Day 12: Suzi Pomerantz

October 12, 2009 at 12:01 am, Category: Inspiration

“So curiosity is sort of at the surface level of what’s next, and wonderment is more about really what is possible in the whole realm of the universe of possibilities.”

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Toni Reece: Thank you so much for agreeing to be part of this project, Suzi, and before we begin with the questions, could you please take just a couple of minutes and introduce yourself?

Suzi Pomerantz: Yes, it is my pleasure, Toni.  Thank you for inviting me to do this.  The official introduction is my name is Suzi Pomerantz.  I am an executive coach and an author.  I have had my coaching business for 16 years, and I currently serve on a couple of international boards and as the faculty at the College of Executive Coaching and some other top coaching programs worldwide.  I am the founder of the Library of Professional Coaching as well as the Leading Coaches Center, and I am excited to be part of your project.

Toni: Well thank you very, very much.  Let’s start with the first question, Suzi.  Who do you inspire with everything that you do; who do you inspire and how do you do that?

Suzi: It’s a funny question, because before you asked that question, I don’t really think about who I inspire or how I inspire them.  I don’t even know that I seek to inspire specifically, but I’d say that who I work with the most are leaders, so the leaders I coach I would hope that I inspire them, leaders and executives, and then coaches, other coaches that I work with through the various engagements.  One of the things that I am really passionate about is stewardship of the profession.  So to that end, I am involved in a lot of stuff with coaches, so hopefully I inspire coaches a little bit, too.

To get to how, I think probably how is through just being curious, through my curiosity and listening and just listening from a place where I am seeking to add value all the time.  I’m listening for, you know, what to say to them that would help, and sometimes it doesn’t even come from me.  Sometimes that I feel that it just comes through me from elsewhere.  So to that end, if I do inspire, it is not necessarily that I’m trying to be inspiring; I think it just sort of flows through listening and seeking to add value and maybe, in the coaching context, through asking powerful questions that engage people not just in their minds, but you know,  in their heart and soul.  I don’t know, I get inspired all the time, so sharing things that inspire me or sharing wisdom from others, I think that’s probably how, if I try to think about how.

Toni: Well I would imagine with lots of contacts and people that you help on a daily basis in all of the sites that you have and the organizations that you belong to, the leaders and the executives, and this stewardship of the profession –I love that statement — so the how is as far as to be curious and to listen to bring value to that stewardship, I would think that that sounds to me the way that you go about inspiration.

Suzi: Yeah, and I think it’s interesting because I’m not actively seeking to inspire, and so now that makes me wonder what if I were?  Would that actually color it in a negative way or in a positive way?  So I don’t know if that’s a component; I’d be curious to know about your other interviews.  I don’t know if it’s a component of being inspiring is actually intending to inspire or not.

Toni: That is interesting, and as you read through the interviews, it has been interesting how people have answered that question.  When you work with other people, what do you do to help them explore their own potential?

Suzi: Well, again it goes back to the powerful questions, but really it’s about … I’m naturally in a place of wondering.  I’m naturally wondering what would help in the situation, or what are some other possibilities to explore?  What are some other ways to look at this, or what are some questions we haven’t considered yet, the asking of which would open up some new door for you.  So, it’s about my natural wonder and being present in those conversations and bringing forth that curiosity and that wonderment, and then some creativity, too, in coming up with possible things to consider, but I think that comes out of the wonder.

Toni: What would be the difference, from your perspective, between the wondering and the curiosity?  Is there a difference between the two?

Suzi: Yeah, because curiosity, to me, is more driven.  It’s a yin and a yang.  The curiosity is the more masculine, active, seeking, and the wonderment is more of a sitting back, the more feminine, just sort of “Hmmm, I wonder if we look at it this way what might we see,” whereas curiosity is well, “Tell me more about this and tell me more about that, and what do you see here, and what does that mean, and what does that look like to you?”  So the curiosity is more driven and wonderment is more of a reflective; it’s just the other side of the coin.

Toni: It almost sounds empathetic as well, that there is a lot of empathy that goes into wonderment.

Suzi: Yeah, yeah … and I think it just has to do with … I think it’s a broadening of curiosity if you look at it that way.  So curiosity is sort of at the surface level of what’s next, and wonderment is more about really what is possible in the whole realm of the universe of possibilities.

Toni: That’s awesome.  So when you look for inspiration for you, what do you look for?  What do you need to inspire yourself?

Suzi: Well, again, maybe I’m not sure if this is working in my favor or against me, but I don’t seek to be inspired.  I find inspiration all over the place, so I am continually inspired.  I don’t feel like I need to seek it out.  It’s not like I wake up in the morning and go “Okay, I’m gonna go find inspiration today.”  I guess what I need to be inspired is I need to breathe, that’s important.  I need to be around beauty, so nature, beauty; my children inspire me all the time.  I get moved by people.  People overcoming obstacles, people connecting at a deep level with who they really are and connecting with what’s meaningful to them in their lives, so that moves me and inspires me.  Spirituality, wisdom of the ages kind of thing inspires me, but then I also need sort of reflective time.  I need to, you know, get in the car and drive, or sometimes I get inspired just in the shower or when I’m falling asleep at night, or when I’m doing yoga.  It comes at different times; I don’t seek it.  But these are things that I need to have in place.

Toni: Right.  So it may not be a conscious seeking of inspiration; however, you do recognize it when it shows up.

Suzi: I do.  And I think that what I seek more than inspiration is balance, you know.  If I just do the things in life that support and balance my inner space with the outer space of the world, then inspiration can show up, and I’m aware of it and I’m open to it.

Toni: Do you receive signs in your own life when you know you’re out of balance and therefore you have to possibly go look for the reflective time, the yoga, the listening to people’s stories.  I mean, do you recognize when you’re out of balance?

Suzi: Yeah, and I think it happens in a moment.  It happens in a flash.  And so, as much as I’m continually conscious about putting in the things that add balance, it is very obvious when something is out of whack and I need to add something more, and it’s always surprising to me how much it takes to create balance.  When I say much, I don’t mean much in terms of effort or time, it’s just how many things.

Toni: Can you give me an example of that?

Suzi: Yeah.  So, I did this experiment one year where it was one of my New Year’s resolutions where I said, “Okay, my resolution this year is to figure out how many things I need to truly be supported.”  And I was shocked that it was like 10 things that I had to have in place at all times, and it was everything from yoga to time with friends, time with my children, time with my spiritual exploration and religious beliefs, time with a coach, time with a counselor, you know, there were all these things … exercise.  There were all these things that I had to have in place to feel truly supported, and I was shocked that there were so many things, because, you know, you tend to think in your busy life “Well if I do this one thing it’s good for me,” and it was really intriguing to find that no, I actually have to have all ten of these things going all the time, or balance goes out in a heartbeat.

Toni: That must have been a very interesting exercise.

Suzi: Yeah, because I kept adding things on!  You know, I got to six things, and I was like surely I’m not this high maintenance!  Surely I don’t need this many things to be in balance!  It was a very surprising experiment that I actually needed ten things, and I thought well, good grief, if it takes doing these ten things all the time to truly take care of myself, then that is a lot more than I had been doing and had thought I needed and, you know, once I got past all the judgments I had of myself about why I’m that needy, I was able to let it go and just do them.

Toni: Well that’s fantastic!  Now, a nice tie-in to the fourth question is what do you need, what do you do to explore your own potential, to continuously do that?  You inspired yourself by the realization of the ten things that you needed to be supportive of yourself and to support your life.  Where do you go to explore the potential for you?

Suzi: Oh, lots of places.  I constantly have a coach; actually, right now I have two coaches, so my own coaching is where I go, and I think I’m constantly exploring that potential in terms of pushing the edge of my comfort zone.  Exploring, for me, it’s around leadership.  Leadership is something that I’m really passionate and driven about.  Leadership shows up in so many arenas and domains of life, and in so many ways, and there are so many facets to it, and so I think I’m constantly seeking to push my edge and my comfort zone around leadership — around who I am as a leader, around what leadership is, around working with my clients who are leaders and executives, around their leadership growth and their comfort edge.

So, you know, I think there’s a lot of ways that I explore potential.  It’s through my own coaching, through my work with my clients, through classes and seminars that I take, through books that I read.  I think I’m just always looking.  That’s something I’m actively seeking all the time, so I’m not necessarily seeking the inspiration side of it, but I’m definitely seeking to explore my own potential and expand that; you know, what is it today?

Toni: Do you think that people need to be inspired to explore their potential?

Suzi: I don’t know.  That’s an interesting question.  I don’t think I have to be inspired to explore my own potential.  I think I’m driven to explore my potential.

Toni: So there’s a difference between being driven and inspired?

Suzi: Inspired sort of shows up like a light from beyond that sort of beckons you; you know, like a moth to a flame.  Driven is something that is an engine from within.  It is like a pull, a force of nature or a push really, rather.  I think it’s the push-pull distinction, thinking out loud.  So I think driven is a push and inspired is a pull.

Toni: And there’s that yin-yang again, isn’t there, which seems to be a wonderful theme through this interview, between when you think about how you may motivate, inspire others, and how you go about that is listening to them and being curious and that the exploration happens by you wondering and also being curious.  So there’s your yin and your yang, your push and your pull, and then for what inspires you, again, how you’re moved by other people and being reflective and looking for how many things that you need to be supported to also your exploration of working with coaches and pushing yourself to the comfort zone, and you know, looking at leadership in various forms.  So, the push-pull, I believe, of inspiration and exploration for you has been all through this interview.

Suzi: Yeah, I can see that now.  I wouldn’t have thought it ahead of time but you’re right, you’re absolutely right.  It‘s in all areas.

Toni: So, therefore, what I’ve heard from you is that there is a great deal that you do to inspire others, and how you go about that, as well as your techniques for exploring their potential and how that does correlate with your own inspiration and exploration of yourself.  There’s a direct correlation between how you are inspired, how you explore your own potential, and then how that translates into how you inspire others and explore their potential, by using that push and pull.

Suzi: Yeah, that’s cool.  I wonder if I can actually now, with this new awareness, go and somehow leverage that into some greater edge; you know, leverage that into some broader inspiration or exploration dynamic.

Toni: Suzi, it sounds like you’re already doing it.  You just put words to it.  Well, I thank you so very, very much for your willingness to take part in this project and to provide a snapshot of your approaches and needs to inspiration and exploration for others, to learn from and to benefit from, and I truly appreciate your time in doing this for us.

Suzi: Thank you, Toni, and I appreciate you for actually doing this project, because I now have new insights.  I have new inspirations from engaging in this conversation with you, so thank you!

Toni: Fantastic!  And thanks again, and we will talk soon.
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For more information about Suzi Pomerantz:  www.suzipomerantz.com, www.libraryofprofessionalcoaching.com, www.leadingcoachescenter.com

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