WELL FAQS

Why WELL?

Know thyselves.--Philip Moore, 1997

WELL is a service whose time has come with the convergence of several trends. The number one executive trait for success in life and work is self-knowledge. Although “self-awareness” is the latest leadership buzz-phrase in the top management education and development circles (following on the heels of “authentic leadership”), it is of course, not a new concept. Over two millenia ago the reknowned Oracle at Delphi proclaimed “know thyself”. If it were that easy! We are multi-composite human beings, thus a more apt phrase truly is “ know thyselves”.

We’re facing a talent shortage of unparalleled proportions. How will your company cope?

--From Workforce Crisis (Harvard Business School Press)

There are several trends on the rise that make WELL a powerful solution for midlife executives and their organizations. First, there is a significant percentage of women who are leaving high-powered positions and careers.  Second, there is a well-researched impending workforce crisis in the horizon, and global companies are just beginning to address this challenge. There are a variety of reasons for these trends -- what is referred to as the “brain drain” (there are some articles on the topic in the Blog, News and Resources section of this site). Finally, there is an increasing collective trend, particularly among the baby boomer generation, to seek a greater degree of balance in their lives than past generations (i.e, money, meaning, family, work, self, community). The next generation is even more inclined toward creating balance. Organizations that address these emerging trends with strategies and opportunities to develop, retain and re-energize their best leaders at the critical midlife juncture will be the most successful.

What makes WELL unique?

WELL is uniquely positioned for executives who are experiencing a deep level of existential angst, "quiet desperation" or crisis that is impeding upon their usually productive life. While this in an uncomfortable place to be, at WELL we honor this wake-up call with our clients because it is their necessary next step in conscious unfoldment, as opposed to something that must be “fixed”. While recognizing pain as a necessary catalyst for the midlife transition, WELL is designed to alleviate unnecessary suffering and the length of time it takes to go “in and through” to new-found knowledge and its practical application. As experts in change and transition (from an individual executive dealing with existential questions to large-scale organizational change or transformation), we guide, teach and coach our clients through the change process, insightfully, effectively, and as efficiently as possible. Clients living fuller lives and leading stronger organizations is a major goal of our work at WELL.

The best way out is always through.--Robert Frost

Does the name “WELL” have significance the letters representing Wisdom, Effectiveness, Leadership, Life?

The word WELL spoke to me on many levels and was the perfect word for the work I wanted to do with clients in the WELL programs. Certainly the word "well" means wellness or wholeness, and the work is that -- wholeness in body, mind, spirit, career, life. But it was the word "well" meaning a water well that was most significant in choosing the name. At its most basic level, a well of water resonated because one of the most difficult aspects of doing the work in consciousness at midlife is an uncomfortable level of “not-knowing” after years of knowing a lot (i.e., how deep is this well in which I can’t see the bottom?!). There is the image of the well of truth or knowledge as a common theme in many esoteric tales and myths. In many traditions, wells are endowed with a sacred character, symbolizing knowledge and the individual who has attained wisdom and can apply it to their daily lives. Wells are symbols of plenty and sources of life, thus they are of a decidedly feminine nature. A key task for successful executives at midlife is establishing a better balance of feminine ("bear”) and masculine (“shark”) energies in all aspects of life and work.  A complete re-integration of the deep feminine (which includes the masculine) into all of our institutions is crucial for bringing about solutions to our most complex leadership challenges in the 21^st century.

Anyone who is destined to descend into a deep pit had better set about it with all the necessary

precautions rather than risk falling into the hole backwards.—C.G. Jung

Why is WELL for successful executives at midlife?

The experience of crisis at midlife is the collapse not of our essential selves, but of our assumptions.

--From The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Midlife by James Hollis

While each person’s path of unfoldment in consciousness is different, there are core phases we go through. The opportunity at midlife (or the crisis that proceeds the opportunity) is the point in time when our mode of operating -- our normally successful way of being, is shaken, sometimes moderately, sometimes severely. There is in each person, a drive or evolving to wholeness (we use the icon, TeddyShark, as a symbol of wholeness). At midlife, if a person has achieved most of their major goals and successes in career and life, a crisis, or severe dissatisfaction is a signal that the parts of us we’ve previously disowned and haven’t developed, want to become conscious, want to become a part of our life.  In other words, we’ve got to integrate those parts, or the shadow ("snake") to get to the true Self ("pearl"). This process takes a lot of work.  For people who have achieved career success, often this leads to a reflective “now what?” or “is that all there is?” that begins the process.

Only when the pain of remaining the same (the status quo) becomes greater than the fear of unknown changes, will we change.--Philip Moore

How do you define consciousness?

The reason why consciousness exists, and why there is an urge to widen and deepen it, is very simple;

without consciousness things go less well.--C.G. Jung

Consciousness is what we know we know (and even that which we know we don’t know). By midlife, executives have a good sense of what it is they know and don’t know about themselves and have effectively applied their strengths in the pursuit of achieving personal and professional goals. It is at the midlife point (when you can see not only the beginning, but the end) that these reliable strengths seem to lose their edge a bit - like “overworked muscles” and what has worked so well for us up to now begins to falter. The call (and challenge) is to uncover (in some cases, rediscover) and integrate other aspects of oneself (know thyself) and give some of those overworked muscles a break. Unattended, these midlife challenges can take a heavy toll on an executive’s career and life. Attended to, midlife challenges are a catalyst for wholeness (more consciousness) and designing a fuller and more enriching life.