Merlin was advisor
to King Arthur and is generally known as a wizard. We call our blog “The Merlin Dialogues” because we have
positioned ourselves as advisors to senior executives, the Kings and Queens of
our day. Some of our advisors questioned aligning ourselves with
wizardry and magic. We kept the
name, though – and for an important reason.
Magic, from our
perspective, is the result of knowing how things work at deep levels as well as
being able to integrate complexity to achieve results. From what other people experience as
chaos, leaders can create high-level synergy. If you don’t know how to do this, it looks like magic. In the 6th century, when
King Arthur was said to reign, most of how we live our everyday lives would
have been considered magic:
electricity, cars, computers, cell phones, the list is endless.
The two of us come
from different professional backgrounds and bring complementary strengths and
perspectives to our work together.
Our blog is a series of dialogues as we explore topics that support
building the capacity to thrive in the midst of complexity and creating the
synergy that you need to succeed.
These topics include the tools and building blocks for “wizards” who we
need as the leaders of today’s organizations.
I’m Kelly. I’ve spent over twenty years in
executive roles in large organizations such as Hewlett-Packard, Nationwide
Insurance and Kaiser-Permanente, mostly in information technology, often as
CIO. I’ve taken my teams through
all kinds of change, and along the way have learned that long-term success only
comes from creating a strong, people-centered, performance-oriented leadership
culture. I bring a hands-on perspective,
rather than a theoretical one, and have dealt with a wide variety of
challenging business environments, from global growth and expansion to mergers
and acquisitions, outsourcing, and downsizing.
I have been
successful by working the human systems of organizations through leadership
development, team formation and a relentless focus on execution. I have coached and mentored hundreds of
managers and executives into savvy leaders, able to navigate their company’s
political waters and bring their teams to success.
And I’m
Belinda. My background as a
psychologist has given me a broad perspective on leadership development. While models and assessments are great
as data points, the key is building practices based on how you, as a leader,
are uniquely motivated. I’m
interested in coaching leaders by artfully combining research with
down-to-earth experience, mixed with the wisdom of the Enneagram system and
what we know about how leaders actually develop.
I am an Enneatype
Three, so I am motivated by success, my own and my clients’. I have learned that success means that
you love what you do, that you operate in an environment that helps you thrive,
and that you are rewarded for your work in the ways that matter to you. Kelly is an Enneatype Five, motivated
by learning and by organizing data and information in unique ways to build
innovative approaches to leadership challenges.
Kelly and I are a
good team: we both turned 60 in
January, we approach situations quite differently (as you will see) and we
really enjoy our conversations.
Kelly lives near San Francisco and I live outside Columbus, Ohio. We both love to cook and to drive with
the top down whenever we can!
Join us for our Merlin Dialogues!
sign me up
Posted by: Barbara Ellen Ries | 07/30/2009 at 06:04 PM
Please publish something on interverted 8s.
Posted by: Barbara Ellen Ries | 07/30/2009 at 06:05 PM
Hello Belinda, Great to see you got your blog up and running. It looks like you & Kelly are a synergistic complimentary match which will be great in getting different perspectives & learnings from each. Great idea to utilize the concept of Merlin & magic even though your advisors questioned this approach. This will most definitely attract those who see beyond sterotypical views and are able to appreicate going at a deeper level. Looking forward to your posts.
Posted by: Alice Schewene | 07/30/2009 at 10:57 PM
Excellent post... Keep up the good work!
Posted by: Acai Berry | 01/22/2010 at 11:17 PM