Kinkou, LLC

We thought it would be a good idea for everyone to get better acquainted with our Founder, Jason Leuenberger, PCC 😊 Here are some fast facts! 🌎 Where are you from? - I’m from Cleveland, Ohio - born and raised there. I moved to Seattle in 2011 🙂 🏀 Who’s your favorite athlete of all time, and why? - LeBron James. I really admire his study of the game and how he knows his teammates so well because he studies them too. I also think it’s great how much he invests in taking care of himself. 🤔 If you could rewind 10 years, what is one thing you would tell yourself? - Reflect more on what I contribute to an experience versus someone else’s effect on me. Leadership is a never-ending inside job. 📖 What’s your favorite book? - The Art of Possibility by Benjamin Zander & Rosamund Zander. I re-read it every year. Learning how to reframe something in your mind as “invented" and focusing on possibility has been so good for me in all areas of my life. 💡 What do you love most about coaching? - I love the people I get to work with who are interested in something better for themselves, and having the privilege to be part of it. Every day, I learn something new, which is pretty cool! Jason is always up for book suggestions! If you have any, feel free to drop them below 😁 #MeetTheTeam #kinkou #TheArtOfPossibilty #fastfacts #leadership

Interrogate yourself. After an interaction doesn't go how we wanted, we might wonder, "Why don't THEY understand?" or "What's going on with THEM?" Those aren't bad questions. But could the inverse of those questions be more easily answered? "What am I not understanding?" "What's going on with ME?" We can't always know the "why" or "what" with another person, but we can control what we bring to a situation. There’s a great article where Sanyin Siang talks about this. It’s linked in the comments! #reflection #selfawareness #askquestions #toughconversations #leadership

Sometimes, developing trust within our teams starts with us feeling what they’re feeling. Brené Brown #empathy #vulnerability #sympathy #leadership

Burnout doesn't come from being overworked. At least, that's what Robert Kegan, a Harvard professor of Developmental Psychology, says. He says that burnout comes from being in one's comfort zone for too long—reaching a plateau and staying there. How does that land with your definition of burnout? Kegan mentions that organizations often take the "Strength-Based Approach," playing to and leveraging a person's strengths and hiring around their weaknesses. However, this can imply that a person has reached their maximum growth point, leading to boredom and, eventually, employee turnover. One takeaway: create a work environment that challenges and puts team members in the "stretch zone," perhaps by noticing what they're good at and suggesting they try to put a different spin on it. But be cautious not to push them so hard that they end up in the "snap zone," feeling that everything will come crashing down if they're not perfect. There's a 10-minute video of Robert Kegan from Minds at Work talking more about "the right to grow" in the workplace. It's linked in the comments 👍🏽 #growth #burnout #leadership #coaching #organizationalpsychology

What’s something that you’ve changed your mind about? In the past week, the past month, the past year?… It takes humility to let go of a belief or a thought that no longer feels right, and it takes even more humility to admit it. What are the consequences of owning up to a shift in our thinking? A bit of embarrassment? Maybe. But it’s also liberating. When we, first and most importantly, admit to ourselves that we are no longer attached to an idea (perhaps one that had a significant impact on our lives), we give ourselves the space to grow. Then, we open up space to learn from others and vice versa. Seth Godin got us thinking about this in one of his blog posts. It’s linked in the comments. #leadership #humility #letgo #coaching #resilence

Which is better: being present or being absent? Naturally, we're inclined to answer that being present is better. When you're present, you're all in. You work hard. You get more done. None of those things are negative within themselves, but when they become extreme, they can have the opposite effect of what we would like. This extreme form of being present can be called "presenteeism." It can cause people to overwork themselves and even sacrifice their health. A few things could contribute to this problem: 1. Lack of job security 2. A large workload but little support 3. Performance-based self-esteem How can leaders show that they don't solely care about their team members being present, but they care about their well-being, too? Here are a few ways: 1. Respect their boundaries. — If a situation isn’t dire, don’t email them off hours, unless you’ve let your team know that’s how you work. If your boundaries are always flexible, try not to assume that everyone else’s should be too. 2. Encourage recovery. — Try to notice if a team member is putting in a ton of hours. Sure, there are times when we all work a little more with something critical in the queue, but that’s usually an exception. “Do not do more today than you can completely recover from today. Do not do more this week than you can completely recover from this week.”- Greg McKeown, Effortless 3. Create space to prioritize their health.— If you’re sick, focus on your recovery; show the team by your example and encourage them to do the same. Also, promote mental health - debrief with them after stressful events or conversations, and encourage the team to take a few minutes to center themselves before a heavy meeting or presentation. What else can prevent presenteeism on teams? #nesslabs #burnout #overworked #remotework #health #leadership #coaching

Which would you be happier with: the Silver or the Bronze Medal? A timely question since it’s Olympic season. The most obvious answer is the Silver Medal. Second place is better than third, right? The Silver Medal is closer to Gold than the Bronze. Research shows that the opposite is the case. The Silver medalist is more likely to be upset because they almost got the Gold, while the Bronze medalist is more likely to be happy because they got a medal, period. They were grateful to be where they were instead of mad about where they weren’t. As leaders, we can do the same thing. Sometimes, we are more focused on how far we have to go versus how far we’ve come. A positive reframe might look like… - I’m still stressed about work, but I’ve become better about not answering emails on the weekend. Winning. - That conversation didn’t go as well as I wanted, but it’s one that I would have avoided a year ago. Winning. - I got some negative feedback this week, but I’ve learned a lot from what I received. Winning. Sometimes, we’re winning more than we realize. Reflecting on those wins helps us to keep growing and be fulfilled in the meantime. Ozan Varol has a blog post about this. I’ll link it in the comments. #win #olympics #grateful #bepresent #liveinthemoment #noregrets

“I never get bored with the basics.” -Kobe Bryant. Kobe knew that if he wasn’t the best at the basics—the building blocks of any skill—then he would have no foundation. Consistently practicing the basics is how he became one of the best players to ever step on the court. What are the basics of good leadership? -Humility -Listening -Self-Awareness …to name a few. Sometimes, we want so badly to get to the “good stuff”—the productivity, innovation, and team effectiveness—that we skip the hard stuff (the basics) and find ourselves struggling to get where we want to go. The before may look rough, but when you put in the reps, you’ll be proud of the after. What do those basics look like? Where do you start? Grab a free call with me, and we can explore that together. The link is in the comments 👍 There’s a short video of Alan Stein Jr. telling more about what he learned from Kobe. That's linked in the comments too 🙂 #kobebryant #leadership #smallsteps #selfawarness #listening #humility

Are you hitting the five points of contact? 1. This is who I am. 2. This is why I'm, or we are here. 3. Is everyone ready? 4. What comes next? 5. Goodbye. In a podcast episode of the Long and Short of It, Jen Waldman shares her ideas about these being the five points of contact for every social interaction where information is exchanged. Knowing these points of contact can lay the groundwork to walk away from a conversation feeling that something has been or will be accomplished. This could be especially helpful in team meetings, and could look like… 1. You can probably skip the introduction if you're not new or speaking with a team other than your own. OR, you could add a check-in question to help your team understand more about who you are. 🙂 2. Make it clear what you're meeting together to accomplish. For example, "We're here to decide what to do with X issue on the new project." 3. You want to make sure everyone is present and ready to get involved in the purpose of the meeting. You could explicitly ask, "Is everyone ready?" Or maybe just take a few seconds to do a silent visual survey of the group. Silence can grab everyone's attention and help focus everyone. 4. We want to make the next steps clear. This could mean making sure everyone knows the next steps in the process and how they fit into that plan. 5. Before the goodbye, you can go into the meeting with an idea of how you want your team members to feel during the process (the meeting and the project). Then, you can bring the best you, and hopefully, they will walk away from the experience with a positive view. Could your team meetings be better by trying a few of these ideas? If you want to listen to this insightful conversation between Jen and her co-host, Pete Shepherd, it's linked in the comments. We ❤️ The Long and The Short Of It.

“Anyone who even wants to be great has [imposter syndrome.]” -Viola Davis. “Imposter syndrome,” or what we prefer to call “imposter thinking,” is a term we’ve heard often. It’s a mindset that makes us believe that no matter how successful we become, people will discover that we’re actually a fraud. We often hear about it as something to overcome, but in a “60 Minutes” interview, Viola Davis says that she recognizes this thinking in all the artists she’s worked with. Keep in mind that she’s worked with actors like Meryl Streep, Denzel Washington, and Cicely Tyson—people we would never associate the word “imposter” with. They are people we consider to be the greatest at their craft. Her point was that self-doubt, kept in its proper place, “keeps you humble, and it keeps you working.” We think it keeps you learning too. If you want to watch the interview and other parts of the segment, it’s linked in the comments 😁 #humility #imposterthinking #success #leadership #selfdoubt