual coaching helps create
the work you love, the life you want, and the world you want to live
in. Her coaching methodology not only helps
resolve persistent concerns, it helps
- close the gaps between where you are and where you want to be
- align life and livelihood
- develop legacy leadership.
I specialize in sustainable results. Money back guarantee.
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