I received word from the International Coaches Federation (ICF) that I successfully passed all components of my Master Certified Coach (MCC) designation credentialing with a score of over 90 per cent.

I am honored to join the ranks of only the Top 3 percent of Executive Coaches globally who hold the highest level coaching designation. It was important to me that I pursue this educational path to be my very best and ensure that I can provide you and your organization's leaders with exceptional coaching to help them be their best!

When I Executive Coach a Leader, we need to define in the beginning exactly what they are trying to achieve. We need to be clear on our goals and make sure we are both moving in the same direction.

So, I would like to take a moment at the beginning of our journey together through this blog series to define what my blogs overarching theme of Leading and Living with Purpose really means.

What does it look like to lead and live with purpose?

To see a picture of my family on social media, we looked almost perfect. Two beautiful little girls, an athletic, handsome husband, the quintessential golden retriever puppy, and me. Social media is this century’s biggest PR machine. But social media often doesn’t tell the story behind the photo.

My family is amazing, but we have been broken time and time again.

Today is my birthday! I am now 49 years of age.  You will never hear me complain about turning another year older.  Each year is a gift.  My husband, Jeff, died of esophageal cancer at the age of 46. I have gotten the gift of three extra years (and counting!) more than Jeff did on this Earth.

15 years ago, I created my Executive Coaching firm, Potential Unlimited, upon the philosophy that we need to look at developing leaders in the same way that we would develop any sort of initiative within our business.

We need to lay out all the parts, see how they are working together, and then create a strategic plan with timelines to achieve the goal. This is exactly what I do in my Executive Coaching. If someone comes to me wanting to improve their Executive Presence, we don’t just dive right into some tips and tools around Executive Presence, and then they are good to go. For the good or bad, people are way more complicated than that!

I have never seen stress levels, and I will call them burnout levels as high as they are right now.

A few weeks ago, I began recording short video clips to share some of the brain-hacks I have learned to help me reduce stress while I was in brain rehab after suffering a brain injury 12 years ago.

I feel like I have collected a wealth of information about the brain through this very painful experience, which led me to being a guinea pig about how some of this stuff would actually work on a Type A High Driver type of person.

The results were pretty amazing.

Have you ever felt like an Imposter? Perhaps, you don’t always practice what you preach. Or maybe, because you are only a human being there is no way to completely avoid the traps in life?

Watch my video to learn more on this.

If you are feeling the pressure of life and work, I invite you to watch my latest video featuring some neuro hacks to help you reduce stress and calm your nervous system.

Check out my video Stress Series to learn a simple brain hack to rewire your brain for greater peace.

I invite you to watch my two minute video to teach you an interesting brain hack to teach yourself to let go of stress!

This is the story I have wanted to share with you for about six months now, but I sat on it because I was scared. Let me start at the beginning…

Last August, I was talking to my dear friend, Cheri, about Sarah Polley’s book, ‘Run Into Danger.’ Like me and Cheri, Sarah Polley had also suffered a brain injury.

Sarah’s symptoms had been a lot like ours - extreme visual light sensitivity that led us to wear darkened sunglasses a lot of the time, short-term memory issues, and the biggest and most debilitating symptom was the excruciating headaches caused by stimulation.

I recently picked up a copy of Mel Robbin’s new book, ‘Let Them.’ Like so many others, I also have had times when I have fallen into the trap of worrying too much about others’ thoughts. I have experienced the guilt of making a decision that feels right for me or my family but has gnawed away at me when I worried about whether everyone else outside of me will be happy about my decision. But, if they are not, as Mel Robbins would say, “Let Them.”

We all have different leadership styles. That is what makes us unique. Even if you try to emulate someone else, you are you. And you are bringing your own unique variation of style with you to each organization you go to.

But, does your current leadership style mean that is your natural and only style? No way!

I see and even help leaders shift their styles. As we grow and develop, we change. You can’t really go back to the way you were. You can’t un-know what you know. So how does someone who isn’t a ‘People’ person who has been a strong contributor for years and found themselves in a leadership role now managing, and yes, even motivating people, do it?

Here are 3 components of helping develop a stronger Leadership EQ:

I have had a lot of days over the past dozen years, that just getting out of bed felt like climbing Mount Everest. With debilitating headaches from the brain injury. I had a broken heart after my beloved husband Jeff died at 46 years old of cancer. And then the toll of home-schooling my 8 and 10-year-old children while running a business amid a pandemic while deep in grief. I felt like I was in survival mode every day.

I knew I couldn’t keep going down this path. Being in survival mode for a sustained period doesn’t end well, and I need to be here for my kids. I knew I couldn’t control what was happening in the world around me. But, I could take more control over what was happening inside me.

I began to see that so much really all comes down to perspective. 

If you have been thinking about working with an Executive Coach to help you make a greater impact this year but still debating, let me tell you more about the process here to help you understand if it would be the right move for you now.

When I think back to who I was in my 20s and early 30s, I was a Powerhouse. I climbed the corporate ladder quickly and was a vice president within the financial services industry by the age of 31. I was armed with an MBA, a strong voice, and a quick mind. I also was physically strong, as a certified personal trainer/fitness leader and completed several triathlons.

But life can sometimes find a way of throwing us curve balls (or maybe teaching us lessons that have the opportunity to shape us if we are brave enough to be honest with ourselves). And that is exactly what happened to me on July 18, 2012.

It is hard to believe that we are soon approaching the end of another year. Has anyone else felt that time has moved even quicker since the COVID-19 pandemic?

It has been a busy month for me, and no doubt for you, too! I have had a lot of projects to finish and then, of course, Christmas shopping and the events that come with the Season.

But now I remind myself I have a choice. I can continue to keep ramping up high speed throughout the holidays with social outings and doing lots of prep work to blast into an exciting new work year, or, I can allow myself some time to rest. I don’t have to keep going at the pace that I have been carrying on now. Yes, I needed to have an energy burst to complete some things I had been working on, but I now get to choose if I take my foot off the gas pedal or not.

A big part of Executive Coaching is asking powerful questions and then using my gut instinct as a coach to follow each question up with important observations, more insightful questions and space for important reflection.

I know I can’t coach everyone who reads this blog. But, I would like to share with you some of these coaching questions to help you reflect upon the importance of this year in your professional and personal growth and development. I would highly recommend grabbing a journal or a few blank pieces of paper and actually handwriting your answers to these coaching questions down.

Journalling will make a big difference in terms of how deep you can go with your reflection. And the deeper you go, the more insights you have that can help propel your direction in a more solid way for the exciting year ahead!

So, grab a cup of tea or coffee, a pen and paper, and let the reflection begin!

recently made a split-second decision to head out for my lunch break on a bike ride. It was one of those unseasonably warm days that seemed like a precious gift for a seasonal biker like myself.

Ten minutes into my ride, I came upon a Beagle walking down the sidewalk with no human in sight. I stopped my bike and looked around for the owner. No one.

Eventually, I saw a man across the road, raking leaves, and called out, “Do you know who owns this dog?” “No,” he replied. “Must be lost.” He seemed unconcerned as he returned to his raking.

Well, what am I going to do? I had my bike with me and I didn’t have a leash. I wasn’t sure how I was going to orient this situation but I knew I couldn’t just bike away in good conscious. I quickly snapped a picture of the dog, planning to send it to a local neighbourhood Facebook group in hopes of finding the owner.

Then I saw a man round the corner, walking down the sidewalk. “Is this your dog?” I yelled out to him, in a last-ditch hope of this story coming quickly to a happy conclusion.

I have been an Executive Coach for 15 years. Before that, I was a vice president in the business. So I understand both sides of the equation. If you are a CEO, HR leader, or someone else tasked with managing leadership development, this article is an important read for you.

The difference between an ultra-successful development strategy untilizing executive coaching and an okay one is the systemic coaching approach. This requires a little bit of effort on the part of the coach and the organization, but the extra steps are well worth it!