When I was a little girl, I used to read under the covers with a flashlight until I could barely hold my eyes open. I love to read! When I started college, I worked, took classes and focused on reading what was expected to complete the courses, setting aside my beloved list of leisure reading. And even then, it was a stretch for me to read anything cover to cover. Speed reading and targeted reading became par for the course, taking much of the enjoyment out of what is normally for me a time for replenishment and deep reflection.
Here I am a half-century later with a career that requires I stay in the forefront of research and news. I have a child, who I spend time reading with and to, and a long list of leisure reading that I can barely dent.
Bathroom time is where I spend the most time actually reading, using that time for both professional and leisure reading. I admit it. And, I am not proud of it. Though I like my bathroom, serene in its décor, it is not dedicated time… It’s like reading a book by paragraphs.
So, I am asking myself: if reading is so essential to my career, to supporting my child, and to my feeling replenished, inspired, and creative, how do I prioritize it as it should be prioritized… I mean how do I get out of the bathroom?
In this reflection, I discovered something that sort of surprised me. I consider reading for my profession not a part of my work. Almost like it is a condition for doing my work that needs to be completed outside of working hours. I asked myself, why am I doing homework for work? I made a decision: professional reading is now an on-the-job assignment. It is time to include it as a priority and an important part of my work day.
In continuing my reflection, I began to realize my mother-daughter time reading seemed on the surface to be the right thing to do. But my daughter is an avid and independent reader. My reading to her was more about my needs. It was more about wanting my little girl to need me. That discovery led me to the following idea: Change how we spend our reading time together. I created special side-side reading time. Each of us independently reading our favorite books right next to each other and role modeling the love for reading by reading what I love.
I still have very full days with never enough time to get through my reading list, but I have improved. I have also confronted my own self-imposed expectations. Most importantly, I have changed my perspective of reading. It is no longer a luxury that I can not afford, but a pleasure well within my budget.
My Tips:
Reading is inspirational to me. I schedule reading time before writing or designing time. It feeds my thought process and get’s my creative juices going.
Sometimes I replace “rockin-out” in my commute with listening to audio books.
I join book study groups. Book study provides structure and keeps me goal oriented and accountable. And I learn from others’ perspectives during the discussion time.
I don’t punish myself for not reading cover to cover. It’s not how I read business books anyway. However, I occasionally find the page turner that keeps me reading all the way to the end and wanting more.
I read on planes (even the airline magazines).
Share your tips on how you make time for reading or please share any book recommendations.
Join Dragonfly Consultants in their new group book study called Read to Lead. With joining Read to Lead, you’ll get to connect and learn with other leaders and discuss leadership development in a guided virtual session led by one of Dragonfly Consultants’ co-founders, Adrienne Seal. Each session will also feature the book’s author in a 45-minute Q&A. To learn more and to sign up, visit Read to Lead’s Invitation.
Hope Scott, the Vice President and Chief Risk and Compliance Officer at Blue Shield of California, was interviewed by one of Dragonfly Consultants’ Co-Founders and Executive Coach, Adrienne Seal. Scott was featured in American Healthcare Leader for her work and leadership in the healthcare industry, and during the interview, Scott shares how executive coaching has continuously helped develop her professional career. Seal has coached Scott on how to overcome work obstacles that she otherwise wouldn’t have known how to deal with, including transitioning into a new promotion.
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Hope Scott, the Vice President and Chief Risk and Compliance Officer at Blue Shield of California, was recently featured in American Healthcare Leader for her work and leadership in the healthcare industry. Scott’s work at Blue Shield has allowed millions of Californian Medi-Cal members to receive quality care through Care1st, and she has also launched a new Medicare compliance initiative to mitigate risk. With 27 years of healthcare and legal experience, Scott shares how executive coaching has continuously helped develop her professional career in an interview with Dragonfly Consultants, a certified women-owned business that offers executive coaching in leadership development and organizational culture.
The interview was led by one of Dragonfly Consultants’ Co-Founder and Executive Coach, Adrienne Seal, who has had experience working with companies, including Blue Shield, Clorox, HP and Cisco on executive coaching, leadership development and team development. Throughout the interview, Scott shares how having an executive coach like Seal has helped her overcome work obstacles that she otherwise wouldn’t have known how to deal with.
One of the ways Seal has helped Scott was through the transition into her promotion of her current role. Scott was now managing a team of about 50 people and soon learned that becoming a leader was more than just managing employees. Scott shares, “My biggest learning was that it was possible to have a plan in how to move forward and how to transform who I appear to be in the organization. To go from a Director to being an executive in the organization required a lot of transformation on my own part but also how other people thought of me. And having [Seal] as a coach in particular, I think the most important initial steps were for you to help me realize that people looked at me differently now. Even though I’m the same Hope that has been there the day before the promotion was announced, people looked at me differently because now I was a Vice President and now I was in a different category of leadership in the organization.”
In order to successfully lead the team, Seal worked closely with Scott to develop a roadmap on how to best strategically plan and execute on team objectives. With Scott’s passion in healthcare and law and Seal’s coaching, Scott has been able to transform into a virtuous leader. Words of advice from Scott were, “As a leader, you can’t be timid… As a leader, you have to think about what’s really important.”
Scott’s early years of professional work has allowed her to overcome and defy gender and racial stereotypes. Proving to be more than just another label (“she’s a woman; she’s of color; she’s inexperienced”), Scott takes on all challenges with an open-mind and thick skin. Utilizing all types of resources, Scott recommends mentoring, coaching, joining groups and creating a professional development plan to continue to learn and grow.
“Working with Dragonfly and working with [Seal] as a coach has been transformative; it has made me accept who I can be and makes me want to strive to be better all the time. And I really appreciate the fact that even after our coaching engagement formally ended, we remained in touch; we remained connected. I think that stands out to be from the person you are, but it’s reflective of the nature of your coaching… You and your organization has really helped to transform my career.”
About Blue Shield of California
Founded in 1939, Blue Shield of California, an independent member of the Blue Shield Association, is a nonprofit health plan dedicated to providing Californians with access to high-quality health care at an affordable price. The organization serves over 4 million health plan members and nearly 65,000 physicians across the state.
Click here to read the full press release on PRWeb.
“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” – Margaret Fuller
Dragonfly Consultants is offering a series of Read to Lead group book study sessions, starting next January 2018. Join us in the Dragonfly Reading Room (virtual) as we explore and discuss books on a variety of interests that will be sure to engage, challenge and inspire you as a leader. With each selected book, participants will read on their own and then join in on a lively 90-minute discussion led by a Dragonfly moderator and special guests, the authors of each book. The reading room is limited to 20 participants. You can still register for the last session for Humble Inquiry with Ed Schein on May 7th for $25. To sign up, get tickets here.
What participants will get out of the book study sessions:
Study guide questions
Post meeting recording
Access to a private Dragonfly Reading Room Linkedin group where you can continue the learning
Overall, the ability to connect, discuss and learn with other leaders, the books’ authors and experts
Layout of each virtual session:
First 45 minutes – Book discussion facilitated by Dragonfly Consultants
Last 45 minutes – Q&A with the book’s author
Featured books and sessions:
Michael Papanek’s From Breakdown to Breakthrough on January 12, 2018 from 5:00pm – 6:30pm PST
In From Breakdown to Breakthrough, Papanek introduces the concept of the heat curve, a graphical representation that shows how relationships perform under stress. There comes a point where the “heat” – in the form of creative tension, interpersonal conflict, and extreme emotions – becomes too much for the relationship to handle, which leads to breakdown. The goal of building resilient relationships is to shift the heat curve as far as possible, so that it can withstand heat before breaking down. “The more resilience you have, the higher you are able to ride the heat curve and leverage the benefits of increasing stress, without the costs,” he says.
Michael Papanek, grandson of the pioneer of group dynamics and organizational psychology, Kurt Lewin, draws from the latest research and his thirty years’ track record of success with clients, including Apple, Facebook, VMWare, Salesforce, Kaiser and Google to reveal the success strategies of the most resilient leaders.
Florence Williams’ The Nature Fix onMarch 12, 2018 from 5:00pm – 6:30pm PST
For centuries, poets and philosophers extolled the benefits of a walk in the woods: Beethoven drew inspiration from rocks and trees; Wordsworth composed while tromping over the heath; Nikola Tesla conceived the electric motor while visiting a park. Intrigued by our storied renewal in the natural world, Florence Williams sets out to uncover the science behind nature’s positive effects on the brain in The Nature Fix.
From forest trails in Korea, to islands in Finland, to groves of eucalyptus in California, Williams investigates the science at the confluence of environment, mood, health, and creativity. Delving into completely new research, she uncovers the powers of the natural world to improve health, promote reflection and innovation, and ultimately strengthen our relationships. As our modern lives shift dramatically indoors, these ideas—and the answers they yield—are more urgent than ever.
Edgar Schein’s Humble Inquiry on May 7, 2018 from 5:00pm – 6:30pm PST
Communication is essential in a healthy organization. But all too often when we interact with people—especially those who report to us—we simply tell them what we think they need to know. This shuts them down. To generate bold new ideas, to avoid disastrous mistakes, to develop agility and flexibility, we need to practice Humble Inquiry.
Ed Schein defines Humble Inquiry as “the fine art of drawing someone out, of asking questions to which you do not know the answer, of building a relationship based on curiosity and interest in the other person.” In this seminal work, Schein contrasts Humble Inquiry with other kinds of inquiry, shows the benefits Humble Inquiry provides in many different settings, and offers advice on overcoming the cultural, organizational, and psychological barriers that keep us from practicing it.
I was recently at a conference where Jonathan Mildenhall was a keynote speaker. For those of you who don’t know Jonathan (and I don’t expect you to), he was previously the Chief Marketing Officer at Coca Cola and is now the Chief Marketing Officer at AirBnB. His marketing pedigree is not the topic of this message, but his passion for building “purpose-driven companies” is.
His presentation was fantastic. In fact, as he took us through a journey of his career and some of the hallmark marketing campaigns he has overseen with Coca Cola and AirBnB, you could clearly see the impact that purpose has on those two organizations. And it’s not that these two companies are charities – far from that. But their commitment to purpose helped drive both to notable growth and brand success. Consider the following elements of purpose from each of these companies:
Coca Cola: To refresh the world… To inspire moments of optimism and happiness…
AirBnB: Creating real connections/friendships between like-minded people
When you think about it, those are meaningful and impactful purpose statements. They say something unique and different about the culture of each company and can inspire both employees and customers alike behind their brand.
Which leads me to the purpose (a little play on words) of this post. Purpose-driven companies are more successful than those who are not. And by successful, I mean in virtually every aspect of its definition – growth, profit, engagement, retention, and satisfaction. As leaders and team members alike, the importance of embracing purpose in business has never been more important.
Jonathan’s speech inspired me to do a little research on the concept of both “purpose” and “purpose-driven companies.” Turns out this isn’t such a new concept. Having “purpose” in our lives is the essence of what it means to be human. Our consciousness and awareness of both ourselves and others, the knowledge of our mortality, the need for meaning, and the yearning to make something of it is what separates us from all other animals.
Ask any Millennial, and they will tell you quickly now important purpose is to them. Ask any Boomer to reminisce on their youthful days, and they will no doubt recognize the same struggle for purpose behind their generational stereotypes. And for those stuck in the middle (like me), no doubt our struggle to be recognized as something other than some random letter (Gen X – how generic can you get) is driven by the need for purpose.
So if purpose is so fundamental to what makes us human, why only recently are we hearing so much about its place in business? Again, not a new concept. There are examples throughout history of organizations whose existence was closely tied to purpose. To be fair, not all businesses embrace this concept. But there are plenty that do. The more recent awareness is likely tied to the advancement of technology and the awareness it has created. With social media, the gravity of the masses are empowered to recognize and both reward or punish those organizations that don’t embrace purpose.
But what I find most interesting is how dramatic the impact is for purpose-driven companies. In researching for this message, I did a search on Google for “why purpose-driven companies are more successful.” I got back 20 million results. Articles from Harvard Business Review, E&Y, Forbes, Fast Company, Inc., Huffington Post, Gallup – to name a few. Consider the following studies that suggest purpose-driven companies:
Have more motivated employees. According to a recent study by BNET, “29% of respondents said that doing something meaningful was the most motivating thing about work. Money motivated 25%, and recognition 17%.” (BNET)
Increased productivity by up to 30% (Center for Economic Studies)
See improved engagement scores of up to 240% higher (Gallup)
The outcome is an increase in both revenue and profit. According to one recent 10-year study by The Purpose Institute:
42% of companies that were not considered “purpose-driven” showed a drop in revenues.
On the other side, 85% of purpose-led companies showed positive revenue growth.
No wonder noted business strategists like Jim Collins, Peter Drucker and others have harped on the importance of purpose in building a business. Many share the same sentiments as Paul Klein of Forbes Magazine: “Great companies go beyond ubiquitous statements of corporate values to nurture a dialogue to keep social purpose at the forefront of everyone’s mind and ensure that employees use the organizational values as a guide for business decisions.”
Purpose matters in business. Will you “Lean in to purpose?”
About Kip Wright
Kip is the President and CEO of Genuent, a national IT staffing and Project support provider. Prior to Genuent, Kip was President of Manpower Global. He’s also the Champion for the promotion of new age leadership principles. To read more of his blog posts, visit www.leadingwright.com.
In 
For centuries, poets and philosophers extolled the benefits of a walk in the woods: Beethoven drew inspiration from rocks and trees; Wordsworth composed while tromping over the heath; Nikola Tesla conceived the electric motor while visiting a park. Intrigued by our storied renewal in the natural world, 
Communication is essential in a healthy organization. But all too often when we interact with people—especially those who report to us—we simply tell them what we think they need to know. This shuts them down. To generate bold new ideas, to avoid disastrous mistakes, to develop agility and flexibility, we need to practice Humble Inquiry. 
About Kip Wright
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