We recently connected with Christine Horstman and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Christine, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I went through a traumatic episode when I was younger. It set me on a journey of developing stronger, healthier coping methods and reaching into a reserve of strength we sometimes think we don’t have. As an adult, my experience with chronic illness and cancer forced me to become an expert in resilience.
With chronic illness you never know how you are going to feel when you wake up. It’s an ongoing mental game of picking yourself back up over and over again. You push, then rest and then try again just to get through a “normal” day. And you do this day after day. One of the quotes in my book, “Deal with It Doll! Coaching Yourself Through Crisis” is that clarity can be the gift of crisis. Crisis often bring clarity around who we are at our core and about what we most need and value. That increased self-awareness and digging deep into our innate strengths fuels resilience. Crises, both big and small, are an opportunity to build resilience.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am an author, career and life coach, and corporate trainer. I spent many years as a general manager in several different industries and my favorites parts of the job were staff development–hiring, training, and developing new managers. The training that I do now focuses on emotional intelligence, communication, and pretty much every and any soft skill. I am an accredited DISC trainer and looking at our strengths and increasing self-awareness through the lens of personality is one of my favorite topics.
I work with people from 15 to 50+ to help them figure out who they want to be when they grow up! My private coaching clients come to me to gain clarity around their strengths and their goals so they can articulate who they are and what they want with confidence.
During the pandemic I decided to write a book and share more of the lessons I’ve learned as a coach and through my journey with chronic illness. My business tagline is “personal development, professional support” and I wanted to share more about who I am and why I really understand what it takes to be intentional, develop resilience, and the process of reinventing your life when the going gets tough.
“Deal with It, Doll! Coaching Yourself Through Crisis” has been well received and it’s allowed me to make many new connections. Through a variety of podcasts and speaking engagements I’ve enjoyed sharing insights from the book around developing resilience, self-care, work-life balance and exploring the idea of “What’s Essential?” The book focuses on uncovering what is essential to each of us in order to thrive and be successful.
One of the highlights of 2023 was having “Deal with It, Doll! Coaching Yourself Through Crisis” included in Passion and Growth’s subscription box. It will also be featured as a book club book pick this spring for The Girl Cave. You can catch their segments on WFAA’s Good Morning Texas.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I always had an interest in self-development. I toyed with becoming a teacher or a psychologist, but I never seriously explored those professions. Now there are components of both in what I do. Following our interests is an important part of our professional development. Our interests hold the keys to what gets us excited to grow and learn and what holds our engagement. This is fundamental to developing a career you are passionate about.
Professionally, I preach that soft skills are the key to success. Our top soft skills often overlap with our personal qualities and natural strengths. I am empathetic and a strategic thinker. I think that strategic thinking, planning assessing and finding new ways is part of what helped me to be resilient. It helped me dig deep back when I was in sales at the start of my career, and it absolutely helps me with my clients and helping them find new ways forward. Every industry needs strategic thinkers and problem solvers. And you have to own your own career so developing strategic thinking is a skill everyone needs.
Empathy is at the core of emotional intelligence. The more you can tap into empathetic listening and seek to better understand others, the stronger your relationships will be both personally and professionally. When you combine empathy with strategic thinking you create influence. The preferred management style in North America is leadership through influence. If you can develop and harness these two traits you will do well.
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
I have a strengths-based coaching practice which means that I believe identifying and owning our strengths is the secret to success. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work on areas we aren’t as strong in, but we know that people who use their strengths daily are six times more engaged at work. (Gallup.com) Other studies indicate that focusing on our strengths makes us feel more positive and less stressed. Building from a place of strength allows us to grow with more confidence and, typically, more rapidly.
It is important to be aware of our weaknesses and improve or mitigate their potential impact. If they are causing damage or holding us back, then we need to address them. We just don’t want to fall into a deficit model where we are always focused on what we don’t do well. That can be counterproductive.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://paperdollcommunication.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chris.horstman/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paperdollcommunication/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-horstman-a2203278/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_KOJXqkACsiE52amkZGBLQ
- Other: https://www.amazon.com/Deal-Doll-Coaching-Yourself-Through/dp/195509022X
Image Credits
Rosa Poetschke Photography
