What do cats and MettaWorks clients have in common? Both can see in the dark 🙂

When you’re stuck in a behavior that you can’t keep yourself from, it’s most likely because you have blinders on keeping you in the dark from what is really going on.

The most powerful way to solve a problem is to shed light on your inner world.

At the end of the day, your inner world is often the one that is most in charge.

Take my client, Jonas. He’d been with the same company for fifteen years. He’d moved up within the organization several times. When he first came to MettaWorks, he’d recently been made Chief Technology Officer with 300 global reports. He had a larger reach and higher level of impact than ever before. He was just three people removed from the top executive.

And he was floundering.

Large initiatives under his leadership weren’t progressing. His anxiety was at an all-time high. Jonas knew he was in danger of losing the promotion.
The problem: Jonas was stuck in execution mode. He was working 18-hour days and spending most of his time putting out fires.

Jonas was investing energy in tasks that could have been delegated. Meanwhile, he was avoiding other issues, projects, and relationships. He was caught in a pattern loop that no longer served him. In fact, it was actively impeding his success. As a leader, he was operating at a much lower level than he needed to be, and it was having a negative impact on his effectiveness and perception.
His schedule was totally unsustainable.

After we’d spent some time working together, Jonas and I discovered that execution mode was comfortable for him. He was good at executing. It felt good to check things off a list.

What was less comfortable for him? Answer: Strengthening cross functional relationships and creating a business continuity plan. Two things that were central to his role.

Caught in patterned behavior, Jonas could continue functioning at the level he always had, and feel like he was getting work done, while simultaneously failing to do the work he actually needed to do. In effect, he was creating roadblocks for himself by keeping his eyes shut to his own behavior.

Unhelpful behavioral patterns like this work to mask what we want to avoid, which is why identifying them is critical to shifting behavior. When we understand our patterns, we can begin to change how we show up.

In my book Who You Are Is How You Lead (Muse Literary; March 27th, 2023), I share stories like Jonas’ and discuss how we worked together to shine a light on their inner world. With that light turned on, leaders see their own patterned behavior and begin to transform it.

Who You Are Is How You Lead is a comprehensive guide and workbook for visionaries ready to break through – or break-in – to their inner world. In it, I pull back the curtain on the work we do in coaching sessions. I show real scenarios brought to me by clients, detail the steps we took to overcome them, and the results clients walked away with – results that are measurable, and lasting.

Pre-order a copy of Who You Are Is How You Lead here. Or pick it up in-stores globally and through Amazon.com on March 27, 2023.

If you’ve found us, the inner work has begun. Let’s take the next step together. Schedule an exploratory call: https://mettaworks.io/contact