From On the Ground to Grounding

I’m told my first words were “race guys!” as I emphatically challenged any and everyone to race me. I’m a driven achiever who loves to dream big, create new things, speak loudly and passionately, laugh through the pain as a survival tool, make everything fun, with a competitive drive even when I lack the specific skill or know-how. As a youngest child to a genius level talented sibling, I developed grit and an expertise in the art of influence without official authority. I hit a lot of challenges and always had to take a REGROUP. 

All of these things paved the way for a life adventure that includes:

• I moved halfway around the world for my first professional job. 
• I’ve always had to create my job from scratch. I’ve only ever been brought in to develop, design, and launch something new. 
• I’ve developed teams in multiple industries including education, philanthropy, business, and nonprofits. 

I’ve also spent a lot of my life on the floor. I’d say I was “grounding” but I was actually just simply, on the ground.

What happens when you combine competitive passion with a lack of skill? In some cases you get a concussion and are removed from the flag football field on a stretcher. Or what happens when life gives you lemons and you can’t find a squeezer to make lemonade?

For me – I head straight for the floor.

While on the floor, I have learned to ReGroup. 

The Situation

Early in life I started laying on the floor in agony with what was later diagnosed as a handful of incurable diseases and conditions. I’ve learned to endure decades of physical pain bad enough to knock you to the office floor in a full suit.

My ReGroup on this reality

I started “floor meetings” as a manager where my team joined me on the floor, not out of some creative leadership trend, but out of desperation. To my surprise, it worked. It brought a level of unparalleled humanity to our team that paved the way to support each other through parents’ diagnosis and care, spouses sudden death, unexpected resignations, and more. 

I navigated the stressful and (at the time) embarrassing constant trips to specialists, always inconveniently during the work day, for things I didn’t want to talk about at work. I’m in the double digits now on lifetime surgeries, and I have asked a few surgeons to please name their boats after me. 

The Situation

I do everything big, always have. While an adventure, that’s not always so smart…I graduated college, got married, relocated to a new country, started my first professional job, and lost my mentor to cancer all within six weeks. I spent a lot of time on the floor.

My ReGroup on this reality

I learned how to care for the whole person with professionals in major transition.    

The Situation

I curled up on the floor and cried for months when I was laid off in my mid-20’s. I had three years of higher education experience, had recently graduated with my masters degree, and I had just discovered professional coaching – the role I felt I was made for. I was crushed, and felt small, unintelligent, and unhirable. For an achiever, this was devastating. I spent a lot of time on the floor.

My ReGroup on this reality

I learned how deeply impactful career transition can be, whether planned for or forced upon someone. 

The Situation

I am the child of a divorce attorney who was bound and determined to marry for life, and after sixteen years of marriage, I am a single mom navigating career, motherhood, and rebuilding my life. I spent a lot of time on the floor.

My ReGroup on this reality

My ReGroup on this is deeply personal. I’m committed to helping people turn their pain into possibilities. 

The Situation

I am highly risk averse. I love stability. I mostly hate change, and am a late-adopter on most things tech related. I co-founded and launched a nonprofit organization, and told my employer I was leaving, and two days later the world shut down from COVID. I learned what panic attacks felt like. I watched our perfectly strategized plans crumble as promised funding was canceled, programs were delayed indefinitely, business partners lost their jobs, and our core services were no longer viable. I spent a lot of time on the floor.

My ReGroup on this reality

I love helping leaders problem solve when everything is on the line for them and their people. 

What it all means

There is little I haven’t experienced or partnered with a client through. Your leadership or life challenges may be different from my own experiences, but I will boldly and humbly lead with you. The more successful you are, the more alone you become. The bigger the thing you want to build, the fewer people are with you. The more different your approach is from the group, the harder you have to work to win others over. In these situations partnership is life changing.   

Together we will ReFocus your goals to navigate building the big idea you have into reality. 

We’ll ReDiscover what you value and want to accomplish. 

We’ll ReDesign your leadership approach and ReTool or ReTrain as we go. 

We’ll ReLaunch a more powerful, bold, confident, equipped, values-aligned and joy-filled unrecognizable version you didn’t even dream you could be. 

When you’re ready to get up, I’ll join you on the floor and we’ll do it together. 

Coach Rebecca