Hi there! Well I'm 3 days post Bootist Retreat and heading to California for the week to work with clients. I thought I'd send out a note to thank all of you who sent so much love and support and curiosity our way this past weekend. Thank you! Your presence was felt, we had a great event, and I appreciate your support and enthusiasm more than words can express! In a nutshell --- it was fun and challenging and rewarding and invigorating, and personally speaking, just one giant cupcake and about 200 hugs (given and received!!)

On your left here is a picture of myself talking about creating a "CRISP Path" (congruent/ resonant/ intentional/set up for success/ and prioritized.) Standing with me is Terry Hickey, Master NLP Practitioner, who came in from Tucson to help "model" me (very cool methodology used to enhance experiential learning), to help the participants deepen their experience, and to support the Bootist Leadership™ Model using some fantastic tools and resources we designed for the course. We had a great time together!

The retreat was an absolute blast - tons of learning (via content, experience, and the dynamics and wisdom of the group), lots of aha's, many shifts for all, and great reinforcement that this stuff works, and that this style of leadership, is really important for individual leaders, their teams, and the organizations they lead (if it's congruent and if they're ready for it, of course!) Addressing the secret sauce (which I've lovingly come to call "Bootism") is what gives them the awareness, energy, stamina and skill to lead more effectively, build trust, and create better bottom line results, and all WHILE being congruent within themselves. This means more internal awareness, alignment (or as my daughter calls it "awinement"), and peace; which in turn means better congruent decisions, connection, engagement and leadership; which in turn means more positive and productive energy, which in turn means better results, etc. (Getting dizzy? You get the picture.)

What often gets called the "soft, intangible" or even "woowoo" stuff (energy management, way of being, congruency, relationships, authenticity, self-care, etc.) is part of the "secret sauce" for optimized results and relationships. While it can be challenging to tackle, and does take the most committed of business leaders -who want that extra edge - to engage in it, it's key to the success of their leadership and their organizations. And best part, it actually makes creating more tangible and better outcomes easier! Here's another way of looking at it as discussed with this group: the more aware of (and better able to manage and engage with) the energy of yourself and your organization; the better able you are to know what's "really going on," and what's congruent and what's not; which makes for better and more efficient and congruent decisions and actions, and therefore more buy-in, engagement and trust. You're also then better able to determine what the mindset is of yourself and your org so you can unfold what beliefs are driving the behaviors that drive your results. (Simply put: what you believe, drives who you "be", drives what you do, drives what you have - individually, as a team, and as an organization - but in order to know this, you've got to pay attention to that "soft stuff.") We saw this over and over again and participants were able to learn tools and resources to help them better manage their state, lead their energy, create congruency, drive their mission, build trust, and work with their teams. Good stuff!

We had some really great goodies there, a special thank you to Zingerman's, Askinosie Chocolate, Rishi Tea, Nick's Pizza, and their heartfelt leaders and team members, for supplying us with delicious food and beverages that nourished and enhanced the experience of the participants and helped me share a new perspective on food, energy, business, and leadership, and how it's all connected. Thank you also for your permission to share your stories and values and what makes you "tick" so well. I talked about several other wonderful mission focused companies - companies that I would call "Bootist Organizations" being led by "Bootist Leaders" - and what they all had in common was a genuine care and commitment to people, passion for their service/product, love of their customers, and attention to the "energy" of the organization - big time. Lots more to say, and too many to list here, but you know who you are, and thank you! Pretty fantastic.

If you're wondering why the heck such an emphasis on quality food for a "Bootist Retreat" - you'll have to come to the next one to understand. And believe me, it all ties in! And if you're still wondering what the heck "boots" have to do with anything - just know that we all have our "boots" - as individuals, as teams, and as organizations. Your boots are your boots - the trick is in identifying them, STAYING in them on your true path - and enjoying the ride and the people as you go! With the response and fun we had this weekend, we will have another one in the Fall. I'm looking at dates now and October is looking sweet. Stay tuned and if you're interested in coming, let us know.

Signing off from 33,000 ft up (and apparently over Utah), more later, and pictures too at some point, but for now thanks again to you for your interest and support, a huge thanks to the participants who so brilliantly jumped right in and did the work, a heartfelt thank you to my very special Bootist Team, and to the companies that shared their wares and made the experience richer and even more delicious!

Bright eyed, bushy tailed, and boots on,