瞎子摸象 BLIND MEN FEELING THE ELEPHANT: Recent Episodes
Christine
透过分享故事和亲身经历，展示生活和世界的多元和不同视角 – 正如“瞎子摸象的故事提示我们：放下评判，培养更多好奇和共情”。We strive to bring and uncover diverse perspectives on life and the world through stories and easy conversations, with more curiosity, and empathy. The Blind Men And the Elephant is an ancient Hindoo fable, about six blind men trying to decide what an elephant looked like. With each of them touching different part of the animal, each reached a different conclusion and couldn’t convince the others. The motto of the story is that we all view the world based on our own experience, angle, culture, language and perspective. None of the blind men is wrong, nor right in each of their claim. On the other hand, the elephant IS a collective description and decision of all of them, if the blind men were willing to stop arguing, instead willing to listen and learn about perspectives from others, which is the right way to nearing the truth of anything.
What is Executive Presence? Why is it important? How to enhance or develop it?
These are the questions we focused on uncovering in this episode, through personal stories, client coaching cases Liru and I had over the years.
Executive presence refers to a combination of qualities that a person exudes that displays confidence, credibility and leadership.
In organizational settings, there are common ‘jargons’ that might be associated with Executive Presence, i.e. visibility, authority, credibility, presentation, networking, communication skills, your own voice, etc.
One way to view Executive Presence is an Ice-berg model – with visibility, networking, presentation skills, communication skills above sea level; and your authenticity, vision, confidence, unique self mostly under sea level, which are also more stable and critical to identify and develop on a long term basis.
An 2010 Oscar-winning film The King’s Speech, depicts a moving and wonderful story of King George the VI, a stammer, who worked through his challenges in public speaking and his internal fears in accepting who he was, with the support and friendship of this speech therapist. King George VI’s speech before and during the World War II inspired and united British people to fight against Nazi Germany. In the same way, Executive Presence also plays an important role in influencing others through your vision and your authenticity, both personally and professionally.
Links and how to find us:
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Christine Gao linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christineyanggao/
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Podcast website: https://blindmenfeelingtheelephant.buzzsprout.com/
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Liru Wang linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liruwang/
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Liru Wang website: www.careertransitioncoaches.com
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Keep posted on Liru’s new book “Becoming the Manager You Were Meant to Be”
Show host: Christine Gao
Music by Music_Unlimited from Pixabay
About “Blind Men Feeling the Elephant”
Inspired by the ancient Hindoo fable in which six blind men trying to decide what an elephant looked like, however coming up with different claims as they each touched a different part of the giant elephant. The motto of the story is that we all view the world based on our own experience, culture, and angles. None of the blind men is wrong, nor right in each of their claim. On the other hand, the elephant IS a collective description and decision of all of them.
In this show, we strive to bring and uncover diverse perspectives in life and the world we live in, through stories and easy conversations to facilitate more curiosity, and empathy vs. judgment.
In this episode Liru and I shared our stories and some tools to help us finding our strengths, talents, gifts and values.
There are multiple benefits in knowing our strengths.
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More productive and effective in reaching our goals
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A freeing and empowering experience
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Possibility to be in a state of “flow” (https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-flow-2794768), which leads to healthier and happier state of mind
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Make better or more prepared career choices
There are numerous tools, resources that serve the purpose of uncovering our strengths, below are a few:
§ Strength Finder - Gallup, https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/253715/34-cliftonstrengths-themes.aspx
§ John Holland’s six types of personality/strengths/ and occupational themes: https://www.careerkey.org/fit/personality/holland-personality-types
a. realistic,
b. investigative,
c. artistic, social,
d. enterprising,
e. conventional
§ VIA Signature Strength, https://www.viacharacter.org
§ Learning styles, https://www.tejedastots.com/teaching-different-learning-styles/
There are overlapping areas and interconnectedness between ‘strengths’, ‘talents’ and ‘values’, or even ‘life’s purpose’. While ‘strengths’, ‘talents’, or ‘gifts’ refer primarily to capabilities that relates to work, learning or relationships, ‘values’ has a lot to do with what’s important in life that we take from family or upbringing. ‘Purpose’ is connected to vision or a higher calling.
Besides these tools, we can also seek feedback from people who know us well to have more information. But it’s also important to remember that our strengths are not permanent and static. Life’s circumstances or new experiences can introduce new strengths that maybe were our potential before.
Links and how to find us:
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Christine Gao linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christineyanggao/
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Podcast website: https://blindmenfeelingtheelephant.buzzsprout.com/
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Liru Wang linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liruwang/
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Liru Wang website: www.careertransitioncoaches.com
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Keep posted on Liru’s new book “Becoming the Manager You Were Meant to Be”
Show host: Christine Gao
Music by Music_Unlimited from Pixabay
About “Blind Men Feeling the Elephant”
Inspired by the ancient Hindoo fable in which six blind men trying to decide what an elephant looked like, however coming up with different claims as they each touched a different part of the giant elephant. The motto of the story is that we all view the world base
In this episode Liru and I shared our reflections on the Book, ‘Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, and discussed the following topics relating to the book:
- Definition of ‘success’ in Chinese and Asian cultures and ways of parenting to facilitate children’s success
§ Success is important to acquire the experience and build children’s self-confidence
§ Success is also critical to nurture children’s endurance, resilience and grit that are important characters that will benefit the children’s whole life
- Beliefs and values in Chinese and Asian culture around education:
§ Knowledge is power, and knowledge has the potential to change one’s destiny
§ Education is to equip children with knowledge, skills and capabilities that are crucial for them to excel in competition in their future adult lives
§ Pressure is to push children to extend their potential and achieve academic and professional success
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Pressure is a double-edged sword – too much or too little pressure are both not good for human development. The important thing is to be curious and apply the right amount of pressure that your kid or yourself needs.
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Both Chinese/Asian and north American way of parenting have strengths and flaws. The combination of both, or avoiding landing on any of the extreme is recommended, i.e. Encourage and respect individual differences and representation to nurture creativity and innovation; And also encourage hard work and aiming to achieve one’s best in school and in work will not only introduce experiences of success but also facilitate building of grit, resilience, agility and persistence that are the cornerstones of responsible human beings and citizens.
Links and how to find us:
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Book - Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother: https://www.amazon.com/Battle-Hymn-Tiger-Mother-Chua/dp/0143120581
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Christine Gao linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christineyanggao/
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Podcast website: https://blindmenfeelingtheelephant.buzzsprout.com/
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Liru Wang linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liruwang/
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Liru Wang website: www.careertransitioncoaches.com
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Keep posted on Liru’s new book “Becoming the Manager You Were Meant to Be”
Show host: Christine Gao
Music by Music_Unlimited from Pixabay
About “Blind Men Feeling the Elephant”
Inspired by the ancient Hindoo fable in which six blind men trying to decide what an elephant looked like, however coming up with different claims as they each touched a different part of the giant elephant. The motto of the story is that we all view the world based on our own experience, culture, and angles. None of the blind men is wrong, nor right in each of their claim. On the other hand, the elephant IS a collective description and decision of all of them.
In this show, we strive to bring and uncover diverse perspectives in life and the world we live in, through stories and easy conversations to facilitate more curiosity, and empathy vs. jud
In this episode we introduce and discuss a personality and productivity tool – Six types of working genius, by Patrick Lencioni, founder of The Table Group, and author of several best-selling books including The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, The Advantage etc. www.tablegroup.com
We all have our innate talents/gifts in work and life. Utilizing our gifts and talents gives us joy and energy. On the other hand, we also have areas of weaknesses. Between these two, there is our areas of competency, i.e. through training and accumulated experiences, we could attain levels of competencies. Understanding this brings clarity, efficiency and better planning for our work and career.
The six types of working genius are:
§ The genius of Wonder: The natural gift of pondering the possibility of greater potential and opportunity in a given situation.
§ The genius of Invention: The natural gift of creating original and novel ideas and solutions.
§ The genius of Discernment: The natural gift of intuitively and instinctively evaluating ideas and situations.
§ The genius of Galvanizing: The natural gift of rallying, inspiring and organizing others to take action.
§ The genius of Enablement: The natural gift of providing encouragement and assistance for an idea or project.
§ The genius of Tenacity: The natural gift of pushing projects or tasks to completion to achieve results.
Self-awareness is the first step. The six types of working genius is a great tool for better collaboration and efficiency/productivity through a team. Using this tool, teams can have a better understanding of strengths and weaknesses in a team. Members can also have open conversations coming from authenticity rather than judgment or feeling guilty.
Final thoughts: like any assessment tool, this one is also not permanent or static. Use it from a dynamic and ever-changing mindset.
Links and how to find us:
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Patrick Lencioni: www.tablegroup.com
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Christine Gao linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christineyanggao/
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Podcast website: https://blindmenfeelingtheelephant.buzzsprout.com/
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Liru Wang linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liruwang/
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Liru Wang website: www.careertransitioncoaches.com
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Keep posted on Liru’s new book “Becoming the Manager You Were Meant to Be”
Show host: Christine Gao
About “Blind Men Feeling the Elephant”
Inspired by the ancient Hindoo fable in which six blind men trying to decide what an elephant looked like, however coming up with different claims as they each touched a different part of the giant elephant. The motto of the story is that we all view the world based on our own experience, culture, and angles. None of the blind men is wrong, nor right in each of their claim. On the other hand, the elephant IS a collective description and decision of all of them.
In this episode Christine and Liru talk about a common career transition topic – from a technical expert to a managerial leader.
A Model: Successful Career Transition include two components: Psychological readiness + Changing to a set of new behaviors.
Typical challenges transitioning from a technical expert to a managerial leader include:
§ Gain clarity on why you want to become a leader/manager
§ Equip yourself with knowledge of your personality (values, strengths & weaknesses, communication styles, decision making styles, preferences etc.) and those of your direct reports/peers
§ Successful delegation
§ Managing and establishing trust
§ Setting up expectations
One simple action that new managers can practice: Conduct open and candid conversations with your team members, 1:1 preferably, to exchange expectations from each other. What you will achieve through this simple step are:
1- Demonstrate your openness and sincerity vs secrecy, which are essential to establish or reestablish trust
2- Share openly about your expectations towards your team members, to eliminate confusion or misunderstanding
3- Seek feedback from them on what they expect from you, facilitating a two-way open communication
4- Facilitate deeper understanding of the people you are working with
Leadership includes three major themes: Self-leadership, Team leadership, and Organizational leadership. The higher one moves in the corporate ladder, the larger the percentage of managing people and managing self. It also includes moving from IQ, to EQ and SQ which represents social intelligence.
Final advice. Utilize your soft skills and transferable skills from being a technical expert, and make good use of programs offered by the organization, e.g. mentor program.
Links and how to find us:
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Christine Gao linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christineyanggao/
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Podcast website: https://blindmenfeelingtheelephant.buzzsprout.com/
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Liru Wang linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liruwang/
-
Liru Wang website: www.careertransitioncoaches.com
-
Keep posted on Liru’s new book “Becoming the Manager You Were Meant to Be”
Show host: Christine Gao
Music by Music_Unlimited from Pixabay
About “Blind Men Feeling the Elephant”
Inspired by the ancient Hindoo fable in which six blind men trying to decide what an elephant looked like, however coming up with different claims as they each touched a different part of the giant elephant. The motto of the story is that we all view the world based on our own experience, culture, and angles. None of the blind men is wrong, nor right in each of their claim. On the other hand, the elephant IS a collective description and decision of all of them.
In this show, we strive to bring and uncover diverse perspectives in life and the world we live in, through stories and easy conversations to facilitate more curiosity, and empathy vs. judgment.
Episode 001: Peaks of Career
In this episode Christine and Liru talk about Peaks of Career.
Why talking about it?
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Career satisfaction is closely connected to overall life satisfaction;
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It’s normal to have multiple careers nowadays, thus gaining awareness and clarity on one’s values, innate strengths through exploring peaks of career is crucial in preparation for career transition;
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Evaluating peaks of career brings positivity and self-confidence;
How to define peaks of career?
- Everyone has his/her personal definition with different goals, expectations and value system
Through our personal stories, we also shared what we learned from such experience.
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Intention + Attention = Manifestation (a coaching model from InviteChange, www.invitechange.com)
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From unconscious competence to raising awareness of one’s strength, value and especially when my value is aligned with that of the organization I am working for, it brings about joy, satisfaction and peaks of career
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Seeking support from a professional coach!
Links and how to find us:
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Christine Gao linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christineyanggao/
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Podcast website: https://blindmenfeelingtheelephant.buzzsprout.com/
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Liru Wang linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liruwang/
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Liru Wang website: www.careertransitionscoaches.com
-
Keep posted on Liru’s new book “Becoming the Manager You Were Meant to Be”
Show host: Christine Gao
Music by Music_Unlimited from Pixabay
About “Blind Men Feeling the Elephant”
Inspired by the ancient Hindoo fable in which six blind men trying to decide what an elephant looked like, however coming up with different claims as they each touched a different part of the giant elephant. The motto of the story is that we all view the world based on our own experience, culture, and angles. None of the blind men is wrong, nor right in each of their claim. On the other hand, the elephant IS a collective description and decision of all of them.
In this show, we strive to bring and uncover diverse perspectives in life and the world we live in, through stories and easy conversations to facilitate more curiosity, and empathy vs. judgment.