A New Beginning: Here Comes Geronima!

After a Spring break, I'm back with my Women Speakers Series, ready to blog about Women, Leadership and Creativity.

Women in big corporations, or women entrepreneurs?

Women learning to play the rules in a men's world or women creating their own rules, in a new world?

What about new learning, women adopting new technologies with ancient wisdom? Women embracing change with confidence, wild and raw power and generous enthusiasm in a global world?

Too many topics, too many tags, too many categories. What about the focus I had decided at the end of last year? Women Leaders and Presentation Skills?

Time to pause and reflect.

What happened?

During the last two weeks, mother nature has been very generous with us, at home, in France.

• Our family expanded. My husband 's eldest daughter gave birth to a beautiful baby boy , we all went to visit her in Arcachon, near Bordeaux
• Back home, we spent one week taking care of our garden, harvesting  the blossoming flowers and trees  with our ...seven children. 
• I took a break from blogging and put my professional project on hold.

Our home has been a busy beehive! I gave myself 100% to my family's needs and adapted myself to the telluric changes such an event meant into our lives, for my husband and me, too.

What did I learn?

• I reflected on women's ages and aging, took comfort in reading the wisdom of older women. I connected with plenty of wonderful young grand-mothers, around me and on twitter and shared experiences with them.I met Julie Daley and her wonderful blog and passion for the creative power of women.
• I discovered a whole new world and also realized I had still a long way to go, to get my youngest ones (and the big ones too!) ready for adulthood.
• I was reminded that time was running. I was not ready to become a retired grand-ma.I had still plenty of things to accomplish.I felt torn between a sense of eternity and emergency.

What are the challenges today?

Feeding my big family, making money out of my business, living my talk and empowering myself, as a woman.

• I received two major training and consulting offers, which will imply transformation in my business, more travels, shifts in my clients. It took me back to my past expertise, to the corporate world and big business schools and universities. Is it what I wanted to spend the rest of my days doing? The clients who called me wanted me to coach men senior managers. How am I going to fit in all? Where does Geronimo fit ? Where is my soul?
• I also reflected on my experience with "Your Next Presentation", the innovative and interactive online training and coaching tool I had launched back in January. People seemed to be very curious and interested, but nobody bought it! I was also very shy at promoting it, almost ashamed of making a sales page, of tweeting and blogging about it. Having very mixed feelings about marketing techniques for coaches, and still looking for my true way to sell, being kind and entertaining, and not too pushy, but still selling! I still very much believe it can work, provided I find the way to market it to the people who need it!

Who are the people I want to spend most time working with?

• Who are my customers? Corporate executives, MBA students, high potential managers? Am I really writing for those when I'm blogging, when I'm twitting? When I'm building cooperation via Skype with wonderful brilliant women across the world?
• Or women entrepreneurs? Women in transition, just like me, just like you, women consultants, coaches, trainers, business owners who desperately want to prove they can make it, even if it's an everyday chalenge? To blossom as a woman, as a mom as a business owner, as a peaceful warrior, as global citizen, as a creative human being?

Wow! I needed a big breathing space to think about it all!

Today, everybody's back to school with new classes (the 3 youngest), to university with new exams (3 oldest),back home with a new baby (the new mom), back to the corporate world with new projects( my hubby) and back to Geronimo Leadership for me!

Where's my North Pole Star? What's my vision? What are my priorities? What's my next step?

Why am I writing all this?

Because Geronimo is slowly morphing into a new Geronima, a feminine creative essence of the wild woman 's wisdom.

And sharing the process of this transformation is exactly what I want to spend my time doing during the next half of my life.

Giving birth to the new Eve and being the midwife of other women's blossoming.

Because I am re-designing a new website, where I will package all my expertise to serve women entrepreneurs, who want to transform their dreams into reality, a step-by-step road-map, helping them keep their soul, their compass and their energy and have fun doing it!

The feminine Anima of Geronimo is emerging. I still have my bow and my arrows, I'm still riding my wild horse, but I don't have to pretend to be an old Male Apache Chief anymore.

Because I care for you and wanted to let you know the changes ahead.

I would love to hear your feedback and reactions to this post where I'm sharing my truth and my vulnerability. I really care for your feedback.

Transition places are not famous for being comfortable and in the midst of my life, I'm torn between conflicting directions again (like in the myth of Demeter and Artemis, I shared earlier in a post)

Here are 3 questions for you:

1. What do you think about the change from Geronimo to Geronima?
2. What would you like to find more of in this blog, now that it's more focused on women entrepreneurs and less on big corporations?
3. Do you have a similar story you would like to share here? A story of transition or a challenge about positioning yourself, about finding your niche, about getting to know which client you want to work with?

Comments

[@DrJackKing]

Marion, this transmogrification is lovely, and inspirational. Women of all ages have too much to offer our world to somehow feel compelled to mask their gifts behind male mindsets. There exists no reason to copy the stereotypical male leader, by and large because a great many of them have leadership all wrong. Leadership is not about climbing a proverbial ladder, wearing a tie, or standing at the pinnacle of a self-serving career expecting others to bow down to one's 'greatness;' instead, leadership has everything to do with lifting another within reach of dreams of their own. Leadership is about nurturing. Leadership is about serving. Leadership is about love.

I greatly appreciate the opportunity you have taken to stand in the bend along your life's journey to carefully look both ways. Looking one way, you have come to terms with all the wonderful things you do for so many. Looking the other, you realize there remains so many more wonderful things waiting for you — and others like you — to accomplish.

I am reminded of Native American leadership. For Geronimo, and all Native American chiefs, COMMUNITY is paramount. A Native American chief is the leader precisely because that's the way the community wants it to be. The community sees within their chosen leader a servant's heart. So it is with your 'community' Marion. We see within you that same heart. As such, it seems to me GERONIMA is a perfect way to repackage yourself during the next half of your life!

In closing, I can't help but ask if your heart might be tugging at you to move slightly beyond women entrepreneurs to include younger ladies (teens and twenty-somethings) ~ the next generation of women entrepreneurs!? Of course, many younger ladies may never read your posts, but the men and women who do will surely come to know how incredibly important it is for them to reach out their hand and engage those young women and nurture within them the serving nature of leadership ~ a leadership of love that makes our world a better place for all!

I'm very happy for you, and all those you shall serve, Marion!

[Heather Stubbs]

Marion, I greatly respect your openness and honesty. I'll bet the majority of women in business are quietly struggling with the same questions. You just happen to be brave enough to put them out there in front of the world!

I never had to juggle work and children At 39 I married a man who is a full generation my senior and has 7 adult children. I'm now an "insta-granny" to 13 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. At only 62! (I love it.)

Two years ago, after spending my entire working life as a singer/actress/teacher, I decided to start a whole new career as a public speaker. Using the skills I had learned over a lifetime of performing, I created a training program to help people vanquish their fear of public speaking and polish their skills. Now I'm busy finding the people who will pay for what I have to offer. It's fun. Indeed, I'm having the fun now, in my 60's, that I would have liked to have in my 30's (although I didn't have the experience then to do what I'm now doing.)

My point in this rambling is that I, too, am in transition -- not just starting a new career but leaping into the whole new world of business. It's scary and thrilling at the same time. I applaud the emergence of Geronima, and will watch her unfolding with interest. Brava!

[David McQueen]

The journey is amazing. I was writing on my own blog about my personal journey to embracing leadership. There is something in the air....stopping to smell the roses makes it even more beautiful.

Glad to be able to share this journey with you

[Jackiewalker]

Ah Marion, you have such wonderful insight both to yourself and what is being asked of you. It takes a strong and courageous person to be willing to stop, look and listen.

Geronima is a wonderful tweak and I for one am looking forward to what will now surely be a rapid growth period for you. I love @DrJackKing's suggestion that there might be some mileage in looking to the future leaders too. The dynamics would be very different and I feel that someone like you would shine with them.

Question 3 resonated strongly with me as I too have been going through a major transitioning with regard to niche, positioning and doing what I know best ... helping people find their feet in challenging situations - namely relationships and divorce.

Last year I chose to follow a path which took me away from divorce, thinking my time had been done. What happened was that the doors didn't naturally open, or they shut suddenly. In February I met my new business partner and we're co-designing a mediation service which unlike most others, bridges the gap between court (she's legally trained in Family Law)and coaching/therapy. Our combined skill set and willingness to use technology, telephone and Skype mean that we are able to offer clear, precise and accessible mediation to busy professionals and expats who have up till now been denied access to most mediators.

The most amazing bit is that some work I did 2+ years ago and put into an 'ideas' folder is now coming back out and being used productively!! I also have to remind myself of a commitment I made when I first started out in the world of coaching ... 'I will make a difference to the way divorce is handled and viewed in this country'.

We all have unique voices and in our mid life it can be easy to ignore their calling, but it's even easier to surrender to it :)

Congratulations Marion, I'll be supporting you all the way!

[Kriss Akabusi]

Wow Marion I applaud you. This is hallowed turf that you are standing on and you blog trips with the authentic calling. I would say that you are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, your ancestors are cheering you on as Geronima takes her place in the pantheon. For such a time as these you have been created, so few who get a glimpse of their destiny have the courage to step into it. I know you will and in so doing will find the flow.

Marion your blog is affirming of you and encouraging to many. Step in and step up with passion, pride and a can do attitude, in this calling you cannot fail.

Live your dream, make it reality.

Bless you

Kriss