Hello, you Boldly Unbounded Soul ✨
This week on Be Bold, we'll explore how thinking styles impact leadership and experiment with expanding your mind's potential.
Ready?
The past week was a full one—a new fractional People advising gig, partnering with CultureAmp to launch a Barcelona Culture First chapter, Chinmay (my husband) coming home after 3 weeks in India, and a life-altering 3-day coaching course.
I want to share a magical thing that happened during one of the coaching demos. The head coach asked, "Who has a strong belief they want to change?" I felt like Hermione as my hand shot up, thinking "Oooooh, yes! I want to change a strongly held belief!"​You see, I've always struggled with reaching out to and connecting with people I don't know. I have an inner voice that says, They don't want to hear from you.
The result? I don't send that message. I make my way to a corner among a crowd of people. I make myself smaller. And there's one big challenge... as an entrepreneur it's critical. Community is everything. Meaningful connection is key.
It's been one of the hardest parts of going solo. Hence the Hermione-like hand in the air. And that's where the magic began to unravel...
The coach guided me through an exercise where I tapped into the voice of my past and present self, my husband, and a mentor. It sounds simple, but the physical sensations and emotions that arose were anything but simple. They were dynamic. They engrossed my being. They lessened the power of that belief.
And so, I stood barefoot on a woven rug, feeling my feet drive downward as I welled up—tears resting just below the surface. Then, the voice of what was really holding me back presented itself: I'm afraid to be rejected. What if I'm not good enough?
It's an all-too-familiar soundtrack I've experienced throughout my career, but what happened next changed everything. My coach invited me into Somatic work to access wisdom within the body. My shoulders—the carriers of my world—cried out. So, I listened.
They said: Don't put so much pressure on yourself. Be kind. Show yourself compassion. Be LOVE.
And then the tension in my shoulders disappeared. Years of weight—of pressure—dissolved, and all I could feel was love and a calm power deep within my being.
It sounds wild if you haven't had an experience like this yet. But, once you've experienced it, you can never go back. It changes who you are—you transcend into the next level of being. It's freeing and indescribably beautiful.
Thank you for allowing me to share this with you, which brings us to today's theme—thoughts and beliefs.
INQUIRY OF THE WEEK |
What does your wisest self know that you pretend not to, or try to avoid? |
When you move from the mind to the body, you unlock wisdom that is otherwise out of reach. As you cultivate body-mind connection, your wisest self steps forward and offers you new perspectives, insights and wisdom that change everything—not just your leadership.
|
Unbounded Learning of the week —linear and non-linear thinking in leadership
Your thoughts are influenced by your experiences, education, relationships, and epigenetics. They drive your behavior—often without even realizing it. And depending on left-hemisphere vs. right-hemisphere processing in the brain, you'll think differently.
One perspective to explore is linear and non-linear thinking.
Linear thinking is a sequential, methodical thought process. It's the default way of thinking in the world of work—logic and reasoning, focusing on one step after another. Think of it as a straight line that lives in the mind.
When do you use it? The benefits?
Data-driven decision making. It creates clear, logical, and well-planned decision-making processes that increase impact and lessen bias.
Tried and tested tasks that need consistency. Goal setting, operations, or budgets, for example. It boosts efficiency and accuracy.
Clear-path problem-solving. When you have a clear solution to a problem, linear thinking wins. It enables a faster delivery.
Non-linear thinking is holistic and abstract. It's connecting the seemingly random dots to arrive at a conclusion. Think of it as a squiggly line—like a hummingbird or bee moving from flower to flower. Non-linear thinking unlocks creativity and innovation and lives in the mind and body.
Here's when to use it and why:
Rapidly changing or competitive industries. Creativity can be a differentiator in this environment, and non-linear thinking is key.
Complex problem-solving. A lot of problems are hairy—this is where non-linear thinking can help—using systems thinking, scenario imagining, mind maps, brainstorming, and exploring unknown paths to find a breakthrough.
Engage diverse perspectives. The most innovative teams use non-linear thinking to encourage openness to new ideas, approaches, and viewpoints. It boosts your team's creativity and problem-solving skills.
Did you know? The combination of the two acts as a superpower in leadership. They enable you to think strategically and take action, generate creative ideas and rigorously test them, create innovative and practical solutions, and communicate more effectively with different types of thinkers on your team to boost collaboration and cohesion.
Which way—linear or non-linear thinking—sounds more like you?
Be Bold experiment of the week —combine linear and non-linear thinking
People tend to have a default way of thinking—linear or non-linear. This week's experiment is about combining the two. Ready?
​
Check your state. Is the nervous system relaxed or activated? If you notice anger, frustration, anxiety, fear, shame, or tension in the body, or black-and-white thinking, the nervous system is activated. Take 2-3 minutes to regulate the body and relax the nervous system. This will help you make better decisions around the problem.
Ask, "What's the nature of the problem?" Is the problem complex (→ non-linear) or is there a clear solution (→ linear)? Or both?
Shift between the two. Let's say you've recognized the problem's complex (e.g., needs a strategic plan), yet there is a clear solution (e.g., need to execute on plan). Start with non-linear thinking to brainstorm, then move to linear thinking to define steps to implement the plan.
Collaborate. Invite others into the process—those with differing perspectives—to leverage the Edge Effect.
​
Questions to go deeper:
What sensations do you notice in the body when you're accessing linear thinking? Non-linear?
What kind of thoughts do you have when you're accessing linear thinking? Non-linear?
Where do you tend to get stuck? What's the inner voice saying when you get stuck? Is it true? What evidence do you have?
What steps can you take to leverage your default way of thinking? What can you do to strengthen your secondary way of thinking?
Ready to combine linear and non-linear thinking? Let me know how it goes!
BASED IN BARCELONA?
|
Culture First's Barcelona Chapter Kick-off in May |
I've partnered with CultureAmp to launch their Barcelona chapter. The Culture First Community at Culture Amp is where global people leaders and change agents come together to be inspired by their peers, ideate, and share best practices to create a better world of work. Interested? Join us on May 23rd!
|
I don’t just coach, I’m a fractional People Leader, too!
(I love remote workplace design to inspire a new way to work for people and profit.)
Hi, I'm Rachel Marie Korb. I'm a curious, sea-loving human based in Barcelona, Spain. After being a senior leader and scaling remote workplaces for a decade, I founded Boldly Unbounded to help ambitious female leaders shift from fear, self-doubt, and stress to clarity, courage, and connection to deliver impact—without the burnout—and design a life they LOVE 💗
Elevate your leadership and create a life overflowing with abundance.
P.S. Welcome, new Boldy Unbounded Souls! 🎉 Please continue to ​DM me with topics you'd like to see and share with other ambitious female leaders who might find it valuable 💗