A Breathtaking Coastline and a Moment of Reflection

As many of you know, earlier this month my family was fortunate enough to enjoy a week-long vacation in Portugal. From the day we landed, my younger son expressed his desire to try surfing in Portugal. We humored him, agreeing to give it a try. He knew this was what we were doing. As he has learned through his 20 years of experience with us, if he kept trying, maintained his humor and charming tenacity, and acted as if surfing were a foregone conclusion, he would get what he wanted. He kept borrowing my phone to search for places on the North Atlantic coast that offered lessons. One day, his friend texted him, encouraging us to stop in Ericeira. So, on our drive back to Lisbon for our last night before flying out, he finally persuaded us to veer off course and stop in the coastal town of Ericeira.

As we approached the expansive ocean, I was immediately grateful for his persistence. The view was breathtaking. Unfortunately, the local surf shop informed us that the waters were too rough and the weather too volatile for surfing that day. He was disappointed but, as usual, bounced back quickly and decided to make the most of the situation. After all, we were on the spectacular coastline of Portugal. There was so much to appreciate.

I stole a few quiet moments away from the family to spend some time in meditation in front of the ocean. In that moment, I was reminded of a week in the fall of 2018 when I finally decided to embark on my new career and launch a leadership coaching and facilitation firm. I would not actually give notice to my employer for another nine months, and I would not officially launch the firm for another ten months after that, but I had made up my mind. I was afraid of the uncertainty, but I had decided.?

I spent a week of late nights in September 2018 crafting my vision. I uncovered my WHY and explored my HOW and WHAT. I ended up preparing a brief that I would later send to a logo designer and then a website designer to help them understand my vision.

Standing there, on the edge of the North Atlantic, I could hardly believe that was more than five years ago. So, in celebration of this moment and in commemoration of the journey from that week 5 years ago, on the flight back home, I re-read the briefing document I sent to my logo designer. I would like to share an excerpt of it here with you. After you read it, stand by for a couple of questions this reflection has triggered for me, which I offer to you as thoughts for you to consider.

September 15, 2018 – The first blueprint of what would become OceanBlue

These were my stream of consciousness reflections, not originally intended for public consumption.

"Throughout my life, I have always found moments of great clarity, insight, and inspiration near the ocean. Whether at Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast, on the sand in Mazatlan, or on the shores of the Indian Ocean in Mombasa and Zanzibar, something happens to me. I feel aligned, in touch with myself, and the vastness and unending nature of the view gives me a sense of unlimited possibility and hope. I am sure others feel this way too. This feeling will be the inspiration for the name of the firm. I believe it is possible to create a set of conditions that lead to similar moments of great clarity and discovery of purpose that exist when you are in the presence of the greatness of the ocean.

The ocean is also symbolic of an individual's or team's broader context, a set of business, leadership challenges within organizations, on teams or departments, within communities.

I also believe that the tiniest drop can create a ripple in even the largest and most volatile of oceans.

The drop is symbolic of individual or team decisions, actions, reactions, behaviors, mindsets, energies, acts of courage, acts of kindness, acts of leadership, of empathy, etc.?

The ripples symbolize the results or outcomes of individual or team decisions, actions, reactions, behaviors, etc., on others. Each ripple has the ability to create another ripple and another. The right action can lead to a series of positive reinforcing events. As individuals, we all have the potential to create ripples in the world and the people around us. The drop and ripple are the inspiration for our logo.

The pace of change and the degree of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity in almost all spheres of our lives today make it difficult, if not impossible, to predict the outcome of our decisions and actions. Shifts in technology, evolving societal norms, multiple generations in the workplace, global political volatility, business disruption, new market entrants, and a rapidly changing social media landscape that can take control of the message away from the organization are just a few of the forces that can make it overwhelming for any individual or team to chart a course in today's business context. The waters are rarely calm.

It does not matter how volatile the context is, or how complex, the right series of decisions and actions by an individual or team has the ability to impact the outcome in a significant and positive way. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true for the wrong series of decisions and actions.

The key is not to focus on the vastness and complexity of the ocean, which is full of forces outside of an individual or team's control, but rather to focus on the drop, the area where the drop makes contact with the water and the area just surrounding that. In other words, focus on decisions, actions, and behaviors to impact people and decisions within the reach of influence. With the right support, mindset, and intentional planning, the ripple will be larger, will reach further, and the outcome will be greater. When everything works well, individuals find themselves actually able to make an impact on some of the things outside of their control.?

OceanBlue Strategic Advisors will help individuals, teams, and organizations to:?

• Act intentionally to achieve the right and most impactful outcome for the challenge or opportunity they are facing in their complex and uncertain context.
• Develop decision-making and planning processes that seek perspective and input from multiple stakeholder groups and leading thinking across disciplines.
• Create working cultures that stimulate and engage diverse employees coming from different upbringings and who have varying needs and talents.
• Understand their own purpose and how they can fulfill their true calling in a way that aligns their needs, talents, and passions with the right challenges and opportunities in the world today."

Here is my website that represented the first manifestation of this vision.

https://www.oceanbluestrategic.com

Back at Home - Embracing the Journey Ahead

Several days later, it is still surreal for me how a persistent request for surfing lessons by my son led me to this moment of powerful reflection. It is just a reminder to always stay open to opportunities to recognize and seize inspiring moments of reflection and gratitude. Of course, you can plan for and schedule time for these moments in daily life, but often it is the serendipitous moments that are the most magical.

As promised, here are a couple of questions for you to consider:

1. If you have a vision or loose idea about a new adventure, career, or life odyssey, what could happen if you spent a few hours in a stream of consciousness writing or creating to explore the possibilities?
2. If you embarked on a journey or direction change a few years ago, what could happen if you took the time to reflect on the journey, taking stock of the lessons learned and celebrating the successes?

For me, those few minutes of reflection on the beach at Ericeira, Portugal, have kicked off a contemplation of how I fine-tune or amplify my vision, my WHY, HOW, and WHAT for the next leg of the journey. Somewhere along the line, I will fill you in.

If this post has led you to other epiphanies, please do share them in the comments.

#ReflectionsByTheSea #OceanInspiration #PathToPurpose #VisionCrafting