I am so proud to continue my series of articles on inspiring people in my life. Following the interviews with Susanne, Annika and Kirsten, this interview is with Karen. As you can tell there are many inspiring women in my life!
It’s about people who inspire me as a coach and trainer.
The interviews will be, depending on the preference of the interviewee, in English or German.
My colleague Karen Ezard will share what inspires her, what she enjoys and more. We have worked together on online onboarding trainings, her in Scotland and myself in Hamburg and have developed a really appreciative, productive working relationship, which I value greatly. I hope her answers inspire you as much as they did me, and leave the floor to Karen. Enjoy the read!
Ich bin so stolz, den vierten Teil der Artikelreihe mit inspirierenden Menschen zu veröffentlichen! Nach den Interviews mit Susanne, Annika und Kirsten ist es diesmal das Interview mit Karen. Ich merke es gibt viele inspirierende Frauen in meiner Welt!
Es geht um Menschen, die mich als Coach und Trainer*in inspirieren.
Die Interviews sind abwechselnd, nach Vorliebe der, bzw. des Interviewees Englisch oder Deutsch.
Meine Kollegin Karen Ezard teilt mit uns, was sie inspiriert, was ihr Spaß macht und noch mehr. Wir haben gemeinsam online Onbaording Trainings gegeben, mit Karen in Schottland und mir in Hamburg. Währendessen hat sich eine wunderbare, wertschätzende, produktive Arbeitsbeziehung, die ich sehr schätze. Ich hoffe, Ihre Antworten inspirieren Sie ebenso wie mich und wünsche viel Spaß beim Lesen!
What do you particularly enjoy in your work?
The cross-pollination of ideas, thoughts, opinions, solutions across cultures, ages, hierarchies, experience.
I feel incredibly lucky to have spent many years now working with an exceptionally diverse range of people from many areas of business and a huge variety of industries in different locations.
I love challenges and the multi-faceted nature of my work means there is never a one-size-fits-all solution to whatever people may be experiencing.
At the same time, I do believe that there are some universal principles anchored in our common humanity and the laws of nature and the universe which serve as guiding instances.
Linking these foundations to maximizing a team’s or individual’s potential and moving forward never ceases to motivate me.
So what I particularly enjoy is the luxury of experiencing really the best forward-looking, enthusiastic sides of the wonderful mix of people we get to work with – both as colleagues and as clients.
When your developing something new, where do you reliably find inspiration?
I mentioned universal principles and the laws of nature above.
Being in the great outdoors never fails to inspire me.
We live in the Scottish Highlands and I have the best of what nature has to offer on the doorstep. Often a swim in the loch will give me an analogous approach to working out something new. A couple of weekends ago I found out that we would be able to survive a winter on the sea kelp growing just offshore in the sea loch. I’d thought of seaweed more as something to be avoided because it doesn’t feel pleasant when your legs touch it when you are swimming. What analogies may there be for a client?….
A couple of years ago I gave a talk on the Fibonacci sequence (a mathematical sequence of numbers we can find in many areas of nature and our lives) and linked the principles there to our VUCA world and the need for “agile” solutions. It’s connections like these that fascinate and inspire me.
And people inspire: the different perspectives and perceptions of everyone around us.
If we listen carefully to one another we have a never-ending source of enrichment, joy and inspiration.
If we’d asked you those two questions 10 years ago, would you have answered them differently?
Not essentially, no.
I have always believed in universal principles, values and the laws the natural world teaches us.
Things like the necessity for balance. Or a universal value like respect which seems valid in all cultures.
Regarding nature, 10 years ago, I may have mentioned horses and „horse sense“ and the story of Alexander and Bucephalus which relates to leadership, rather than sea kelp 😊
I would have mentioned my children and the inspiration from the fresh perspective of a child’s eyes.
Children always will be precious for me in their freshness and honesty towards the world – a creative approach that’s innate to all of us if we can dig back.
You get to choose the next question! What is it? And what’s your answer?
I like the idea of BGQ’s.
Bloody Good Questions.
They’re the ones that make you stop and think about the answer. That might make you leave the rutted track responses. What’s a BGQ as the next question? …
How can I collate the answers above with much of what is happening in the world today?
I have no real answer –
?Universal principle no#: “seek first to understand before wanting to be understood”? – which doesn’t seem to be happening in what is going wrong…
?Fibonacci sequence#: the VUCA world will continue to expand exponentially until….????
Perhaps we always want to find answers to solve, whereas we rather need to leave the BGQ’s open and continue to develop our thoughts.
If you have questions, drop me a line or give me a ring. I look forward to hearing from you!
