I recently went back to my training coach and another mentor and expert coach to discuss a feeling that there was something holding me back from the next level in my company, a key concern for any CEO. It felt like a combination of fear and excitement, but had an underlying dark tone I could not put my mental finger on, but left me with a feeling of discomfort. After a series of ever deeper questions and answers it turned out the yellow warning lights I perceived were spot on. I was staring at a tree when I should have been looking at the forest. Q&A recalled this lesson – At various times in our lives we create beliefs or adopt those of others, all of which are based on past experiences. Some of these beliefs we turn into inviolable rules and convictions, proverbial road blocks which are impassable. Some or all of these beliefs may be relevant to present day occurrences, and some must be utterly smashed and discarded. For me it was the financial beliefs passed on to me by my parents whom were Depression era children. I can still hear my Dad’s bellow to “turn out the lights, I don’t work for ConEd”. Many of my age group peers from the late 1950’s to early 1960’s may relate to that rant. It is based on the feeling of scarcity from an era where there was scarcity, a fear and false feeling that we are going to lose what we have. For me the discomfort felt like a hand was reaching up and grabbing me from behind by the collar, holding me back and pulling me down into a grave, a pretty powerful metaphor. It was clear to me that there were a few rules that needed to be demolished, and a few beliefs that were still valid for the present time. Once the identity of the of the limiting and disempowering beliefs was identified I described three different approaches my coach could use to wipe the slate clean, 2 that he had never learned himself, but he was ever masterful and took me down a 4th path so that I could not influence the process- it was very cool (some strong-willed clients will combat the process). With my compass realigned this CEO can continue to move forward.
