Madeline didn’t see the true transformation coming. In late 2019, Madeline Sarad hired me as her leadership coach with one intention, to become principal at her tech company, and had no idea what else was in store.
Madeline wanted a leadership coach with experience in marketing and tech to help identify the particular leadership skillsets needed to attain a promotion. What she didn’t realize was the amount of inner work that needed tending to. Often times executives become so focused on this one part of their professional journey, that they don’t think about the other pieces of the puzzle, like transformational leadership and inner growth.
In one of the first conversations we had, I asked Madeline two really big questions:
“What’s your intention?”
“And why is that important?”
Then it all clicked for her. She needed to figure out what she wanted holistically and who she even was as a person. Madeline soon learned that inner work and self-reflection were going to be a vital part of the process. The coaching was so much more valuable than she ever intended it to be.
It’s so common to think that when hiring a leadership coach, you’re going to gain one thing and one thing only. But what we don’t realize is that to attain a certain goal or outcome there needs to be a lot of “behind the scenes” work done. If Madeline didn’t look inward, yes, she probably would’ve worked her ass off and gotten promotion after promotion…
But at what cost?
Without the inner work, which involves gaining self-awareness, building self-trust and expanding your energy, Madeline admitted she would’ve felt disconnected from who she is as a human. The joy and holistic mindset would’ve been missing. Her focus would’ve been on the wrong things like external validation and the “next best thing”. But now, she can focus on connecting to the deeper meaning of things. She can value all that she’s doing while simultaneously focusing on being grounded with where she’s at and where she wants to go.
Here are a few leadership tools for marketers who want to gain more self-awareness:
- Take a step back and ask yourself “who are you being” in order to notice the qualities and characteristics you’re embodying at that moment.
- Noticing your energy drainers and generators. What is giving you energy and what is draining it?
- Coping mechanisms. We identified a couple of key coping mechanisms in Madeline’s life, called them out, and painted a picture of what they look like to recognize when she was choosing to be that way, and feeling empowered to choose differently.
Self-awareness to the 9s.
As we got clearer on the inner work needed to uplevel, Madeline noticed she needed to add a few more things back into her life to provide her with more energy. Like:
- Starting the morning with meditation
- Setting an intention for the day to get in the right energy
- Noticing throughout the day if she needs to take a few moments to get back on track mentally and reset
- Instrumental music. Having it in the background or starting her day with it
- Boxing. It harnesses energy for her throughout the day
Through transformational leadership coaching, Madeline gained an immense amount of self-awareness, mindset shifts throughout many areas of her life, an alignment with her energy, and so much more (and yes, she did get the promotion).
So yes, you can have it all! You can get that promotion. You can be happy in a career that you actually enjoy. You can make the money you want to make. And you can give back in the ways you want to give back. You don’t have to constantly feel burnt out or feel like you need to sacrifice things in order to achieve your goals. It is all possible, once you define what “it all” means to you.
Book a 1:1 introductory call with me so we can get started on your transformational journey! The time is now.
To listen to the full interview with Madeline, head over to Episode 1 of Find Your Clear Vision!
READY FOR A REINVENTION?
Being a heart-centered professional woman has its challenges, but here’s the truth: your potential is bigger than what you currently believe. This is your one-time invitation to transform your mindset of what’s possible for you and design your life and personal brand from the inside out. Book your introductory coaching session with Lisa today.