I am sometimes asked about the apparently different roles and industries I have worked in.
I spent many years in yacht charter, then lead the team that built the largest school of performing and screen arts in New Zealand. And now my work is coaching.
What links these roles is my approach. I certainly didn't know everything I needed to know when I began.
What I did know was the desired result - the end game this is sometimes called. But I think of it quite differently. I think of it more as a way of being in the world. It's more about the qualities, values and drivers of the end result.
When running the charter fleets in Greece I knew the way to be really successful was to have our guests have such a great time that they came back again and again and brought their friends and family. So I realised that my role was to help them have the best holiday, learn to sail and to love Greece as I did. Over time I got better, I learnt what they loved and what they didn't love. Because of this having started as a cleaner I ended up running the whole Greek operation.
It was the same working with the people in the Caribbean. Because of my Greek experience I knew what to do to grow the business. But first I had to gain the trust of the workers who mostly could not read and write. To do their best work they needed to understand why it mattered that the boats were clean and that everything worked. When I realised that my role was building their trust that this would make their jobs more secure we made great progress.
At the school our vision was to build a school with an international reputation that attracted students from all around the world. I didn't know what would do this. But one step at a time we broke the rules around training actors, dancers, choreographers until finally we hit on creating a degree that combined all the disciplines. Something that had not been done before.
And now I work with small business owners, turning their business around so that it is profitable and scalable.
What these have in common is that I work with qualities and values. I get very clear on the values and qualities of the desired future, then using a creative process we work out what needs to happen to get there.... one step at a time. Always honouring the qualities and values. In this way we are being the people we want to be.
We do not have to know how to do it all. We just need to the know our values.
I find in this fast changing world trying to plan too far ahead leads to disappointment because the world has changed by the time we get there. Taking one step at a time in the direction we want towards a better world with my clients is what gives me joy every day. Take a step, if it feels closer to where we want to be do more of it, and take another step.
Alignment with our values is the major determinant of how we feel.
Why does this matter? I believe that because we do not know exactly how to create the world we would all dearly love to live in we need first to be clear about the operating system we want to live by. For me these are the qualities and values we hold dear. So it becomes not about where we get to but 'how we travel'.
For me it is about joy and love. In Greece love of sailing and Greece and of course the Greek people. In the Caribbean it was trust. I had to win the trust of descendants of slaves. Once I had done that working together became about joyful collaboration. In the school it was love again - love of the art forms and love for each other. And now it's the love I have for my clients.
Those qualities have guided my life and I hope my impact has been the better for it.
