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Reaching Higher: Transformational Coaching, Creative Leadership & Vertical Development
There’s a moment many seasoned leaders quietly recognize: “I have all the tools. So why does this still feel so hard?” You’ve read the books, attended dozens of training programs, survived the 360s. You know how to run a team, an organization, a transition, a strategy session. And still, some problems don’t respond to what you already know. These are the moments when the challenge isn’t asking for another framework – it’s asking you to grow. Not horizontally (more skills, m
kawkapc
Nov 105 min read


Turning Conflict into Creative Tension
Conflict can be creative. There is no creativity without tension. Constraints matter. Yes, there’s risk. But if your team looks to you for facilitating their collective creativity, the sooner you can learn to appreciate conflict, the better. When I say to be “good with conflict ,” I don’t mean being aggressive or initiating conflict. I mean that when it arises, and we know it inevitably does, we can meet it with calm, curiosity, and a gentle detachment from our own stance, an
kawkapc
Nov 45 min read


Beyond Rest: Dreaming & Hope as Antidotes to Leadership Burnout
Don’t know about you, but lately I’ve found that rest alone isn’t enough. When our nervous systems are exhausted, when our calendars keep demanding, when leadership feels like sprinting a marathon, simply sleeping more doesn’t always restore us. What I’ve been reaching for are two other forms of nourishment: dreaming and exercising the “hope muscle.” It's Gloria Steinem who once said: “Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreami
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Sep 296 min read


Fine Partnerships: The Power of Two
Or why getting lost with a good partner might be the best leadership move you make this week. It was a Sunday, and I was craving a hike....
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Sep 155 min read


Leadership Is Creative Work: Conversations as Exhale
I watched an interview with musician and songwriter Phil Cook recently, where he said something that stuck with me: “When you’re...
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Sep 44 min read


From Self-Pressure to Self-Leadership
A Creative Leadership Meditation on Tenderness, Gentleness, and Relearning Self-Compassion We teach what we most need to learn. And...
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Aug 255 min read


From Drama to Empowerment
Here is a deceptively simple question: What is the opposite of helplessness? But let’s take it one step at a time. We All Come to Work to...
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Aug 244 min read


Self-Empathy: Taking Your Power Back
“When you do not seek or need external approval, you are at your most powerful.” — Caroline Myss Most women don’t need a seminar on “reading the room.” Years of social conditioning mean we pick up on micro-moods and rush to smooth them over. Studies show women often score higher than men on empathy and perspective-taking , but when motivation is equalized, the gap nearly disappears. What that means is that we practice empathy because we were taught it matters. That invisible
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Jun 15 min read


From Perfectionism to Presence: Reclaiming Your Enough-ness
Is there a difference between healthy striving and perfectionism? Absolutely. One is rooted in growth. The other, in fear . As Anne...
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May 256 min read


The Power of Living In-Between
I’ve always felt a quiet envy toward people who could introduce themselves with just one word."I'm a doctor.""I'm a photographer.""I'm a dancer." There’s a kind of comfort in that, isn’t there? A clarity. A clean box you can tuck yourself into and present to the world like a polished LinkedIn headline. That was never my story. For years, I thought there was something wrong with me. My inability to generate myself a single label felt like failure, like I hadn’t landed anywhere
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May 36 min read


Nature as Leadership Strategy: Cultivating Strength, Perspective, and Resilience
“Studying the impact of the natural world on the brain is actually a scandalous ly new i dea.”— Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods It should have been studied 30-50 years ago. So why now? Perhaps because we are losing our connection to nature more dramatically than ever. Thanks to a confluence of technology, modern lifestyles, and shifting demographics, we’ve moved further away from the natural world than any generation before us. In 2008, for the first time in
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Apr 296 min read


Unavailable on Purpose: From Always-On to Intentionally Off
Have you ever noticed how being constantly available to others ends up hurting you? We say yes out of habit, reply instantly, stay...
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Apr 216 min read


The Craving for Freedom
We all long for freedom. Not just political or physical freedom, but the kind that lives quietly inside us. But what is freedom, really?...
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Apr 137 min read


The New Leadership Skills for a Thriving Non-Profit Sector
Thriving Non-Profit? Sounds like an oxymoron. If you're an Executive Director or CEO of one, you know exactly what I mean. In a sector...
kawkapc
Feb 238 min read


How to Overcome Self-Doubt
When did you realize that no one else was to blame? That the voice of doubt, criticism, and sabotage wasn’t coming from the outside, but...
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Jan 259 min read


Authenticity: Breaking Free from External Validation
In a world saturated with likes, shares, and applause, the pull of external validation can feel inescapable. Yet when we’re caught in this cycle, the moments between the hits of approval or admiration often feel strangely empty, and that’s the best-case scenario. They can feel much worse. Liberation from this cycle is an act of reclaiming our power . “What’s the greater risk? Letting go of what people think … or letting go of how I feel, what I believe, and who I am?” Brene B
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Jan 57 min read


What Does Self-Esteem Mean?
If I were to begin and end my blogging journey with just one article, it would be this one. Believing in ourselves is the most important...
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Dec 17, 20245 min read


The Leadership Skill We Don’t Talk About Enough: Navigating Dichotomies, Nuance, and Paradox
Navigating today’s leadership landscape requires new leadership skills , it's not just about solving problems but about mastering the...
kawkapc
Dec 14, 20245 min read


Transforming Conflict: A Path to Courageous Leadership
As a coach, I see the hidden opportunities in conflict every day. Many clients come to me saying, “I have a situation I need help with.”...
kawkapc
Dec 11, 20245 min read


Why Invest in Strengths?
Avoid trying to mimic someone else, be it a guru or a role model, as this approach rarely works. Success comes from being authentically you.
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Dec 7, 20245 min read
© Copyright Monika Kawka
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