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MIKAELA SELIGMAN
Principal, The OCL Group
"How can I remain unmoving until the right action
arises by itself?" Lao Tsu
Many leaders associate "unmoving" with getting nowhere but left behind. As the pace of our world accelerates around us and the solutions to our increasingly tough problems seem even more elusive, we we confuse activity with effective movement and find -- to our disappointment -- that being busy doesn't get us the results we seek. As a teacher, a certified leadership coach and an organizational consultant, I help leaders to begin from a place of deeper awareness -- this place of "unmoving" -- and then to step thoughtfully into the competencies and practices they need to deal with an uncertain future.
I began my career hoping to change the world from the inside of an urban elementary classroom. I soon learned that it is not mine to save. I learned that effective leadership had little to do with my position
in front of the room, and rather discovered that my expertise was best
coupled with my capacity to listen. Moving from this realization, I invited
students to develop their own projects and solutions, offering guidance
and helping them clarify their ideas. This approach made all the difference
for our shared success.
Today my "classrooms" look very different than the fluorescent-lit, desk-rowed Room 308 where I began. I teach Leadership in George Mason University's executive program on Organizational Development and Knowledge Management and serve a client base that includes international and domestic NGOs, foundations and the public sector. I served as Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer for the largest coordinator of volunteer services in the Greater Washington region and taught in a nonprofit certificate program there. I also served as the Washington, DC mayor's Senior Advisor for Education and founded an innovative elementary school in the urban community where I taught. New classrooms. Familiar challenges.
I am a relentless learner. I completed my Master in Public Administration at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where I was awarded the first Barbara Jordan award for demonstrated leadership and academic achievement. I am certified as a Leadership Coach by Georgetown University, and I am a trained Future Search facilitator. I continue to train extensively in a variety of leadership, facilitation and coaching approaches and techniques, incorporating both Eastern and Western traditions and beliefs.
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