A Budding Vision
Vision, if it’s to ignite a true fire in our bellies, needs time and space to breathe.
I launched the official rebranding of my executive coaching practice last week as my new website went live. This was the culmination of a year-long-journey, seeking to integrate the work that fires me up with what the world needs: more connected, fully awake, and whole-hearted leaders.
As part of my work with Integral Coaching Canada over the past two years, I was tasked to work on a project to externally manifest into my world what I’d been learning in the program. An open-ended assignment, the project could be anything. I chose to rebrand my coaching practice, stepping more boldly into my skin as an executive and leadership coach.
On the surface it seemed a simple assignment for my inner task-driven, PMP-Certified Project Manager: (1) Kick out a Gannt chart; (2) Pick a logo; (3) Write content; (4) Pop up a website.
In what I imagine might be the last big career move of my life, I was fueled with a desire to weave myself into the work like I never had before. This called for a deeper level of listening and discernment away from the noise of expectations and judgements that can sometimes override my intentions.
Last spring, I went on what you might call a mid-life mini-vision quest. I retreated for a few days alone in a patch of forest close to my heart. A place I feel connected to life and mystery. A place I feel held. I wrote, I hiked, I laid in waterfalls. I peed in a sawdust bucket. I listened – to the trees, the birds, and the dirt under my feet.
I sought to piece together all that had come before – not just my professional experiences, but also the personal triumphs and tragedies that have formed me. In a Jim Collins’ Hedgehog Concept kind of way, I sat deeply with questions such as: What brings me alive? What are my gifts – of mind, hand, and sight? How do they bring value to others? What does the world most need right now? How can I contribute in a healing way?
What came out of that time alone in the forest was just a light pencil sketch, a small flame, that grew and formed over the past year in unexpected ways.
When I was a CEO of a small business, I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by a brilliant management team who learned, over time, how to bounce and play with ideas and plans and strategies together.
Alone in the woods, this was the first time visioning had been such a solo journey for me. I not only felt the plight, but I walked the path of millions of entrepreneurs, perhaps just like you, who’ve struggled to form a budding dream on their own.
Early on, locked in a swirl of protection, I concealed my work under a cloth like an artist with a half-finished painting. Then eventually, I slowly reached out and I began to share my ideas with trusted partners, colleagues, and friends. Through these vulnerable steps my vision was pushed, tested, clarified, and began to take flight.
Now, fused into my website, this vision has even more space to grow – in fluid conversation with you, my clients, and the greater community. I’m looking forward to seeing how it will continue to form and manifest overtime.
What dreams and visions are hiding in you, longing for flight?
