Thank you, Sheryl Sandburg, for your great book about women at work who are "leaning in."  
 
The advice I find I am actually taking and giving lately seems to be "lean back...."
 
With my youngest daughter, who often says, "Mom, I am almost 18,"  I will lean back so she can freely lean in to the life she chooses, not the one I envision for her.
 
When I ask this question of a few leaders:  "What would happen if you leaned back?" their answers ranged from, "don't know, worth a try" to "maybe they would step forward?"
 
And, finally, in my work mentoring coaches at Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership Coaching Certificate program, this is what keeps coming up:  how can coaches notice when they are physically leaning in?  How can they tell whether leaning in or leaning back would best serve the coaching client?
 
So, where are you leaning in and when do you need to lean back?