If someone had told Michael two years ago that he needed to embrace his fears, he probably would have stared back in astonishment. Fears? What fears? The Cliff Jumping Program had simply sounded like a great chance to learn something new about motivating others. Trusting one's intuition, getting comfortable with the unknown and replenishing one's own vitality were concepts he believed he was already handling pretty well.

"I didn't join Cliff Jumping because I had a broken wing," says Michael, 44"I joined precisely because I'm a resourceful guy who's always eager to grow and then rise to an even higher level of success."

Michael is president of a consulting firm he established in 1995, which specializes in assisting business owners to achieve large scale growth in sales and profits. He also trains executive coaches in specific methodologies to produce the same results. So the shoe was definitely on the other foot when Michael first spoke with Cliff Jumping's founder Lucy Morris in 2003. He'd long been accustomed to presenting his views on incremental growth, continuous improvement and increasing one's sense of freedom within even a highly structured corporation. He'd long advocated figuring out where one's own strengths lay and then working within teams consisting of members with complementary abilities. Michael was also a firm believer in taking plenty of time off--an almost-unheard-of one week every month! Contrary to popular belief, he insists, frequent vacations don't limit productivity; they increase it.

But once he began working with The Cliff Jumping Program, Michael was in for a few surprises: First, he learned the importance of noticing what was not working in the whole of his own life--and then stopping it. And then there was the corollary: Noticing what does work, and then doing more of it.
Over several months with the Cliff Jumping technology Michael was able to identify more clearly which tasks and events repeatedly drained his energy, sometimes without his fully realizing it. "Like so many executives," he admits, "I absolutely hated confrontations--especially firing people. So I'd put it off, thinking oh, maybe things will get better. Well, of course they didn't. All that happened was the situation just went on sucking the life out of me!"

Not anymore. Since Cliff Jumping, Michael reports a total change in attitude and experience: "I'm more centered and settled now; I trust myself more." Stepping to the side and allowing his clients to move forward without interference is key. "In fact," he says, "I let them generate their own positive results and then allow them to take full credit for the results produced. It's all about being straightforward, communicating what you observe, but within a tone of gentleness and compassion."

One client, for example, was obsessing about the details of an upcoming Christmas party, yet ignoring a serious conflict with a high-level employee. Michael called her on it. She in turn confronted the controller--who quickly turned his act around and became more cooperative. "You never empower anybody by shielding them from the consequences of their actions," Michael explains. "I no longer second-guess myself about what I say. I'm not serving anyone unless I'm clear about exactly what I believe works and what doesn't."

What Michael is clearest about these days is managing his own energy levels. When he gets tired, he takes more time off--not a day, but a week. He insists that his client CEOs do the same, and then watches their faces light up when they realize that their incomes have virtually doubled, just as his own has.

"As an entrepreneur," Michael says, "you're not paid for your time; you're paid for your results. The Cliff Jumping Program is all about learning how to get exactly the results you want."

It's also about a personal metamorphosis which occurs from the inside out. A rapidly evolving world requires all of us to evolve with it--which means taking constant risks. Running and hiding are not options, and one form of hiding may well be a simple lack of awareness.

As Michael discovered, The Cliff Jumping Program puts all of the mental puzzle pieces into place, shows us the bigger picture and then allows us to accept the challenge of constant change without necessarily knowing the outcome. For people stumped by fear (and that's most of us), it's a huge step forward.