As founder of Covisioning, LLC, Dr. Marcia Reynolds, travels the world speaking at conferences and teaching classes in leadership, coaching and emotional intelligence. Amidst this busy schedule, she has written three award-winning books. Grounded in the idea that learning and growth comes from obstacles, Marcia’s work seizes on problem areas that are common to many of us and offers a step-by-step process through self-discovery to develop positive, successful change.
Outsmart Your Brain: How to Make Success Feel Easy deals with negative self-talk that holds us back. Wander Woman: How High Achieving Women Find Contentment and Direction examines Marcia’s own tendency to achieve something, then move on without congratulating herself on her success. In this interview with Dr. Nancy, she says that she still gets e-mails from women around the world who tell her that it perfectly describes them and thank her for writing the book.
In this conversation she talks about her newest book, The Discomfort Zone: Mastering the Art of Turning Difficult Conversations into Breakthroughs, which she wrote to help leaders transform confrontations into positive outcomes. Marcia says we all have a pattern when we deal with confrontations. Women are used to dealing with children, so we want to help and fix things. This becomes condescending. Men want to solve your problems, also nonproductive. The key to helping someone is to freely enter the “discomfort zone,” listen and let them think through it. It may be uncomfortable to do so, but by being their thinking partner, you allow them to change their perspective and develop their own solution, which is much more powerful and enduring than any you might suggest for them.
Leading Women Chapter “The Burden of Greatness”
Marcia’s chapter in Leading Women is an excerpt from Wander Woman called “The Burden of Greatness.” Marcia talks about how parents for the last 40 years or so have pressured their daughters to do their best. Once she became an adult, she pressured herself the same way, but realized that being great is an abstract concept and she never felt anything she did was good enough to be great.
Her personal story in Leading Women details this process with her compelling personal story and 10 questions to help the reader work through her own process to find contentment and a fulfilling life.
Strategies for Successful Resolutions
Take Marcia’s “Discomfort Zone” quiz to see how you handle confrontational situations, then check out her other support materials and her blog. Her well-thought-out strategies will guide you to assess your own blind-spots and create your own solutions for a successful resolution.