Breaking the Mould

Letting go of our conditioning and how we've always done things is challenging. Even when we know a more promising path forward might exist.

After three years of mainly writing this newsletter, starting with a blank mind and not a clue what I would write about, you'd think I might be bringing this approach to more areas of my life and work. But that has not been the case with the recent launching of the LeaderONE podcast.

In Illuminating the Leader Journey, I shared my experience and challenges in developing a podcast topic I could get excited about and commit to creating regularly. I wanted it to capture and illuminate the journey of leaders on the inner path, open doorways to new possibilities and opportunities, and inform others about navigating the inner journey.

Great, I found a vision and theme I felt passionate about and got to work thinking about who I would invite next to be on the podcast. Selecting a guest was easy. I would invite colleague Gwen Kinsey whom I collaborated with initially, to develop a podcast.

Then because my past two interview series, 5 Minutes to Process Improvement Success and Forward Thinking Workplaces, featured questions that I would ask in every interview, worked out so well, I started to take the same approach for the podcast.

I invested a lot of time in coming up with some questions and sent them to Gwen. Fortunately, when it came time for the podcast, we threw the questions out the window, and one of the most intriguing and insightful interviews I've ever done unfolded.

One of the many gems shared by Gwen was, "We have good concrete ideas, but they’re coming from what we already know instead of giving attention to something that doesn’t have a lot of form and exploring it."

Why was I resisting taking a more open-ended approach, to begin with? I've always feared that I might get to a point in the interview where I didn't know what to say or ask.

This was especially true when I first started interviewing people who were well-known and highly successful authors, consultants, and executives. I wanted to be well prepared and ensure that every minute of the interview was time well invested for everyone.

Gwen shared many more great insights in our discussion, and I can't wait to share them with you. As soon as the podcast is ready, I'll let you know.

In the meantime, where are you limiting yourself by looking to what you already know and what's worked well before? Or even copying what everyone else does?

What's stopping you from being more courageous and discovering potentially more exciting and promising ways? And even if it doesn't work out, how will you benefit from what you learn?

— Bill

P. S. We recently published Navigating a New Era: Five Essential Insights for Success and Leadership in Today's World. Download for free at LeaderONE. No email address is required.