Monday night in yoga during a pose, my instructor said that sometimes the most difficult part of yoga is not knowing how long the pose is going to last. I agree!  He encouraged us to practice “open-ended effort” and use our breathing to work through the discomfort, the challenge of the pose and the unknown ...

Conflicting priorities. New initiatives or opportunities. Emergencies or unexpected problems. The list goes on and all are things that can cause you to feel overwhelmed and like you’re going to drop the ball (or several balls). It doesn’t have to be that way, though, if we say a word many of us simply don’t use ...

Having It All Isn’t Just a Women’s Initiative I have the privilege of speaking at women’s conferences and working with firms whose leadership teams are committed to further the opportunities for women in the profession. Being a woman, I appreciate the ideas, programs and empathy for women professionals as we balance fulfilling on both personal ...

Start Using Twitter To Develop Thought Leadership Twitter is often a misunderstood social media platform – especially in business.  However, Twitter has unbelievable power and reachthat can build credibility and thought leadership for your firm in your targeted niches, industries and specialty services.  My partner Jennifer Wilson shared five of the important Twitter benefits in ...

A Season Of Peace My “grown up Christmas wish” this holiday season is peace and healing – in our nation, our lives, our businesses, our schools, our families – in our world.  No matter what holiday you are celebrating this season, as we welcome in 2013, let’s pray for peace. And, as a leadership coach, ...

Failure Is Not Fatal Although, it feels like it sometimes.  Sometimes we have high hopes and expectations and we’re working our plan for our career or organization – then, suddenly it comes to a halt because of a mistake we make or some other unforeseen circumstance occurs. “Success is the ability to go from failure ...

Courageous Leadership “To look at something as though we had never seen it before requires great courage.” — Henri Matisse   I often find myself reflecting on how inspiring the leaders I coach are. Whether it’s our Transformational Leadership Program participants, Managing Partners, Executive Committees, staff in our training workshops or other individuals whom I ...

Count Your Blessings I was saying to my daughter yesterday how much I love this time of year in Minnesota with the sun moving south, casting shadows on the beautiful gold, orange and red hues of fall.  And then I thought, I don’t take enough time to appreciate all the good in my life because ...

Counter-Intuitive Must-Dos To Manage Time And Reduce Stress Inhale deeply through your nose, hold for a few seconds, and exhale completely.  Inhale deeply through your nose, hold for a few seconds, and exhale completely.  Repeat a couple more times and then notice how much quieter your mind is and how much more relaxed your body ...

Reluctant Leadership? Partners often tell me that one of their number one succession concerns is wondering who will ascend to partner.  The perception is that “there is no one interested in becoming a partner these days.”  Yet, when I talk to managers and senior managers (and even staff!), they are interested, but they don’t really ...

Anyone who walks in the door willing to engage your services is not necessarily the next RIGHT client. Conceptually, most of us agree with that statement.  However, very few of us practice this in reality – especially given the slow recovery from our recent economic downturn and the struggle many firms are experiencing retaining their clients ...

Healthy Leadership One aspect of leadership that often goes unaddressed is the well-being and health of the leadership team.  It is not discussed because it’s “personal” and, as such, considered off limits.  Even so, I would argue that all of leadership is personal and everything is fair game.  We assess leaders on their integrity, honesty, ...

Why Didn’t You Tell Me? When my clients share their relationship challenges with me, I often find myself saying, “If I was that other person that you are challenged with, I would want to know this!”  The people you have relationship issues want to know: -        That they made the same mistake on virtually every ...

In recent coaching calls with some of my clients who are pioneering optional Saturdays this busy season, we’ve bumped up against many reasons firm leaders are struggling.  In our conversations, firm leaders remain steadfast to make the changes to shift their firm from “old-school” to “cool” – and non-mandatory Saturdays is one of these shifts ...

What Will You Keep, Stop and Start In 2012? When I called my mom to wish her a Happy New Years on January 1st, she asked what my New Year’s resolutions were.  I told her I hadn’t set any yet – not even the old standbys.   I’ve been thinking about a question that my partner, ...

Building A High-Trust Organization In my previous blog, Do You Have A High-Trust Organization, I explored the benefits of building a high-trust organization and identified areas you can assess to determine where you may need to restore trust.  In this post, I’ll share some potential solutions you can implement to build a high-trust organization. Below ...

As I look ahead to this week’s Thanksgiving holiday, my thoughts go to my partner Jen’s comment in her blog last week to stop and “appreciate the spark that gives our work and our time here on earth real meaning – THE PEOPLE!” I am thankful for all who enrich my life because you are ...

At ConvergenceCoaching, we can’t seem to stop talking about trust. This, despite the fact that partners in firms across the country continually tell us, “There are no trust issues here!” or “Our partners trust each other (and our employees trust our leadership team, etc.).” However, trust is more than being “honest” or ethical. When you ...

For most Minnesotans, the day after Labor Day marks the first day of the school year. As I watched my children prepare for the learning that they will engage in this year with new schedule planners, sharpened pencils, crisp, untouched notebooks and even the decorator pins on the new backpacks, I was saddened by the ...

“The gift of truth excels all other gifts.:” ~Buddha We’ve been doing a lot of work this summer with partner groups and leaders of CPA firms focused on partner performance and accountability. One of the core tenants is driving change through straight talk. The courage to talk straight is one of the most transformative behaviors ...