It could be said that I have “great horizontal depth.”

I have followed a number of interests over the years. I have also worked in a number of different sectors from education, to the fashion industry, to being a gallery owner and finally a coach. Even in university I was attracted to broad brushstroke survey courses like “Literature of the Twentieth Century” rather than the detailed examination of “An exploration of the cultural influences upon the Danubian Frontier forces of the Byzantine Empire, during the sixth century AD.”

Some of the work that I did when I was younger, baffles my mind. I can’t believe that I actually had such jobs as being Marion the Librarian working at the University of Western Ontario library in charge of the University College Reading Room or being a jock teaching Physical Education or doing office work in a graphic design studio or being the bookkeeper for our family business. Not one of those four jobs was in alignment with any gifts or talent.

I am passionately intrigued by human potential and expressing all of who we are in life in general and our work in particular. My ENFP type is perfectly suited to my mission of helping people align who they are with what they do. You can see from this in the description of my type.

“Giving Life an Extra Squeeze” Warmly enthusiastic, spontaneous, imaginative, and flexible … ENFP’s see life as full of possibilities, and they are attracted to new ideas, new people and new activities. They care for others, and readily give appreciation and support.

For me assessment tools are one of many ways to enter into a conversation about our essential nature and what’s important to us. How we cultivate the leader within and integrate that into our work is the territory that continually draws me out to explore, and learn and grow. With this in mind I have expanded my toolkit by exploring certification in the MBTI, Enneagram, Reiss Motivation Profile and Emotional Intelligence.

My deepest learning has come through experience. Parenting and painting have taught me a lot about how I can dig deep and reach high. The joy of being fully engaged, the value of play and the beauty of staying real and open moment to moment are part of my curriculum. When I apply this trilogy to all my work then I also am able to make my biggest contribution.

I love to create inviting and open environments that allow people to bring their passion, insight and creativity to the table. A great day for me is engaging with individuals and/or groups to deepen their self-knowledge and to apply their insights to their role as leaders within their business or personal life.

As a coach, I am guided by the principle that leadership is not a mechanical operation rather it is an art form built on something deeper and intangible.

As an artist, I am interested in being in the moment and trusting the process. It’s all we have to rely on in the end.

 

In 1989, after a once in a lifetime trip in the splendour of the first growth rain forest of Haida Gwaii, I began a learning journey starting with NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) through Practitioner, Master Practitioner and Trainer levels. NLP is known as the art and science of excellence, studying and modelling people who were masterful in their fields. It helped me to understand and respect how we each process differently and to begin to loosen the grip of my embedded points of view.

It became clear to me that there was often a gap between what Kegan calls “espoused theory” and “theory in action” … what people say and what people do. Learning different models of personality type and trait theory helped me to hold up a mirror in order to gain self knowledge of what is actual – not what I wished was so. Acknowledging what was real in the mirror did not prescribe limits on me rather it provided a window for change and growth.

I wanted to be able to utilize what I was learning in my own development in a meaningful way with others so I completed training with the Coaches Training Institute and then BCoach (Business Coach). I became a certified member of the International Consortium of Business Coaches and in 2006 I was a recipient of the International Coaching Federation’s Prism Award for Coaching Excellence in Organizational Coaching. I continued to learn through my connection to the Leadership University community and with the community connected to Authentic Leadership in Action, and through my colleagues at Context Management Consulting.

Also along the way I have been on my own healing journey which has included traditional cognitive and integrative therapies. This led me to some energy healing modalities and as is my nature I also received certification in New Decision Therapy, Emotional Freedom Technique, and Therapeutic Touch. For a time I was also a member of the Toronto Dowser’s Society.

Over the past twenty eight years I have built my recognition as a professional artist and I am proud of my participation as a founding partner in a gallery in Toronto’s Historic Distillery District. While I was involved with the RedEye Studio Gallery, I integrated coaching with gallery and studio visits, using art to support personal visioning and personal development. “Inner Landscapes II” which is a visual guide to the MBTI grew out of a desire to have a different kind of conversation about aspects of type that went beyond a mechanical understanding of how their preferences play out in our day to day interactions.