I was teaching a class of graduate students at a l local university, and I was asked how Life Coaching is different from Executive Coaching. I spent 3 hours walking through the difference, and talking about the wholistic approach Life Coaching takes in addressing all domains of a leader, not simply the business side of executive coaching.

Some of you may not know that I do Life Planning with strategic leaders around the world. CLICK HERE to learn more.

While teaching the class, I was reminded how powerful some of the tools we use are in simply determining where we are today, answering the question "how did I get here?", and in figuring out where we're going.

Over the next 4 weeks, I want to share a couple of these tools with you, one at a time. I'd like to encourage you to take a few minutes to do each one, and then figure out what you can learn from each of them.

If you need help, don't hesitate to ask.

The premise of Life Planning is this: If we want to figure out where we're going, we have to look back and learn from where we've been. Or, more simply: "Perspective before Planning" (Tom Paterson).

Today, I want to illustrate this concept from a company I follow and one that I was reminded of yesterday in the Dallas Airport.

I wear Stance Socks. Many of you know about my love of orange socks, but the reality is that it's not just the orange, it's the brand: STANCE.

I found this local company here in Southern California years ago, and became a raving fan, even giving out Orange Socks at our last Leader Mundial Summit in Atlanta last year.

When I first found the socks, I could only find them at 2 stores near where their company is based.

Last week I talked about PREDICTIONS. If you missed it, read the post HERE.

John Wayne from Mozambique shared this...

"I Remember once reading this: 'The only way to predict the future is to study the past'. It's helped me to learn from the life lessons of those that have gone ahead of me."

Thanks John Wayne. The quote he shared is credited to to Robert Kiyosaki, and the full quote says: "The best way to predict the future is to study the past, or prognosticate."

Today I want to share something I've been thinking about over the past number of weeks. At a planning session, someone shared this idea with me in talking about planning and implementation of a project:

Last week I talked about Drucker's "Five Most Important Questions". If you missed it, read the post HERE.

Aaron shared this: "Drucker's brillant and that book is really good. I have used it many times over the years. I really resonated with the quote: "If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old."

Order the book HERE if you missed it.

This past weekend, I picked up a magazine at the airport to ready. Nothing special, except on the cover it had a tagline: "Best Taco's Ever". Of course I purchased the magazine for that information alone.

While the taco article was interesting (Lamb Tacos in Mexico!), there was a short article about PREDICTIONS around the NFL (National Football League). The article simply made a statement that "they predicted" that one of the leagues leading quarterbacks would "finally fall off a cliff", meaning that they would stop being a leading passer because of their age, because of injury or because of their ability to still throw the ball.

6 hours later, while running through the Chicago airport, I caught on TV one of these quarterbacks getting hurt and pulled out of the game, and the announcer said, "I wonder if this is a career ending injury".

I had just read that article that morning, which had been written weeks before, and here it was being played out right before my eyes.

I then began thinking about predictions. The definition is this: "A statement about what you think will happen."

This statement might be made with facts to back it up or it might must be a "gut feeling". A prediction is simply what you think will happen.

The organization I work with, Extreme Response, is doing a Strategic Plan. It's been a great process of asking questions, listening to others, and simply evaluating where we are, where we're going and how we're going to get there. It hasn't been an easy process, and we're not finished yet, but it's been a lot of "good work". (I'll keep you posted on where and how we land!)

There's a book that has been on my shelf for a while that is a simple "Strategic Plan", and I thought today I'd simply share 5 questions and encourage you to use these questions to evaluate the organization you're leading or working with, and hopefully create some constructive conversation around these idea.

Peter Drucker, known as the "father of modern management" wrote a book years ago that has been re-released and updated, called "The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization". (order it HERE)

He simply asks some questions that I'm going to pass on to you and encourage you to think about today:

One of my favorite books of all time is Patrick Lencionis book, "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" (©2002 Jossey-Bass) . If you haven't read it yet, stop what you're doing an order it HERE. If you work with other people, this book will help you build a team that really works.

One of the 5 dysfunctions is simply "A FEAR OF CONFLICT".

Lencioni shares: "The desire to preserve artificial harmony stifles the occurrence of productive ideological conflict."

He goes on to explain that when we don't practice healthy conflict on a team we're a part of, we don't get the desired results we're all working towards. Conflict, the right way, is a process of encouraging team members to share their opinions passionately, with the common goal of coming to the BEST decision possible for the organization.

Conflict can be very unhealthy, but it can also be liberating! When a team has a high level of trust, this kind of conversation helps us identify the key issues we need to deal with.

Last week we talked about a "service" mentality and going above and beyond what is expected. CLICK HERE to read the post. Thanks for your comments.

I'll share one note from Tim: He's referring to the Ladies and Gentlemen Sign I shared..."The darkness in the world provides windows for us to provide light. In response to your challenge, for me it starts with being intentional about showing kindness (and love, joy, peace, and patience) to everyone we meet"

Thanks for your thoughts Tim about how KINDNESS is a way for us to serve, love and bring encouragement to a polarized world.

Today I want to continue a little on this theme of "going above and beyond expectations".

2 things triggered this thought today:

First, in a conversation with my daughter Rheanna, she was sharing with us about a client that had an urgent need and had an opportunity, so she was responding by helping them meet a deadline. She shared that because of this, she was having to work on the weekend. Both my wife and I challenged her with her parameters, we pushed her to say no, and we tried to protect her margins and life. Her response kind of shocked me... she simply said that the client really needed this help, and she was going to do what it took to help them. As I thought about it, that's a great response. Thinking about last weeks conversation, that's "going above and beyond" to serve someone else. It's not about money, it's not about getting overtime and credit, and sometimes it's not even about having a morning off. In this case, there was a need, an opportunity, and my daughter could help meet that need. I think in the moment, I was reacting like a father and wanting to protect her. Instead, I need to continue to challenge her in her healthy parameters, but while doing that I can also celebrate her skills, her desire to serve a client, and her intuition about what to do and what not to do.

It's also easy to forget all the times I've given up my personal time to help someone over the years. Sometimes I've whined about it, but I still showed up.

This weekend Gina and I spent some days away celebrating our 32nd Wedding Anniversary. We cashed in some hotel points and enjoyed a fabulous weekend in a beautiful location. The hotel, the food, the pool, views and the company were all wonderful.

Another things that was great was the service. The staff went above and beyond to make our stay perfect. This doesn't mean that everything went smoothly, in fact we had a couple of bumps along the way, but the issues were resolved quickly, and we were able to fully enjoy our time.