Embracing Fall??

Dear Readers,

As we begin to inch closer to the crisp, clean Autumn air, we can look forward to riding this heat wave into fall. It's almost time to trade in the coolers and bathing suits for cider and flannel

.This seasonal reset is a great opportunity to refresh our minds and look forward to what lies before us. In my book, Right Risk, I talk about the ways we should approach risks. A right risk is a little different, though.?What is right for you may be entirely wrong for someone else. So it’s important to consider a few questions to help you decern the next right risk worth taking. Where are you playing it too safe? What is a big change that you’ve always wanted to make but thus far haven’t? What has been holding you back? What might you gain from taking the chance??

As you transition into fall, start thinking about what your right risk is. Maybe it's a career change, or maybe it's a daring feat like sky diving. Whatever your right risk is, approach it like we should approach fall; with a clear mind, renewed vigor, and the desire for personal satisfaction.

Stay courageous,

Bill?

Now that GLC is officially an adult, we’d like to share 3 big lessons that we’ve learned over the course of the last 21 years: ?

1. Co-creating with our clients makes for great client work! We love working with, and learning from, our clients. Our best programs are done?with?our clients, not delivered?to?them.
2. “Experience” is a fa?ade. As you gain expertise and experience, it’s easy to get seduced into thinking you’ve got all the answers. We’ve come to believe that our work must always be improved upon and refined. Our clients deserve us to not take our work with them for granted!
3. Leadership development works! The work we love most is being on long-term leadership journeys with our clients. Our greatest joy is watching a capable individual step into their first leadership role, watching them struggle but keep moving forward, and seeing their impact grow and grow. The ultimate dividend is when a leader starts inspiring other capable individuals to seek out leadership roles too, and they set out on new leadership journeys.

Internal Struggles and The Two Wolves

The internal struggles we face have a direct impact on our leadership. Being a good leader of others means first being a good leader of yourself. By not controlling our emotions, we subject those who look to us for guidance to toxic behavior. The first step in developing good leadership begins with addressing our internal struggles and mastering the two wolves inside.

Giant Leap's longest running consecutive client is Aldridge Electric Incorporated. GLC is proud of the work we've done together, developing the company's leaders. This is a pic of Bill getting ready to tour Aldridge's fleet maintenance facility with the company's field leaders. Aldridge is deeply committed to the development of its people!

GLC recently conducted a leadership workshop on motivation for one of our valued leadership development clients IES Communications. Motivating yourself and the people you lead is a key leadership essential. Prior to our motivation workshop, GLC administers the DiSC behavioral profile. It’s one of the world’s most widely used behavioral profiles in corporate settings.

We are holding each of our IES leadership program at a different branch offices. Our leadership program is kicked off with a pizza dinner the evening before the summit. The next day our program holds a leadership workshop at a nearby hotel. This summit's workhop was held in Newport Beach and focused on Leading Culture. These summits are a great way to share valuable lessons in leadership.

Unfortunately, Bill's?Twitter account was hacked. As a result, he lost over 15,000 followers. We had been evaluating whether to get off of Twitter anyway, as we view the platform as being too contentious, unprofessional, and full of misinformation, so we decided to no longer post there. It wasn’t worth our time. You can find Giant Leap on?Facebook, and be sure to connect with Bill on Linkedin.?

For many years Giant Leap has facilitated strategic planning programs for scientific research centers at leading universities. We have led planning sessions at Harvard, MIT, Yale, UPenn, UMass, Georgia Tech, and many other esteemed institutions of higher learning. These pics are from an event GLC facilitated at UC Berkeley. Learn more here.?