Lisa Griffiths believes in bringing her whole self to her work, and that means her family, her small town and her chickens.

In my work I see connections and the value of building strong relationships in organizations and teams. For me, bringing my whole self to work means I am present with my clients and teams with my whole heart and being. 

In my life I have built a village - we call it our Goat Farm Family - including grandparents, siblings, children, our sweet goats, our many happy hens, our barn cats and our household pets. We grow fruit trees and garden annually, helping us all stay connected to the place we live. This tight knit community helps us love our kids and our elders and raise and respect our land and the animals in our care.

My work is only enriched when I bring my whole self to the table. For example, I while necessarily study anti-bias cases from my place of identity as a white cis-gender woman with privilege, my understanding is also personally informed by my lived experience as part of an interracial, two-mommy, adoptive family navigating a world that isn't always designed for that. 

Whether in the role of advisor or consultant, or in a volunteer capacity (Secure Beginnings, Monica Ros School, Planned Parenthood), I approach the world of strangers as a world of possibility and connection. In Malcom Gladwell's Talking To Strangers he says, “The thing we want to learn about a stranger is fragile. If we tread carelessly it will crumple under our feet... The right way to talk to strangers is with caution and humility... Don't look at the stranger and jump to conclusions. Look at the stranger's world.” 

I attempt to honor my human interactions through presencing, defined by Otto Scharmer in Theory U as, "the blending of sensing and presence, [as a] means to connect from the Source of the highest future possibility and to bring it into the now. When moving into the state of presencing, perception begins to happen from a future possibility that depends on us to come into reality. In that state we step into our real being, who we really are, our authentic self. Presencing is a movement that lets us approach our self from the emerging future."

I am a believer in presence and possibility in all the work of my life, both professional and personal. This means seeing the potential others have to achieve their goals, holding space for people to express themselves and fully be themselves in their work. It means being present in my relationships with teams and colleagues and creating a culture of inclusion and belonging by seeing all of us as connected and keeping a learner mindset in my engagement with others, even when disagreeing or holding a different perspective.  

Integrity, presencing, possibility, gratitude and seeing all people as interconnected are the values I bring to my work, and my life.

With passion for developing strong relationships, executing plans, following through on my word, and using data-based critical analysis to drive solutions, I never lose site of the importance of kindness and bringing a positive outlook to partnering with and supporting individuals across organizations.