Marsha J. Orr - Exclusive Interview - "Craft New Strategies & Have The Highest Probability Of Success"

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Marsha J. Orr was recently interviewed by TheCelebrity.Online Magazine and below is the Q&A session we had with Marsha J. Orr.

Marsha J. Orr As Cover Story Interview – August 2024 Edition

How do you introduce yourself?

I prefer to meet others from where they hail, so I tend to introduce myself simply by my name: “Hi, I’m Marsha Jane Orr.”

I am a leaders’ mentor for those who mentor leaders, a consultant’s coach, and a silent partner in strategic change projects with leaders who usher organizations through transformation and large projects.

How was your Childhood to Adulthood transition?

I was very compliant and easygoing in family life and generally laughed and played a lot growing up in a safe, Midwestern, middle-class neighborhood where we were well-fed, clothed, and sheltered.

Then, when I was 18, my mother opposed my choice of a boyfriend. He was four years my senior, a journalist on the university newspaper where we both attended, and sick. It was the last part that worried my mother most. When she pressed her argument, I chose to leave my family and everything I knew. We went through 10 kidney surgeries and three near-death experiences. When he called it quits, he said it was like we were in a car wreck together, staring at each other from our wheelchairs.

Four years later, I met my husband, who, as my veterinarian father declared about healthy horses, “had good teeth.” Despite the 12 years he had on me, his grandparents lived into their late 90s. I figured we were good. Twelve years later, he died.

We had our own consulting firm, so when he died, I lost home, partner, and work. I remember thinking at the time of his death that it didn’t matter if I lived or died.

Some friends helped me land a USA State Department consulting project with the premier petrochemical firm in the Czech Republic. It was right after the fall of the Berlin Wall and after the Czechs had their own ‘Velvet Revolution.’ Former Soviet Party operatives were replaced with shop floor workers. My job was to help the new regime see their competence, gain confidence, clarify their next steps, and move on. They had great leadership (who had previously swept the shop floor for 30 years), and once the change took effect, he brought in the next generation of talent and gave them the reins. They were up to the task. I only sprinkled fairy dust. With every step I could acknowledge, affirm, uplift, and applaud, I drew their teams together and articulated our mutual vision and affections.

Five years later, they were one of the top-performing, most profitable companies in the country.

One leader told me the worst part was learning that everything he had been taught as a child was a lie.

Given the grief I was experiencing following my husband’s death and the country’s deep grief of losing everything it had known over an entire generation, together in the project, we were an energetic match, healing and moving forward.

What hardships did you face in your life?

My late husband and I met, and within three months, we knew we were getting married. Within six months, we were wed. We lived and worked together over a 12-year complete cycle of life until his death.

One of the deepest struggles and most transformational influences in my life was the sense of impotence I felt in the face of another’s pending death. I would have sacrificed my own life to keep my husband alive, but I was only called to be present. There was nothing to say, correct, do, or be to change the inevitable outcome. I was only called to be a witness to the truth.

I watched a white spiral light funnel out of his crown chakra at the time of his passing, and the thin veil between this life and our ‘heavenly’ life fell. The next two years brought such fundamental spiritual experiences that nothing I had accomplished or done in my life had any meaning after that.

My only witness to truth thereafter was that there is no death, only a shift in energetic presence. This profound insight reoriented my entire professional life. I spent the next 10 years on a spiritual quest, living in ashrams and learning more about what I had witnessed.

What do people usually not know about you?

I love to play and laugh. I see the ironic side of many things and the true absurdities in life. This keeps me from taking life too seriously. But it’s not a Pollyanna joy that I experience; rather, like many women, it’s the kind of joy derived from deep sorrows and loss that leaves us grateful for the field of grain, the sky, and the flowers.

I use this experience to be present with clients undergoing their own loss and victory. Together, we reframe a way forward to define their best life outcomes, given the facts now. We course-correct again and again. Keeping that final destination in view helps us stay on track with our highest aspirations and heartfelt dreams.

What sets you apart from your competitors in the industry and in life?

“When the student is ready, the teacher appears,” it’s been said. And, this is essentially how I have been guided to be of greatest service. I once wrote a poem about how to impact a million lives in this lifetime. It had only to do with being in a blessing walk with every step and one—blessing all who come across our paths as teachers or students.

I help clients uncover and trust their own inner guidance. This can appear radical in some situations and frequently takes a tremendous amount of courage. Clients of mine are the “Only Authority acting in their own Lives,” and no matter what I may prefer, it is their choice to decide their next best steps. I continue with clients through life, supporting them in being their best-expressed selves in every life stage.

What are your upcoming major events – Unforgettable Moments or products/services that you want to promote/inform?

Earth Explorers®, LLC (under which IntrepreneurCoaching.com operates), is contemplating a project with an urgent, immediate need that my team is presently exploring as a possible solution to help uplift some of the nearly quarter of the world’s children living in conflict and disaster-stricken countries. Our project is currently in its formative stages, but once it is more clearly articulated, I’d love to invite your readers’ input and participation.

What are your food preferences and physical attributes?

Honestly, I’d love to profess my nutritious, healthy diet and love for everything green. Let’s just say I am a ‘work in progress.’ I tell myself, “Never give up, start again.” You know, “The champion is the one that just got up one more time!”

Skinny, with knock knees, buck teeth, and rhinestone glasses as a 13-year-old, my prayer was that I would please just blend into the crowd. I am an ordinary Midwest white woman from Michigan, USA—Plain Jane from the Plains—and no longer skinny, unfortunately! Healthy though, and that counts in my book!

Your love life, relationships and family?

These days, I am enjoying being a solopreneur, hanging out with friends and family, and enjoying the beauty of nature. I maintain a contemplative life, which allows me to stay better grounded for clients transcending through change or chaos. It is important to me to have the meditative space and calm to be present and help clients see more clearly in the midst of their own transformations.

What expert advice would you like to give?

First: Often, highly successful people face what the late Harvard Professor Herbert Benson called ‘unprogrammable problems.’ These are situations of high risk, outside ordinary operating procedures, with a high cost of failure and a high rate of profitable return if successfully navigated.

Highly successful leaders who can discern ‘what’s different’ and craft new strategies fitting the current situation have the highest probability of success.

Second: While staying ‘True North’ to your own aspirations, values, and integrity, retain the flexibility to create, innovate, transform, and change “for the greater good of all involved” over and over again.

Your social media handles and website links?