Maximize Your Summit Savings

We all procrastinate, but time is running out to take advantage of our special Early Bird pricing for the 2011 global
Co-active® Summit. Early Bird pricing ends on September 30, 2010.

Register today to save $400 and make sure you get the lowest possible price for this truly transformative event.

Why Register Now?

• Receive a 34% discount off of a standard Summit ticket price
• Book a room at 40-50% off Marco Island Resort standard pricing
• Receive a $100 voucher per room to use toward resort activities
• Give yourself time to find a classmate, Certification Pod or Leadership Tribe cohort to share a room and save even more!

Why attend the 2011 global Co-active Summit?
Think back to your first Co-active experience and how much it transformed you, your coaching and leadership skills, and your clients.

Everything about the 2011 Co-active Summit is designed to help you relive that experience…and to transform all over again. Whether it’s our highly experiential exercises, dozens of creative learning pathway choices, or one of our motivating presentations, you will come away energized, inspired, and ready to succeed in your coaching business! Discover all that the 2011 Co-active Summit has to offer.

Act now to register…and to take advantage of our Early Bird pricing!

Leaping the Chasm

“The most dangerous strategy is to jump a chasm in two leaps.” – Benjamin Disraeli

My sister in law, the fabulous Helen House, shared this quote with me the other day. It took a few minutes for me to get what the quote was really saying. I had to imagine jumping a chasm in two leaps. Cartoon images came to mind. . .that coyote guy who is always running off the edge of a cliff and finding himself in thin air. . .yeeeeoww. . .Blam! (as he falls to earth in a white puff of panic.)

After a few moments of mulling it over, the clear brilliance of what Disraeli is saying landed fully. I am a jumper of chasms, a transformative change agent committed to growing and evolving human consciousness. . .In myself most particularly.

Still, I notice that I sometimes attempt to jump in two leaps. . . hedge my bets just a little bit so that if the leap turns out to be the wrong thing I can. . .I can WHAT?? Turn around? Make a different choice? Really the insanity of this is something.

And the amount of doubt and second guessing that goes on in that “second leap” is such an energy suck. It is actually QUITE dangerous. With the one leap strategy, I’m on the other side almost before I know I have leapt. All the intensity is in the “pre-leap”. Once my feet are moving, I’m already on the other side of the chasm.

Sometimes that “pre-leap” place becomes so intense that I decide to take the l—o—n—g way across. . .laboriously climbing down one side of the chasm and bushwhacking across the canyon floor and then laboriously climbing up the other side. I feel kind of virtuous with all this laboring, like I worked really hard at something when really, all that was needed was for me to “screw my courage to the sticking place” and leap already.

Someone (perhaps Tom Courry?) told me once, “99% is a bitch and 100% is a breeze”. All of my experience shows that to be true. And yet we human beings can be so inexpressibly, endearingly unpredictable. In one moment I am bold and fearless. . .and in the next moment, the “what ifs” have a hold of me and I’m hedging my bets.

It helps tremendously to have other people around to leap with you. . .who will say, “Okay, here we go together.” That’s part of the gift of Co-active Coaching and also part of the gift of belonging to a community of like-minded leapers.

That’s the point of the Co-active Summit. . .taking that transformative leap across the chasm. . .together. Early bird pricing ends on September 30th. Leap! I know you’ll be glad you did. www.coactivesummit.com.

Love,
Karen

Marco Island Resort

The first global Co-active Summit will be held at the luxurious Marco Island Marriott Resort & Spa in Marco Island, Florida from february 24-26, 2011. Marco Island is one of America’s most beautiful and serene resort destinations—and it’s the perfect location for a weekend of transformation. This one-of-a-kind Florida resort has just completed a $225 million renovation that has infused the resort with the spirit of Balinese beauty, hospitality and well-being.

Quinn's pool on the beach.

The Marco Island Marriott Resort offers the ultimate in resort services and facilities. You are welcome to bring your friends and family, as well. There will be no shortage of activities for them while you are attending the Summit. See a list of activities available at the resort. The special Summit room rate includes one $100 voucher per room to use toward resort activities. We will also have extra tickets available to purchase for our Friday night Beach Party.

If family will not be joining you at the Summit, we suggest that you connect with your classmates, Certification Pod or Leadership Tribe cohorts. Buddy up to share the cost of a room and take the opportunity to catch up with special friends in this gorgeous setting.

Co-active Summit attendees receive special room rates of 40-50% off Marco Island Resort standard pricing. Click here for special prices on accommodations and to check room availability. The special discounted room rate is available from February 20th through the 27th, for those who would like to extend their stay. Accommodations must be booked directly with the Marco Island Marriott either by calling (800) 438-4373 or click here to book online. Be sure to book your room early; this special group rate is offered on a space-available basis only.

The resort interior is just as beautiful as the exterior.

The Marco Island Resort offers a variety of room types including:

• Gulf Front Rooms which face directly west, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. Enjoy magnificent views of the beach, gulf and the spectacular Florida sunsets.
• Gulf View and Partial Gulf View Rooms are located on either the north or south side of one of our two towers. Gulf view rooms offer a lovely angled view of the pool and the warm Florida gulf. Partial Gulf View Rooms offer a partial view of the warm Florida gulf.
• View Rooms are set further back from the beach than our Gulf View accommodations. They are generally located on lower floors and offer a beautiful view of the resort grounds and landscaping.
• Standard Guest Rooms offer the most economical rate and quality accommodations located on lower floors with a non-water view.

If the fantastic Summit program, beautiful location and opportunity to (re)connect with colleagues isn’t enough to draw you to join us in February, just think of the Florida sun. Sunlight is a natural mood enhancer. What better excuse is there to treat yourself—and loved ones—to a winter respite in Florida?

Co-active Coaches as Facilitators of Emergence

An invitation to visioning about the Co-active Summit from CTI faculty member Clive Prout:

When I was first invited to contribute to this blog, I saw an opportunity to share my enthusiasm for the Pathways I want to offer at the Summit (#11 – Integral Spiral Dynamics and #13 – Leadership Consciousness – Overcoming Immunity to Change) and encourage you to vote for them. Then I read the blog postings already here. I saw that both Doug Silsbee and Steve Mitten had both already highlighted both these Pathways. What more can I add to what they say?

Where I am really drawn is to build on the title of Karen’s last blog entry – “Homeostasis and Emergence”.

As a Co-active Coach, the interplay between the forces of Homeostasis and Emergence is the essential dynamic that I work with every day. Homeostasis is the force for stability, for maintaining the status quo, for sticking with what works. Emergence is the impulse to grow, to learn, to change – the force for creation, and also for destruction (for something new to come into being, something else has to die).

As I work with clients, I might call the forces of Homeostasis “The Saboteur”, or “Immunity to Change”. I can name the impulse to Emerge “The client’s Future Self” or the “Big A Agenda”. Still, behind these names, the forces are the same.

I try not to make the status quo “wrong”. But, at the end of the day, I see my role as a Co-active Coach as an agent of change, a facilitator of emergence. And as such, the forces of Homeostasis are the forces to be overcome, even if they aren’t “wrong” in any real sense. I see myself as a hired help, a mercenary on the side of Emergence. My clients pay me to tip the balance of power towards Emergence, so that the transformation that is trying to emerge – like a butterfly from a chrysalis, can do so more easefully.

So, dear reader, to relate all this to the upcoming Summit, I‘d like you to answer these questions:

“What do you want to see Emerge from this Summit?”

“What are the forces of Homeostasis (The Immunity to Change) which must be overcome for this to happen?”

“What will it require of us (the CTI community) to overcome our collective Homeostasis and let this Emerge?”

Please post your answers in the comments section. And then, go vote for the Pathways, which will most contribute to the Emergence that you long for.

With love,
Clive

Calling Forward Creative Beings

Did you vote yet for your favorite five pathway proposals for the Co-active Summit? Go to http://www.coactivesummit.com/vote.php.

CTI faculty member Elaine Jaynes has this to say about the Co-active Summit:
I am excited and wanting to share that excitement about the Summit coming in February. I’ve been around from (almost) the beginning of this “co-activity” thing. Certainly from before it carried that name. And from the beginning we’ve felt the calling forward of us as creative beings who were committed to growing something much bigger than ourselves. We watched as learning moved beyond the tried and tested steps of “how to.” We engaged with growing ourselves, our clients and our communities even when we didn’t “know” what we were doing. This is who we are…individually, and more powerfully as a collective. We are a community of changers, growers, adapters, creators. We are dreaming humanity to a new place.

I’m eager to talk about this learning thing….technical learning, yes; and adaptive learning that meets and therefore creates the new world in its emerging. And noticing, too, the seeming limits, the IMMUNITY TO CHANGE that has even those of us who commit ourselves to an expanding consciousness stall out in the hard times? We must explore it….The warrior in me knows this enemy within and that we must meet this challenge.

And the Shaman in me knows that Mother Life reaches forward to meet us. All is new and all is already seeded and waiting for cultivation. I hear the whisperings of SPIRIT, I want to speak of ELDERHOOD, I want to rest in ANCIENT WAYS. I want us to celebrate the MASCULINE and the FEMININE together with one another. I want the circles we influence together to expand with fierceness and with compassion. I want to give myself to the hope and to the dreaming. I want to be with my PEOPLE. And these are the words of my heart.

Do you have any words to share from your heart? Please comment below

Where are the non-starters?

Comments about Co-active Summit Pathway voting from Master Coach Steve Mitten:

Aye, ye, ye….I thought this process of choosing a few favourite pathways would be easy. Usually, in program descriptions to any coaching conference I have been to, it is a quick job to rule out the “non starters”. 

Not so here.  There is a lot of really good meat to sink your teeth into.

So, since I was interested in almost everything, I took the approach of “what do I think would be of most value to the greatest number of coaches?”

From this perspective, 2 offerings really jump out at me.

First, I think pathway Number 11 – Integral Spiral Dynamics – will help coaches gain valuable tools to be able to look at their clients and the world with a developmental perspective. (This is a very powerful model and perspective and it will definitely help you coach, work and market more effectively.)

The other one that jumps out is Number 13 – Overcoming Immunity to Change.  I believe this work, so nicely explored in Kegan’s book (Immunity to Change), will help coaches understand the important differences between a technical and an adaptive change, and perhaps provide a few very concrete tools to move their clients forward past their most thorny obstacles.

The last thought I had while going through the pathways, was “what might be missing”, or, “what else should be here”.

While we are definitely following our collective passion for growth and exploration, I would suggest a few offerings relating to how to gain more commercial traction in your coaching practice, might also be of great interest and use to a large number of coaches.  (This is a huge need and hunger in our tribe.)

Great observation, Steve! Anyone want to suggest a topic they feel is missing?

Family and Play

Comments about Co-active Summit Pathway voting from Jennet Lee:

The pathways that I’m drawn to are the ones about family and play.

“Elderhood” – Growing up in the Chinese culture, I value and respect the wisdom from the elders of our family. Leaning into our inner “elder” is another resource we can tap whenever we have questions or find a solution. Or maybe it’s a place to put ourselves at ease and see the whole picture.

“Parentology” - Co-activity in the family! I’ve seen how Co-activity has helped open communication between parents and children. Parents and children are in relationship with each other. Fosters curiosity instead of assumptions. Deepens and strengthens the relationship. How cool is that?

Jennet with her buddy, Jazzy.

“Swallowing Bowling Balls” – A great title and one that I can relate to when I get stuck and feel like there’s a big bowling ball stuck in my throat. Intrigued by the use of story-writing, visualizations, playful exercise, and powerful rituals to tap into your potential and dissolve the bowling ball. Playful and creative pathway!

“Jungle Jenga” – The title grabbed me because it’s about the Jenga, one of my favorite games! I would have never thought of using Jenga blocks in a transformative way. Also, interacting with others in a team creates connection, chaos, and fun.

“Painting Outside the Lines” – Creativity through thinking out of the box, stepping over the lines, seeing things from a different perspective. This reminds me to tap into my inner child and experience a life where everything is new and there are no rules. Learning from experience.

“Image Cycling” – Tapping into your body through physical movement. I find that when I am stuck, a run or a brisk walk is the best way to break free. When you’re moving your body, you’re in the moment and in the flow. You can let go of whatever is bothering you or bringing you down. The endorphins kick in and you are energized. Your body and mind wake up to the world.

Thanks, Jennet! If you want to play, too, leave comments here about what interests you among the pathway proposals.

Presence-Based Coaching

Did you vote yet for your favorite five pathway proposals for the Co-active Summit? Go to http://www.coactivesummit.com/vote.php.

Comments from Doug Silsbee, PCC about his and others’ pathway proposals:

Wow, far-reaching possibilities! I’m inspired to contribute this work on Presence-Based Coaching (#19) as we co-create a radical upgrade in our cultural operating system! Hmmm…we all embody habits born in prior stages of development. And, these habits may no longer serve our individual purpose nor the global transformation we all recognize is necessary. Central questions: How do we wake ourselves up into a more inclusive consciousness? Embody it? Sustain it? Breathe life into a different future? Be radical catalysts for our clients? Central answer: Start.

It’s exciting to see so many explorations of developmental models that help us describe the territory we’re moving through and into! Brian Hall’s work (#34/ Four Perspectives) and Ken Wilber and Don Beck (#11/ Integral Spiral Dynamics) have all made significant contributions to understanding this evolutionary perspective; how appropriate that these are on the table here for our feast!

#13 on Leadership Consciousness is intriguing; this stepping back from subject awareness to object awareness as the witness is how we accelerate our own development. This seems an important thread to this event, as we accelerate our collective co-creative process. Very exciting!

Thanks Doug, for sharing your thoughts. If you have something to say about the pathway proposals for the Co-active Summit, leave your comments below.

Rock the Vote – Co-active Summit Pathways

Transformation Awaits: The Co-active Summit
February 24-26, 2011, Marco Island, Florida

http://www.coactivesummit.com/vote.php

We’re reviewing a crop of brilliant pathway ideas. Do you want to weigh in on what happens at the Co-active Summit? Then click over to our Pathway Voting Page and tell us which five are your favorite.

What are Pathways?
Where other conferences offer quick courses that barely scratch the surface, CTI is designing our content around in-depth “pathways,” learning experiences that help you hit the peak of coaching success. Our pathways will be delivered as three- or six-hour sessions to give you in-depth, actionable content you can use to immediately transform your coaching business.

Some comments from the voting page over the past few days:

“I chose topics that had individual and global leadership applications. It was really hard to simply choose a few, although we have to start somewhere! I could have easily chosen another 5 sessions! Nice offerings!”
N.F. on Sept 3

“For me, I’m very curious about upping the ante on how we cocreate in the world, and how we model a new way of being for those who have not been privileged to experience the coactive model,yet. The topics I chose reflect this, and while I tried not to let specific presenter names influence my decision, I did choose a couple of topics that were being proposed by individuals who I find inspiring and highly impactful in terms of their delivery methods as I know them.”
G.J.B. on Sept 4

“WOW! The range of topics left me breathless and longing for a month-long retreat where I could experience them all.”
S.K. on Sept 4

“I chose topics that present a model or system that I’m not familiar with, so that I broaden my awareness and understanding. I’ll bet most of these would do that!”
N.C. on Sept 5

“I picked 5 AND… I also see another 5 that would be of interest! It’s great to see such a wonderful variety of topics and coaches. It all adds to the perspectives and beauty of this amazing profession, coaching.”
D.M. on Sept 6

Curious about what these people are so excited about? Vote now at http://www.coactivesummit.com/vote.php.

Already voted? Tell us right here which topics you voted for and why they caught your interest.

Homeostasis and Emergence

It’s autumn here in Northern California. The days are sunny and very warm, yet there is crispness in the air that speaks of the coming of change in seasons. I love this time as one season melds into another.   Yes, there is the official solstice and  can we really locate, from an experiential perspective, that precise moment when “summer” ends and “autumn” begins?

Thinking about the cycles of our natural world always brings Brian Swimme to my mind. Swimme is a mathematical cosmologist and the Director of the Center for the Story of the Universe at California Institute of Integral Studies. He’s written a number of books on cosmology, evolution and religion. There are several DVD series that feature Swimme’s ideas, my favorite being “Canticles to the Cosmos.” For more on Brian Swimme go here: http://www.brianswimme.org/.

I am an avid fan of Brian Swimme. I “met” him for the first time on the Phil Donohue Show over 20 years ago. He was speaking about quarks, which had just been discovered and his enthusiasm on the subject was completely infectious. I’ve been a devotee ever since.

Swimme offers fascinating ideas about a variety of opposing forces that govern the universe. The tension between these opposing forces both keep things moving forward and hold things in place. One of my favorite of these opposing forces is the dance between homeostasis and emergence.

Homeostasis. . .that natural universal tendency to keep things as they are, unchanging and stable. Emergence, the opposing force of the universe to expand, to grow, to. . .well. . .EMERGE.

You can see the balance of homeostasis and emergence all over the place in the natural world. A tiny new plant, straining with all it’s might to emerge, to break through the soil and GROW. The soil, with equal focus, committed to staying right where it is. The soil’s resistance strengthens the plant’s commitment. They work together in tension and harmony.

I see this balance expressed in people all the time as well. The younger generation must rebel. It’s essential that they think that the old folks don’t know where it’s at and that they (the young ones) are onto something really new. It’s a given that the older generation must scratch their heads and wonder what the world is coming to and when the youngsters are going to wise up and become more mature. . .more. . .like THEM.

I remember back a few years ago to the era of the baggy pants. . .That time when it was oh so fashionable to wear jeans with the crotch hanging down to about the knees and the waist band just skimming the top of the hips. And for the height of cool, it was great to have a pair of boxers (striped seemed to be most popular) peeking out over the waistband of the pants.

This was a trying time for me. I came of age during the era of the PEGGED pants. Remember those? The Beatles had just come on the scene and we all took IN the side seams of our jeans so that our pants fit like a second skin. I can remember wearing jeans so tight that getting them zipped was a group effort.  My sisters and I used to help each other.    One at a time, each of us would lie down on the bed and all three of us would heave ho to  until the zipper finally closed.  Tight!

So here comes the era of the baggy pants and here comes my adorable, precious, BUFF nephew with his pants baggy as a pillowcase and the seat swinging round about his knees.

I want you to know that it took quite a bit of self management to keep my hands in place. I wanted to rush over to him and give those pants just one good jerk. . .UP. . .so that everything was where it belonged. A pithy question pressed at my lips and I ached to ask him just exactly where he thought his pants were GOING and did he have a sense of when they would STOP. (Echoes of my mother’s voice whispered through my mind.)

I didn’t do either of those things. I’m not HIS parent. I’m not even A parent. I am Auntie K who lives in Northern California, drinks herbal tea and reads tarot cards. Auntie K who does this weird thing on the telephone called “coaching” (but it’s not about sports) and who is safe to talk to about most anything. . .because she’s NOT a parent. . .she’s Auntie K and that is a fine thing.

I have a job to do in this sweet boy’s life. . .in lives of each of my nieces and nephews. . .that being something to the effect of encouraging their pants to travel in whatever direction feels most right to them and as far and maybe even just a bit farther than they can imagine.

Most of the time, they don’t notice me much. And every now and then, I’ll get an email or a call or one of them will sidle up to me and ask a question or begin a conversation.

That’s fine with me. I’m sort of like a rare kitchen appliance. . .like those fork things you stick in the end of corn on the cob. Most of the time they just hang out in the drawer. And when you NEED them, it’s really, really good that they are there.

My sweet nephew, Phoenix born and raised, is on his way to college next year. He is breathtakingly cool. He really is. And I can feel in him the aching to bust loose. I know in order to emerge, some of the cool will have to go.  I find myself wildly curious as to how that process will unfold.

Why did my sisters and I wear our pants so tight?  I mean, it took quite a bit of effort to get them ON.   Well, because everyone else was doing it.  I imagine that’s true for the baggy pants era as well.   Homeostasis or emergence? Can we locate that precise moment when emergence ends and homeostasis takes over? Does it really matter?
KKH