November 17, 2008
November 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family! I hope that you are able to find many things to be thankful for next week as you celebrate this US holiday in your own fashion. Please visit my post on gratitude to discover the benefits of practicing an attitude of gratitude and appreciation in your life.
My family and I will give thanks for our family (we really do enjoy each other immensely!) and for the small group of friends that will gather around our table for a traditional turkey dinner next Thursday.
Because I would rather stick needles in my eyes than venture out to shop on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, I plan to sleep in that morning, have a quiet day at home and perhaps go to a concert that evening with friends.
However you plan to celebrate, make time for counting your blessings and noticing all the good things that come to you!
Blessings,
Kristin
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October 29, 2008
November 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Everyday Mystic @ Work is now Brio Leadership
The freedom we have as entrepreneurs in the twenty-first century is glorious! We have the freedom to design our own destiny, to create new businesses, to dream big or small or in-between. And we have the freedom to change our minds and the names of our businesses. I exercised that freedom last week by changing the name of my new business to Brio Leadership. The reason for the change springs out of several synchronicities I’ve been recently blessed with. (I believe that the Divine communicates with us in direct and indirect ways, and that there are no coincidences, only synchronicities.) Over the past six weeks, several people have lovingly questioned me about the name “Everyday Mystic @ Work” by asking, “Don’t you think that the word mystic is misunderstood and could create a barrier for some of your prospective clients?” It all culminated on a plane ride home about ten days ago, when I just knew- that it was time to change the name – I was tired of defending it.
So, with a little help from my friends last week, I set about brainstorming a new company name and fell in love with Brio Leadership. Brio, Italian for “spiritedly and lively”, has been a word that I’ve been fond of ever since I started my first business, KR Consulting. When looking for a name for that business, I pondered the musical term “con brio”, which means “with spirit”. (I trained as a classical musician in my youth.) At the time, I couldn’t make “con brio” fit into a business name so I rejected it. Finally, I am able to consecrate my love for this Italian word by incorporating it into the name of my business.
Welcome to Brio Leadership, where we are dedicated to helping individuals and teams transform their lives by integrating spiritual values into their lives and workplaces.
Blessings,
Kristin
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September 16, 2008
September 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I am so excited to tell you about the projects I’m working on and the upcoming offerings to look for here at Brio Leadership. One of my strengths, as identified by the Clifton StrengthsFinder Assessment, is “ideation.” This is a tendency to go through life brainstorming ideas non-stop. I pop ideas like a popcorn popper spews kernels. Although my tendency is toward quantity not quality of ideas, I have a lot of great ideas for this new business, and I think that many of them are terrific!
One of those ideas is to write my second and third books this year. I am privileged to be working with Jan B. King, who is a book publishing expert and coach that I engaged through eWomen Publishing Network. The two books that she is helping write are a Forgiveness Journal and a book with a working title of this newsletter, Brio Leadership.
Is there someone at work who has done something that betrayed your trust? Is there a work incident in the past that makes you upset every time you remember it? Forgiveness can help us move past and get free of these tiresome memories. I know from personal experience that practicing forgiveness in the workplace can improve productivity, creativity and teamwork. Forgiveness can make it fun to come to work, because you know that there won’t be any backbiting, undermining or sabotaging going on, all of which consume enormous amounts of energy, goodwill and mental bandwidth in a team. Our Forgiveness Journal introduces a seven-step process that, once completed by an individual, will set the stage for creating a forgiving atmosphere at work.
If you are interested in the Forgiveness Journal, I invite you to join a small group of advisors to read and review this book. If you volunteer for this important task, you will receive my undying gratitude (that’s priceless!), a free, comb-bound copy of the book and a questionnaire that will guide you through giving me feedback. Plus, you’ll receive a free copy of the book when published. You should be willing to read the book and do most of the exercises. You’ll learn a lot, and will be the first one on your block to own the Forgiveness Journal! Please reply to this newsletter if you are interested, or complete a contact form here.
And, I am about to launch the Everyday Mystic Marketplace! Stay tuned for some of the beautiful products that I’ll be offering there.
Blessings,
Kristin
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August 17, 2008
August 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment
It is the end of summer, and at least in North Texas where I live, every parent I talk to is looking forward to the opening of school in a week or two. We all look forward to the resumption of a more structured, predictable schedule. For my family, this is a particularly poignant time, as my first child, now an adult, is going to college for the first time. My husband and I find ourselves feeling both happy and sad – happy that this grown-up child will finally be on his own, and sad because we will miss him.
Isn’t it funny how even working adults seem to have the school year calendar ingrained into our psyches? Even if we no longer have - or never had - children at home, we still feel like summer is the time to take a vacation and travel out of town, spend more time outdoors and generally take it just a little bit easier than during the school year. And at the end of the summer, we look forward to the resumption of our “normal” fall schedules.
The lazy days of summer are coming quickly to a close.
Psychologically, the start of the new school year is a time of new beginnings. To me, it feels like the right time to launch some new business concepts and offerings. I will be unveiling them right here, so check back often to hear the news!
And, it really is the start of the new school year for me. I am starting a three year course of study in Spiritual Direction, I am studying to become certified by the International Coach Federation, and I am enrolled in a spiritual intelligence class. Back to school for me, and I’m excited to be a student once more!
Blessings,
Kristin
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July 31, 2008
August 2, 2008 | Leave a Comment
July has gone by quickly for me, chock full of activities designed to rejuvenate heart and mind: a women’s business conference, a 5-day retreat in the mountains and a family vacation. I come back to the office with renewed enthusiasm and gratitude for my work, my family, my life.
As I look through my journal for the last three weeks, I see a recurring theme. Knowing that I am fairly sensitive to the energy and emotions of others and that I would be around a lot of new people, I sought ways to be open-hearted yet protective of my own spiritual integrity. What worked for me was picturing myself as a piece of Swiss cheese – full of holes through which I could bring in energy and ideas from those around me, and through which I could let flow out of me that which I found to be negative or non-affirming. Sometimes a visual image works wonders with our brains and hearts! It worked for me – I was able to be open but discerning. This technique helped me to take nothing personally, which is the topic of this article on Brio Leadership.
By the way, do you journal? I highly recommend it to participants in my classes and to my coaching clients. Both my husband and I write in a journal several times a week. We find that writing about our emotions and the state of our spirits helps us to process our lives in a positive way.
Blessings,
Kristin
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July 9, 2008
July 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment
At Brio Leadership, I write, teach, coach and consult on how to create a spiritually intelligent workplace. A spiritually intelligent workplace has two components:
- Employees who seek a continuous connection with their Higher Power (however they define Higher Power) and wish to lead lives of integrity and authenticity
- Leaders who create a work atmosphere that is built on shared values, and in which employees are respected, empowered and engaged in their jobs.
In my previous business (KR Consulting), we focused on customer satisfaction and how important that is to the business’ vitality, longevity and profitability. With Brio Leadership, we focus on employee satisfaction, which is a predecessor to customer satisfaction and a huge contributor to overall profitability of an organization. When an employee is fired up about and engaged in his job, he is likely to be up to ten times more productive than a fellow employee who is not engaged in his work. And, an engaged worker is going to create a happy customer. The title of Hal Rosenbluth and Diane McFerrin Peters’ book says it all – it’s called The Customer Comes Second – they posit that by putting the employees first, you engage them to delight the customer. Engaging employee’s hearts, minds and spirits is the foundation of a spiritually intelligent organization.
Blessings,
Kristin
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June 12th 2008
June 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I’d like to introduce to you my newest business endeavor, Brio Leadership! Many of you know me as the president of KR Consulting, a professional services firm that focuses on the technical services industry. I continue to work in KR Consulting’s business, but have launched Brio Leadership to broaden the audience we speak to and to follow my ultimate passion, which is to help individuals and teams positively transform their lives through the teaching of spiritual intelligence. I feel compelled to do this work; indeed, I feel like I’ve been preparing my whole life to take this step and help others live integrated lives that are in alignment with their spiritual values.
Incorporating spiritual intelligence into the workplace means bringing our highest selves to work, everyday. How can we bring our highest selves to work? We need to identify our life’s purpose, do work that we love and provides meaning. and seek an everyday connection with the divine self within us. According to Stephen R. Covey, “Spiritual intelligence represents our drive for meaning and connection with the infinite.” (from The Eighth Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness, page 53). Spiritual intelligence does not mean that we practice religion at work, or that we preach or force our religious views on others in the workplace. Spiritual intelligence transcends religion - or better, it is the bedrock of religion.
I take this step with excitement tinged with a bit of fear – it’s something new and very different from my past.
If my new endeavor resonates with you, I’d love to hear from you – you can reply to this email or post a comment on the blog at BrioLeadership.com. If you think of others who would like to hear more about Brio Leadership, please forward this to them.
Of course, if you prefer not to receive future e-zines from us, you can anonymously and safely un-subscribe at the bottom of this email.
Blessings to you on your path,
Kristin
