E Club: An Origin Story
According to Martha Beck’s Change Cycle methodology, change is initiated by one of three types of catalytic events: shock, opportunity, or transition.
Looking back on the path that led me to Anomaly, I can see that my story had a bit of all three.
There wasn’t one massive change. No singular epiphany. No, “Here’s how X changed my life forever” as you typically hear from coaches.
There were shocks. There were opportunities, both planned and unexpected. But some of Anomaly’s root system stems from seeds that were planted decades ago.
For example, when I say I believe your Ideas can be catalysts for both personal and societal evolution (if you let them), this isn’t a random sentiment, gimmick, or cliche.
It’s a belief I can trace back to high school.
Imagine arriving at school only to find the walls covered in posters. Although they differ slightly in font and color, each poster contains only the letter E, a date, time, & location.
Would this pique your curiosity? Would you accept such a mysterious invitation?
I promise this isn’t the start of some horror film or recurring nightmare. This is how my high school teacher, Mr. DeBruin, introduced us to a new extracurricular that he was starting called E Club.
If you couldn’t tell, Mr. DeBruin enjoys a bit of mystery. To this day, there is still debate as to what the “E” in E Club stands for. Guesses range from Experience to Entrepreneurship and everything in between. And this club was a bit of Everything.
In our small town of <4k people, E Club hosted fashion shows, art auctions, and restaurant nights. We visited a local landfill, partnered with a realtor to tour an open house, opened a smoothie shop, and even walked the floor of the Chicago stock exchange.
E Club was an anomaly compared to the traditional high school experience. Rather than asking us to memorize and regurgitate information, Mr. DeBruin encouraged us to nurture our talents, to follow our curiosity, to learn through experiences, and to challenge the status quo.
But, I think more than anything else, he taught us to become champions of our Ideas.
Senior year, my friend and I approached Mr. DeBruin and told him we wanted to host a Battle of the Bands.
I can imagine how many people would have shut this Idea down, told us that we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into (we didn’t) or convinced us it wasn’t possible (it was).
But that wasn’t Mr. DeBruin’s style.
Rather than stifling our creativity, he leaned in with curiosity. He challenged us to think deeper about what shape we wanted this Idea to take and what it might require. And he offered support as we took action, making our way “through the thickets” (as he would say) of bringing this Idea to life.
We made posters and hand-delivered them to the band directors at neighboring schools. We held auditions, built the stage (with supervision), designed and painted the backdrop, organized volunteers, recruited judges, determined the judging criteria and prizes, etc. And we adjusted our plans (and expectations) as needed.
Eventually, we hosted a Battle of the Bands.
I certainly didn’t think of it this way at the time, but we were learning marketing, event planning & coordination, sales, agility, and all kinds of transferrable skills that we’d carry with us long after graduation.
We also learned about ourselves. E Club influenced my courage, confidence, and honed my authenticity. It stretched my perception of what was possible. Whether I knew it or not, each event was an opportunity to expand my view of who I was and what I was capable of creating and achieving in this lifetime.
These aren’t lessons you can learn from a textbook or from within your comfort zone. (Trust me, I’ve tried.)
These are lessons you learn through Experience and by stepping outside of the status quo.
Fast forward to today and these are the lessons I get to share with my coaching clients. It’s an honor to be able to partner with high-achievers and offer them an opportunity to believe in and to create the purpose-filled life they’ve always wanted.
I truly believe that there would be no Anomaly if it weren’t for Mr. DeBruin’s leadership and the philosophies he instilled in us through our experiences in E Club.
