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Leadership expert Robin Martin guides students in analyzing what holds them back and how to overcome these obstacles

No matter where you are in your personal life or career, it is important to take a moment to evaluate what courage means to you and the consequences this definition has on your life. Robin Martin, author of the book Navigating Courage, says the first step is to ask yourself two important questions:
      (1) What holds you back from living a courageous life or achieving your personal and professional goals?

      (2) What keeps you from taking charge of your life’s journey and realizing your potential and the potential of everyone around you?

Oftentimes, the barriers that we face are actually gifts. When you understand your gifts, you can start to alleviate barriers to ultimately get where you want to go.

Robin Martin Executive coach and consultant

Dr. Robin Martin profile picture

Martin will help guide students in answering these questions and building a better leadership path in her Navigating Courage Masterclass this fall. Participants in the course will hear, write and share the stories that shape their belief systems and core values, uncover where their personal and professional values intersect, and align them with their immediate goals and long-term aspirations.

The goal of the course is for students to walk away with a greater awareness of how to lead, live and navigate a courageous journey that transforms individuals, organizations, and systems.

Navigating Courage: Masterclass takes place on October 27 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on UC Victory Parkway Campus. The course fee of $199 includes a box lunch and a copy of Martin’s book, Navigating Courage.

“I hope that this course will help students get to know themselves better and really identify their key leadership values or capabilities so that they can make the change or be the change that they really want to see,” Martin said.

Cover of Dr. Robin Martin's book, Navigating Courage

Martin developed the evaluation method used in the course through years of research and personal experience in leadership, education, and community development. Her book Navigating Courage explores a number of different obstacles she has faced in reaching her fullest potential, such as learning how to lead as a female in a male-dominated profession and how to lead as a woman of color. For Martin, overcoming these obstacles was made possible by understanding who she is and how to navigate situations when they came about.

“What I’ve learned is that sometimes we can be in control and out of control at the same time, and as a leader, you need to know when that happens so that you can use your gifts as weapons,” she said. Martin will help students do the same in the Navigating Courage Masterclass, helping students identify their guiding values and the principles that are most important to them. After identifying who they are and what is preventing them from living to the fullest, Martin hopes students will prevail over their personal obstacles.

“The course is called Navigating Courage because often people just need to become unafraid of the consequences of action or inaction,” Martin said. The course will examine both the consequences of action or inaction, which in some ways gives people permission to really look at their barriers differently and say that whether they act or do not act, something will happen.”

Dr. Robin Martin teaching a class of professionals

Martin is president and CEO of Leading Beyond the Post, a full-service leadership development, training and executive coaching consulting company that helps leaders and organizations get “unstuck” by translating corporate strategy into individualized leadership development. She is a master-level certified executive coach with a distinct background in higher education, intercollegiate athletics and diversity and inclusion. Her strategically designed thinking approach infuses research and real-life practical experiences that drive clients more towards a strategic path of clarity, balance, and achievement.   

To register for Navigating Courage: Masterclass, visit our website

or call (513) 556-6932 and press 2.

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