Graduation

I was driving home this morning after dropping Meg off at the train station and thought of getting my PCC as a graduation. Then I thought about the psychology degree I earned 20 years ago.

Many, including myself, went on to work in clinical psychology - my stint was a mere year - and others went even deeper in the field, obtaining a masters degree or PhD.

I pass by the stumps that remain from trees that were ravaged in a storm last week.

“That’s a noble act, to become a practitioner in the field from which you earned your degree. It’s not my path, but it is noble."

"It can also be noble to get that degree and decide to do something slightly adjacent to the core clinical part of the work. To build something, or experiment, try to move what one learned about the field out into spaces semi- or unrelated to the field."

Now I have graduated from a coach’s learning phase. From senior in the classroom to freshman in “the real world.”

I choose what to do out here. Not the field, not my “professors,” not my “school.” I am presented with opportunity, and mystery. Risk. Perhaps the biggest risk of all being to not try.

Is this where what I’ve learned and what I believe the world needs come together, and I need to meet the moment to see it and fuse it together? What is “it,” then?

I believe we’re here to enlighten one another. And who buys “enlightenment?” Is it a company? A person? A team? An artist? A spouse? A kid? No one? That’d be a problem.

What could be consumed for 5 minutes, 5 hours, 5 years that I could build and give to others? My heart races when I think that the essence of what I do with clients could be it. Set them up for experimentation that expands their capacity to lead.

What matters now that will matter 5, 15, 50 years from now?

What do Generations Z and Alpha need?

What would I actually want to play to win for?

Do I need what we could build? Would I use it? What will pass my old art test - would I put this thing that I am making on my own wall?

As I envision my approach to death a few decades from now, seeing myself come back down to earth at the end of my time in flight, what will I be able to look back on and say, “yes, that was enough?”

I know.

That those who live in fear do not lose their fear but rather have enough trust in themselves to move forward, by their own design, in the face of it.

Courage.

The courage to try.

The readiness to keep trying.

Preparing others for enlightened, courageous experimentation.