On Benchmarking

Posted by on Dec 8, 2013 “Assess, don’t assume,” I often say. Yet what did I do when my coaching client, Jay, said he needs to learn how to consider ideas that he doesn’t like? I initially bought into his assumption that he doesn’t know how…before remembering to assess, not assume. “On a 1-10 scale, with 1 being low and 10 high,” I asked, “where would you peg your current ability to consider ideas that you don’t like?”...
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CarolLines: Now and Zen

Posted by on May 15, 2013

Once there was a time
when I did not know.


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CarolLines: Agreements

Posted by on May 15, 2013 A 747 filled to capacity pulled onto the runway at Chicago’s O’Hare. And stopped. For four hours. Delayed by unseen storm clouds. All 372 passengers sat perfectly still. All except for Brody, the three-year-old sitting directly behind me. “Brody, stop it!” cried his mother as he kicked my seat. “Brody, don’t push that button. Brody, give me those earphones....
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CarolLines: Personallergies

Posted by on May 15, 2013 Kate is allergic to shellfish. Rita is allergic to Kate’s friend, June. Over lunch they wondered why. “One minute, June’s whining about money,” Rita complained. “The next, she’s bragging about her theater weekend in Manhattan or her upcoming trip to Turkey. How come it doesn’t drive you nuts?” Kate pointed her fork at Rita’s plate.  “If I ate one of your shrimp,” she explained, “I’d have a...
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CarolLines: Learning to Lead

Posted by on May 15, 2013

Leading is learning to:


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CarolLines: Cold Showers

Posted by on May 15, 2013 “Mommy, mommy, this water is cold,” whined the child in the shower at the YMCA. “It’s not cold,” said the mommy. “It’s warm.” What message was being sent — and received? Experiences are not the same as events. Just as one man’s ceiling is another man’s floor, the same situation can be experienced by two different people in very different ways. Could it be that the mommy and child were both...
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