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I’m an Explorer with Purpose. That identity is one that, while I have only recently crystallized that concept and title, has actually defined my whole life!
Early on, I questioned my purpose, so after a couple years in college, I quit to go explore! A year backpacking across Europe led me to greater clarity, so completed my Bachelor’s in Linguistics and Masters in Intercultural Communication, and launched my international career by moving to Asia. Quoting a fortune teller’s prophesy years ago, “You will first go temporarily, then end up staying there”. I moved to Malaysia in 1986 for a 10 week program; I moved back to Texas in 2017!
Spending my career primarily in cultures different from my earliest one(s), I became an explorer full time. I also became very familiar with the state of I-Don’t-Know-ness and adept with navigating it. Every day I checked my perceptions and interpretations; frequently, I could be sure that my client, colleague, or counterpart was looking at any issue from a different angle; I was equally sure that I didn’t really know what it was or what to do next!
Yet curiosity, exploration, discovery, and trying it out fed my purpose to continually learn, understand and turn on lightbulbs. These are the very germs from which innovations grow and spread! So I can also really say with certainty that the state of I Know is not always optimal nor realistic. Paraphrasing Aristotle, the wisest person is the one who knows that s/he does not know. Following Aristotle with Gregersen, “Questions are the answers”.
Having completed my PhD in Human and Organization Development at an older-than-average-age, I build on my intercultural corporate career and focus on helping leaders at all levels and stages in life learn to recognize and strategically leverage IDKN in myriad contexts and for myriad needs. In the process, we continually turn on lightbulbs that illuminate more than we could imagine!
I left school at 16 – mainly because I found the whole school exam thing terrifying, over-whelming and traumatic! Fortunately I got accepted into a very good engineering apprenticeship school, part of a large aerospace group, which not only demanded high very standards but (alas, not so lucky!) resulted in another 5 years of summer exams!
I had the good fortune to have a superb mathematics lecturer (who, incidentally, used an almost pure coaching style of teaching – being so effective it lead me to accidentally (it’s true) being offered a place at a University). Thus another 3 years of study – which was generally enjoyable, apart from – yes, you know by now – the exams! Post grad in Marketing and a few other things, lead on from there. Eventually I started my own company, doing small consultancy works and eventually developing into an engineering company – we created solutions and bespoke machinery.
About 17 years later, in the mid ’90s, I made a change. Part of my degree course had been industrial psychology and I’d been captivated – so I’d kept up an amateur interest in the subject. I came across this new thing called ‘Coaching’ in a newspaper, and it seemed an exciting and natural fit with my interests. I remember going to the British Library and asking for all the books they had about ‘Coaching.’ They produced……. five – three of which weren’t really relevant. I proceeded to get trained and started working on it. (Google ‘Geoff Hinsley case study’ for an early foray into industrial coaching.)
Pretty soon after my training I was persuaded to pick a niche – because that was the ‘new’ thinking at the time. By then I’d found the most enjoyable coaching assignments, and the one where I was in some awe of the results they created, were with women who were working in business. However, there was a frustration; Whilst their results were often astounding, (change in career, promotions and multimillion pound ‘wins’), I couldn’t figure out the specifics of what was going on, in order that I could ‘bottle and sell it’!
So, dear reader, you will have noticed a common thread – something I had manifestly failed to notice myself – that of regularly being in, and experiencing, situations ( like exams, engineering problem solving, coaching clients,) where there was a substantial element of being in ‘I-Don’t-Know-Ness’ on my part. I’m excited now to embrace this ‘IDKN’ having had the experience, discovery and learning through the development of the model – the subject of this website, blogs etc.
I am for ever indebted to Kathleen for her creativity, rigorous academic application combined with her huge global experience, and – sense of fun.
I’m looking forward to further exploration and helping leaders who are experiencing even a little ‘not knowing’ embrace the situation and greatly grow their leadership capabilities and results.
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