I have been working on the concept for my new consulting company: Reimagine Work. As part of the process, I’ve been working on a letter that explains the “why” of this new direction for me. I wrote a first draft in July and sent it to a friend. Here is how she responded:

Don't rush it. Play with the writing. Have fun! Let your voice come out. There is no boss to edit or tell you that it's not good enough. Get your child-like wonder on and make it feel Jossy! 

And I cried. Because what she wrote IS the why.

That is why I want to reimagine work.  We all want workplaces to support people to be their authentic, valuable self. I think about the person sitting at their desk so bored (or worse so anxious) and longing for something more, longing for the courage to pursue work that is meaningful them, and not knowing how to go about it. Not knowing there are professionals out there like me who are there to support them as they leap and help them to land where they most want to be.

I think about the companies led by people who don’t let employees know that their work matters, who don’t give them the tools they need to be successful, and who micromanage the initiative, creativity, and talent out of their staff. I want to support a change with that tired system – work, reimagined.

Reimagine Work is an agent for that change. Reimagine Work integrates the needs of the organisation with the true professional development of their people. It’s a fancy way of saying: it’s people living their work and no longer just working to live.

Although it works for some, one of the reasons people come to see me is they don’t want to spend the rest of their lives doing work they don’t love.  They don’t want to be leaders who leave their people uninspired or overworked. They don’t want to be employees who are just putting in time until 5 pm.

If you recognize yourself, or your organization, in any part of the above, give me a call.  Let’s get reimaging your work or workplace together. Learn more at Reimagine Work

She Leads Interview with Lhadon Tethong, a committed activist for Tibet and for social justice everywhere.

She Leads is a place to share stories about women who lead in their own unique ways and an opportunity for them to pass on their invaluable wisdoms to others. Following are edited excerpts of the She Leads dialogues with Lhadon Tethong.

Lhadon Tethong, for me, is magic. That is one word (amongst many) I would use to describe her. She challenges me, makes me think harder, and it is my honour to be able to call her my good friend for over 25 years.  She is a true transformational leader. In 2007, Lhadon made international headlines as an exiled Tibetan who boldly challenged the occupation of Tibet from inside China, posting real-time accounts of her travels through Beijing as it was preparing for the 2008 Olympics on her blog, http://beijingwideopen.org/ — one of the first Tibetan blogs in existence. Her presence in Beijing drew the ire of the Chinese authorities and Lhadon was detained and deported from China. A renowned spokesperson on Tibetan issues in the media, Lhadon has also addressed audiences around the world about Tibet's occupation and the movement for freedom.

How would you define Transformational Leadership? To me a transformational leader inspires and guides you to see the possibilities inside, and to realize that you have the power to make this world or communities, or our families better – even one person’s life better. You have that in you.  

Who comes to mind when I say this? I have a personal reaction to this – John Hocevar – he was the Executive Director for Students for a Free Tibet [SFT] when I started working there at 23. He was a wonderful mixture of brilliant, strategic and humble. He was magically subtle in the way he led us. For example, he would speak last, and everyone else would go first in staff meetings.

What is one leadership lesson you’ve learned so far? The word ‘lesson’ takes me to the difficult and negative things. I think that without a clear goal, and flexible plan, you can flounder and waste time, energy, and people’s good will. Don’t take it as a given that people’s good will be there forever. Money and funding cause stress fractures. The sad reality is we need funding to do the work – so as activists we need resources, but they are not easy to come by – especially within the political realm.

As a female leader what are the opportunities and challenges you face? Within the Tibetan movement it is mostly male leaders – this is cultural and traditional. But with SFT, so often most of the grassroots leaders, and the ones making change at a local level – they are young women leaders. So, I feel like having the platform and profile I have had, I’ve been a good model in the Tibetan movement. I also have this dual identity of a Tibetan who has been raised in the west, and from a mixed marriage, and so I am treated differently.  I hope that by doing what I have been doing within the moment, and not taking no for a answer in my campaigning, that this has been good for the Tibetan world.

What is your daily leadership practise? (A leadership practise for me is defined as a leadership discipline that I do daily). The number one guide I have is the people inside Tibet. In moments when I am deeply uncomfortable, I go back to Tibet – as this is not about me. So often being nervous is about worrying about how we are perceived, but I know my work is about the people in Tibet and this grounds me. I also come back to my grandfather fighting battles in Tibet, with limited resources, to gain control of land that was taken away by Chinese warlords. The work I do is easy it is compared to what he did. I remind myself – this is not as hard as that.

What is one piece of advice that you would give to young leaders? (At age 22 Lhadon spoke about the power of youth in front of 66,000 people at the Beastie Boys’ Tibetan Freedom Concert 98 in Washington DC) I say this about love and life opportunities – never sell yourself short in love and work. Be willing to do the work – long hours, hard work – it is how you distinguish yourself. Go the extra mile for what you are passionate about.  In 1999, I left Victoria and went to New York – I can’t imagine my life if I hadn’t done that. […] You learn by doing. You don’t need 17 internships and 42 volunteer opportunities to prepare you to work in a given field – if you wait until you feel you know everything, you will miss out.

Photo credit to Alex John Beck.

If Only Ravensburger Did Careers

A career is like a puzzle. In the beginning, there are so many decisions and pieces it can be hard to figure out what to focus on first. But then you start by creating a plan (or giving it your best guess) and your journey begins. Sometimes people start a puzzle by doing the outside pieces first. They may be self- employed or choose to work at start-ups as consultants. Others will sort the pieces into colours – choosing a company, or a field. But nothing happens until that first piece connects to the second. Only then does the puzzle come together at the speed of the time and energy you spend on it. In my career I have been both on the outside edges as a consultant and in a system as an employee. For me, right now, I am deciding what to do next – which piece to pick up that kicks it all off.

As a Career Coach and HR Consultant, I am at what in the business we call a “career crossroad” – a time in your career when, for whatever reason, you find yourself asking the same 3 questions: who am I? where am I going? and with whom?

I'm not sure of the full picture of my work future yet but I promise you this: it will be about coaching people to find work that is the best match for them and supporting organizations who actively back people doing meaningful work. I see fresh, powerhouse partnerships forming, and I see no limit to what can be achieved through them. This is a time when I start a new puzzle and I can’t wait to see what picture emerges from all the exciting pieces.

She Leads: Interview with Lora McKay – Acting Director of Creative Sector Policy and Governance

Lora was with me at a dinner when we talked about what it means to be a leader – the debate was fun, heated and left me pondering a few things about women in leadership. Given the various points of view at the table, I realized I want to pursue discussions that would give more insights into the challenges women face at work. She Leads is the result: a series of focused conversations featuring women who are leaders in their fields. It is a safe space where women can speak frankly about their experiences, the work-life juggling act these positions demand, the obstacles and rewards, and all the ways they navigate leadership roles as women.  She Leads is a place to share stories about women who lead in their own unique ways and an opportunity for them to pass on their invaluable wisdom to others. Following are edited excerpts of the She Leads dialogues:

Define inspiring leadership?

I define inspiring leadership as being heart-centered. We cannot achieve anything meaningful in isolation. To move forward any project or idea, it requires collaboration, creativity, and trust. Whether you are leading your team or bringing new partners into the fold, they need to know that you are coming from an authentic, heart-centered place in order to join you.

What is one leadership lesson you’ve learned so far?

Trust yourself and your intuition. Speak up if something does not feel right and stay in your integrity. No job or promotion is worth losing your grounding and sense of self.

As a female leader what are the opportunities and challenges you face?

Trying to juggle being a good parent and a good employee is a real challenge. I do not want to miss the pivotal moments in my daughter’s life. It is important for me to be there for her field trips and school concerts. I also want to be a really good colleague and to meaningfully contribute at my workplace.  I have recently been witnessing a shift in workplace culture; it seems to be increasingly moving towards providing the kind of flexibility required to make this possible. I hope this continues, as I consider it to be a real opportunity – especially for women.

What’s the most important business or other discovery you’ve made in the past year?

I have been really impressed with the impact of free collaboration platforms, such as Slack.  Slack allows for the sending of direct messages. It has the ability to organize conversations into different channels (e.g. specific projects, technical support, general chat, etc.). It supports video-calling. You can also drag, drop, share and store files with your colleagues directly within the app and access services such as Google Drive and Dropbox.

What is your daily leadership practice? (A leadership practice for me is defined as a leadership discipline that I do daily)

Self-care. Whether it is exercising, meditating or making healthy food choices, it is so important to care for yourself – mind, body and soul -  or you are of no use to anyone else.

What is one piece of advice that you would give to readers?

Do the work that brings you the most joy.     

Biography

Lora McKay is Acting Director of Creative Sector Policy and Governance with the Province of British Columbia. She has worked in the not-for-profit arts sector and public service for over twenty-years. Lora is committed to fostering a healthy and vibrant creative economy in B.C. through strategic policy and program development. In her personal life, Lora is mother to a nine-year old daughter and she writes a lifestyle blog: breath-by-breath.com

Plan Z.

To some degree, self-employment has been in my life since before I graduated from university. Through every phase of my career up until April of last year, I have had various evening or weekend contracts. Some took me to Arizona on a high profile mission and others were less glamorous and far more administrative and behind the scenes. Even for the 10-year period I was more traditionally employed, I had numerous outside gigs.  In April 2017, I closed shop and took no contracts under my own business name for one full year to work for someone else. Wow, did I miss it. Not just the versatility that contract work brings but also the option of a Plan B. What I knew to be true at 23 still proved to be true 20 years later…You always gotta have a Plan B – another source of income just in case you literally quit your day job. 

We have this idea that if our plans don't work out, we've failed. After my first engagement (yup, I’ve been engaged twice) and life seemed to fall apart, I definitely felt like I had failed. But then came this crazy moment of clarity and lightness. I hadn’t failed. What I had done was to clear the space for the man I am so happily married to today to eventually occupy in my heart. There was no Plan B, I just leaped out of the relationship that wasn’t working.

When I resigned from my job and actually stopped working, I had that same moment of clarity and lightness. No Plan B to fall back on, but somehow I knew it would all be okay. (Full disclosure: I also have to actively remind myself of that from time to time when my mind wants to panic.)

Of course, it was painful to call off my first engagement, and it was painful to resign and choose to change my career path. But painful moments often happen when the life we had imagined is different than what the reality is. But what I have learned and cannot overstate is this: changing plans is not failure. In fact, clarity and light comes in realizing if plan A doesn't work, the alphabet has 25 more letters for you to fall back on. Use them up. All the way to Z if you need to.

I've been ‘Big Magicked’!

My Superhero Pose blog was going to be very different…I originally wrote it on April 21 and was going to post it after I had my hair done on May 15. I had the visual all planned out, arms out, hair perfect, eyes blazing confidently into my new future. Truly being my own superhero.

Then I was at my hair appointment and mentioned my blog post to my hairdresser, Candis, and how I wanted her to take a picture of me to include with my post. She said,  “Oh, did you write your blog based on the video that Danielle LaPorte posted today?” I was stunned and had to go look it up. Sure enough, there is a now viral video about a teacher who encouraged her students to stand in a superhero pose before they write an exam.

The next day I told my friend, Jody, about the blog. She is my first reviewer and editor of most things I post, and she had worked on my original post back in April.  “You’ve been ‘Big Magicked’!” she said, and then went on to remind me of a theory Elizabeth Gilbert puts forward in her book Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. Gilbert says:

“When an idea thinks it has found somebody – say, you – who might be able to bring it into the world, the idea will pay you a visit. It will try to get your attention. Mostly, you will not notice. This is likely because you’re so consumed by your own dramas, anxieties, distractions, insecurities, and duties that you aren’t receptive to inspiration.

You might miss the signal because you’re watching TV, or shopping, or brooding over how angry you are at somebody, or pondering your failures and mistakes, or just generally really busy. The idea will try to wave you down (perhaps for a few moments; perhaps for a few months; perhaps even for a few years), but when it finally realises that you’re oblivious to its message, it will move on to someone else.”

So, there you have it, I missed the idea for my post today because I waited to have nice hair for the blog shot…Good thing it wasn’t a brilliant idea for a novel.

Just in case you interested, here is my original blog.

I always get nervous before I facilitate large groups. Because I have done this regularly as part of my work for the past 20 years, I needed strategies to help calm my nerves and boost my confidence. As a die-hard Greys Anatomy fan, I would adopt the same superhero pose (in private) that the surgeons would strike before they embarked on a major surgery: hands on hips, chest proud, eyes ahead. I would tell myself “You got this, Jocelin” and then walk into the room ready to take it on.

As a believer in meaningful work, and as a career coach who has spent years supporting others in making meaningful career decisions, I couldn’t ignore that this new position was not working. So, I decided that I must move on. That job in that company will be a perfect fit for someone – it was not for me.

Once I acknowledged this truth, I needed to act on it. Cue superhero pose. Here I am, facing my unknown professional future, a bundle of nervous energy, but grounded in being my own superhero. I am looking up and ahead, ready to re-imagine my work as being something that fits again.

The Takeaway: More important now than the superhero pose: I have been big magicked once – it won’t happen again.