leadership
These are the values I use to live and coach by:
Curiosity
Start with questions. I believe that as long as you stay curious and open to new perspectives you will always eventually get to the heart of the matter. It may take a while, even years or decades if you are exploring the realm of your mind, body, and soul. In smaller day-to-day encounters, curiosity often leads to a new understanding of where others are coming from, and a new learning about yourself. Even if you don't feel like you've learned anything new about the external circumstances and don't have a new conclusion, you may learn something about how someone else thinks, and that may lead you to a new understanding about how you think, even if what you think doesn't change.
Growth
I am committed to always be growing. If I find myself in a situation where I'm not growing, I first get as curious as I can to see if it's actually true that I'm not growing. See if I can learn anything about how I grow or what kind of growth excites me. If after a period of investigation I am not experiencing the growth I need, I will look to change my situation.
Awareness
Awareness of what is happening is super important. This seems related to Curiosity. As long as I remain curious, I will need to become aware of myself and everything that happens inside. As long as I remain curious, I will need to become aware of others and ask and feel into what is happening for them. As long as I remain curious, I will need to ask questions about the context and the content, to understand it ever more deeply. How is this a different value than Curious. It just seems that everything points to Curiosity.
Truth
This largely shows up in my meditation practice, and I am more and more often bringing it into my daily activities. I realize it is tricky, because in today's world there are so many different versions of the truth being claimed. The Truth that is my value is not one based on external facts, but based on internal awareness. It is the Truth that was taught by Jesus, Mohammad, the Buddha, and other transcendent teachers of the world.
I don't think these could be used very readily to help me determine how to vote. So not useful in knowing how to act. Although that doesn't seem right. They do help me in the act of discovery of myself and others. But I think I may need to list out principles that can be more direct guides in external decisions. Principles would be closer to beliefs, which can change. Values I don't see ever changing. I think these values have always existed within me. And I have been better about knowing them and letting them be in me as I've gotten older.
Principles Would Be:
Freedom
Care
Giving Good Weight
Do Well by Doing Good
Since every situation is unique, I start with questions meant to reveal new perspectives about your particular circumstances.
You bring the knowledge and experience of your system. I'll bring 20 years of direct management experience, training in humanistic psychology, brain science research, mindfulness, and an active ear. Together, we co-create a powerful space of reflection and insight to reveal potential solutions and new paths forward.
Chris, Staff Engineer
Josh helped me see things differently. I work more collaboratively now. I have learned how to pay attention to other's thoughts and feelings and see that my way is not always the best way.
testimonials
Charlie, Founder & CTO
Working with Josh, I gained skills to help me through new and unique managerial challenges - first as a new manager, then as Founder & CTO of my own VC-funded company.
Logan, Principal Engineer
Josh is like my engineering therapist. Working through technical and organizational problems, I am better able to discover new perspectives and use them to define myself as a leader within my organization.
I wrote my first code as a curious kid on an Apple II Plus in the early 80's. In 1994, I started my career as an engineer. Curiosity about how people work steered me into engineering management over 15 years ago. For the past ten years, I have also focused on mentoring and coaching individuals and teams. I have a bachelors in Physics, a Masters in Organizational Leadership, and over 20 years of study in humanistic psychology, based primarily on the work of Virginia Satir, a pioneer in human systems thinking. I have attended and facilitated over 400 days of personal growth, career development, and leadership trainings around the world. In my career I have held multiple leadership roles in technology startups. I am an Agile Leadership Journey Guide and have trained extensively with Crafted Leadership. I am excited to share the tools of discovery that I have used to help others, and myself.
It's better to talk to someone who gets the engineering mindset.
