From dark can come light

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Hello, its the first day of summer. I hope your enjoying the good weather. This is a quick post this week. I attended the Women of the Year Lecture recently, and was introduced to the most amazing woman. I was quite embarrassed that I had never heard of her, given all that she achieved.

Dame Stephanie Shirley had quite a challenging upbringing, having fled Natzi Germany during the war, she  was taken in by a British family, arriving with her siter as a refugee. She suffered great loss as an adult with the death of her only child. There were challenges in business as well for her. So much so, she used the name Steve in business correspondence.

Shirley achieved many things despite these setbacks. She became one of the pioneering female coders in the 60s, her company was responsible for coding the Concorde’s black box. And, when she floated her company she made many of her employees, alongside herself, millionaires.

I’m highlighting Shirley not only because of the amazing things she has achieved in tech, but because her story of challenges were equally important in forming who she became and what she achieved for herself and for other women. Her courageous, and heartfelt discussion was very moving and I recommend her book, check it out.
Enjoy

www.vi-et-animo.com

It’s all energy baby!

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Earlier this year, I saw Gabby Bernstein live at the 2016 London Lecture. It was an opportunity that popped up on my twitter feed last minute. It was amazing.  A three hour talk on the joys and challenges of #living your best life.

One of things that struck me was the theme energy.  It strated  when she walked into the room. No joke, the minute she got on stage the energy heightened  by ten notches.

As I listened to her talk, and the Q and A section, energy as a them kept coming up again and again. Particularly, when discussing issues related to change and transformation. That  got me thinking about how important my energy is, in fact, its all energy baby! Some things I am going to commit to doing:

  1. Project positive energy consistently
  2. Protect my energy from those that zap me
  3. Restore my energy and take care of it

How has managing your energy worked for you?

 

www.vi-et-animo.com

 

WOMEN: New Portraits Annie Leibovitz

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After queuing for over an hour, we finally got in. While very busy, the portraits were stunning. Above are a couple of shots. If the exhibition comes to a city near you, do try and see them. You will get a chance to see photos from one of the most iconic photographer of our age.

The exhibition kicked off in London and will be shown in  Tokyo, San Francisco, Singapore, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Istanbul, Frankfurt, New York and Zurich.

I was quite taken by what to me seemed to me to be a study of women’s leadership. The photos showed women who lead at the grass roots, in the social sciences, politics, business, science, arts and philanthropy. Really powerful stuff.

Enjoy!

vi-et-animo.com

Your More Beautiful than you think

 

 

On this second post on the inner critic, I will pivot. I  want you to look at your very own inner beauty. How does the world look,  feel and sound, if you owned your internal beauty?

 

How would you feel, how would do you connect to others, what does your future look like? Did you get a bigger dream, or bigger ideas for yourself, for others around you?

 

Try it on for size. Right now. Find a quite space, and connect to what is beautiful, strong and courageous about yourself. List them out and think about what your wrote. Now, think about what your goals are for 2016. How does your News Year resolution list look like  now?

 

I encourage you wholeheartedly to view 2016 through this new perspective. Let me know how you get on in the comments box below.

 

I encourage you wholeheartedly to view 2016 through this new perspective. Let me know how you get on in the comments box below.

 

Enjoy

vi-et-animo.com

Coach your ‘inner critic’ and step into your greatness

 

 

Coach your ‘inner critic’ and step into your greatness

As we go into the new year I would like you to think about giving something up. I don’t mean the extra biscuit, glass of whine or that toxic friend. I mean something closer to home.

 

My challenge to you is to give up letting your ‘inner critic’ rule you. You know that voice, the one who gets you to be smaller than you are and gets you to play it safe.

 

Susan Brady who works with women leaders, provides in this short video, a good basis from which to start giving up the tyranny of your ‘inner critic’. Susan asks us  to coach your ‘inner critic’ rather than let it coach you. Her top tips in this video are:

  • Give up perfection and get comfortable with being imperfect
  • Vulnerability is ok too, make it ok for others to be vulnerable too
  • Know your enough, right now, as you are
  • Separate worthiness (what you are born with) from confidence (which comes from action)
  • Know that the more you engage, the louder the critic will become- strengthen your courage

 

My message to you as 2015 draws a close: don’t make yourself small, go big in 2016.

 

Enjoy the video.

http://vi-et-animo.com/

Inspring female leaderhsip

This is an insightful video about Claire Conner McCaskill’s leadership journey.This isn’t a post about her political positions. This is a video about a women chronicling her career  and, the lessons she learnt along the way.  A lawyer by training, Claire was the first women to be elected to the U.S. Senate for Missouri in her own right. What I found most striking about her story was the importance of confidence in yourself:

  •  tackle gender inequality in your workplace
  • develop your authentic voice
  • take risks
  • get  comfortable with being challenged and, challenging others
  • hold power in balance
  • get  comfortable with making mistakes

Enjoy! Let me know your comments below.

Welcome!

#liveyourbestlife

Inspiring Events, Part 3

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My  third and final instalment on inspiring events is the Stylist live,the first of its kind for the London based magazine.
An absolutely fabulous day for friends or, equally a bit of me time. The event was billed as ‘a  four-day festival of cocktails, culture, catwalks and conversation‘ hosted by Edith Bowman and Dawn O’Porter.

The energy was fun, uplifting and defiantly inspiring. Highlights included  38 Learning labs, Catwalk shows showcasing this seasons must haves, the inspire stage with  the likes of Lisa Eldridge and of course shopping with100 boutique stalls. Key lessons from the day for me where

  • Know your value
  • Be confident
  • Feel good

More details and highlights can be found below:

http://live.stylist.co.uk/

Inspiring Events, Part 2

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This is the second of three instalments of my inspiring events series this month.  It was a coaching network event by London Coaches. I was pleasantly surprised and wanted to share some of the ideas in the hope you would find it useful.

The trainer asked us to think about the stories we play out on our lives, the:

  • Characters
  • Location
  • Genres
  • Plot lines

He asked one powerful question: Would changing one of the above elements get you
better outcome/story?

For example,  do you play the warrior at work but nothing works, everyone is screaming -a horror story. The trainer suggested instead using the character of jester to see if this changes up the energy and gets better outcomes, the story you want. That is slaying the dragon/reaching work goal via humour.

My take away was to be mindful of the narratives we have about ourselves and situations and not to get locked into stories that don’t service you- be flexible. You are the director.

Try it!

Enjoy!

www.vi-et-animo.com

Inspiring Events, Part 1

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This is the first of three posts on inspiring events I attended recently. TEDx Brixton is a very special event to me and dear to my heart as I was involved in the founding two events.

This event is curated by a fabulous leader and woman, who has become a friend. In this third instalment, TEDx Brixton has expanded and became bigger and better. Live stream was provided at venues around Brixton.

Amazing stories where shared. The speaker that stood out for me was that of the Muslim Trans who talked about his journey of courage.   What happens in between talks is equally as powerful, conversations, new found friends, old found friends and of course thinking. Videos will be uploaded soon here if you missed it: http://tedxbrixton.com/

Get to one near you! You can find out more here: http://www.ted.com/about/programs-initiatives/tedx-program

Enjoy!

www.vi-et-animo.com