ON A MORE PERSONAL NOTE..Despite life’s challenges, sometimes we just need to trust and take a leap of faith. One of my early challenges was being born with a congenital hearing impairment. Throughout my childhood and early adult years it was difficult to understand speech during day-to-day conversations and impossible in some environments. My hearing loss was not progressive, however, the cause was not properly diagnosed until my mid-twenties.
“Take a leap of faith…”
Santa Fe, “thirty-something…”
During my early years, I learned to cope by developing other means of listening and understanding. These means manifested as heightened senses of observation, listening, intuition, recognition of subtle facial gestures, voice intonation, body language, etc. Thanks to advancements in technology, including digital hearing technology, I was able to begin hearing and living a normal life.
The interesting thing is that I retained all of my heightened senses. These senses provide a deeper level of listening, observing and understanding in my work today with leaders, teams and organizations. In my early years, I avoided acknowledging my hearing loss and felt a lot of embarrassment, shame and a sense of being flawed in some way. Today, I embrace it with gratitude and as a unique gift.
Shortly before leaving Johnson & Johnson, I had the good fortune of having a conversation with Debra Benton who is a NY Times best-selling author and one of world’s top executive coaches. Toward the end of our conversation, she said to me, “Larry, what is obvious to you is a complete revelation to others.” Her affirmation was a life-changing experience and major turning point in my career and it continues to inspire me today.
Someone once said, “The first sale is to yourself”. I was sold and, in 2000, made the leap to launch Human Performance Strategies (HPS).
– Larry Fehd, Austin, Texas