Tag: Development
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The Mastery Fork in the Leadership Road: Part 1
by Dennis Adsit In the introduction to this series on Leadership mastery, I asked the question, Why Isn’t It You? Why aren’t you your favorite leader? I talked about an approach a music teacher friend uses to nudge his students away from fixating on their guitar heroes and stealing their licks towards finding and mastering…
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Breathing Underwater
The Mystery of Growth: Effort and Surrender in Adult Development Recently I was speaking with a colleague with deep experience in adult development. The conversation was rich, varied, and filled with morsels I’m still chewing on. “How it happens is a mystery.” This one in particular sticks with me. He was talking about our understanding…
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PRESS RELEASE
The (un)Summit: Wisdom In Action FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE San Francisco, CA – July 23, 2025 – New Ventures West, a global leader in Integral Coaching and professional development, announces the (un)Summit: Wisdom in Action, a groundbreaking five-day virtual gathering featuring renowned thought leaders Dr. Bayo Akomolafe, John J. Prendergast, Diana Chapman, Minna Salami, and Jessica…
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Is Empathy Enough?
What is it that brings a person, maybe you, into a coaching relationship? Is it a feeling of being stuck? Is it a challenging event causing confusion, concern, or something even deeper? Is it one of those “lightbulb moments” where we realize something has to change but we don’t know where to go from that…
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Why Isn’t It You
by Dennis Adsit Many clients have come to me and said they want to be Partner or a VP or a C-suite leader. And I love it when they do. Drive like that can be harnessed…for all sorts of things. After trying to understand why a promotion is important to them and expressing my willingness…
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Harnessing the Power of Feedback in Coaching
Feedback acts as both mirror and catalyst for profound personal and professional development, and through its skillful use in the coaching space, so much transformation can occur if used in the right way, at the right time. Understanding how to effectively use feedback in coaching has become essential for coaches seeking to create lasting impact…
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The Being & Doing Dilemma
Originally Published on Feb 2, 2025 Explore the Being+Doing dilemma and discover how to balance your inner self with external expectations. Embrace a journey of self-awareness and authenticity. “We are human beings, not human doings.” “I need to stop doing and be more.” When have you said something like this? Heard someone else? I have.…
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The Case For Discomfort
Any form of development work is an invitation to be with discomfort. Whether it is seeing a new distinction, taking up a new practice, or feeling that emotion and sensation you have been avoiding, some part of us—usually neglected or forgotten—is stretched. Development occurs through a series of stress and rest. Staying comfortable with what…
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Turning Twenty Percent Into One Hundred Percent
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I Am, Therefore I Celebrate
What does it mean to celebrate one’s self? How does one celebrate? Since debuting my book, the notion of celebration has been one I’m sitting with. I’ve been through many celebrations in my life, and fortunately, enjoyed a fair share of my own. Mostly, we head out for some nice food, a sumptuous meal outside…
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The Importance of Self-Development in a Breaking World
I admit it: even as an Integral Coach and the person at NVW most responsible for spreading the word about our work, I’ve had moments in recent months when I’ve second guessed the point of it all. With so much of the world in dire emergency, it’s to the point that I’m literally forgetting to…
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Coaching Certification: Are Shorter Programs Better?
As the Director of Enrollment at New Ventures West, I enjoy hearing about the different metrics that potential students use to compare our coaching certification program to other coaching certification programs. The length of coaching certification programs sometimes comes under scrutiny. There are coaching certification programs that offer “certifications” after just a day, or a…
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How We Make Humans Into Monsters
As our culture becomes more polarized, it becomes more tempting to label those who disagree with us as “monsters.” But what do we really mean when we say someone is being monstrous? And how willing are we to see our own monstrous tendencies? To explore this, I’m going to go where monsters originally came from:…
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Integrating Rigor, Compassion, and Creative Design
The Promise of Integral Coaching® and New Ventures West’s Professional Coaching Course by James Flaherty and Amiel Handelsman What becomes possible in coaching when we treat clients as marvelously complex beings who live in language and moods, inhabit bodies and physical environments, and possess both wisdom and blind spots? What opens up when we coach…
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50,000 Life Coaches Could Be Wrong: The Importance of Development in Coaching
by James Flaherty Entering a six-month coach training program on the suspicion that life coaches are glorified confidantes who charge a lot of money and that coaching is “new-age nonsense,” the author of a recent Harper’s article finds lots of evidence to support her hypothesis. The irony of the piece’s title, “50,000 Life Coaches Can’t Be Wrong,” becomes…
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A Conversation with Sarita Chawla
Sarita Chawla’s first career spanned over twenty years at Pacific Bell in management, where she gained experience in total quality, facilitation, dialogue, diversity and leading organizations. Since beginning her second career, she has edited a best-selling anthology about learning organizations, led a three-year race dialogue initiative in the Bay Area, initiated women’s dialogues in the…
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The Neuroscience of Leadership
Breakthroughs in brain research explain how to make organizational transformation succeed. By David Rock and Jeffrey Schwartz Re-posted from Strategy + Business, Summer 2006 / Issue 43. Mike is the CEO of a multinational pharmaceutical company, and he’s in trouble. With the patents on several key drugs due to expire soon, his business desperately needs…
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How is Coaching Distinct From Therapy?
by James Flaherty Someone asks me this question every time I do a public talk about coaching. To continue the dialogue, I’m writing this piece. As will quickly be grasped, I cannot resolve the question once and for all. That’s partly because there’s not common ground as to what would constitute a satisfactory response and…
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How Awe Affects Us
At the University of California, Berkeley, participants in a study were asked to stand and look at the tallest grove of hardwood trees in North America for one minute. Other participants were invited to gaze upon the facade of a science building for the same amount of time. At the end of the 60 seconds,…
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Right-Sizing Yourself
You probably have no idea of the actual scale of your presence in the world. Under-sizing: I’m so small They’ll never take any notice I can’t do anything Who cares what I see and know? Better not to cause any ripples Nobody listens, why would they? Who, little me? Over-sizing: I’m so important It’s all…