The popular PBS program, “Finding Your Roots,” brought home, literally and figuratively, how familial roots run deep, offering insights from distant times and places. With his calm presence, the host, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., mesmerized his guests as he …
A Love Supreme: The Day I Rediscovered Jazz, Cooking, and Rebooting
Last week I heard the news about the discovery of a lost John Coltrane recording. The seven cut recording preceded by two years his 1965 album, “A Love Supreme,” that secured his reputation as a jazz giant. When I read …
Leading in the Discomfort Zone
For most people the word, “discomfort,” conjures up a physical sensation—a slight sick feeling in the stomach, a disorienting unease, an accelerating heart rate. Whatever is happening, chances are, it doesn’t feel good. Life is about to get complicated, firing …
Can the “Real Me” Succeed to Lead? – Part 2
Five Building Blocks for Closing the Gap Between Personal and Executive Presence
Part 2: Five Building Blocks
“Always be a first-rate version of yourself and not a second-rate version of someone else.” –Judy Garland
As described in …
Can the “Real Me” Lead and Succeed? – Part 1
Five Building Blocks for Closing the Gap Between Personal and Executive Presence
Part 1: Minding the Gap
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” The ever-quotable Oscar Wilde gives what seems like obvious advice. However, for many …
Introducing “The View from the Treehouse”
Rebranding the Blog
Introducing “The View from the Treehouse”
By Julie Benezet
My first book, The Journey of Not Knowing: How 21st Century Leaders Can Chart a Course Where There Is None, opens with a scene of me perched …
Another Chapter in the New: Building a New Home
Two years ago, when I finally sat down to write The Journey of Not Knowing: How 21st Century Leaders Can Chart a Course Where There Is None, I had no idea what lay ahead. No doubt I was living …
My Elliptical Life: Three Ways to Ground Yourself to Lead in Chaotic Times
By Julie Benezet
Two years ago, my doctor told me to face facts: if I continued to run, my knees would turn into sponge cake, or words to that effect. Feeling the sponginess already coming on, I begrudgingly doffed my …
How are Mindfulness and Executive Presence Related: Four Principles to Follow
Two years ago, when I first wrote about mindfulness and executive presence, it was near impossible to live in the modern world and not to have seen the barrage of articles, books, blogs, conferences and weekend retreats devoted to the …
If You Want People to Step Up, You Must Get Off the Step: Three Key Things to Make Leadership Succession Happen
A familiar lament heard among senior leaders these days is, “I can’t get my leadership team to propose, let alone champion new ideas to beat our competition and attract new customers. They just submerge themselves in ongoing projects and leave …