Decoding Your Emotional Blueprint

April 18, 2022
Leadership coach Wilkins-Smith debuts with an eye-opening exploration of how nature and nurture shape personality. The author draws on her leadership workshops to encourage readers to “discover and face the invisible patterns you’ve been loyally following that have been handed down to you by your ancestors.” Doing so, she suggests, will help one learn to change these habits. For example, Wilkins-Smith tells of a client who struggled to make an impression at work before he realized that taking care of his younger siblings while growing up gave him a tendency to put others first, and that he should start prioritizing his own career. To reveal one’s family patterns, Wilkins-Smith urges readers to ask themselves such questions as “Do your family members have similar events, thoughts, and experiences in their lives (e.g., the women all leave)?” She also recommends positioning note cards representing family members in a manner of one’s choosing and then analyzing the layout to uncover one’s feelings about one’s relatives. The client stories brim with keen psychological analysis, and the exercises effectively package the author’s workshop techniques for solo use. The result is an insightful and informative guide to better knowing oneself.