The Growth Hub

Ideas, tools, support and inspiration to realize your goals, purpose and potential, No Matter What

Growth & Courage, Limiting Beliefs & Culture Sterling Hawkins Growth & Courage, Limiting Beliefs & Culture Sterling Hawkins

Build Bridges not Bandaids

We all have gaps – gaps in our skill set, gaps in our performance, gaps in our relationships. They might be easier to see now that we’re rolling in 2024. Gaps that are the distance between where we are and where we want to be. Easily said and easily understood maybe, but in practice it’s anything but easy. It can be a profound and challenging process that takes one thing to begin.

Read More

Start 2024 Here.

The ball has dropped, the New Year is here and you might feel like you’re the hare racing the tortoise – off and running into 2024! Maybe you have new standards in place, new goals to work towards and exciting things on deck. You’re blazing off the starting line and I’m right there with you… But, before you really get running, I (and boatloads of research) suggest: you start here…

Read More
Sterling Hawkins Sterling Hawkins

Create Your 2024 Standards, Goals Will Follow

It’s time to reframe goal setting as we sit on the edge of 2024. You already know that only a few percent of New Year resolution goals are achieved. But those low numbers don’t leave me in the anti-resolution camp. I think we can use the energy and momentum around us in the New Year to progress. But instead of only thinking about goals, let’s shift to establishing standards – #NoMatterWhat standards – that will inherently guide us toward our aspirations…

Read More
Sterling Hawkins Sterling Hawkins

3 Questions to Ask Before You Close Out 2023

Completion proceeds creation. And as we start thinking about 2024 and all the goals, dreams and aspirations to come, stepping into that future requires completing the past. Cleaning out the closets, literal and proverbial, and letting go of what no longer serves us: unfinished tasks, outdated beliefs and unnecessary baggage. Reflecting and decluttering creates space to approach the new year with clarity, focus and renewed energy to set a strong foundation for personal and professional growth in the upcoming year. Here are three questions I’ve used with myself and clients to complete the year and powerfully create what’s next…

Read More
Sterling Hawkins Sterling Hawkins

Growth, Resilience and Results: Top Blogs of 2023

2023 has been exhilarating and challenging. A year where each of us, in our own ways, have navigated the complexities of a rapidly changing world – from global instability to economic uncertainty; from AI breakthroughs to post-pandemic breakdowns. No doubt we’ll have more in the year to come, but I’ve been taking a moment to reflect on what this year has been about. For me and for all of us…

Read More
Sterling Hawkins Sterling Hawkins

Cycle Breaking Before Change Making

Have you ever noticed yourself repeating patterns? Time and again encountering similar challenges? Or, no matter how hard you focus on certain areas, results are about the same? The people change, details shift and circumstances are different – but at the core – it feels oh so similar? Me too. What’s required is to do some cycle breaking before you can do any real change making.

Read More
Sterling Hawkins Sterling Hawkins

Finding True Gratitude in Life's Challenges

Gratitude is a fashionable gesture this time of year – a seasonal trend adorned like a festive accessory. It’s easy and even expected to feel thankful amidst the warmth of family gatherings, the abundance of a festive meal or the cheer of holiday tradition, at least in the US. It’s beyond these moments of conventional thankfulness that I think the power of true gratitude lies.

Read More
Sterling Hawkins Sterling Hawkins

The Box-Ticking Illusion

Ticking off “the boxes” must be one of the most alluring paths for leaders, and one of the biggest pitfalls. It’s so alluring because it promises a systematic approach to predictability, safety and control – but that promise is empty. The real work, the kind that actually sustains and accelerates growth, lies beyond the comfort of checklists and conventional wisdom. It starts with setting aside the way that may look right and instead doing what’s right: asking the hard questions, the uncomfortable questions, the questions that may not have “right” answers at all.

Read More
Sterling Hawkins Sterling Hawkins

7 Words to Erase for Growth #NoMatterWhat

Words have weight. As easy as they may come, they really do mean something. And every word you choose impacts you directly, your team's morale, stakeholder relationships, and ultimately, your organization's success. That said, there are some words that aren’t serving you and those around you, diminishing your message and weakening your impact. Here are 6 words to erase from your vocabulary for greater growth.

Read More
Sterling Hawkins Sterling Hawkins

Are Your Goals Big Enough? (and not in the way you might think)

You want the jobs done, the goals hit and the objectives accomplished – but might you be thinking too small to get there? And it’s not a matter of taking a $1 million goal and making it $10 million or $100 million… Your goals might not be big enough in another way.

Read More
Sterling Hawkins Sterling Hawkins

Confront These 7 Types of Limiting Beliefs

Perception is driving your performance. Makes sense, doesn’t it? How we view something directly translates into what options we see and what actions we take. And while that perception may define our results, we can define our perception, perspectives and beliefs. Here are 7 types of limiting beliefs and what to do about them.

Read More
Sterling Hawkins Sterling Hawkins

Create Space for What Matters 

In times of complexity, chaos and change we need space. Space in the workplace, community, home and even in yourself. Space to grieve, share, reflect and support. Space to have meaningful, constructive conversations; to see and be seen. Space to reconnect with what matters most.

Read More
Sterling Hawkins Sterling Hawkins

10 Keys to Innovate, #NoMatterWhat

Innovation isn’t optional these days. And I don’t mean purely technological innovation – I’m talking about meaningful, transformational and even exponential change for the better across any area, from technology to processes or from finances to your career. The faster the world is changing around us, the more imperative it is for us to change with it: personally, professionally and within our organizations. The relentless pursuit of innovation is mission critical. But what does it really take to innovate #NoMatterWhat you’re facing?

Read More
Sterling Hawkins Sterling Hawkins

Why Top Performers Are “Giving in” and Why You Should Too

The road to breakthrough results isn’t paved with smooth stones. Nor is it a journey devoid of challenges. You’ve undoubtedly faced innumerable obstacles, sometimes so insurmountable that they might have prompted you to consider walking away. But, if you reflect on it, consider how your success today hasn’t come from avoidance, it’s come from what you’ve embraced. Top performers know that growth isn’t about ‘giving up’, it’s about ‘giving in’.

Read More
Sterling Hawkins Sterling Hawkins

Breaking the Efficiency Obsession

We’re immersed in a digital age where AI, automation, data analytics and streamlined operational models are buzzwords filling the ether. No surprise there (I hope). But so much much talk about prioritizing process, it’s easy to lose sight of the real asset that makes any business thrive – at least until the robots take over.

Read More
Sterling Hawkins Sterling Hawkins

Strategy needs Soul

Strategy has long been regarded as the compass that guides us to our goals. It's the meticulous planning, the careful allocation of resources, and the calculated steps we take to achieve what we set out to achieve. But what if I told you that strategy alone isn’t enough? There’s oftentimes a missing ingredient…

Read More
Sterling Hawkins Sterling Hawkins

Fear Indecision More Than Failure

: I’ve been thinking about this blog for 2 hours. How to frame the idea. What story to tell. Where the takeaways are. Another hour has gone by. And just now it hit me: the real choice isn't just between path A or path B; sometimes, it's the very act of choosing that's in question. Not choosing is, in itself, choosing ambiguity, stagnation and stalled results. Now I’m finally writing…

Read More
Sterling Hawkins Sterling Hawkins

Becoming Real: Liberating Yourself and Your Business

What might you need to let go of to become more of your real self? As business kicks back into action following summer and responsibilities start piling up, consider this: the pathway to liberation and success is counterintuitively less, not more. Here’s your pathway to becoming real.

Read More
Sterling Hawkins Sterling Hawkins

Take The “Rest” That Rules Them All 

Today is the mid-point of summer (already, I know!) and what better time to rest and reset? Maybe you’ve taken your family vacations, enjoyed time outside, had the BBQ fired up… but have you really taken time for yourself to reset? There’s tons of great research…

Read More
Sterling Hawkins Sterling Hawkins

Don’t Miss These #NoMatterWhats

Inspiration is contagious (can we use that word anymore?). And just hearing what others are up to can inspire us to move forward, commit to our own next steps and reconnect to what matters. The #NoMatterWhat movement is constantly a source of exactly that kind of inspiration. There are people…

Read More