Your Leadership Journey: Life Lessons in Leadership Coaching

Todd Cherches; Carol Shear (ICF-CT president); Steve Cherches

We all know that our life experiences shape us as individuals. Yet, how often do we make the time and take the time to reflect back on those experiences to gain a better understanding of who we are and how we are as leaders...and as coaches?

In this fun, fast-paced, and highly-interactive workshop, we led the Connecticut chapter of the International Coach Federation (ICF) on a journey of exploration from the past to the present...and into the future.

Among the key themes covered in this 90-minute workshop:

* Exploring the metaphor of the Leadership Journey;

* Discovering who we are as leaders based on how the life stories from our past shape our present; 

* Envisioning how we can apply the journey metaphor and our own life lessons in a coaching context. 

BigBlueGumball presented at the monthly chapter meeting of the International Coach Federation (ICF) in Connecticut on January 25th on the Power of Visual Thinking to explore how visual thinking and visual communication can be leveraged as a coaching tool. Sincere thanks to ICF-CT for hosting such a terrific event...and for welcoming us New Yorkers up to Norwalk!

Todd & Steve were proud to be the guest speakers at the May 2012 meeting of the NYC chapter of the ICF (International Coach Federation).

Held at the NYU midtown campus on W. 42^nd St., our presentation, entitled, “The Power of Visual Thinking: An Innovative Approach to More Effective Presenting & Coaching” was attended by a high-energy and highly-engaged group of approximately 50 members of the local coaching community.

We presented our, “Ten Top Tips for Designing & Delivering More Effective Presentations: A Wild 30-Minute Roller Coaster Ride,” followed by an interactive exploration of how to leverage the power of visual thinking and visual communication in a coaching context.

Among the various topics discussed were: what visual thinking is all about; napkin sketching; the use of visual language, metaphor, and storytelling; and how to create your own Visual Coaching Toolkit.

As promised, following are the answers to the top three questions we were asked:

[1] Can you post a copy of your “10 Top Tips”?

[2] Where can we find visual images to use in powerpoint presentations?

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/ 

www.iStockphoto.com

http://www.photoxpress.com/

http://www.sxc.hu

http://www.everystockphoto.com/ 

http://compfight.com/ 

http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2006/01/where_can_you_f.html

http://www.rethinkpresentations.com/presentation-images/

[3] Can you post a copy of your presentation skills book recommendation list?    

The List:

1.  The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs – by Carmine Gallo

2.  Slideology – by Nancy Duarte 3.Resonate – by Nancy Duarte

4.  Presentation Zen – by Garr Reynolds

5.  The Naked Presenter – by Garr Reynolds

6.  Presenting to Win – by Jerry Weissman

7.  The Exceptional Presenter – by Timothy J. Koegel

8.  Beyond Bulletpoints – by Cliff Atkinson

9.  Power, Influence & Persuastion – by Harvard Business Essentials

10.  The Confident Speaker – by Monarth & Kase

11.  The Story Factor – by Anette Simmons

12.  How to Develop Self-Confidence & Influence – by Dale Carnegie

13.  The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking – by Dale Carnegie

14.  10 Days to More Confident Public Speaking – by Princeton Language

15.  Present Like a Pro – by Maxie & O’Connor 

For further questions, please contact us any time.  We look forward to hearing from you.

*Click here to see video highlights of this presentation.

A special thank you to Dani Ticktin Koplik of dtkResources (and to my friend and new ICF-NY president, Terry Yoffe) for inviting me to present at the Bubble2Boardroom career fair and networking conference at the New York Athletic Club on Friday (Jan 6, 2012.)

It was an honor to join an impressive roster of guest speakers which included superstar marketing and social media guru, Ted Rubin, as well as Michelle Tillis Lederman, author of “The 11 Laws of Likability.”

My presentation entitled, “Turn Up Your Power Dial…and Kick-Start Your Confidence” introduced our patented BigBlueGumball Power Dial model to the public for the very first time, along with a number of other tools, tips and techniques including “BigBlueGumball’s 5 Quick Tips for Boosting your Confidence":

1. Build on your PAST SUCCESSES (eliminate that negative "self-talk")
2. Leverage your STRENGTHS (don’t dwell on your weaknesses or limitations)
3. Make every experience a LEARNING OPPORTUNITY to build upon
4. Seek out FEEDBACK (it’s a gift!)
5. “ACT AS IF” (believe in yourself...if you don't, who will!)

For more on the Power Dial, Building Your Confidence, Influencing or any other related management, leadership, or communication-related topic, please feel free to email me anytime at todd.cherches@bigbluegumball.com.