Meet Executive Coach Lao Tzu

When you look to expand your potential as a leader, what experts come to mind? Marshall Goldsmith, maybe? Jim Collins? Jim Kouzes? These are some of my heroes – mentors, even – and their books line my shelves.

While I am routinely recommending Marshall’s “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There”, Jim’s “Good to Great”, and Kouzes and Posner’s “The Leadership Challenge”, I have to confess that my biggest shifts have come from someplace else: the wisdom texts.

Wisdom texts are those masterpieces of insight so powerful as to be almost spiritual. You don’t find them in the business section of the library. They come from places like

• Literature
• Poetry
• History
• Song
• Religion
• Philosophy
• Mythology

I love May Sarton. Rumi. Marge Piercy. Siddhartha. The Tao Te Ching. The Prophet.

And if all of that’s too deep for you, I have clients who find their inspiration in much lighter places! The cartoon Dillard, the rock band Train, and that original executive coach, Jiminy Cricket.

When we read too many books on business and leadership, we fill our heads with what other people think. That’s good – it stretches our minds. Opens us to new ideas. Fine.

Reading outside business and leadership, though, can expand your horizons far further. As Dave Olsen, the Senior Vice President of Culture and Leadership Development at Starbucks says, “Don’t just read the stuff in airport bookstores. Read Lao Tzu.”

A line of poetry can cause you to think in ways you never have before – perhaps thoughts no one else has thought. Mythical stories can encourage creative thinking about how ancient lessons can help unsnarl us from our problems today.

Just for fun, let’s give it a shot. I am including a poem that I love, called “You Reading This, Be Ready,” by William Stafford. As you read this poem, don’t try to figure out the “meaning,” and don’t worry about whether or not you “like” poetry. Just read it. Then ask yourself…are you ready? And what are you ready for?