It’s Summer! The season where I indulge. I allow myself more space and time for reading and learning. So far, I’ve devoured four books and two are definitely worth mentioning, as I love passing on a good read to others.
The first book is by Deepak Chopra, The Path to Love. The other book was written by my good friend Dena Moscola, Golden Nuggets of Leadership. What makes this reading experience exciting is the juxtaposition of these seemingly different subject matters and how I apply this material when coaching.
The Path to Love focuses on the inner spirit and the connection to self. It’s from this point of connection and self-love that everything is possible. Our effectiveness and success in our personal life and professional life ride on this very premise. This book, however, offers a lot more than that…it’s a beautiful journey that melds the self with the experience of loving another.
Golden Nuggets of Leadership takes the individual to greatness. This process occurs through the demonstration of outstanding qualities and the use of effective management techniques that are the necessary tools for leading people in the workplace.
These books both play a role in the coaching dynamic. People come to me for coaching when something isn’t working or when they want more out of life – more passion, success, growth, better relationships, money, happiness, and/or better health. What typically occurs when I start working with a client is that they tend to be focused on what they want and what needs to change outside of them. But when things aren’t working around them, they can easily get caught up in the “blame game”. From a coaching perspective, staying with blame will keep you stuck. It’s also a struggle to attain anything outside of yourself until you are aligned within. With that said, my starting place with everyone is to guide them in strengthening their relationship with themselves. That’s where the book The Path to Love comes in…can you ever have enough self-love? With this foundation, your inner relationship, your career, and the relationships in your life take on new meaning. You don’t place your expectation and happiness on these outer circumstances knowing that you are already complete and whole. With this in place, you are free to then pursue these outer goals with a better mind set – less fear, a calm disposition, creative thinking, better decision-making and a focused plan of action.
This is when Golden Nuggets of Leadership will help you step up your game plan. The outer steps and qualities that are necessary in the workplace for success are fully spelled out here. And so this book is a perfect compliment to the work that I do, and the results that people want to achieve in their profession. Whether you are working for someone in the corporate world or are self-employed, the principles outlined here are very useful. In fact, they not only apply to your professional life, but to your personal life as well. All our relationships can benefit from the three levels of listening that are explained in detail. Another powerful concept explains the importance of relationships in the workplace. People stay on the job because they are happy regardless of the money. What contributes to happiness is typically how they feel about their manager. In fact, people do not leave jobs instead they leave managers. Time to nurture those relationships!
There you have it, my summer reading picks. I hope you enjoy the journey and remember you are loved!