Tracey is one of the UK’s top coaches and gender leadership experts and she’s been running an inspirational two day training course on Authentic Leadership for the last ten years.  I attended the course in June and later described it as “truly brilliant”.  Read on to learn more about the course, next scheduled to take place in Surrey on 23rd and 24th September and why it could be a life changing experience …

Let’s face it…

As women, we now have more responsibilities than EVER before..

As women, we often put others’ needs before our own needs.

As women, we have to manage the kids, the career, the finances and our health.

…. and always…

….We put ourselves last.

It’s crazy.

The trouble is,  we don’t create clear boundaries.

That’s because we feel we don’t have the ‘right!’

And what’s the result of all this internal conflict?

We’re often overwhelmed and exhausted by everything.

Yet, nurturing is in our DNA. We’re natural team leaders, peace-keepers and community-builders.

And women, in particular, feel like failures if they don’t deal with everything.

This can be a huge barrier to progress at work.

That’s because companies want strong leadership.

I know from listening to many thousands of you that you feel the conflict.

Damned if you do and damned if you don’t

No wonder you can be unfairly labelled an “aggressive bitch” if you’re too strong or called “girly” when you aren’t seen as being strong.

This double bind confuses us all on an unconscious level.

Before you know it, we’ve become ISOLATED and INEFFECTIVE, surrendering our feminine power.

However,  you don’t have to surrender, feel overwhelmed or feel guilty. You can be powerful, authentic and have all the time for all the people you care about – including you!

So, if you’re a woman who…

- Is frustrated and exhausted with the pressures of your life but can’t seem to find an easier way to manage it all;

- Slogs through your days just checking things off your ‘TO DO’ list while secretly fearing you’ll never even scratch the surface of your true potential;

- Has no idea how to be truly powerful at work when the culture and politics dictate you be something you’re not;

- Has a lingering void inside you haven’t been able to fill no matter which goals you reach;

- Wishes you knew exactly where to turn for a clear path on how to make this puzzle of life work and show you specific actions to get there;

- Actually enjoys a level of success (professionally or personally) yet STILL senses something is missing…

…you’re in the perfect place RIGHT NOW!

That’s because you can join other wonderful and inspired women at a landmark seminar.

This is a seminar that has been presented in Boston, USA and Singapore and London.

This is a seminar that has been presented internally to Lloyds, Barclays, Vodafone, Serco, B & Q and EDF to name a few. And this seminar has been reported on BBC Radio Four, on American Radio and in the Daily Telegraph.

This seminar is titled the Authentic Leadership Seminar.

At the Authentic Leadership Seminar you get two days of high end coaching from me, Tracey Carr.

Why should you listen to me?

Well, I’m an International Professional Speaker and Peak Performance Coach.
Also, I’ve worked with and coached some of the most successful women leaders in the world.

When I coached these high achieving women, I noticed they had certain common traits. These traits meant they were able to combine life and work commitments with extraordinary success.

Now you can discover their same extraordinary success. That’s because I’ve included these core traits in my seminar.

At the seminar you’ll discover:

“Bossy bitch” or “Too girly” – you don’t have to be labelled a ‘bloke in a skirt’ or lose your feminine power…discover the real meaning of leadership.

At last! Eliminate your fears forever,  using the powerful secret of the ‘Stop Technique.’ Amazing.

Revealed – how to manage your priorities and balance your different roles in your life. You’ll stop feeling as though you are pulled between home and work. And you won’t feel as if you should resign and pack in your career.

Discover the differences in dealing with different genders in the workplace, so you eliminate any potential conflict forever.

One little known secret to managing conflict and politics in the workplace. You’ll understand the “rules of the game” and still maintain a highly visible profile within your company.

How to build instant rapport and trust with anyone you meet by instantly realizing what type of person you’re dealing with. You’ll be amazed how much easier it is to build a working relationship and get more work done.

I could go on and on about what you’ll discover. But I don’t have space here. However there is one really important thing you need to know. That’s how to…

Tap into the power of your mind to get what you really want in life

You’ll also discover how to change the way you think. That’s because you’ll discover the power of your unconscious mind. And how your unconscious mind might be hindering your progress in life right now.

However, once you leave the seminar you’ll know exactly how to program your unconscious mind so you achieve the life you’ve always dreamed of. Not only this, you’ll also discover:

• How your childhood experiences could be making you self-sabotage your success. You’ll be able to burst through this barrier forever.
• The five behaviour traits which reveal if you’re a ‘hurry up’ driver or a ‘be strong’ driver. Or are you trying to please everyone all the time?
• What leadership style is natural to you by using the ‘Funeral Exercise’. Sounds weird but it’s highly effective.
• How you can finally achieve your goals by using ‘Risk Assessment’. This secret method is dead simple and never fails to work.
• How you can avoid being sucked into company politics. Avoid the back stabbing, petty jealousies and rivalries that can occur in company teams.
• Why your corporate image could be stalling your career progress.

And much, MUCH more

I know how it feels to never have enough time because I have brought up three children on my own and had a highly successful career.

I teach from the heart and only teach that which has had the most profound effect on my life. That’s because I have studied personal development as an obsession for 3 decades – psychology, NLP, transactional analysis, spiritual journey, emotional intelligence and I have developed my own female-friendly tools to help you manage your time.

Once you depart the seminar here’s what you’ll take with you.

When you leave the seminar you won’t feel overwhelmed. You won’t feel lacking in power. You won’t feel guilty. You’ll have overcome all these negative feelings. And you be able to go forward and have the rewarding career and personal life you deserve.

Why can I say this?

That’s because I’ve seen at firsthand how an Authentic Leadership Seminar changes women’s lives for the better.

I’ve seen women attendees arrive close to breaking point.  And two days later they’re a different,  positive,  person. It’s almost like magic.

You’ll be excited. You’ll have a vision for your future. You’ll have better relationships with the people you work with and with your partner and family at home. You’ll get a huge injection of self confidence and self-esteem. You’ll finally get what you want from life.

You’ll also have made friends with a group of like minded women who’re going through the same experiences as you. Friends you’ll want to stay in contact with. Friends you can confide in. Friends who can give you any emotional support should you need it.

You’ll receive a 28 page personality profile developed by Minnesota University. This means you’ll be able to discover your strengths and weaknesses. And concentrate on those areas which need urgent attention the most.

Plus, you’ll receive a goal plan for the next five years. Map out your goals so they finally become achievable. And you can enjoy the rewarding career you’re meant to have.

Isn’t that worth two days of your time?

(That’s a saying about horses. In case you were wondering).

Unlike, I think, about 98 of the 100 people there, I was pretty sure when I booked the course that I was unlikely to be paying for future coaching courses and so I went in with the mindset that learning more about what coaching is and how I could acquire those skills in order to be a better people manager in my next job would be a really good outcome for me. On Sunday afternoon, we were asked by the trainer if we saw ourselves having either a part-time coaching business (two thirds of the room), a full time business (most of the rest) or just using the skills: me and one other person.

So, what did I learn? Well, first of all, it was good to spend two days with a very nice and amazingly diverse group of people and to hear their stories. A lot of coaching is focussed on listening to the “client” and so, when we were having our “peer coaching” sessions, I, as the “coach” closed my mouth, opened my ears and really, truly, listened. At first, that felt, and here I’ll be brutally honest … extremely hard. But, like any other muscle, you can train it to do your bidding and so I felt that my listening skills were much improved by the end of the two days. We also had to act as “observers” to others when they were, respectively, the “coach” and the “client” and that was a great object lesson in listening, observing but also giving thoughtful and constructive feedback.

As my own life is still in something of a tsunami of thoughts, decisions, options and confusion following on from my redundancy, I found the sessions on goal setting to be really helpful, albeit they did open up quite a can of worms for me when I thought about what I’ve achieved so far and where I hope to be. The trainer-cum-coach, Ann Skidmore , was just fabulous at working with us as a group and helping us to understand so much more about the goal setting process and why people find it so hard.

We also spent time working with Pam Lidford on our beliefs and she explained to us that, when we align goals with our values, success will follow. Pam clarified all of this with a series of great exercises around the concept of moving from a comfort zone to a stretch zone to a panic zone (and back again) and helped us to recognise where we are and how we feel (familiar and cosy – or stressed and unhappy, depending!)

I was also fascinated to learn how those who wanted to set up their own coaching businesses planned to do so and I met several women who hope to, for example, coach and support other women who want to return to the workplace after a career break, or who would like some coaching help in coping with the curve ball that can be new motherhood. Others wanted to break into the corporate/executive coaching and leadership space and we had some interesting debates around the issues facing women in business. And some men and women wanted to do the youth coaching diploma and work with young people; it was wonderfully heartening to see their passion and commitment to making a difference to the lives of the next generation.

The final session was applicable to the 98% but not to the one other bloke and me who didn’t want to set up our own coaching business, as it was all about how to get going, how to get clients, what to charge and so on.

However, on the premise that nothing is ever wasted, I listened in and hence took away the suggestion that using Twitter can be a great way to connect with people and get your message out there. As I’m nothing if not a late adopter … The Gender Blog is now on Twitter and you can see a link to my “tweets” on the right of the screen. Come and find me and join in.

My tweets thus far have been about the “Girls’ Night In” charity event I’m organising for later this week; I’ll be blogging about that tomorrow and there’s also a link to my “Just Giving” page here and on the right under the “Blogroll” section.

Thank you in advance if you feel able to make a donation to support Plan International’s work for girls and women around the world.

And, because they are all Wonderful Women, the invitations keep arriving – and hence I am off to Cass Business School this evening for an event called “21st Century Leadership: The Evolution of Corporate Culture”, described thus:

” … we will be joined by the authors of “Why Women Mean Business”, Alison Maitland and Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, who take the economic arguments for change to the heart of the corporate world. They engage business leaders on how to drive growth by drawing on the complementary strengths of men and women.

We will also hear from Julie Gilbert, ex-Senior Vice President of Best Buy, a leading US retailer of consumer electronics and founder of WOLF, an external women’s network, through which Best Buy increased its female market share by more than $3.6bn, and the number of female managers by 40%.”

I know Alison and Avivah very well from having organised the London, New York and Toronto launches of WWMB last year and am thrilled it’s now out in paperback; and Julie is also involved with the Downing Street Project and is a wonderful speaker – so, with such a strong panel, this evening will be a terrific event.

I’ve also received an email from Women in Technology, inviting me to participate in a workship entitled “Positive politics for powerful female leaders”. This focuses on the “Rules of the Game” and how to be positively political to enhance career development and satisfaction. The (fee based) workshop will be run by Michelle Brailsford of the Jupiter Consulting Group; Michelle is also President of the London chapter of the European Professional Women’s Network, so trust me when I say she knows her stuff on this one. Reproduced with permission, here’s an overview of “The Rules” – how many hold true for you?

Rule #1. Like the lottery… you have to play to win.
Learn how to ‘re-frame’ the concepts around politics so that you feel comfortable ‘playing the game’.

Rule #2. Don’t get upset, get even.
Learn how to defuse any denial or resistance you might experience related to organisational politics.

Rule #3. Treat Stakeholders as they would like to be treated.
Understand two political power styles and how to flex your style more effectively.

Rule #4. Be yourself, but be the best self you can be.
Learn how to leverage your natural style to ensure you are ‘heard’ and supported.

Rule #5. A good idea alone is not enough.
Learn how to ‘message’ appropriately.

Rule #6. Don’t light a candle to place it under a bushel basket.
Learn how to promote yourself and your team with decent boldness.

Rule #7. Past performance predicts future behaviour… for women.
Learn how to use your track record to tell stories about credibility and trustworthiness.

Rule #8. The world isn’t fair and the sooner you realise this, the better.
Learn how to ‘level the playing field’ by spending time on ‘the right things’ instead of ‘doing things right’.

Rule #9. There are friends and there are allies.
Build your network strategically.

And finally …

Rule #10. Only powerful people can effect powerful change.

And now I am off to Cass, to try and follow the rules of #9.