Enough. I am tired of doing nothing but reading the news all day, hiding and eating ice cream, waiting for the pain to stop.
I have decided to fully commit to using my business as a force for good in the world, more than I ever have before. That means evolving the coaching practice I’ve built since becoming a certified coach in 2014 into more formal offerings that address systemic cultural issues in business and tech. It’s where I believe I can make a real difference.
I am now totally focused on coaching progressive leaders (what is a progressive leader?). I’m conducting cultural assessments of organizations who want to ensure they aren’t part of the problem. I’m doing intensive executive coaching focused on organizational alignment with business leaders who realize that now’s the time to be activists. I’m coaching design leaders who want to have more influence and lead movements in their organizations. I’m supporting new managers who want to be the best they can be and cultivate happy, compassionate, valuable teams. And I’m helping UX practitioners who feel lost in their careers to discover their own inner coaches, because that’s the natural next step.
Only if we all band together are we ever going to right this ship. And I’m doing everything I know how to contribute.
In the last 4 years, I’ve had 100+ coaching clients, more than 50 of whom I’ve coached for 6 months or longer. I have a 1-in-3 re-engagement rate, meaning they keep coming back to work on different issues. Many have become close friends. And, crazy enough, I have accrued almost 2000 coaching hours. This number is important because I’m working towards my MCC (Master Certified Coach), the highest credential that a professional coach can currently get. It’s enormously exciting.
I’ve been able to get here in part with some huge organizational clients. For the last two years, I’ve been working with Pace University’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems in a variety of different ways, including 1-on-1 coaching with 10+ senior leaders, helping to rebuild the school and usher in culture change. I’ll tell you more about it another time. Last year, I took on a mission-critical project with the Drupal Association involving a global community mediation, which you can read all about because we tracked our progress every step of the way. And I’ve partnered with many other nonprofit organizations that you know and love, but which I can’t mention, who have been trying their damnedest to be part of the solution.
Though this work has been coming to me organically, in sum it has allowed me to see more clearly what my business needs to be and how to bring it fully into alignment with my own values. That’s why I decided to pursue becoming a Certified B Corp. I’m proud to announce that we received our certification in June. It is an incredibly rigorous and detailed process, and quite frankly I never thought it was possible for us, but I was wrong. I’m stoked to join a community of people using business as a force for good, being recognized for prioritizing social and environmental responsibility, and can’t wait to see what more my business can become.
As part of that process, I decided to reincorporate my business’s legal entity as a public benefit corporation. This is a legal commitment to act morally, ethically, and responsibly in the way we do business, and I couldn’t be prouder of that.
In the midst of all of this, I cannot deny all the pain and suffering I’ve been experiencing as a result of what is happening in the world around us. The relentless assault to our values, our integrity and our dignity as Americans and as human beings has at times been more than I can bear. It hurts to admit that it has caused me quite a few health issues I’ve had to grapple with. Like many of you, I am in despair, and no matter how much I volunteer or call or click, it doesn’t really seem like I’m making any difference at all.
Still, I have been determined to not let it take me over completely, and I am doing everything I can to live my life to the fullest. And that has involved, for me, a lot of traveling with Fredrick, my partner in life and business. In June, we took a lovely trip to his native Sweden, had such fun with his mom up in the far north, explored Stockholm on our own for the first time, and thoroughly enjoyed an evening wandering around the canals of Amsterdam on an extended layover home. In May, we went to an Eckhart Tolle retreat in the absolutely stunning Canadian Rockies and made the mistake of not realizing it was still winter there (Lake Louise was frozen, but still beautiful). We also visited our dearest elderly friends (84 and 96 years old) and our former neighbors in the Florida Keys after the destruction of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Eight months later, it was absolutely devastating to see the rubble that is still all around them, but thank God they’re okay, and everyone’s moving forward, and the community is stronger than ever.
In our free weekends, we’ve been driving all over New York State now that we’re based in NYC again (can’t believe it’s been two years!). And we’re loving everything we’re finding. It’s a much more rural state than you’d think, and maybe one day we’ll own our own home ::prayer hands:: 🙏
That will mean having to say goodbye to our beloved Jenny, our sailboat that we lived aboard in San Diego, who we love more than anything. But it just makes zero sense for people living in NYC to have a sailboat in San Diego. (And if you’re wondering why don’t we just move it, it would cost more than the boat is worth, and trust me we’ve tried everything.)
I am thrilled to be writing here again, hopefully reconnecting with you, dear reader. I love you all so much — yes, even those of you I’ve never met. I am so grateful to you for reading, for being here. You are why I do what I do. You keep me going. I feel your positive energy all those days that I just want to hide under the covers.
So let’s re-emerge together. Let’s kick ass in the midterms. Let’s take back the world and make it into the empathetic, compassionate, giving, loving place we all want to live in.
Please reach out to me if there’s anything in here that piques your interest. I would love to chat with you.
With all my heart, and all my love,
Whitney
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