Transformation

Three years ago, I started my first day of learning at the Georgetown Institute for Transformational Leadership Coaching Program. I was excited. Remember that first day of school feeling? Of course, you do. Butterflies. Curiosity. Getting ready to explore the unknown. I entered the room and started introducing myself to the cohort. It was the beginning of a tremendous learning experience that drastically changed my career.

In the months that followed, I did a deep dive in to communication, leadership, polarity, emotional intelligence, and developed a better understanding of the art of coaching. I was learning at an astronomical clip. What I loved most about the program was the intensity of not just coaching others, but also experiencing what it was like to be coached.

Yet, there was one word that kept tripping me up: transformation. I am not sure why I wasn’t ready for it. After all, it’s in the damn title of the program. But I was fighting the idea of needing to transform. I turned to my classmates and said, “I don’t need to transform. In transparency, I don’t even want to. I’ve got an incredible wife, two healthy kids who love me most of the time, and amazing relationships with my friends and family. I am good. I don’t want to transform.”

Classmate after classmate was sharing how they were changing. Growing. Having watershed moments in the program. Don’t get me wrong, I was learning, but I just didn’t feel like I had a moment of transformation. Until one day, I had mine.

Transformation is a journey, not an event.

That was it. That was the moment. And it was transformative. All of a sudden I started looking at all of my growth, no matter how big or small, as transformative. For some reason I had been thinking that transformation had to be this massive shift. Like those people who share before and after pictures after weight loss. Yet, when I thought about those weight-loss examples, I started to realize that their transformation wasn’t overnight. Rather, it was slow, subtle, internal, and then one day… “bam!” they are sharing a before and after picture on Instagram. We don’t see the transformation, but they most certainly feel it. Every moment. Every day. It took work, and so does transformation.

I have come a long way since my days in the classroom at Georgetown and still have a ways to go. I’ve come to see myself as constantly transforming. Always evolving. Embracing a transformational journey. Hopefully I’ve inspired you to join me.