Former COO of ConvertKit, Barrett Brooks, reflects on his deep connection with nature and the complexities of executive coaching. He shares his experience leaving a company and emphasizes the importance of navigating departures and processing grief. Barrett discusses the interplay between grief and joy, his future plans of writing a memoir and starting a podcast, and the significance of personal growth and clear professional agreements.
Acknowledging and integrating past pain is essential for personal growth and success.
Rituals play a crucial role in the grief processing journey.
Embracing the full range of human emotions, including sadness and grief, leads to greater self-awareness and well-being.
Deep dives
Importance of Acknowledging and Integrating Past Pain
Acknowledging and integrating past pain is essential for personal growth and success. It allows individuals to move beyond old patterns and traumas, and develop a healthier relationship with themselves and others. This process requires a willingness to grieve and process emotions, such as sadness, anger, and fear. By embracing and exploring these emotions, individuals can expand their emotional bandwidth and access a wider range of experiences, including joy. The cost of joy is grief, as both emotions are interconnected and integral to a fulfilling and meaningful life.
The Role of Rituals in Grief Processing
Rituals play a crucial role in the grief processing journey. They provide closure and allow individuals to honor and symbolically let go of what has been lost. Rituals can take various forms, such as euthanasia for a beloved pet, cremation, or placing a statue in a meaningful location. By engaging in rituals, individuals create space to express their emotions, cry, and process their grief in a tangible and meaningful way. These rituals offer a sense of completion and contribute to the healing process.
Transforming Masculine Repression into Emotional Awareness
The podcast episode highlights the transformation of masculine repression to emotional awareness as a crucial step towards personal growth. It emphasizes the importance of breaking free from societal expectations and embracing the full range of human emotions. By learning to acknowledge and express emotions like sadness and grief, individuals can deepen their capacity for joy and connection. The episode encourages individuals, especially men, to learn how to cry and create space for emotional processing, ultimately leading to greater self-awareness and well-being.
Building a Business that Allows for Creative Work
The speaker discusses the importance of building a business that provides enough income and client base to make room for creative work. They emphasize the value of the executive coaching model, which allows for a balance between client work and pursuing creative endeavors. By creating space for creative work, the speaker is able to identify as a writer and a creative person, using their coaching skills as a valuable business model.
The Power of Writing and Memoirs in Personal Growth
The speaker explores the power of writing and reading memoirs as a tool for personal growth and healing. They describe how writing about their own experiences and emotions has helped them process grief and gain clarity on their own patterns. The speaker believes that memoirs, unlike self-help books, allow readers to make their own meaning and find connections to their own lives. They share their intention to write a memoir to give their children permission to explore their own pain and share their story in a way that promotes healing and wholeness for themselves and others.
Barrett Brooks, former COO of ConvertKit and now an executive coach, shared his deep connection with nature and the significance of confronting past pain. He reflected on the complexities and rewards of executive coaching, the balance between coaching and personal creative work, and the necessity of personal growth and clear professional agreements.
Barrett discussed his own experience of leaving a company, highlighting the lessons learned about boundaries, contracts, and the challenges posed by conflicting desires for company growth. He stressed the importance of navigating company departures, processing grief, and understanding the interplay between grief and joy.
Additionally, he talked about his future plans, including writing a memoir and starting a podcast.
(06:17) - The brokenness of the natural world and organizations
(12:22) - Finding inner and outer alignment
(16:05) - Patterns from childhood and their influence
(26:14) - Transitioning to coaching
(29:50) - Coaching's influence on writing
(33:13) - How would you coach yourself?
(35:53) - Navigating joining and leaving ConvertKit
(46:24) - The cost of joy is grief
(59:34) - Power of memoirs
(01:07:13) - A beautiful future
Takeaways
Nature can have a profound impact on our well-being and should be protected.
Acknowledging and integrating past pain is essential for personal growth and success.
Coaching can be a valuable tool for individuals to navigate their personal and professional challenges.
Creating space for personal growth and creative pursuits is crucial for maintaining balance and fulfillment. Having clear boundaries and a contract is essential when entering into agreements.
Incompatible desires for company growth can lead to conflict and ultimately the decision to part ways.
Navigating the complexity of leaving a company requires open communication and a willingness to process emotions.
Grief and joy are interconnected, and allowing oneself to fully experience grief can lead to a deeper appreciation of joy.
Writing and ritual can be powerful tools for processing grief and creating closure.
Storytelling and making meaning are important for personal growth and understanding.
Creating a beautiful future involves healing and integrating past pain.
Writing a memoir and starting a podcast can be powerful ways to share personal experiences and inspire others.
