Blog - Carpenter Smith Consulting, LLC

Motivation and Drive

March 23, 2015

We were recently talking with a gifted leader who has done incredible work with his organization’s leaders using the concepts from Daniel Pink’s 2011 book Drive. It’s a great book and it’s summarized in a very engaging YouTube video that we would encourage you to watch. It takes about 10 minutes and yet it hits all the highlights of this counter-intuitive and thought-provoking book about motivation. The short version is this: Despite our cultural belief that people work for money,…

Did You Ask?

March 16, 2015

Monday Morning Business Coach

We were recently talking with a friend about some of the things we want to do with our business. We were saying that we need to further expand our reach in the world—continuing to build the number of people who receive these posts, expanding the impact we have with our trainings, and responding to the need for individuals around our country and, indeed, the world, for help in claiming their power and stepping into their leadership in every aspect of…

Do You Have a Faulty Alarm?

March 9, 2015

Monday Morning Business Coach

One of the things we hear over and over again from clients, colleagues, and friends is that it’s challenging to use The Fundamental Pause when they have a strong physiological reaction. They describe the experience of flashing with anxiety, anger, and fear so powerfully that they simply “need” to react. We understand their experience as we have seen it in many clients over the years and have experienced it ourselves. There are those times when the physical nature of a…

Focusing Your Attention

March 2, 2015

Monday Morning Business Coach

Last week we asked you to notice the different ways in which you pay attention to others. We asked that you watch how you show up in person as well as when reading notes and emails from people in your life. The choice to bring a deep, focused attention to others in your life is an important one. It’s not that we think you need to bring this same level of attention to all situations, but we do believe you…

Pay Attention

February 23, 2015

Monday Morning Business Coach

Giving someone the benefit of your full attention is a true gift and, unfortunately, it is becoming a rare occurrence. If you think about the level of demand and pace faced by people today, it is amazing that any of us are able to pay attention to others at all. When interacting with others, most of us are quick to make decisions and to judge things as right or wrong, and once that occurs, it’s nearly impossible to pay attention…

When Rumors Swirl

February 16, 2015

Monday Morning Business Coach

We were recently contacted by a client of ours who was shaken to have heard that there were rumors about what he was doing within his organization that had no basis in reality. Last year, another client of ours (an introvert who must get time alone to refuel and to think clearly) came to us to talk about the feedback that she’d gotten that she was being described as arrogant and unwilling to work collaboratively within her organization. And, one…

Winning

February 9, 2015

Monday Morning Business Coach

Humans like to win. Most of us experience a sense of joy or even elation when we feel we are winning (or when we are part of a winning team) and a sense of grief and sorrow when we lose (just ask those of us who are Seahawks fans). The research shows that when we are winning, we feel better about our lives in general. Winners are able to overcome obstacles easier and are less likely to give up when…

Building Confidence

February 2, 2015

Monday Morning Business Coach

We’ve been talking about Personal Agility and at Carpenter Smith Consulting, we define personal agility as: the ability to respond quickly and nimbly to the disappointment or obstacle you face by pausing to stay emotionally present (to yourself and others) and then taking action on your own behalf or on behalf of those you care about. Confidence is at the center of agility because you have to believe that you have the power and the ability to respond to the…

Being Asked to Do Something Outside Your Wheelhouse

January 26, 2015

Monday Morning Business Coach

A couple of weeks ago we wrote a post on Personal Agility and a lot of you wrote back with specific questions about how to develop your personal agility in various situations. Last Monday, we wrote about how to handle critical feedback or a vote of no confidence from your team. This week we want to address what you can do when someone with authority asks you to take on something outside of your skill set. For some people, being…

What To Do When You Get A Vote of ‘No Confidence’ from Your Team

January 19, 2015

Monday Morning Business Coach

Since our last post, we have heard from a number of you that you loved the post on Personal Agility and have been struggling to become more agile in your life and work. Over the next few weeks, we are going to address some of the areas you identified as challenging. Personal agility requires the ability to learn and to lead – to influence your world and be influenced by your world. For many of you, a central part of…