Author Archives

Chery Gegelman

President, Giana Consulting

Chery Gegelman is an adventurer that loves to learn. ...Deep conversations, books, travel, and daily living are all food for growth.

As a speaker, facilitator and workshop leader she creates energizing environments that reflect God's grace, tear down walls, help people to consider new perspectives, and inspire change.

Chery is the Founder of Giana Consulting and Conversation Safari's, listed as a Great Leadership Speaker by Inc., writes a recognized leadership blog and has co-authored two leadership books.

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Rapt AWE! The spark that ingites the fire and engages others

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October was a tough month.

Rapt Awe
  • I came down with a bad cold/flu and was sick for two weeks.  During which time I spent way too much time watching news about the brokenness of the government in the country I love and call home.
  • I also spent too much time thinking about the fact that I’ve been in this new land six months and wondering “now what?”
  • (Note to self and to the world – it is never a good idea to do a lot of reflection when you are sick, tired, and run-down!)

As soon as I felt well enough to get out of the house I said yes to everyone I had been saying no to while I was sick.  And although I was thrilled to see them, I tried to do too much too soon.

iStock_000019482062XSmallThe good news is that October ended better than it started.

  • A book that we read for book club fueled deep reflection, a passionate debate and further dialog.
  • As soon as the posts on fear went live on Monday I felt lighter.
  • I spent this week doing a variety of things that challenged and fueled my heart, my soul, and my mind.

And I came home today feeling so thankful.  As always, I turned on the music that would reflect my heart and speak to me.  And then sat down to write.  As I looked through interviews I’ve done and thoughts I’ve been noting, I stumbled across this quote from Einstein.

He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.

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7 Reasons to “FEAR NOT!”

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Today I shared a new post titled 5 Truths To Help You Do “It” Even If You Are Afraid on The Lead Change Group Blog.  While many of you are familiar with our expat story I have never shared the level of fear I felt when we were asked to make this move.

7 Reasons to Fear Not!

I wrote the story several weeks ago deeply believing that we all battle fear.  And knowing that as long as we are webbed in place we can’t contribute our greatest gifts to each other, to our workplaces, to our communities, or to our world.

Since writing it I have run into more hurdles getting this article published than any other post I’ve ever written.  Which makes me even more convinced that needs to be shared.

If you or someone you know is in the midst of a battle with fear I encourage you to read that article and to savor the quotes below. (Some of the quotes in this post are linked to previous articles about fear.)

1.  Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world. Ralph Waldo Emerson

2.  The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. H. P. Lovecraft

3.  Facing your fears robs them of their power. Mark Burnet

4.  Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.  Bertrand Russell

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Have you ever been Pickled by a Half-Truth?

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My mother is a great storyteller.  As I was growing up, there was one story in particular that I loved to hear her tell, especially if she told it to someone who had never heard it before ~ because before the story ended the people listening would usually be doubled over in laughter with tears running down their faces.  (With her permission I am sharing that story with you…)

When I was two and my sister was a baby, my dad was just out of the military, and my parents were re-inventing our lives in their home state. Dad had a new job and mom wanted to start a garden and can vegetables to contribute to the family.

It was during a time when stores were selling more convenience foods, and gardening and canning were not popular, so it was difficult to find the supplies needed to can. So my great aunt offered to give several old canning jars to my mother if she would be willing to dispose of the old pickles in the jars.

My mother was thrilled and agreed.

When she got the jars home she wondered what to do with the old pickles.

  • No garbage disposal.
  • No plastic garbage bags.
  • Perhaps she should flush them?  (After all they were about the same size as other items that are typically flushed…)

So she did…

Open a jar.  Dump.  Flush.

That seemed to work

Open another jar.  Dump.  Flush.

And another.  Dump.  Flush.

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For Bosses on Boss’s Day: Have You Done Eough?

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October 16th is Boss’s Day.

When I think of Boss’s Day I think of the bosses I’ve had, the bosses I’ve seen and the boss I’ve been. I think of the skills I admired and echoed.  I think of the skills I could see that were buried under layers of self-discipline issues and integrity challenges.  I think of the good, the bad and the ugly:

  • The boss that was in his late 40’s, that would have temper tantrums like a two-year old when things did not go well.  (Stomping feet, throwing things, and completely consumed with blaming someone instead of problem solving.)
  • The boss that was kind, fun, supportive, and late for everything!
  • A different boss that realized in a training that her constant tardiness felt like a slap in the face to many of her employees and they were questioning her integrity.   (Her discovery was profound and behavior-altering!)
  • The boss that listened first to understand, then evaluated if the team had the tools,training and support to do their job before determining how to handle poor performance.  (Building trust and a strong organization!)
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2 Ways to Create Uncommon Customer Service

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Deliver customer service

This week is customer service week!  In honor of the big week I introduced a 3-part mini-series of blog posts:

  • The first focused on the external customer and asked the question, “Can great customer service be taught…  To anyone?”
  • The second focused on the internal customer and emphasized how organizational growth is limited or unleashed when employees interact with each other.

Today’s post is about two thoughts that spark my creative fire.  Two separate thoughts from different sources that consistently make my cells jump up and down, Thoughts that make me dream of building uncommon solutions with others that are bigger and better than I could ever imagine on my own…