Chad Franzen 5:18
So what do you do to kind of reverse that to keep them from working from fear? From the standpoint of fear?
Sharon Seivert 5:25
Yeah, well, we, we train leaders to, to hold their hub of power, wherever they stand in the organization, they have a circle of power that is theirs to do, and they can actually do much more than often than they realize. And, and if they, if they do, well, then people can let them do even more well, so we want to make them successful. So we have we work them from the inside out, we have six powers that we help people develop, and that first one really addresses the fear. So when we talk about balanced leadership, I want you to think about like the center and the four directions on a compass, are always starting in that center place. So you know, you’re out there in Colorado, you know, on Fort Collins, you all this kind of stuff is being out there. So, first thing we do is we make them stop. And we have them really calm down, center in themselves, and then they’re much more powerful moving out through that day, and through their rope. So just stopping, pausing, resetting, using all of those techniques that that you’re familiar with, can radically change how they show up that day. So from the inside out, we first have them claim their core power, this is who I am in the world. And and that doesn’t step on anybody’s toes. If you do it right, that doesn’t threaten anyone. So the threat is reduced from them and to them, if that makes sense. So we always started that gravitational center.
Chad Franzen 7:02
So we’ll get back into that in a little bit. But tell me what inspired you to kind of how did CORE Coaching and Consulting come about?
Sharon Seivert 7:11
Well, CORE Coaching and Consulting has been growing over a couple decades since I wrote my first book, The Balancing Act, which is now being reissued as The Balancing Act. 2.0. So excited. But if ever since that time, I’ve been working with people who are resonant with me, people who want to do some of the same things in the world, which is reduce the suffering, increase the reduces suffering, reduce the fear, have people work more from their power. So it has been an evolution of people coming to me, people working with me, clients working with me, clients becoming partners, with me, all that sort of thing, we have grown this tribe, growing this community, which which everybody contributes, you know, I have these pieces that I add, and my other people have these pieces that they add. And together, we’re, you know, together, we’re genius, but you know, so we add and add good people with good ideas. That’s that’s how it is evolved.
Chad Franzen 8:10
Can you tell us a little bit more about the balancing act, as you mentioned, and also the six point system for core coaching and consulting?
Sharon Seivert 8:18
Yes, excellent. So CORE Coaching and Consulting works one on one with top executives, business leaders, and you want to change their companies too. And we also do group trainings inside companies to help emerging leaders, you know, the hope of the future, we want those emerging leaders to really grab onto those powers and not not repeat some of the errors of the past. So I mentioned the core power, that’s number one, we tried to start with that. Sometimes we’re called in because there’s all kinds of craziness in Michigan. So we have to start somewhere else. But we always make sure we go back and we check the boxes. So that’s the core power, once you have that think of think of the classical elements of like essence is the soul of you. And and that’s where we start. Then we go into the mind. The next step is the mind when we want the mind to be controlled by the core. So you often see like entrepreneurs who have like 1000 ideas, and they’ve got all these great things going on and you go, Okay, that’s great. But now we need to talk we need to tether this to your center, what is the thing the possibility for you that is most you that is most your organization, and that’s the one we really want to lean into. So that’s the power of the mind the Power of Inspiration, okay? And then we move into the mission element, which is that fire element, so you’re going around the wheel, and that one is okay, now you have to choose something you have to focus you have to prioritize. You know that most people out there in business are trying to do 500 things at the same time. They’re there and they’re burning themselves out. They’re bringing other people out. So with that fire alarm It was that mission element, we want them to focus like a laser on the possibility that they need to do now we put everything else in the parking lot, we’re not going to forget those great ideas. But now we have to move into action. And priorities. Once we are clear what that action is going to be, then we know who in the group is to do what. So then we move into the water element, communicate, make sure everyone is connected, all of these are aligned, the connections in the interactions piece is aligned with the mission with the vision with the core all aligned, okay, now things are really starting to hum by this point. And then we move it into the day to day implementation, the resources that are needed, we get this stuff done. Lastly, what happens is that power of synergy, which holds the whole wheel the whole compass together, and that’s when things get easy, and there’s flow and genius ideas happen. And it all all of a sudden, things get easier, and it was so hard before, but because all of these powers are aligned, all of a sudden, it’s easier. It’s like magic. So that’s that’s what we try to do with people.
Chad Franzen 11:03
How did you kind of come up with that?
Sharon Seivert 11:07
I came up with it by being quiet and listening to what what has been given us as human beings, these, this is an archetype. This is a human instinct, if you look around the world, you will see the center and the four directions as a model for health and well being and wholeness all over the world. And so that’s the model that we have taken into this and put into modern language and implementation. If we know this, it’s it’s here, it’s it’s here, it’s so old, that we think it comes from the body, the human body, the core, and the four directions. That’s how old it is. So it was a matter of stepping out of academic constructs and thinking, you know, not having a lot of bells and whistles and arrows and saying, Okay, here’s an elegantly simple model. This is so elegant, so simple. We use it with children. And they get it faster than the CEO. So I’m sorry to say they just got it, right. They’re there. They know how to language it and everything. So this is something that a CEO can take, and then bring through leadership and then bring through frontline workers and because everybody gets it, so for me, it was it was stepping in out of the mind and into the floor, and then back out again. Does that make sense?
Chad Franzen 12:32
Yeah, absolutely. You’ve also written a couple of other ebooks, I think Prospering!: Six Steps to Great Wealth and Six Steps to Leading Your Life and Work. Can you tell me about some of the principles behind the six steps to great wealth?
Sharon Seivert 12:47
Yeah, yes, absolutely. Well, to the degree, it’s very interesting, because when you have, we all have different forms of wealth, and if we align them, we can actually leverage one to the other. So if you’re short on cash, your friend, so you know, your friend can maybe loan you some money, or you have a service that someone needs, and that gets you money. And so all of these are actually when they interact, we can create more wealth. So the same principles that I talked about before, you know, if you’re doing work, for example, that is in your core talents and gifts, you are much more likely to be successful, if you’re forcing it because your parents were accountants, and so you should be an accountant. But you’re really, you know, you’re really a musician. It’s not going to work, but you are not going to be successful accountants. So we start with the core gifts you have, and then we create the life for you, that is going to be prosperous, is what I would say. But but we want you to check all the boxes. Because, you know, people actually don’t most of the time. So if you check those boxes and connect these to each other, your odds go way up of happiness, and wealth simultaneously, because you’re in the right spot.
Chad Franzen 14:03
What about Six Steps to Leading Your Life and Work? What can you tell us about that one?
Sharon Seivert 14:09
We have a lot of people who come to us who are major league transition. As a matter of fact, I don’t know what the, you know what goes on, but they start with one transition, and all of a sudden, they have another so they they come to us because they’re in a career transition. And all of a sudden they’re needing a divorce, or they had to take care of their elderly parents, or they you know, I mean, it’s sort of like all of these transitions often, you know, pile up on each other. So this is a way for you to constantly reset. People asked me, How often should I reset? Anytime you feel off balance, you should stop and reset because where you’re going is not going to be pretty. So for you in your transition. And most people just that they retreat, they hunker down, they make themselves small, they’re trying to avoid the problems and we say just reset and then we move you into it. So first you reset, and then you’re ready to restart, then we rethink what needs to going on. And that corresponds to the mind, then we prioritize what we’re going to do right now. Okay, we’re going to do one thing right now. And then we move into relating differently to people and relating to different people. So we might find some other people are going to help us through this. And then we we do that implementation, we, we just grow in steady steps, and then things you’ll you’ll get a different result. So there was a man by the name of Alan Deutschmann, who did some research and you know him the change or die guy, he was, okay book called Change or Die. And he said that only one in nine people will sustain a change, they start one in nine, I mean, it’s really bad. So the leading your life and work book is about leading yourself from the inside out, improving on Deutschmann model, because we have the steps that I just mentioned to you those six steps, you check those boxes, get them aligned, you’re gonna be okay, you’re gonna be okay, this is gonna be much better than if you just lie on the couch with a blanket, which I have done. We all have done right. So when you’re ready to get off the couch, and then this is this is a process that you can follow. So for people in transition, that’s a useful book.
Chad Franzen 16:26
Do you when it comes to your coaching practices are diversity and inclusion, something that you kind of prioritize, incorporating?
Sharon Seivert 16:33
Well, this happens very naturally for us. I was running the Super Power Balance Leadership Group the other day, these are people are training to be coaches. And I looked at them, I’m going, Oh, this is very interesting. We have we have, we have, you know, an Asian woman we have, you know, people who are African American, we have someone from Pakistan, we have two people from Europe. We have, you know, so we, and there are Brazilians and other people in the background here that we’ve that we’ve already trained. So I think that there’s not so much an attempt to get out there, but that it happens very naturally for us. Um, it’s more of a, I guess it again, it’s more of a power versus force encounter for us. Because, unfortunately, when DEI goes into many organizations to try to correct the problems of the past, it’s met with that counterforce about who the hell you tell us to change, right. And so for us, it’s just, there’s a welcoming, my intention is that this is global. I mean, we were talking with people in Nigeria a couple of weeks ago about bringing the this programme for children for youth, our whole programme for youth, so that and that brought it to Brazil abroad to other places. So when you have that awareness that you are a global citizen, which is kind of I love to think of myself as, as an international woman in ministry. Okay. So that is our intention. It’s, it happens very naturally. Does that answer your question?
Chad Franzen 18:09
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So do you do you feel like your approach to leadership development is kind of the future is that? Will leaders look like what you coach them to be? Do you feel like that’s the direction everything is moving into the future? Are you Are you do you feel like you’re stuck in
Sharon Seivert 18:28
From your mouth to God’s ears, and when we’re also swimming upstream? Both are true. So this is, you know, a holistic system, a system that’s based on a living systems model for leadership in organizations, because we approach organizations as if they were alive. We align the lead realigned employees with the organization, we use the same model to improve things that gives us a chance of really making a difference, and it also aligns with more recent science, you know, the mechanical approach to organizations went out with I don’t know, it was amended to start on the 18th century. So it’s old, it doesn’t work really well. And it dehumanizes us, it treats us as cogs and and people are going to be up against that when they’re when they feel, you know, there’s going to be stuff falling off the truck, is that what it is they’re going to be people not working to their best because this is what they’re feeling. So we are our mission is absolutely, that we want this to be the Emerging Leaders modality. This is this is the healthiest thing we can do for leadership in organizations, in my opinion, and I haven’t seen I’ve seen a lot of you know, a lot of leadership development, a lot of good stuff, but I do think that ours is very unusual in the living systems model, and what we’re trying to do to reduce the suffering.
Chad Franzen 19:56
I’m sure a lot of the things you have done and worked on over the years have been quite rewarding. Has there been a moment that has been the most rewarding in your career so far?
Sharon Seivert 20:06
Well, I would almost have to take that week by week. I mean, I am, I am so blessed to have so many people who’ve had life changing results, okay? Now, and that, of course, feeds me to go out there to the naysayers and say, You got to try this because da, da da da. So just last week, where I had someone who had to choose between three different job offers all good, but she chose based on her core, the thing that so that wish she would have done differently, she would have taken the highest paying jobs, which was, which really wasn’t the highest pain because she would have to work that 80 hour week, you know, but now she has control and freedom. Last week, also, I had someone who has suffered a great deal with controlling his temper and intensity, take one of the techniques that I taught him do it in real time, and then speak differently to his daughter. Now, he said that that for him was life altering, he’d never been able to control that. So that’s just you know, like, last week, a few things that pop into mind. One of the first ones though, was from Holland, when one of my colleagues did this training, this leadership training, and I got a very, very sweet letter from guy who said, you know, Aka told me I could write to you. And I just wanted to tell you that I knew when I went into this programme, that I become a better leader. I did not realize I become a better father. And my son is leaving for college, and we now have a different relationship before he goes not. I feel like the Lone Ranger, my work here is done. Orange via neat. So those are the kinds of things that happen in this work.
Chad Franzen 22:03
Very nice, very nice. Are there any challenges that you find yourself, you know, routinely facing?
Sharon Seivert 22:10
We are routinely facing, I have to do this work myself, don’t I? I have to my one of my colleagues, Fred says that we have to eat our own dog food. And, and so I am always having to apply the same principles for myself, I, when I’m challenged, I have to stop, I have to reset, I have to rethink things, I go through my own checklist, and it’s really helping me make those kinds of progress. It’s a challenge when when I see people suffering. And so I, sometimes I’ve said very, very quietly to figure out what’s the best way to help them, you know, patterns of a lifetime. You know, undoing the imposter syndrome is a big one, undoing the self doubt, undoing the self sabotage, when you stop doing that, you’re going to let you go, you keep doing that, or this business that you have is going to fail. And it’s important business, we need this business, right? Or we need you at the at the head of this government agency in the US because the work it’s doing is critical. And I need you to be functioning optimally for that, or, you know, your general counsel of a firm you have to keep them ethically in line. All those things, you know. My clients, all of our clients let us in to these deep places and so it’s a very sacred duty that we stand with and we help them hold their center against great odds sometimes it’s just breathtaking takes my breath away sometimes so that’s those are some of the challenges that I face. I have to stay 100% on for them.
Chad Franzen 23:54
How do you do that?
Sharon Seivert 23:55
I have to follow my I have to eat my own dog food. I have to I have to start my day and you know with with meditation, take care of my body I mean, I have to do all the things that I recommend other people do. If I have to be authentic in that regard so following my own advice has has been you know, it’s been the way I worked. In ancient days it used to be the the magician would go out to the the healer to the king we go out in the forest and they get berries and they always had to try them themselves first because if they gave a bad berry to the king, they were dead. And so they had to always try that that set themselves so that’s a little bit about what what we do here. And another aspect of the magician is that we we are we are the guides are the helpers to the heroes that are out there. And the old stories are told that you know the hero comes from battle and these bloodied in his beat up and he’s crawling Home comes to a crossroad he has no idea which way to go. Most people come to us at that crossroad. And then in mythology, poof, you know, the the Cheshire cat appears or a Merlin appears, or some sort of magician appears and holds the space, that’s what they do they hold the space, they make the hero stop and rest and recover. And when that happens, they’re ready to go. As soon as they are recovered, they know which route to take. You don’t have to you don’t have to tell them they know. So we’re holding that space for them. That’s our job.
Chad Franzen 25:26
Very nice. I have I have one more question for you, Sharon. But first, tell me how people can find out more about CORE Coaching and Consulting,
Sharon Seivert 25:34
They can go to our website, corecoachingconsulting.com. And they can contact me on LinkedIn. I have met the most wonderful people on LinkedIn. It’s really fun. There’s, there’s all kinds of people out there in the world are doing really great things. And we have are developing collegial relations. As I said in the beginning, this is growing through the genius of other people this movement, so they can get hold of me at length on LinkedIn, Sharon Seivert, that again, spelled ei pronounced, those alsace-lorraine people couldn’t make up their mind your marriage. And they also can we have monthly core community meetings, if they want to attend those with us? There, those are free. And we love building our international community. So those are some ways people can get ahold of us.
Chad Franzen 26:26
Last question for you. I don’t know if you’ve thought about this at all. But what legacy do you hope to leave through your work as a CORE Coach and Consultant and through your work as an author?
Sharon Seivert 26:37
Yes, I have been thinking a lot about the legacy issue. So from me what I’m doing now is training the coaches who are going to carry this out in the world. I’m building a structure so that everyone can pour their genius into this. And building a structure with cooperation with other big firms. So that we have ways to get this out into the world, this more colorful approach to to leadership. And I want this to be a force for evolution. This is a this is a roadmap to success that doesn’t take skin off of anybody else’s back. It’s really you becoming great in the world, I want people to step into their natural greatness. And if we do that, then those people are going to help others step into their greatness. And you know, the Iroquois phrase, which is about when you heal yourself, you heal seven generations backwards and forwards. That’s what I want my legacy to be.
Chad Franzen 27:42
Okay, very nice. And it’s been great to talk to you. Thank you so much for all of your time and your insights. Very interesting and informative. And I wish you all the best.
Sharon Seivert 27:53
Thank you so much. And you too, with your great podcast. Excellent.
Chad Franzen 27:58
Thanks so much. So long, everybody.
Outro 27:59
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