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Coaches have the honor and privilege of working with a broad range of clients in a variety of different contexts. Whether the context for that coaching is professional or personal, clients reveal what life is like from their unique perspective. What might come easily for one client is a constant struggle for another. What feels like an opportunity to one client feels hugely intimidating to another… and the list of differences goes on and on.

Most of you, I am sure, know the scene: As December marches on we prepare ourselves to gather with family members to celebrate the holidays. You may prepare for it with dread, with joyful anticipation, or with a mixture of the two, but we do it every year and rarely ask the question, “Why”?  I was confronted with this question recently by my 21 year old nephew, and I have become quite intrigued by my quest to find an answer.

I love the fall.  There are so many reasons – the weather, the trees, the food, the sports, special birthdays, and Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday).This year the fall season is even more special for several reasons. I haven’t been on the road as much as usual, so I’ve been enjoying more than my fair share of gatherings with friends and spur-of-the-moment family get-togethers. And we are experiencing a burst of energy in our business – a renewed focus within our team, great clients and outstanding affiliate partners.

As one of my friends put it, the process of battling this type of cancer is “like pushing the pause button on your life for about a year.” I can tell you that knowing what I do about how people perceive the world has been an important component in the whole process. So much so that I thought that my experience was worth sharing.

I have several friends who send me interesting emails. You know the type, You Tube videos, jokes, stories – you probably get a few of these, too. Recently, I received one that got me to thinking about its message, which was “Change your words. Change your world.” It’s a message that really hit home for me, especially within the context of human Perceptual Styles.  How you perceive the world – how you make meaning out of what your senses experience – really does determine your world. This means that the words you choose to create meaning and share your experiences with others have a powerful impact on your life.

It seems to go without saying – people are the most important part of any business. Their strengths, their contributions, their ideas, are essential. But working with those strengths, recognizing those contributions and ideas, isn’t always easy. Every person is different, but when it comes to business, we all have the same goal – to succeed.

Just as in the human body, the strength of a business comes from its core. A strong core facilitates growth and endurance, and in business, that growth equals success, and that endurance equals longevity. Naturally, a successful, long-living business is what we all want and strive for!

Marketing was never my forte. Recently, I was talking to some people about my struggles with marketing before we discovered natural marketing styles (more about that later).  Before I finished my sentence, one of the people I was speaking to said:“  I can tell you how to do that. Here’s all you have to do. First you do this… Then you do this … It’s that simple. You can do it, but you have to want to.”.

What do you think of when you think of the word 'networking?' If you're like most people, what comes to mind is a room full of strangers with their business cards in hand, trying to sell you on what they can do for you. The sort of place where you're likely to hear one 90-second elevator speech after another, but have very few real conversations.

Leadership development is defined by Wikipedia as “any activity that enhances the quality of leadership within an individual or organization.” As one might expect from this definition, what constitutes leadership development is highly dependent upon the definition of leadership.