Lessons from Life, Leadership, and Loss with Kip Hollister| February 19, 2025

An opportunity to free up our potential

When was the last time you walked into a room full of people you barely know (or even total strangers) and shared your most intimate fears and dreams? That’s what happens when you attend one of Kip Hollister’s leadership events and she asks each of the attendees to identify the inner voices that hold us back from reaching our full potential. I was fortunate to be in one of these gatherings last night at the Hollister Group’s State Street Offices. The event was a primer for one of several of Hollister’s Culture’s divisions intensive leadership workshops – Unlocking the Mind.

How it works
In this two-hour session, Kip shares her own stories going back to the all too familiar parental influences that we all share. Each story is followed by an opportunity for each of us to turn to the person/s sitting next to us to open up a conversation. Kip wants us to separate fact from fiction – fiction being all the falsehoods we accumulate based on life’s biggest inhibitors – fear of failing, judgement, age, self-doubt, imposter syndrome, lack of self-worth, to name a few.

Going into the basement

One of the many wonderful analogies used in the session was a trip down to our “basement.” Most of us are afraid to go down there for fear of what we might find. Though often true of our actual homesteads, it’s even more important in the basement, or subconscious of our mind. Things are buried so deep we tend to forget about them until triggered. But if we don’t start there, we cannot ultimately change our story.

Stripped of false beliefs, difficult stories, and too much judgement we can finally start to bridge the gap between beliefs and desires for positive outcomes. But this is an iterative process as life continuously presents us with events that challenge our beliefs about ourselves. The framework that is used in this workshop is a combination of many years of real-world experiences as a CEO and intense, intentional training with some of the greatest thought leaders in the leadership space. By sharing some of her most challenging and vulnerable personal stories, Kip demonstrates how one can choose to brighten the light around us versus getting lost in the dark.

Key takeaways

• Separating who we are from what we “do” is a key starting point for achieving self-awareness.
• Don’t let circumstances and conditions define who we are and lock us in
• Loss of one thing can create space for something bright if we allow it
• Take time to identify what we need to “shift” to ignite our psyche and connect with our desires
• Ask the question – who believes in you more than you believe in yourself? And likewise – in whom do you believe in more than they believe in themselves?  (when you find out – be sure to let them know)

To get a taste of this workshop firsthand, you can participate in an upcoming two-hour session on March 19th or be in touch with Hollister for the next scheduled workshops and off-sites.  To obtain an invitation for upcoming events, please contact Michelle Hanna -mhanna@hollistergroup.com.