My Philosophy

“Life is like skiing. Just like skiing, the goal is not to get to the bottom of the hill. It’s to have a bunch of good runs before the sun sets.” – Seth Godin

In one word, my philosophy is:

Empowerment

My mission is empowering every person to become the greatest version of themselves through inspiring stories, smart strategies, and super skills.

I believe in embracing who you already are, while becoming who you want to be.

And I believe we all do better by learning how to “stand on the shoulders of giants” and lifting each other up, as we go forward in our journey together of the human experience.

And I believe that we can create and shape the future through our ability of Creative Vision, just like many of the great ones have done throughout the course of history.

Take back your power, dream big, start small, explore the art of the possible, and realize your potential in work and life.

I Enable the Genius in Others

I enable the genius in others.

As one of my early mentees put it, my best super skill is “I can help anyone do anything better”.

She said it’s an extremely rare gift and I need to use it more in this lifetime.

I’ve coached thousands of individuals, teams, and leaders virtually and live, both inside and outside of Microsoft, to help them explore and expand what they are capable of while mastering their productivity.  (I wrote the book on Getting Results… literally

Let’s Change the World

I’ve been a CEO Whisperer to amazing business leaders, the “Head Coach” for Microsoft’s Satya Nadella’s innovation team, and I’ve been asked to help “transform a nation” through innovation.

One of my favorite things to do is to change the world, and I believe that to change the world, one of my best ways to do so is to influence the CEOs that are creating the future.

I scale myself through writing articles, books, and courses (and sometimes special reports).

My Philosophy

Empower every person to be more and achieve more in work and life.

I believe that everybody deserves a chance at a better life, and that life is better with skill.

Bring out the best in everyone.

Be a “Learn-it-All” vs. a “Know-it-All”.

Stories, Strategies, and Skills

To be clear, I would say that our personal power and quality of life really come down to our stories, our strategies, and our skills.

I find that stories, strategies, and skills are a simple way to empower people:

• Stories – The stories we tell ourselves and others.
• Strategies – Our internal strategies for running ourselves and the strategies we use to make external changes in our world.
• Skills – Life’s better with skill.   A lot of my work comes down to helping people get “skilled for life”.

Focus on Your Super Skill

Let’s start with a compelling WHY to put everything in perspective.

One of your greatest challenges and opportunities in this life is to master the following big idea:

“Give your best, where you have your best to give, in the service of others.”

That’s a lot to unpack.   But it’s also a very clarifying goal to guide you as you expand and explore what you are capable of while creating deep meaning in your life.

Find Your Arete, Your Ikigai, and Your Duende

I think life is better with skill and it gets even better by integrating a few cornerstone concepts to bring out your best and to find your inner zest:

• Arete – As one of my wise mentors put it, “Think of Arete like a garden in full bloom on a warm Summer’s Day.”   This is you operating at a higher level while living and learning your excellence.
• Ikigai – Your Ikigai is “the reason you get out of bed in the morning.”  It’s not just any purpose.  It’s your purpose with a passion.  It’s your fire inside.  Never let your light go out.
• Duende – There are a lot of interpretations of this, but my favorite is a mentor who said to think of Duende as to “lose yourself” in the dance, where you give yourself fully to your art.

What Life is Really About

If you ever get lost and lose sight of what’s important, here’s a quote by Neale Donald Walsch to bring it all back home:

“Your life is about everyone whose life you touch, and it is about the way in which you touch them.”

And Clayton Christensen has a beautiful story about his search and conclusion about how to measure a life:

“Measure your life by the people whose lives you touch.”

That’s a pretty powerful message, simple and clear (and it sure rings, true).

With all this, I simply remind myself to live more, learn more, laugh more, and love more.

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