CFD 429 – Surviving and Thriving with the Thriver’s Edge

December 7th, 2017

Donna Stoneham, Ph.D. is a master executive coach, transformational leadership expert, author, activist, and speaker. For twenty-five years, she’s guided several thousand Fortune 1000 leaders, teams, and organizations unleash their power to thrive in work and life. Donna's award-winning book, The Thriver’s Edge: Seven Keys to Transform the Way You Live, Love, and Lead was named by BuzzFeed as “Nine Awesome Books for Your Kick-Ass Career.”

She is also a contributor in two books, The Coaching Code: Practical Tips for Cracking the Code and Building a Successful Coaching Business and Ask Coach (October, 2016). As one of the world's leading coaches, Donna will be featured in the upcoming full length documentary, Leap! The Coaching Movie

Podcast Highlights

  • Who is Donna Stoneham?

Donna is fully committed to do everything in her power to help people work and thrive. Just over 50% of the people in the US believe they are thriving despite the fact the US has the world’s biggest economy.

Seven out of ten people that go to work in the US are not engaged in their jobs. If you are one of the people that is thriving, it’s important to pay it back and pay it forward.

Donna became very sick while running two businesses and completing her graduate degree, but that trial lead to her discovering the truth of what her mission really is.

  • Where does the courage to make that decision come from?

“At what price, freedom. At what price, responsibility.”

Donna felt the financial freedom and sacrifices of being an entrepreneur outweighed the benefits of working for someone else. After getting sick, Donna decided that anything she worked on had to be in the service of a deeper mission.

  • What constitutes thriving?

There are seven keys to Thriving: Trust, Humility, Resilience, Inner Direction, Vision, Expansiveness, and Responsibility.

Many of us have a limited perspective and are unable to see the full landscape of what is possible. You must be willing to change and learn if you want to enlarge your perspective.

Balance is what makes life rich and robust. If all you do is focus on your work all the time, you are unable to grow.

Use your intuition as your inner compass, the trick is to discern your intuition from your ego. You have to be willing to make the shift from “what can I get?” to “what can I give?”

  • How did you evolve to that level of thinking?

There are two ways you can learn or grow, either through inspiration or desperation.

Equal parts reflection and reaction are important to growth in the right direction. Having a reflective practice as part of your day is crucial.

  • Does business factor in thriving?

Once you live your own personal mission, the sky's the limit on what you can achieve and accomplish.

Reference: The Thriver’s Edge: Seven Keys to Transform the Way You Live, Love, and Lead, Donna Stoneham

  • Donna’s Takeaway

Surround yourself with soul tenders, people that will support you and your journey. Reconnect yourself to your mission and purpose daily. Before undertaking something, ask yourself “does this align with my mission?” and trust that the universe will send you an opportunity that will be a better fit.

Links:

facebook.com/donnastonehamphd

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