The Story Behind the Facts

My story:

Personal Background:
I am happily married to my high school sweetheart. I am thrilled and amazed that the person I fell in love with so many years ago is a person who I am delighted to be spending the rest of my life with. He is a perfect match for me because where I can be more serious and intense, he is laid-back and easy-going. I have often thought how lucky our kids are to have this balance in their parents. We have two children (daughter - in graduate school; son - a senior in college).

Business Background:
I have a bachelor’s degree in social work, but my primary work history is in Human Resources & Organizational Development within the IT group of an international insurance company. Developing, managing and delivering enterprise-wide strategic projects for the I/S organization was the focus of my work. A sample of such programs included:

LEAD (Leadership Excellence through Assessment and Development) - a management development program;
Performance Management for managers – objective setting, coaching and feedback, communicating performance decisions
Development planning process for the entire I/S organization.

My background allowed me the diversity of working with all levels within an organization. I have worked with and facilitated senior leadership teams to create and develop corporate philosophies and cascade them down to departments, teams and individuals.

I am also a certified facilitator in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator; Seven Habits of Highly Effective People; First Things First, as well as the Benchmarks 360 feedback program (Center for Creative Leadership). Additionally our Organizational Development group developed and delivered an internal 360 feedback assessment. This assessment was the core piece of a 3 day manager training program which included identifying and understanding manager's Myers-Briggs type, as well as reviewing the results of their 360 feedback. As their development coach, I worked with them one-on-one to review, assimilate and integrate their 360 feedback into an ongoing development program. To keep this alive, I met with them on a regular basis to identify where they were currently in their management development and together we would strategize how to propel them further in their growth.

Life After Corporate America:

I worked there for about 25 years, ending that relationship in 2005.

I chose to leave at a time when I needed to focus on other areas of my life, not my career. I was finding my way back to health after suffering from many months of severe chronic fatigue. As my health was improving, the health of my mom and my husband’s parents was deteriorating. I found I could not manage all of these areas of my life and something needed to give.

Was this an easy choice to quit my job? Yes and no. When making a major life choice, there is almost always the fear you might be giving up one area of stress for another area of stress. In my case, trying to spread myself too thin between my health, family, parent's health, career vs. giving up my salary and my identity as a working - outside of the home - mom. This was pretty scary - what would it mean for me and my family? Who would I eventually ‘be’ from a career stand-point? Despite this fear of the unknown, I knew in my heart this was what I needed and wanted to do. In the end, I was able to spend time with my family so I can look back now with no regrets. Fortunately, as the corporate career door closed another opened in the arena of coaching.

In addition to the chronic fatigue, I have had one other major health issue to deal with. In 1997 I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. It was frightening beyond belief. I remember lying in bed with my husband one night asking him if I would ever be happy again.

I have come to realize -- happiness is a choice. I believe the words I share with others (or my ongoing internal monologue -- my thoughts) in turn determine my feelings. Every day I have the responsibility of choosing my attitude, choosing my thoughts. There are many, many things over which I do not have control. However, I can control my words, thoughts and attitude. I work daily at choosing them wisely.

I have been extremely fortunate in that I have had very, very minor symptoms/issues with my MS. It has actually improved and right now I am symptom free (and have not had to take any medication for it). I have yearly check-ups and MRIs with my neurologist, and the rest of the time do not think too much about it.

Why do I share all of this with you? Because I believe there is always a choice in how we choose to deal with whatever life throws at us. I also believe that by understanding where I have been and what I have experienced may help you in determining if I am a person you would choose to partner with in a coaching relationship.