We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Maura Lightfoot. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Maura below.
Hi Maura, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
My sense of self and confidence in who I am stems from both my upbringing and my lived experience choosing to step out of my comfort zone.
When I was growing up, my parents consciously sought to raise strong women. My father regularly asked me and my three siblings if we loved ourselves and it wasn’t enough to say, “yes” – we had to emphatically say, “I love myself!” I have come to appreciate how simple and strong this foundation of love and confidence was in how I saw myself.
As I grew older I started to seek out experiences that were different from how I had experienced life to date. I wanted to go somewhere where I didn’t look like everyone, where I didn’t speak the dominant language, where I would be pushed far out of my comfort zone in many ways. This brought me to an intensive immersion program in South Africa living with five diverse families and learning conversation Xhosa. It was an incredible and eye-opening few months. I was a minority, a foreigner and I found I enjoyed the curiosity that it sparked in me, an interest to better understand others, myself, and how we connected in relationship.
And I craved more of this learning about myself and the world, which is how I ended up moving to Doha, Qatar at the age of 22. Again I was challenged but in so many more ways – I didn’t know anyone there, spoke no Arabic, was the youngest person in my office by at least 10 years, was the only woman that wasn’t a secretary, and was the first country office recruiter, so had to carve out this role within the team. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I experienced a range of discrimination and felt completely isolated. But I did it. I learned out to set boundaries and how to reach out and connect with people. I learned how to build a life in a foreign place. I pushed the limits of what I thought I could do and discovered how many amazing things I was capable of. It was really challenging and messy and nonlinear. But I wouldn’t change that period in my life.
Since Doha, I’ve gone on to live and work in Dubai, London, Bangkok and other places, each unfolding new awareness within me. I’ve successfully pivoted from human resources to management consulting in financial services, another incredibly challenging transition. And I’ve now started my own company which is entirely new territory.
As I continue to push myself farther out of my comfort zone, I stretch my own thinking of what is possible. I learned that I can do really hard things and my confidence grew. And I believe deeply that others are also capable of the same, that others can also build up their own self-esteem. I believe that you are able to pivot and transition and expose yourself to things that may be unfamiliar and daunting, but which will make you stronger and more self-aware. I bring these beliefs into my executive coaching practice and now work with clients wanting greater confidence, clarity and connection.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I have been captivated by exploration since I first picked up a National Geographic magazine as a girl. While my childhood dream of being a NatGeo photographer has yet to be realized, I have kept the explorer spirit alive, summiting Kilimanjaro, scuba diving with whale sharks off Oman, and travelling to 55+ countries.
Professionally, I know about people, transitions and change. Consistent throughout my career is a drive to empower others in their work. From human resources in the Middle East to financial services management consulting in London to nonprofit organizational culture in Washington D.C., my experience equips me with a unique perspective that is both grounded and global.
Now as a full time executive leadership coach, I work with high performing change makers to navigate complexity and lead through volatility. My clients are all around the world – North America, Europe & U.K., Africa and Middle East – which I love given I have lived and worked in 7+ countries. My clients have included leaders and executives from IBM, Expedia, Bain, Axios HQ, Allegis Group, Hinge, KONE, USAID, Global Giving, charity : water, College to Congress, and others including entrepreneurs and students. My areas of expertise include cross-cultural teams, career pivots and transitions, HR & people strategy, management consulting, and leadership development.
The coaching work of increasing confidence, offering clarity and navigating change is increasingly important. We are living in a time of significant upheaval and uncertainty, the quickening pace of change unprecedented. McKinsey has determined, “we are in an age of volatility” and so we need a new model of leadership that is fit for this age.
I am developing this model – Exploration Leadership. Finding opportunity in the midst of uncertainty is a defining characteristic of exploration. Taking inspiration from key tenants of how explorers lead, the Exploration Leadership model prepares leaders for our current age of volatility, equipping them with tools, frameworks and practices to make informed decisions of how to work, behave, and lead.
The objective of exploration leadership is leveraging discomfort to create new possibilities through awareness, connections and growth. It prioritizes continuous learning and curiosity, requires humility and optimism, and results in a brave new way of maximizing your impact.
I believe that the bravery, curiosity and openness of exploration, if applied to the workplace, can fundamentally change how leaders leaders think, communicate and make decisions. This is about cultivating the spirit of exploration to be able to embody empathetic, purposeful, informed, decisive and inclusive leadership – the type of exploration leadership required in this age of volatility.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Being able to tell my own story was critical to my ability to pivot. Reflect on your experience and what skills or abilities it’s afforded you, consider how you want to apply those in the future, and identify steps you can take to get there. Craft an authentic story about your professional journey. Ensure it accounts for what your audience is interested in, i.e. you might include different elements depending on whether you’re speaking to a bank or a nonprofit. And get out there to share it! No one will know what you’ve done or want to do unless you tell them clearly and convincingly.
Openness and curiosity have been essential in creating new possibilities. Everyone is working under different constraints and with their own unique history. But whatever you can do to be more open and curious – even just trying a new food or asking a thoughtful and kind question that’s been lingering in your mind – will start to move you to a new place mentally, signaling to your brain that you are someone who can move through discomfort and learn new things.
I also wish I had learned years ago to not take things so personally. It can be easy to interpret others’ actions or behaviors as being about us or directed at us or triggered by us. Everyone has their own context and is processing their own challenges. And no one things about us as much as we think about ourselves. Removing my ego has been a game changer for me, both professionally and personally.
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
Overwhelm sets in when things around me seem to be demanding I move more quickly than I my brain can handle. It could be that my to do list requires more time than I have in the week, or the complexity of my work is exceptionally high or even that I feel I’m being pulled in multiple directions simultaneously.
I find that I cannot really be effective when I am experiencing overwhelm. I must first pause and step away, giving myself mental and often physical space to alter my brain chemistry. I might stand up from my desk and stretch, go for a walk, get something to eat, or even just close my eyes and take a few slow deep breaths. I allow my nervous system to relax so I can then move into conscious choice about what to do next.
Perspective taking is a really effective tool that I use when I feel overwhelmed. Zooming out has a way of calming my brain so I can then zoom in and be more effective. For example, I might consider what will be important in 10 hours, 10 days or 10 weeks and prioritize accordingly. Rather than allowing daily demands on my time to cause anxiety, I might review my goals for the year and use that to get grounded into how I invest my time. I might pause, breathe, and ask myself what REALLY matters the most right here, right now. And sometimes the answer isn’t even work related! I have a client who, when she gets overwhelmed, watches videos that astronauts have taken of the Earth from space, a beautiful way to get some serious perspective!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mclcoaching.org/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mauralightfoot/
Image Credits
Headshots: Lakesha Miner, Violetta Markelou Others pictures: Maura Lightfoot, Eric Lightfoot
