presence
Which Journey are You On?
We have long talked about the different tracks that make up our Presence-Based Coaching and Leadership training. I’m speaking here of two concurrent paths of development that take place in parallel. One journey is about the “Doing” as a coach or leader. This refers to the process of learning the specific skills, mindsets, and competencies in order to deliver a coaching or...
On the Hard
My husband identifies himself as a sailor. He is the proud owner of his father’s 30‘ Alberg sailboat, and he carries that legacy with care and respect for all his father taught him about the beauty and art of sailing. And, Sun Spur is in need of some loving attention right now.
In Presence and Solidarity
What do we feel? What do we say? What do we do? How do we support? How do we serve? These questions have become prominent in many conversations I’ve had with leaders, students and clients in the last 2 weeks. As a white woman, I can’t begin to know the lived experiences of Black and Brown communities in these moments of horror and inhumanity as the racism in this...
Too Many Disruptors to Count...
The quote above reveals a keen insight from my namesake, Aunt Bebe. She was a gambler. In fact, I come from a long line of gamblers on my mother’s side of the family. She used to say these words when things got tough. For me, there’s a lot of clarity in this statement, and it offers a sense of agency in troubling situations. And it implies there is some skill involved.
New Year’s Resolutions, Take 2
Happy New Year! How are those new year’s resolutions going? I may be bringing up a slightly sore subject! As we find ourselves turning the corner into February, many of us are seeing the quiet fading away of what we once felt so strongly about and made commitments to: our 2020 resolutions.
Lessons from Doug
July 30 marks the one-year anniversary of Doug Silsbee’s death from Cancer. I’ve been spending some time reflecting on the many gifts that he brought to me in our multi-faceted relationship as teaching partners, collaborators, business partners, and friends. Doug was a thought leader in coaching, leadership, mindfulness, and presence. As the founder of this Presence-Based...
The Known, Unknown, and Unknowable
Many years ago, when I first entered the Presence-Based Coaching work as a student, Doug offered three specific distinctions that I found very useful at the time of my professional stretch to learn to be a coach. These same distinctions have been bubbling up recently in my memory for re-examination. I am finding them to be once again useful and timely. The three perspectives...
Presence in Complexity through a Baby’s Cry
I had the pleasure, honor and intensity of being with my daughter and son-in-law last week with their newborn baby. It was a time of extreme emotions for me – deep joy and relief that this miraculous little being made the transition into this world safely. Feeling the baby’s wide-open heart and sensing her preciousness and innocence. Frustrated by my own habits of pushing...
Celebrating All of Me
Lately, the idea of including has come into my perception in several arenas. So much so, that it is now something of a theme. I’ve become aware of a burning question: what parts of me am I not including in my sense of myself? Describing this process with kind language, I begin to notice how easy it is to dismiss or brush away aspects of my identity that I don’t particularly...
Transitions
What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly Richard Bach Transitions…we all know them and have experienced them. I am in one. It feels really useful and liberating to remember that many things have just recently radically changed for me as a result of losing my longtime friend, collaborator, teaching and business partner, Doug Silsbee....
A Video Interview with Bebe Hansen...
About her journey, coaching skills, and the PBC transition In this lovely interview with Rod Francis in June 2018, Bebe Hansen, recently named Principal of Presence-Based Coaching, shares her personal and professional journey into coaching, talks about some key coaching skills and practices that support learning and change, and a bit about the Presence-Based Coaching...
Presence in Complexity Series #9: Investing in Embodied Capacity
Complexity requires embodying new ways to lead. The problem is, our lightning-fast cognition says “good enough” way before our nervous system has embodied a new capability. Physiological change and cognitive processing proceed at very different timescales. A sound strategy for development requires components for both. We must feed our agile and impatient cognition. And,...
Presence in Complexity Series #8: Scaling Awareness
Complexity is unpredictable. Our world responds to good intentions and common sense actions with perverse and unintended consequences. Our noblest efforts fail to accomplish what we believe we should be able to accomplish. This is of course a huge challenge to our sense of self! And, it’s not personal! Complexity is actually normal Complexity is actually normal. Even when...
Presence in Complexity Series #7: Resilience: De-Coupling State from Context
Directing attention instantly and directly modifies our inner condition. We live in extraordinary times. It is a new form of agency to begin to discover that we can affect our mood, our sense of ourselves, our outlook on life, and our thoughts simply by directing our attention where we choose. What do you mean? No drugs, no therapy, no decades of self-improvement reading?...
Presence in Complexity Series #6: Leadership Presence in Complexity
Leadership presence is the means by which our internal feeling states are shared into our relationships. Leadership presence is the means by which our internal feeling states are shared into our relationships. Consider this thought experiment. You are walking down the sidewalk alone, at night. Someone is coming the other way on the same sidewalk, a hundred yards away. There’s...
Presence in Complexity Series #5: Embodying Congruent States
To the extent that the system around us being chaotic or fragmented means that we are chaotic and fragmented internally, we have lost the boundaries that distinguish us from the system. Wow, what a world we live in! It’s a New Year. And, we face a level of risk and uncertainty that I’ve not experienced since the Cuban Missile Crisis. My father is in the hospital, facing...
Hope in Bad Times
To be hopeful in bad times is not foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there...
Presence in Complexity Series #4: Resourcing with Presence in Challenging Times
We live in very unpredictable times. And, this has profound effects on our moment-by-moment experience. Complexity, for leaders who are accustomed to making things happen, is an uncomfortable space. Lack of predictability can trigger us in ways that reduce our resourcefulness when we need it most. As a ready example, note your own reaction to the recent US election. What has...
Presence in Complexity Series #3: What Does the Body Have to Do With It?
Everything, really! Our body structures our interpretations of the world around us, generates our reactions to things around us, and determines the actions we take. Attention in the body is the key to staying resourceful when the world isn’t cooperating. It is how we can bring bringing awareness and choice into our reactions to the world. These urges drive our relationships,...
Presence in Complexity Series #2: Identity on the Line
Our responses in complexity are often determined, in ways that are both debilitating and invisible to us, by our perspective We experience situations as difficult when they call into question our sense of who we are. Among most of the people I know, domestically and overseas, there is a sense of outrage about last week’s election. Among others, there is presumably a sense of...
