A New Series
In 2010, I posted a series here focused on leaders’ making great improvements in their effectiveness by working with their systemic story. I continue to do Leadership coaching with executives and continue to learn. Now, I am writing a book that will help leaders and others connect to their core through story work. This group of posts will be part of that work.
The Presence and Power of Stories
Our lives are full of stories. Stories are, almost literally, everywhere. They are so much a part of who we are and what we do as human beings that, like the air we breathe, we often don’t notice their constant presence. Stories are a key part of our movies, television, books, communication, religion, work, humor, conversation, and thinking. They are one of the primary ways we pass our experience, wisdom, and foibles from individual to individual, group to group, generation to generation. And most powerfully, our stories are a reflection of who we are at our core—who we are as individuals and as a species on the planet.
Stories cover the whole gamut of human experience, from our descriptions of the universe, e.g. the Big Bang “story”, to expressions of our deep inner selves–our core personal stories. While taking both into account, this work focuses primarily on the latter, our deep personal stories, how we can learn to know them more clearly, how they help us, how they can constrain us, and how we can, when we wish, learn to “see them anew” and create even more powerful personal stories that reflect not only our life experiences to date but also empower us to reach our highest aspirations for the future.
Stories and Leadership
Stories are critical for leaders. Every leader has a deep personal story, a “systemic story” that shapes her/his patterns of leadership. Recent work in leadership and leadership development suggests a new answer to the age-old question: “What makes a leader?” We have searched for, among other things, common traits, patterns of behavior, and core competencies that characterize leaders. But we are discovering that what makes the most powerful leaders, the authentic leaders, are not necessarily common traits, behaviors, or competencies. What makes the most powerful leaders is that they live in congruence with and become the masters of their own personal stories—that they live consistently from who they deeply are. This material is intended to help leaders, coaches and others become clear about their core and live from it creatively.
If you would like to learn more about story work and/or consider story coaching, feel free to call or email me at:
Steven P. Ober EdD
President: Chrysalis Executive Coaching & Consulting
Affiliate: Systems Perspectives, LLC
Office: PO Box 278, Oakham, MA 01068
Home: 278 Crocker Nye Rd., Oakham, MA 01068
O: 508.882.1025 M: 978.590.4219
Email: steven.p.ober@gmail.com
www.ChrysalisCoaching.org
Steve is a senior executive coach and consultant. He has developed and successfully uses a powerful approach to leadership coaching, Creating your Leadership Story, which enables leaders to make deep, lasting improvements in their leadership effectiveness in short periods of time. He and a group of partners created a breakthrough educational program, Coaching from a Systems Perspective, in which you can significantly enhance your abilities as a systemic leadership coach. See http://SystemsPerspectivesLLC.com.