Lean In meets Spiral Impact
This video depiction has popped into my mind every time I’ve heard “Lean In” the past several years. The time was ripe to produce it – hope you enjoy it. [vimeo]https://vimeo.com/111862804[/vimeo] Sheryl Sandberg’s bestseller triggered a huge amount of dialogue...
Is it a feeling or a knife?
It was a downward spiral, guided by a therapist to boot! Okay, okay, it was a television show, but a lot of people take their cues from entertainment. "I feel that you are not listening to me," and "I feel that you are always cutting me off," Arizona and Callie's of...
It takes just one
The spark from the conflict vanished as quickly as a newbie scout trying to light a fire by rubbing sticks; nobody else noticed the incident between Frick and Frack. However, everyone around Frick and Frack felt the effects of incident, the burn, for a week. The...
Get your Fresh Eyes on
Habits and routine blind us. "When a habit emerges, the brain stops fully participating in decision making," says Charles Duhigg in The Power of Habit. Fresh eyes and energy to engage a world seen anew are opened by change. I made a deliberate change 3-months ago and...
When is banana a sword?
A banana can't really hurt you. A friend offered me a banana recently. She was so intent on me having one I got irritated... I just don't like bananas! I responded a little defensively; I was not as gracious as I would have liked. It caused me to reflect about why...
Keys to Resilience
The importance of resilience is a life theme I've heard over-and-over at graduations and career panels this spring.[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/94542397[/vimeo] I couldn't resist sharing this fun footage caught at a Purdue University presentation...resilience is...
Odd man out
As I learned I was the odd man out on a significant decision my emotions instantly elevated. Even my best 'centering' skills eluded me. Frenetic emotional energy is rarely helpful. Although, pretending the decision doesn't matter is a bit like trying to catch a...
How The Good Wife Changed My Life
I’ve been blessed to have ‘moments’ that shift my life in a significant good way. I feel slightly embarrassed to admit…one of those moments was triggered by the television show The Good Wife. Tuning into the drama regularly was a way for me to unplug from my world ---...
How do you discipline your words?
A simple typo of 'north' instead of 'south' in the directions set me up to be late to a meeting. As a stickler for punctuality, I could feel my heart begin to pound while my mind raced thinking of how to explain my tardiness. Enter Spiral Impact. The tension in my gut...
Embrace the What?
I sighed with relief as I settled into my seat on the airplane. Next to me was a bright-eyed young man eager to talk. Both of us had just navigated icy roads, canceled, and then delayed flights. He was on his second day of hassle...I was just on my first day. He...
Grammar as inspiration: TedTalk recommendation
Funny how a talk about grammar inspired me as I navigated the complexities of changing travel plans during the polar vortex. Phuc Tran educated me on the dark side of subjunctives (as an engineering student this was not included in my curriculum!). Do you know about...
Book Review: Hatching Twitter
Truth is stranger than fiction, which came to mind when I read Hatching Twitter by Nick Bilton. If you didn’t know the story was true you’d enjoy it as great fiction. I was drawn to this book from an innovation/organizational development perspective and as a minor...
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Karen Valencic
Martial artist. Engineer. Best-selling author. Sought-after consultant.