December 14th, 2015 by Kelly Kienzle
Earning someone’s respect is different from making them feel good. I realized recently I have been equating these two intentions. I have been assuming that if I make someone feel good, then they will respect me. My approach has some merit to it: If people associate…
October 31st, 2015 by Kelly Kienzle
Buddhists believe that false refuge is where we go when we feel terrible and hope to feel better. We think we will find refuge there, but then we don’t actually feel better afterwards. In fact, we may even feel worse. Blowing up an afternoon by eating…
September 29th, 2015 by Kelly Kienzle
We always want to know things. We yearn for certainty and assurance. But why? We want to know what will happen, who will say what and how the work will go. We assume that we will be happier and more secure if we can forecast what…
August 4th, 2015 by Kelly Kienzle
I love vacation. You love vacation. We all love vacations. Why? Because we can disconnect, physically and electronically, from our routines. We can step back and view our world and our thinking differently. We can let our minds meander. We can remember how we used to…
June 30th, 2015 by Kelly Kienzle
Success is incremental. Warren Bennis warned of the folly of waiting until you’ve achieved a major success before celebrating. Major success usually doesn’t happen that way. Success happens incrementally in very small ways over a long period of time. Waiting until the bid has been won,…
May 31st, 2015 by Kelly Kienzle
Here’s how Laura Vanderkam, author of “What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast”, describes the usefulness of mornings: “In these early hours, we have enough willpower and energy to tackle things that require internal motivation, things the outside world does not immediately demand or…
April 30th, 2015 by Kelly Kienzle
This is one of four rules that Don Miguel Ruiz offers in his book, “The Four Agreements”. This simple rule seemed to reach so many corners of my life (and many others too, since it was an international bestseller in 1997). What if you were to…
March 26th, 2015 by Kelly Kienzle
“I can read people.” I have recently (very recently) begun to think that is one of the more dangerous sentences we can say about ourselves. I had always thought proudly of this skill of mine. Yet when I began coaching and learned how to suspend assumptions…
January 16th, 2015 by Kelly Kienzle
Every January for the last 3 years, I have set aside one weekday to hold an all-day retreat for Open Circle Coaching. It’s a smallish affair. And one that I likely value more than any other event of the year. I do it because I want…
November 11th, 2014 by Kelly Kienzle
“It is not the manager’s job to prevent risks. It is the manager’s job to make it safe to take them.” Ed Catmull used this maxim to guide Pixar, Inc. through its birth and emergence as one of the most creative and innovative companies of its…