Let us tell you a story about the power of place.
Shortly after I moved to Nantucket to set up an executive search firm on the island, a university vice president called to tell us he didn’t believe that we could do the quality work we had done for him before, when I lived in NYC. He thought we would be too distracted. I responded, “Did you ever imagine that perhaps we could do it better?” And he waited a moment and then quietly replied, “I think you are right. Actually, I am just jealous because I wish I could be there too.” I cannot count the times that during the first moments of an exploratory session with a prospective client, when asked where is Archer-Martin Associates located, I always reply, “On Nantucket Island—somebody has got to do it!” Immediately, there is an unheard sigh of “coming home” from my client. Almost everyone knows about Nantucket and dreams of visiting one day. The conversation begins to flow and connections are quickly made, many deep and lasting for years.
Here is another story. Whenever one of my special clients gets to a point where she has to say to me, “What do I say? How do I explain that?” I look her in the eye and say, “Just tell the truth.” And she responds every time and says, “Of course. That is the answer.” Now, a year into our coaching relationship, she doesn’t have to ask that question all the time—just once in a while.
I believe the power of place for us at A-MA is mirrored in our ability to have a true sense of authenticity and enables us to coach clients to find their own sense of authenticity. I think this place, Nantucket, offers us a way to coach people with kindness and to find that kindness within themselves. Because we live on an island in the middle of the ocean there is an unspoken reality that we must care for each other and look out for each other, no matter our political viewpoints, our religious beliefs, the color of our skin, sexuality, the languages we speak, or our social and financial circumstances.
The power of this place is also grounded, at its core in giving people happiness. Our primary guiding principle is to live and lead following The Theory of Appreciative Inquiry, which means is to focus and build on your successes and enable those around you to do the same. It is much easier to build a life and a career focusing on success. It is much harder to do that if you focus on doom and gloom.
When I landed on Nantucket and realized I had found my place, creating my firm here was never a question. I was inspired and supported by this place and community to be my best self and to serve others in ways I could not have accomplished living elsewhere. To me, my real success is when I help others achieve their success.
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