Mastering the Art of Success(^)
WRIGHT
So what’s important to you as an Executive Coach and Management
Consultant as you work with people?
FOSTER
I believe that it’s one of courage, integrity, professionalism, and
service, and for me it’s about being 1 00 percent in service to those I’m
working with, which involves being 100 percent present. I believe it’s
an art that takes great practice. In that space of what I call presence, I
create safety and a high level of trust. Of course, everything that is said
in my world is c onfidential, and it’s important for the people I work
with to understand that. We work together in a very sacred space.
To help readers understand what I mean, I’d just like to share a
personal experience I had while I was taking a personal development
course a few years ago. I ’m n ot a swimmer and we had to go on a white
water rafting adventure as a team. Team members had not met
before—none of us knew each other. We set off and after about fifteen
minut es the raft expedition leader guided us to the shore. We
disembarked and hiked up to the top of a small cliff, about fifteen feet
above the water. It was the Kananaskis River, in Alberta, Canada, which
readers may know is popular with rafters and kayakers. I thought that
we were there for the view, but actually we were there to jump of!
Yikes! How am I going to do this? There were some people who knew
I di dn’t swim, but we had to do this f or the team because we were
collecting points, it was a competition. For those of you who are
wondering, yes we all had lifejackets.
Anyway, one person came up to me and said, “I’m a lifeguard and a
strong swimmer, if y ou are comfortab le, I will hold your hand and we’ll
do this together. Just remember, as you hit the water, take a breath,
you’ll go under and just breathe as you come up.” So I held his hand and
we jumped, everything was fine, and I got to shore. I thought, “Great! I
did it !’ Then the leader said, “Now we go up here.” I thought, “Good
grief!” The cliff was even higher, maybe by another eight or ten feet. I
stood back and let my team say I couldn’t do it. Another person said, “I
know you want to do it. Don’t take yourself out of the game.” Someone
el se said, “I’ll hold your hand and jump with you.” (This was a different