Executive Development

Christie Hardwick, leader and founder of the “Stepping up with Spirited Contribution” movement, personally coaches a limited number of executives every six months. To share her unique and impactful approach with others in a broader setting, Christie has partnered with the Institute for Women’s Leadership as a senior member of the faculty and teaches their proprietary ‘Trade up’ contextual leadership concepts in 1-3 day formats. The vision for the Institute is that a full partnership is required between both men and women in the workplace in order to have a sustainable future for all. The Institutes programs provide the deep experience to make both men and women ready for true partnership.

A brief summary about contextual leadership: 
As a leader, what view of the world are you operating from? How can you influence others to enlist in that perspective and cause it to happen? Every successful leader, from Mother Teresa to Meg Whitman, has used the principles of "context shifting" to lead significant, sustainable change. The ability to define and declare new and better possibilities is the mark of powerful leadership, a capacity that is in high demand in our organizations and society today.

As you will come to see, the process of “context shifting”, by definition, works from the inside out. What is context? For now, let's define it simply as the deeply ingrained attitudes and beliefs that create our world view and shape our lives. All individuals and all organizations have a prevailing context, whether recognized or not. Most individuals don't purposely design their contexts­­ they inherit them. In the same way, most organizations don't deliberately design their culture ("how we do things around here") but find that it evolves over time, and is reinforced by rules, recognition, punishments and rewards.

The real source of people's actions is not what they know but how they perceive the world around them and what conclusions they draw as a result. It is easy to confuse those conclusions with reality. It takes a kind of disciplined awareness to separate what we think to be true from the actual facts, and choose a different course instead. Discover how contextual thinking—the foundation of Contextual Leadership—is about that discipline.

Rayona Sharpnack, founder Institute of Womens Leadership and author of “Trade Up” Reinventing Your Leadership and Life From The Inside Out. www.tradeup.bz