Week 22.33 Acknowledgment

The 100 Coaches Community gathered in Nashville this past weekend, and even after a 32-month hiatus, it felt like Jan 2020 again. The power of being in person was in full force, bouncing from person to person, free from breakout rooms. It was joyful, high-energy, and invigorating. It was also the most public expression of my having handed the leadership of the 100 Coaches community to Bill Carrier. It was an opportunity to share the 100 Coaches Agency with the community in more detail. It was a celebration of the individual members and of the power of community. It has been quite a week.

I had mixed feelings going into the weekend, no longer leading the community. I've been working with Bill Carrier for years, so I had complete confidence that he was an excellent choice. With great pride and admiration, I acknowledge how Bill Carrier took the helm of 100 Coaches Community and has already expressed his brilliance in ways that I would never have imagined. He held the room with a firm yet delicate grip and was skillfull with recognition and provoking contemplation. For me, the moment he really raised the bar and embodied the values of the community was when he gathered the Belmont University staff that had supported us for the weekend. He specifically and publically honored each one, offering gratuity with gratitude as he handed out tips to each member of the fantastic team.

I am very excited about our new initiative, the 100 Coaches Agency because I know that we are helping the best leaders find the right coach. This weekend was an affirmation that we are on the right path, with the right message, and supported by the best coaches in the world. It also affirmed that I have the best partner imaginable in Jacquelyn Lane . She is masterful in connecting with each of the members of 100 Coaches because she authentically cares about each one, about the value of our work, and is a lifelong learner. She carries herself with stature not defined by age, which is palpable in her public speaking, 1:1 sessions, and everything she does.?

Today (Aug 15) is my 64th birthday and my daughter Lily Osman 's 26th birthday. While she was not with me in Nashville this trip, I need to acknowledge how she has become my teacher with her heart in the sky, feet on the ground approach to life. She is my thought partner who knows me well and has excellent insights and compassion. I am very aware of the value of developing new sensitivities and growing our awareness of each person. Lily has become a key member of my team, and I am grateful for all her contributions.?

I began working with Nilofer Merchant as my coach today, and one of the first insights I would like to share is the importance of acknowledging my accomplishments. I am proud of my work in imagining the 100 Coaches Community over five years ago and building the brand and culture it has now become. I am proud of having identified the need for a better way for top executives to be paired with a top coach and having made that a reality with 100 Coaches Agency. And I am proud of my ability to see, capture and reflect beauty to build the kind of organizations we need.?I have a lot of work to do.

Too often we focus on transactions. Connection and relationship are the keys to building value for everyone. My connection with Marshall has bloomed into this entire universe of exceptional individuals. In life and leadership, we lead and learn from those around us. It is critical to surround ourselves with the best people we can and spend the energy necessary to create an environment to support them in doing their best work. We learn from them and lean on them to do our best work. I am grateful to be able to start my 65th year, acknowledging the work that the people around me and I are accomplishing.

Gratitude to Belmont University and Nashville Songwriters for the magical experience

Our 100 Coaches gathering was hosted by Belmont University in Nashville through the generosity of that institution and with the vision & belief of?L Gregory Jones ?&?Sarah D. Cates . We were treated to the talents of future hall of fame songwriter Emily Falvey , an already signed recent graduate of?Belmont University ,?together with the hall of fame talents of Pat Alger and Kent Blazy in the splendor of the brand new Fisher Center. I did not know much about Belmont, but I will never forget it. The quality and care, creativity and compassion for every detail and individual was on full and deservedly proud display. Speaking for myself, and the entire 100 Coaches membership, giving back to these people and this organization will be a small expression of our gratitude. We are forever changed from the experience.

Siri, Where’s the CULTURE button in Microsoft Teams? ( Martin Lindstrom )

Martin asked Frances Frei, Harvard professor, TED speaker, and author of Unleashed: The Unapologetic Leader's Guide to Empowering Everyone Around You: “Do you need to start with an amazing face-to-face culture in order to build a successful virtual culture? Or is it possible, through cables and wires, to transform a broken face-to-face culture into one that functions efficiently online?” Her answer was a simple, unequivocal “YES, it’s possible to build a successful virtual culture, even if your starting point is less than successful.” Andrew Lacroix, CEO of Intertek, the world’s leading quality assurance company, told Martin recently, ”Every day, we highlight one employee, a hero, a person who has introduced new and innovative thinking to our organization.” Here’s what it does. It sends a clear signal to the hero: “Keep on doing what you do!” But it also sends a clear signal to the rest of the organization: It’s time to change. Keith Ferrazzi elegantly frames this message by saying, “As Covid-19 eventually fades out, let's never go back to work. Let's move forward.” Because, as he says, “Why not learn from the current crisis? Let’s adopt today’s lessons for the future.” After all, these lessons are not coming easily. Let’s not waste them.

The Secret to Getting Anything You Want ( Modupe Taylor Pearce )

As leaders of organizations, one of our primary responsibilities is to ensure that our organizations have enough resources to perform their functions. These resources may be people, equipment, energy, software, materials, cash, or credit; no organization is always in full control of all the resources that it needs to perform its functions. Therefore, the leader must learn the skill of acquiring these resources. The process of acquiring resources that your organization requires the leader of the organization to learn to ask for them, and to ask without relenting. Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, applied ten times to Harvard University. Even though he was rejected ten times, he says that the experience prepared him for making Alibaba successful because when he asked for funding from Silicon valley for Alibaba and was rejected, he was undeterred. Remember that in the race for success, the winners are not the fastest or the smartest but those who simply never give up asking for what they want. If the vision you have for yourself and your organization is compelling enough, you are going to need access to resources that you do not control. These resources may appear accessible or appear to be locked behind a fortress and steel doors with heavy-duty padlocks. Either way, the way to access them is to ask for them, and even after you have asked five times and been rejected five times, ask again. Until you have asked ten times for something and been rejected ten times, you have not tried hard enough. Your success is just one more ask away.