I got a chance to go and share a cup of tea, a Pain Au Raison, and an awesome conversation with Kathy Tracey. I’d been pointed in Kathy’s direction by Liv Spencer-Bower, world champion canoe polo athlete who appeared back in episode 26 of the podcast. Kathy came to speak with the team as they were prepping for the world champs and by all accounts was insightful, inspirational and not afraid of the uncomfortable. The conversation I got to have with her didn’t disappoint. Kathy’s whole life has been interspersed with times and activities that have made her feel very uncomfortable. Facing these situations and working through them has given Kathy a detailed understanding of how to approach them, the questions to ask, and the strategies to take to find a path through. I got to speak with Kathy about her world record feat of becoming the first all-female crew to row the Atlantic Ocean. We also spoke about her ABD to Victory process she uses both in her leadership coaching and in her personal life.
Kathy is a massive proponent of pushing outside your comfort zone which she emphasises throughout the podcast;
“It’s about doing something that hasn’t been done, doing something that is going to stretch you beyond your wildest dreams, and somehow getting to the other end of it, and having this amazing potentially life changing experience”
“You have to push outside your comfort zone, you don’t find anything extraordinary inside it.”
“The learning you get from being outside your comfort zone is 200 times what you would get sitting in your comfy chair reading a book”
“Your stretch comes, you grow as a person, and you learn more when you’re pushing outside the zone. There is no swap for that”
You can listen to her episode for this and for her description of what it was like to row the Atlantic, because I want to focus on her ABD to Victory. This is a process that Kathy has developed over time and with her rowing. She uses this with the clients she works with in her leadership coaching, as well as consistently applying it in her personal endeavors.
A is for Acumen
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