Kristen Wheeler's Blog

Years ago, I volunteered at the library to read books to kids — itty-bitty three to five year olds. Every week, when I would walk in with my arms full of children's books — before I could even get settled — the kids would swarm around me, curious about the books for the day. 

One day in the swarm, something happened that had never happened before. 

An older girl tugged at my arm, and said, “Hey! Look at my new shoes!” sticking her shoe out for me...

I don’t know who said it, but it’s kind of a nice phrase, “Bloom where you’re planted.” Or is it?

When left to their own devices, Hosta plants find shade and flourish unless someone tries to plant them in the sun. Fish innately breathe beautifully in water but perish if someone places them on a dock. 

The same thing is true for us humans…when someone or something (any vast array of accumulated conditions) puts us where our wiring doesn’t work,...

Do you let yourself do what you love? In little ways, in your life?

Do you let yourself read a novel, or do you always choose the “good for me" books? Business, finance, health — you know the drill. But what about the delight of curling up with that novel in a sunny spot on your sofa?

Do you let yourself go to a dance class instead of running errands every Saturday morning because “you need to get things done?” But what about the delight of bopping around to music?

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Has anyone ever tried to convince you that you should do something they love? And you hesitate because you’re not remotely interested and therefore doing it sounds hard — like foreign territory. 

But as enthusiastic “convincers,” they keep trying to convince you by saying, “It’s not that hard!” because it comes so easily for them. For example, convincers like this…

My master DIY brother who says, “Just pick up a showerhead at Home...

At one of our in-person team workshops, we were on a break and I ran into a woman coming out of the bathroom. She had tears in her eyes. I paused and said, “Hey, how’s it going for you?” The group had just uncovered their Native Geniuses. Sometimes people are flying high, sometimes they’re befuddled, and most times it’s a bit of both. 

She said, “I’m realizing some things. A few of my Native Geniuses are about being slow and methodical, going...

As the year winds to an end I wanted to say hello again.

One thing I’ve been thinking about this year is the difference between “trying hard” and “working hard.”

Once I heard a parent say about his kid, “She’s not trying hard enough at soccer.” At a party the kid told me, “I’m more of an indoor cat. I wish I could do choir instead of soccer.” It wasn’t that she didn’t want to work hard, it’s that she was...

The first really big client to hire me to teach strengths (the precursor to Native Genius) was Ebay back in 2010. How do you orchestrate something this lucky? I always thought breaks like this came through boring networking and jumping through hoops. But Ebay became a client by saying YES to my YES, which is a sure-fire strategy for activating your Native Genius. 

I do this weird kind of dancing called Contact Improvisation. Several years ago, one of my dancing buddies here in Boulder,...

Catherine had just started working as my assistant. I asked her to do some research on a particular topic. When I checked in with her, there were other priorities that were pushing this research to the bottom of her to-do list. 

When I asked her about it, the conversation uncovered what was really driving her procrastination — an approach many of us default to that stifles our Native Genius. 

I was puzzled that Catherine hadn’t jumped on this task, because she was...

My client Kevin gulped when the number two person at his company asked, “Hey, we’d love your help with names for that new product. Will you send over your ideas?” Inside he wilted a little because he knew he would agonize and procrastinate on this. 

I used to think that success and fulfillment depended on making the big decisions right. After decades of doing this work, I now know that while the big yeses and nos matter, living our Native Genius is really about the...

A few nights ago my dad and I watched an interview* with the playwright of the new movie, In the Heights, talking about her success. A simple but pivotal element of Native Genius jumped out of the conversation.  

Quiara Alegría Hudes co-wrote the Broadway musicals Hamilton and In the Heights with Lin-Manuel Miranda before either was a movie.

Soon after In the Heights made it to Broadway, Hudes was standing in the theatre and someone asked her, “Now that it's a Broadway...