My Life and Learning Philosophy

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I live to learn and help others navigate the intricacies of leadership and life.  After raising two sons and working in Corporate as a Training University Manager, Master Trainer, Instructional Designer, ISD Project Manager, Coach, and life long learner in Fortune 50's for 20+ years I opened my own company, Learning Path.  I named my Company Learning Path because learning and organizational development is a constantly evolving process and personal.  Each person's learning path is different. I've found that my agility on my life-long journey is fueled by continuos learning. Who knew that the more we evolve, the more there is to evolve to!  Like a plant I feel we are either growing or dying.  I choose learning and growing, and I hope you will choose learning and growth with me .  My passion; helping to develop confident, successful, learners and leaders. 

 

I've experienced many opportunities on my Learning Path. Some I was ready for, and some I was not. Through my incredible journey I have learned that my ability to connect, develop, and nurture relationships is my biggest strength.  For me, this is where my strength as a coach and as a facilitator shines.  On Strengthsfinder my Relator and Positivity strengths naturally draw people to me and me to them.  My connection and appreciation for diverse voices has also helped me value serving others. My Leadership philosophy is one of relationship and service first.  Someone is always observing you.  Your children, your employees, your social group.  We are always leading, intentionally or unintentionally.  

 

As a leader and as an individual contributor I've learned people follow and support leaders they trust. I wanted to know who I was following, and as a leader my people wanted to know who I was.  Our natural tendency to be self-protective can thwart our influence and effectiveness as a leader. Transparency, self-awareness, and social awareness grows with practice.  I've found these emotional intelligence competencies can be taught.  However, this growth from the inside out takes courage and practice. It also requires willingness and the ability to notice, process, and sit with our feelings. Feelings our first inclination might be to change.  I am in charge of my own growth and you are in charge of your growth.  We choose to be courageous, inquisitive, and consistent, or not.  I also realized the gift of feedback is truly a gift. Great leaders, parents, spouses, friends ask "How am I doing? How can I be better?"  

 

As I was doing the internal work to increase my own self-acceptance and self-awareness the Achiever and Learner in me decided to go back to college for a B.S. in communication.  Communication is really about the receiver. How did the receiver decode the message? Like leadership, your competence is determined by others. Going back to school as an adult learner..... all I'll say is my classmates where digital natives, had great ideals, and carried their books on their backs.  I had experience, context, focus, lots of questions, and pulled a rollerbag. Always on the learning path of life, I then pursued a Master's in eLearning design and implementation from The University of Colorado, Denver. I graduated spring 2017.  Go Buffalo's! I am so excited about the learning tools we have today! Developing e-learning and connecting with learners and clients virtually has opened up possibilities and scaleability I didn't even dream possible when I first entered the training and development world. No matter the tools we employ, how adults learn has not really changed. People what to participate and have control over their learning and the learning must be valuable. 

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I believe life is a learning path.  When we learn the path leads to purpose and peace.  When we don't we get detoured and have to find our way back.  We all detour.  Those times are often rich in the learnings we could have only received in that experience.

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I'm currently writing my first book Divine Detours, One Woman's Journey to Power and Purpose.