Searching For Praxis - part #1

Always Return to The Strategic Nexus

Recently, I was reflecting on why an organization could not execute their strategic plans very well when I realized that the senior team was discombobulated. This is not a common consulting term, but it was the best one I could think of because all the leaders on the team were confused and unsure about what to do, and how to proceed given current events. From my perspective, they had loss touch with the core of their organization, i.e their strategic nexus, and they also were not using it to figure out how to move forward. 

In review, a strategic nexus is the sum of a company’s core ideology, namely the vision, mission, and core values of the company, and the strategic plan, namely the goals and metrics or KPIs of the company. The former is to preserve what should not change over time, and the later is designed to create progress, i.e. forward momentum. But, the problem with this company was that the senior leadership, and as a result many managers and supervisors below them, did not understand the nexus and how to use it. In simple terms, the company had a core, i.e. a nexus, but people did not know it’s importance or relevance. 

So, in the beginning, all involved needed to recognize that the amount of time and energy needed to create clarity about the nexus within the company was on an order of magnitude greater than the time and energy it took originally to create the nexus. Furthermore, they needed to understand that an effective strategic nexus centers the organization around purpose and progress more than egos or personalities. In short, the nexus needed to become their guidance system. 

Now, creating this level of clarity is based on an understanding about what is vital and essential vs. what is not within a company. A unified and understood strategic nexus is vital, and mission critical to success. Over time, it creates the ability for people to measure progress, to know their job matters, and to feel fulfilled in their work. 

One difficulty for this discombobulated senior team was that they did not unpack and explore the meaning and purpose of key phrases and words within their nexus. As we know, words can create understanding and perspective, but first, people have to understand what they mean. They also have to understand what behaviors go with the words to make them real.

Understand The Difference Between Connection and Knowledge Deficits

Furthermore, when a senior team is not unpacking the meaning and purpose within the nexus, they, and many others, experience connection deficits and knowledge deficits at the same time. Using the world of medicine as an example, a connection deficit is when one can see the symptoms related to an illness, and can describe the problem, but is not able to connect the problem to the knowledge they already have about how to solve the problem. Therefore, there is a connection deficit. A knowledge deficit, on the other hand, happens when an individual or team is missing critical knowledge, i.e. they do not understand how the symptoms and the problem are related, and thus are unable to solve the problem.

As this relates to the strategic nexus, a connection deficit happens when people are not making the connection between core ideology and strategy. Thus, they experience the “tyranny of the OR”, referencing the work of Jim Collins, and try to figure out which is more important. 

On the other hand, a knowledge deficit happens when people don’t know what is core to their company and thus, they do not know what is essential vs. non-essential. Therefore, they are not preserving the core. At the same time, they also do not know the strategy or strategic intent of the company. Thus, they are not making progress or supporting on-going mutations or variations of the strategy to happen given changes within the current operating environment.

Once this discombobulated senior team gained a sound understanding of the purpose of a strategic nexus, and once they understood their own strategic nexus, then they could pursue a praxis to create the desired outcomes they were seeking. 

Find The Path

Praxis, derived from ancient Greek, means “action,” “doing” or “practice.” It refers to the the actual practice one follows to translate an abstract idea or concept into a physical reality. I like to think of a praxis as the path we take in order create the results that we are yearning for over time. 

A big part of finding a praxis is to create a union of clarity and commitment, and a convergence at the point of origin. In mathematics, a point of origin is the starting point on a grid where the x-axis and the y-axis intercept. In shipping and logistics, it is the starting point of a package’s journey to a destination. 

Given my age and experience, I have had the honor and privilege to be present at the point of origin when a new strategic nexus was created. Referencing the musical Hamilton, I was in the room and at the table. I listened to the sharing, and facilitated the discussion as clarity was discovered, and the right wording was generated. 

At that moment when all involved said “That’s it!”, there was an aha moment, but even more so, there was a convergence, namely they were all “on the same page.” They also were committed to making the nexus a viable core. 

But, from my perspective, when this convergence happened, something bigger also happened. We accessed the “hidden wholeness” within the nexus, referencing the writings of the late American Trappist monk, mystic and poet, Thomas Merton. In essence, we discovered the intersection between the strategic nexus and the praxis. In short, we had found a path by which we could translate the abstract into a day-to-day reality. 

To be continued tomorrow. 

© Geery Howe 2026

Geery Howe, M.A. Executive Coach in Leadership, Strategic Planning, and Organizational Change

How Do We Meet Each Other?

Recently, I came across a deeply thought-proving question by Parker Palmer in a book edited by Sam Integrator called Living The Questions: Essays Inspired by the Work and Life of Parker J. Palmer (Jossey-Bass, 2005). As Palmer writes: “How do we meet each other in a way that allows each one of us to meet ourselves?” For me, this is an important question as we move into this new season. 

Currently, we live in a world that places immense pressure on us to be something, or to be like somebody else. We also live and work in spaces that do not welcome our wholeness, and instead expect us to push harder, longer, and faster in order to get more things done. Furthermore, these same expectations do not honor or nurture our souls or our spirit. As a result, we feel pushed, stressed out, and overwhelmed by this constant pressure, and by all the turbulence this pressure creates within us. 

In simple terms, we feel flooded by life, and the continual deluge of people, problems, and paradoxes that present themselves each and every day, if not each and every hour. Therefore, the resulting pressure drains us, and it shuts down our desire to keep moving forward. As a former client said to me one day, “If this is life and leadership, it just sucks.” 

However, Parker Palmer’s question (“How do we meet each other in a way that allows each one of us to meet ourselves?”) calls for us to re-examine this dysfunctional way of living and leading. It reminds us that we do not need to loose our wholeness, truth, and integrity as we move through each and every day. It reminds us that our life matters, and that our life can be one of meaning and purpose in spite of the hustle and bustle that is happening all around us. 

Arthur Brooks in his book, The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose In An Age of Emptiness (Portfolio/Penguin, 2026), writes “What the data show - and what everyone has seen with our own eyes - is what we social scientists call a psychogenic epidemic, a phenomenon that causes tremendous suffering but has no organic cause, meaning the onset is social or psychological, not biological.” This epidemic is based on people feeling the overall loss of meaning, purpose, and significance in their life. As he continues, “What is missing was the one thing that can never be simulated: meaning. Again and again, people said that life was busy but not meaningful. That experiences and relationships felt meaningless. Or that they didn’t know what they were meant to do in work and life.”

Therefore, Brooks proposed the following perspective: “Meaning = Coherence + Purpose + Significance…. The first element of meaning is coherence, or how the events of your life fit together. This is an understanding that things happen in your life for a reason…. The second element of life’s meaning is purpose, which is the existence of goals and direction in your life. This is the belief that you are alive in order to do something…. The third element of meaning is significance. This refers to the inherent value of your life to yourself and, even more important, to others…. It simply means that the world would be worse for someone you love if you didn’t exist.” Each of these three elements are part of our interactions with others, and, at the same time, how we meet ourselves in the process. 

Editor Sam Integrator, in the aforementioned book, explains that from Parker Palmer’s perspective “our outward work in the world is a projection of our inner condition.” I think this is a very important insight and one worth exploring on many different levels. If our focus is on creating an inner and outer life that are in alignment, or congruence as Parker Palmer notes, we must “hold the tension … between what is and what is possible.” 

This happens when we expand Palmer’s perspective that “… learning happens between persons and not simply within the learner.” From my perspective, living and being in relationship with others, and where we meet ourselves in the process, happens when we grasp that learning and living happens between people and not simply within a person. In essence, referencing the work of Collins and Porras in their book, Built to Last, it is the “genius of the AND, not the tyranny of the OR.” In short, it is what is happening between us and within myself that dramatically impacts how we meet each other at work, at home, and in the community where we live. 

Therefore, we need to create a network of people in our lives with whom we trust and with whom we can share. This network helps us stay centered and grounded in midst of what is happening and what might or could happen. This network also gives us time and space to stay in touch and attuned to our individual, and our collective sense of purpose and meaning. 

At the same time that we are building and maintaining this network, we also need to build and maintain a life pattern that allows us to have the time and space to do the inner work related to life’s journey. Here, we create a pattern of living that supports routine reflection, learning, and reading. This important time and space helps us to grow as individuals, to gain new insights, and to become, over time, better people. In essence, this time and space creates, maintains, and expands our inner wholeness and integrity. 

For in the end, it is the combination of our outer networks of trust, and our inner journey of reflection and learning that helps us meet each other in a way that allows us to meet ourselves in the process. Then, we do two things at the same time, namely welcome the souls of all involved, and nurture the community that honors the soul of all involved. 

My challenge to you this fall is to build that network of trust, and to create regular time and space for touching base with, and expanding your wholeness and integrity. The people you love need this and so does the world. Remember: your life matters. 

© Geery Howe 2026

Geery Howe, M.A. Executive Coach in Leadership, Strategic Planning, and Organizational Change

How You Think Impacts Everything

It is strategic planning season, and teams all around the country are deep into the process of planning and preparing for the future. Important meetings are happening at all levels, and people are engaged in sharing, analysis, and the development of timely and effective strategic plans. 

The challenge is that most people are focused on changing systems, structure, and even the culture of the company at the operational level. But few people are stepping back to examine how they think, i.e. the mental models and frameworks they hold, which are, and will continue to impact all that they do. As Justin Howe, the director, consultant, and leadership coach at trailyst.com remind us: “Arguably, everything is downstream of the thinking. The thinking is the place that generates the greatest leverage for change, because it goes values and beliefs deep. Thinking lives beneath the systems, structures, patterns of behavior and ultimately the actions that drive movement.” In short, our thinking directly impacts our ability to consistently deliver operational excellence, and our capacity to strategically innovate. 

However, we rarely pause in the midst of our strategic planning processes to define what new ways of thinking are needed given the future before us, and what old ways of thinking need to be let go. We get so wrapped up in analytical models and projections that we miss this fundamental truth: “Every action begins with a thought,” explains Jack Canfield. So, if we change, expand, or our adapt our thinking to include new perspectives and insights, we fundamentally pave the way for new ideas, strategy, and action. For in the end, it is the mental models and frameworks we hold that are guiding the operational, and strategic decisions we are making each and every day. 

So, this week, and during the coming weeks, sit back, and reflect on this insight. Then, go out and engage with others to explore the old ways of thinking, and some potential new ways of thinking. For in the end, this action will be vitally important as we all move forward through the current complexities in the world around us. 

© Geery Howe 2026

Geery Howe, M.A. Executive Coach in Leadership, Strategic Planning, and Organizational Change

The Unifying Moment

Over the course of my career, I have been present many times when a group of people moved from just being a group to an actual team. This unifying moment is both mystical, and integrative. The mystical element is witnessing the individual and collective transformation that takes place. The integrative element is experiencing the deep and profound shift in awareness and understanding that brings these people together. For when a unifying moment happens, a sense of wholeness emerges out of the previous separate pieces. 

As an executive coach, I am intrigued by two questions about this special moment: What were the pre-conditions for a unifying moment to take place? And what actually happened when a unifying moment was experienced?

First, I believe the pre-conditions involve two important words, namely vulnerability and understanding. In the beginning, some people focus on personal vulnerability and personal understanding. But after many hours of reflection on this subject, I believe the shift happened when all involved moved from the personal level to a shared level of vulnerability and understanding. It starts with an individual choice, but becomes transformational when we collectively choose the path of being open to other perspectives, and other, and different life experiences. In essence, we move from an I am the focus perspective to a we are the focus perspective. 

Second, when the unifying moment actually happened, it was greater than a simple thought process. Instead, it was the emergence of a specific feeling, namely the union of an intra-connection and inter-connection. At that moment, there was a recognition that we are all inter-connected, and that these connections are dynamic and expansive. This is what generates the aha moment and a feeling of awe. 

I believe that one element of this transformation from a group to a team happens when those gathered create and maintain a safe, relational spaces for sharing. In particular, those gathered move from having a safe, transactional space, which focuses on getting more things done faster, to building a safe, relational space, where being connected, authentic, and respectful matters most. This profound, but subtle shift makes a major difference over time, because all involved recognize that there will always be more things to get done, and that the only constant is whether or not the people we are doing all this work with are people we trust. 

From a leadership perspective, this requires an individual to be very conscious of what they are thinking and saying. Self-awareness is the first step toward a mystical and integrative, unifying moment. But the challenge to engage in this level of work requires one to engage in routine and on-going reflection, i.e. creating an intra-connection before engaging in an inter-connection. 

People like this idea in theory, but in actuality, most share in private that they have no idea how to actually do reflection. I think the problem with reflection, the precursor to self-awareness and ultimately group awareness, is that it is the convergence of a variety of choices. First, most people don’t know how to pause in their overly busy lives in order to reflect. Second, even if they do pause, they don’t know what to do in the time and space created in order to actually reflect. 

But, I think the underlying problem is that most people don’t consider reflection, and the resulting self-awareness that comes from it, as a valuable or worthwhile use of their time. Furthermore, they do not see it as a priority worth investing in given the scope and magnitude of the problems before them. Thus, it gets pushed to the back burner, and never actually happens. 

This choice reflects their continual desire to assert control and order into their lives, plus a touch of predictability. The thought of not working to solve the immediate problems before them does not make sense given the pressure they are feeling. Furthermore, they believe that if they did pause and reflect, it would only result in the generation of more problems. From this perspective, time is the problem, and working harder and faster is the solution. 

However, I believe that the choice to reflect and to gain greater self-awareness is a important choice. As the second Law of Thermodynamics reminds us: As activity lessens, order increases. When we choose to pause and step back from the pressing demands of the moment, we create the opportunity to gain perspective, and a more holistic understanding of what is happening around us, and within us. As Kevin Cashman notes, “Pausing for self-awareness is like unlocking the doors to a series of rooms. While reflective pause is the key to unlocking self-awareness, self-awareness in turn opens the doorways to authenticity, character, and purpose.” And all of this helps a leader become a better leader, and all of this helps them engage with others in the journey from being a group to an actual team. 

Once there is an understanding of the role and importance of creating time to pause and reflect, I have noticed that those who do it very well engage in solo reflection, namely time alone to ponder an idea, problem, or emerging situation, but they also engage in reflection through in-depth dialogue and sharing with others like a coach or mentor. From personal and professional experience, this kind of reflection and dialogue has generated some of my most important insights, namely the person or people I am visiting with will share something I was not even thinking of, or aware of. At the exact same time, these people often ask a question that I have never considered exploring. Usually, it is the combination of the two that shifts my perception of what is happening and helps me move from the I am the focus perspective to a we are the focus perspective. 

Right now, we need more groups to become actual teams, and we need our current teams to become betters teams, i.e. high-performance teams. And the one thing, we can all do today to move individually and collectively in that direction is to listen better to our internal dialogue, and to listen better to the external dialogues that happening all around us. As President Calvin Coolidge once said, “No man [or woman] has ever listened himself [or herself] out of a job.” For when we make this choice, we discover that our intra-connections create the foundation for our inter-connections with others. And then, the potential for a mystical and integrative, unifying moment appears, and we discover wholeness where previously there had just been an assortment of separate pieces. 

© Geery Howe 2026

Geery Howe, M.A. Executive Coach in Leadership, Strategic Planning, and Organizational Change

Now Is The Time To Slow Down And Reflect

“Thinking is the place where intelligent actions begin,” writes Margaret Wheatley. “We pause long enough to look more carefully at a situation, to see more of its character, to think about why it’s happening, to notice how it’s affecting us and others.”

As Kevin Cashman reminds us in his book, The Pause Principle: Step Back to Lead Forward (Berrett-Koehler, 2012), “All too often, we allow ourselves to be carried away by our busy-ness. We are too hyperactive, too reactive to even notice the hidden value-creating dynamics waiting just under the surface within us and around us. Tethered to our smartphones, we are too caught up and distracted to take the time necessary to sort through complexity or to locate submerged purpose. In our urgent rush to get ‘there,’ we are going everywhere but being nowhere. Far too busy managing with transitive speed, we rarely step back to lead with transformative significance.” When I pause, think deeply, and reflect on all that is happening in our world, and all that people are sharing with me, some interesting trends surface. 

First, we are witnessing on-going periods of rapid intensification with little to no level of adequate monitoring or preparation for the impact of rapid intensification. This term, rapid intensification, is used to describe how hurricanes develop in a short period of time, e.g. the weather was fine and then it changed quickly overnight, which resulted in the development of a hurricane. Recognizing this pattern, weather scientists monitor for the conditions that will result in rapid intensification, and, if they see it starting to happen, they then make specific recommendations as to safety, etc. before a full blown hurricane happens. 

Given current events taking place in a wide diversity of organizations, and in the broader world, the conditions for rapid intensification are surfacing. Therefore, leaders need to monitor these conditions quite closely. Then, if they do surface, they need to have a plan in place for how to respond in order to handle the arrival of a metaphorical hurricane. 

Second, as I noted last week in this blog, we are witnessing a rising tide of exhausted engagement with people only staying in their jobs for the potential bonus they may receive in the near future. This, in conjunction with a decline in the effectiveness of their personal coping strategies, makes work, which, at one point, was meaningful and interesting, just a daily worthless marathon to be endured. 

This level of exhaustion is compounded by a decline in teams becoming better and stronger at what they do on a daily basis. Instead, many teams are de-evolving into dysfunctional teams, or single leader work groups, who are struggling to keep up with the complex technical problems and adaptive challenges that are taking place operationally each day. And team members know that their team is not doing well. Furthermore, these same team players believe they are all experiencing the Red Queen Principle, namely they are running faster and faster to just stay in the same place.

Third, we are witnessing the impact of a continued decline in effective coaching, especially in the area of creating safe spaces to share, reflect, and think through difficult issues and problems. Most people experience coaching as a time where the leader as coach says “Tell me your problems so I can fix them.” This typically results is a blame and shame form of coaching that feels neither safe or productive. 

On the other hand, experienced leaders, who coach well, focus on helping their direct reports learn new skills and/or gain new insights about how to manage or lead through the difficult problems they encounter. The goal of this way of coaching is to build trust in the relationship, and capacity within the skill set and mind set of the individual they are coaching. But the foundation of exceptional coaching begins with the creation of safe spaces so all involved can share, reflect, and think through difficult issues and problems.

Fourth, we are are witnessing an epidemic of strategic blindness, namely a total lack of understanding that the operational and strategic choices being made today are creating the future, and that the problems today reflect poor choices and solutions made in the past. I think this problem is happening now because more and more people do not have an in-depth understanding of the history of the company, and in particular the past strategic choices that were made. 

Therefore, I think new employee orientation should include a half day or full day workshop, depending on the age of the company, on the history of the company, starting with the founding straight through to present day operations. In particular, I would focus on explaining the choices made within the last three to four strategic plans, and how these past choices created current systems, structure, and culture within the company. Then, all involved will grasp that the choices we are making today will create the future five to seven years from now. Understanding and perspective are mission critical to making wise choices at this time period. 

Given the emergence of these four trends, I am reminded of a line that Shakespeare wrote in his play called Hamlet: “We know what we are, but not what we may be.” Recognizing the short and long term impact and precedence these trends are having and will have, I believe we need to turn to the writings of Margaret Wheatley where she advocates for “seeking coherence at the core,” namely the creation of a strong identity within a person or group based on a shared purpose, especially within the context of a community at work and at home.

On the surface, the idea of coherence at the core seems very abstract. Yet, Martine Haas and Mark Mortensen in their article called “The Secrets of Great Teamwork” (Harvard Business Review, June 2016) do not see this concept as abstract. Using teamwork as a foundation for building a shared identity and purpose, they write: “Today’s teams are different from the teams of the past: They’re far more diverse, dispersed, digital, and dynamic (with frequent changes in membership).” Then, they explain that the foundation for success involves four different elements. First, there needs to be a compelling direction, i.e. “People have to care about achieving a goal.” Second, there needs to be a strong structure, i.e. “Every individual doesn’t have to possess superlative technical and social skills, but the team overall needs a healthy dose of both.” Third, there needs to be a supportive context, i.e. the right resources, information, and training. Finally, there needs to be a shared mindset. They explain this last one in the following manner: “Distance and diversity, as well as digital communication and changing membership, make them [teams] especially prone to the problems of ‘us versus them’ thinking and incomplete information…. The solution to both is developing a shared mindset among team members - something team leaders can do by fostering a common identity and common understanding.” And given current events and challenges, the above four elements related to teamwork are vital to success, especially the fourth element. They also are a strong foundation for how to move forward given the aforementioned trends. 

Right now, we need to stay alert to what is happening in the world around us, both near and far, and then adapt as needed. At the same time, we need to make sure that every response and adaptation we choose strengthens the teams and community within which we live. All of this will require discipline, dedication, and a healthy sense of community at work and at home. For this is where intelligent action begins. 

© Geery Howe 2026

Geery Howe, M.A. Executive Coach in Leadership, Strategic Planning, and Organizational Change

When Dealing With Exhausted Engagement

Recently, when visiting with a wide diversity of team leaders, I am noticing a rising tide of exhausted engagement. Often, this is referred to as engagement fatigue or passion burnout. It occurs when employees are highly engaged, passionate, dedicated, and committed, yet they are experiencing high levels of burnout. It often affects high-performing individuals who are deeply invested in their work, resulting in a dangerous paradox of being highly motivated yet simultaneously psychologically exhausted due to prolonged and excessive demands for participation, and consultation related to complex, and often protracted issues. The outcome of this situation is that these key individuals are likely to leave the organization, because they can not see a sustainable path forward. 

This is all deeply troubling for their colleagues and for people in senior leadership positions. Everyone understands that teamwork and collaboration are vital to mission success. They also know that exhausted engagement can become malignant if not treated at an early stage, causing a cascading exodus of highly qualified and committed team leaders. 

So, what can we all do to deal with exhausted engagement?

I think the initial solution happens at three different levels. First, acknowledge that this is happening, and that it is real. Denial is not a coping strategy, or a long term solution. Second, begin with the end in mind. The desired outcome of this situation is that people and the teams are better able to deal with the current tsunami of prolonged and excessive demands, and can solve the complex, and often protracted issues and problems before them. Third, we want our team leaders to stay engaged, but in a manner that leads to less fatigue or burnout. In essence, we want improved teamwork in the midst of all that is taking place.  

So, in the beginning, we need to recognize that if we want to create stronger teams and improved teamwork, we, first and foremost, must become better team players. Yet, when this becomes clear to us, I am reminded of something that Brené Brown wrote about in her book, Strong Ground: The Lessons Of Daring Leadership, The Tenacity Of Paradox, and The Wisdom Of The Human Spirit (Random House, 2025): “What you’re trying to achieve will require a deep, broad, and disciplined commitment to individual change, team change, and systems change.” If it only took change on one level, I think most people would have moved through their exhausted engagement and into a new stage of leading, living, and working. However, this is rarely the case because this kind of change needs to happen on so many different levels. 

Therefore, recognizing this insight, I believe we need to engage in a discovery process before we move to solving the problem. As Albert Einstein is quoted as having said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.” 

Einstein’s approach to problem-solving is focused on creating an in-depth and holistic understanding of what is taking place at the operational and strategic levels within the company. For when we dedicate time to defining the core technical problems and adaptive challenges that are taking place, then we can recognize that past solutions may be causing current problems at the individual, team, and/or systems levels within the company.  

This week, when we question whether or not we can continue, even when the work is meaningful to us, we need to pause, reflect, and ask new and different questions in order to create solutions that result in a deep, broad, and disciplined commitment to change.

© Geery Howe 2026

Geery Howe, M.A. Executive Coach in Leadership, Strategic Planning, and Organizational Change