Anne Loehr- The Spirit of Adventure & Create a Culture of Purpose in Your Organization
I call one of my values “wind in my face” because I value the spirit of adventure– the feeling I get when sitting on top of a safari vehicle with wind blowing in my face. Climbing Kilimanjaro aligns with my values and makes me feel engaged and excited. If your employees feel their job aligns with their values, they will feel engaged and excited too. How do you make that happen?
Do you want to be a future-focused leader? Are you looking for ways to increase employee engagement and improve organizational culture? Then focus on using purpose. Purpose-driven, future-focused leaders create a culture of purpose-driven work and employee engagement.
In this talk, you’ll learn
-how to define purpose,
-what is needed to create a purpose-driven DNA and
-how your own leadership values will add depth to work.
As a Generational Guru, Author & Transformational Leader, Anne thrives at the intersection of leadership, relationships, and connections. Her books, online learning programs, keynotes, and workshops seamlessly blend insights and experiences from Leadership Development and Management Development as she teaches clients how to leverage diversity in the workplace.
I was shocked when my daughter said yes to climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.
Why was I shocked? Because we are a beach family. Our family vacations include surfing, snorkeling, and shelling. We had never done a mountain trip and she wanted her first one to be the tallest mountain in Africa (19,341 feet above sea level) and the tallest freestanding mountain in the world? All righty…let’s make it happen!
First step: email the Tanzanian climbing company and check availability. Our daughter was confounded. “Why can’t we just check availability online?” she asked incredulously. She truly did not comprehend why we had to wait for an answer. The good news is—we got a spot for a 6-day climb, starting December 16. Our trip was official! Time to prepare.
Preparing to Hike a 19,341-Foot Mountain: Gear Piles and StairMasters
The pre-trip organization was wild, fun and bonding. Every weekend we visited REI, trying on gear, returning gear (love the REI refund policy!) and planning for the big adventure. Our “gear room” grew and grew with hats, gloves, socks, long underwear, coats, backpacks, water bottles, boots, more long underwear, fleeces, more socks, neck gaiters and more, cobbled together from family and friends.
We also did one small hike each weekend, and one trip per week to use the gym’s StairMaster. It felt great to be on the go, getting fit together with our daughter.
Throughout her career, Anne has lived and learned at the crossroads. She graduated from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Management and moved to Kenya where she owned and managed eco-friendly hotels and safari companies for more than 15 years. East Africa shaped her worldview, challenged her fortitude, and taught her firsthand the power of authentic leadership.
Anne left the USA to turn around a Kenyan hotel, but she also became fluent in crisis management, facing down lions, tsunamis, rivers that carried away camp generators, and plenty of interpersonal and community conflict. Five hundred employees from different tribes did not just come together and succeed by themselves—Anne’s leadership transformed their lives and work, just as earning their respect and trust transformed her. At the time she couldn’t find top-quality leadership, coaching, and team effectiveness facilitators for her employees, so she educated herself and put her knowledge to good use.
When she sold her companies and returned to the USA, she brought along her passion for leadership development and executive coaching that helps leaders communicate effectively and deepen their working relationships. Authentic relationships are shaped by courage and respect, and Anne’s work continues to show that transformational leadership can lead to increased employee retention, higher sales, and a healthy bottom line.
Today’s workplace cries out for new approaches to leadership—change continues at a lightning pace and technology keeps the pedal to the metal.
Leaders and managers now contend with 4 generations in the workplace, not to mention a potluck of other cultural differences. Anne was named the “Generational Guru” by The Washington Post, thanks to her unique insights on leveraging the best in each generation and giving her clients an edge in their business.
Anne’s work has been mentioned and/or featured in Newsweek International, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, The New York Times, National Geographic Traveler, Elle (Canada), Outside Magazine, CNN Money, The Sunday Times (UK), The Guardian (UK) and other international publications. She writes leadership articles for Fast Company, Huffington Post and Washington Business Journal.
Anne’s website is http://www.anneloehr.com/