My name is Chip Carter and I’m the founder of MudLotusHealth.
I’m a wellness and leadership coach and perennial practitioner of healthy living. I also direct operations and manage the staff at the Institute of Coaching at McLean Hospital, a Harvard Medical School Affiliate. Before professional coaching I was a software geek, CIO/CTO, devout manager, furniture maker, academician and musician. I live in Hollis, NH with my wife Ingrid. See the shorter version of my bio here.
MudLotusHealth (MLH) grew out of persistent, loosely connected threads of personal and professional experience. While I came to MLH after a diverse set of life experiments, I’m now driven by one theme; to empower my clients to optimize their wellness for high quality living. I now spend my time coaching and researching the most modern, evidence-based ways to facilitate integrated transformation; to bring the lotus to the surface from an ordinary substrate. I love to see the people I help get clear, connect with their vision and then thrive.
My approach (video) is driven by clients and what they care about, not any particular dogma or bias other than healthy outcomes. I don’t tell clients what to do or pressure them because that simply doesn’t work, especially over the longer term. I partner with clients to help them discover their own resources, which I honor and trust.
Anyone — with the right partnership and information — can develop the motivation and mindfulness needed to achieve a healthy, balanced lifestyle, or to serve as an effective leader. Because MLH is client-centered and advocates for the client’s support, we readily partner with other professionals who might help advance the client.
Early Life and School
My background hits an eleven on the weird-o-meter, but it uniquely supports this wellness practice. I grew up in an Air Force family (my Dad was a fighter pilot), meaning that we moved every year-and-a-half on average. I was fortunate enough to live in nine different states all over the US and in Germany before I turned 18. From these pre-college years I learned to adapt quickly and not to fear change. At Davidson College I earned an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry (lucky me, where I was surrounded by super-smart, interesting peers and immersed as an athlete, musician, and drama guy). On a personal search, deeply curious about how to live well — and determined to postpone a real job — I went on to five years of multi-disciplinary Masters and PhD work in DC (where I led my class, summa cum laude) and NYC studying philosophy, cognitive psychology and comparative religions. There I answered (for myself , at least) some basic and nagging questions. And I met my future wife, to whom I’ve been joyfully married since 1987.
As part of that personal search in school, I discovered a passion for a variety of what are now relevant wellness topics: meditation, the challenges of personal change, creating purpose and meaning in your life, etc. Psychotherapy and meditation were two of many experiments, both of which I studied and practiced eagerly.
During those days I also encountered the magnetic mental bliss and challenges of software, working for non-profits (the DC Special Olympics and the Congressional Budget Office in DC, Union Theological Seminary in NYC) as a self-taught application programmer. The enduring lesson there was: seek and fix the root cause for any problem. With quick and dirty fixes, dirty remains long after quick is over.
I discover software and my own wellness challenges
Following post-graduate work, I migrated to Boston with my new wife, where I made furniture and taught for a few years. With the imminent arrival of my son Evan, I migrated into a software technology career. I worked as an engineer, manager, and C-level executive in fast-paced private sector companies and nonprofits (Lotus/Iris, IBM, Mercy Corps, Plan International USA) while nurturing my family life in Andover, MA. From entry-level engineering to management to over six years as a Chief Information/Technology Officer and interim Chief Marketing Officer, I learned first-hand the challenges that modern professional/domestic life present to wellness. If you’re moving ahead at a brisk pace professionally (particularly but of course not exclusively in high-tech) and take your family commitments seriously, healthy work-life balance is elusive (Captain Obvious here…). Like many folks, I got off-track wellness-wise, and stayed there for more than a decade. How did it happen? Like it does for most folks: not one big decision — like “I’m going to neglect my wellness for a great career and family/friends” — but a thousand reactive micro-decisions fueled by stress and a murky vision for a healthy, fulfilling life. This theme is ubiquitous for my wellness clients.
I began to shift and recover with a few epiphanies, some great support from my own wellness team (thanks, Larry and my family/friends), and hard-won wisdom at the intersection of accumulated education/wisdom and wellness struggles/difficulties. The central, existential insight was simple and beyond intellectual: I had everything I needed to create a well life, a vital priority to myself and those around me. I was my own worst enemy, but possessed all of the precious, simple raw material (like mud, water, sky) to emerge from the hole I had created for myself. With this insight, I began to experiment, leveraging some important principles from technology work-life: perfection is the enemy of progress, continuous improvement, failure is a learning opportunity (not a moral indictment), agility and adaptability in planning, etc. My experiments paid off. In less than 6 months I was 32 pounds lighter and almost twice as strong. More on this struggle and the outcomes in another post…
At work, I benefited from terrific colleagues and encountered the joy and privilege of people management. I never (or rarely, at least) made the mistake of not attending to the whole person as a manager, which I believe is prevalent in both the private and nonprofit sectors. My passion for work-life balance and satisfaction — in spite of my personal challenges — led me to study and hone business coaching skills, and to eventually explore and practice personal wellness and leadership. One outcome has been a deep and practical knowledge of what creates and perpetuates workplace stress and work-life imbalances. My professional coaching/mentoring culminated in receiving Lotus IBM’s Manager of the Year award in 2007. That’s an official victory alongside many others, but I treasure that one because I was nominated by my team, and validated by my peers and other executives.
Shift to Nonprofits, CIO/CTO at Mercy Corps and Plan International USA
In 2008, having worked in the private sector for almost fifteen years, I made the transition to Mercy Corps and then Plan International USA as the CIO/CTO for both organizations. As a nonprofit executive, I actively brought wellness to the workplace, coaching other managers and driving the shift from wellness projects to longer-term programs. I imperfectly modeled work-life balance and wellness by leading wellness groups in exercise and nutrition, and by competing in local triathlons/cycling events. I also became closely acquainted with the unique pressures of executive work-life and how they present obstacles to whole life wellness. That knowledge/experience has been carefully folded into my practice.
Arrival at Wellness Coaching
My core enthusiasm for integrated wellness, my personal experience, and the pleasure of coaching nourished a quick career shift to full-time wellness coach. I’ve also completed a full range of post-graduate coursework with Wellcoaches, one of the few training organizations recognized by the American College of Sports Medicine.
My practice is based in Hollis, NH, but I work with clients remotely and locally. I teach a weekly meditation class in Andover, MA.
In late 2015 I started managing the Institute of Coaching (IOC) at McLean Hospital, a Harvard Affiliate, as their Director of Operations and Marketing. Read more about the IOC.
What do I do for fun? Primarily MLH, and I’m not kidding. I love my job. Beyond that, I’m not wanting for other interests. I’m an avid and occasionally working guitar player, music lover, shockingly reckless mountain biker, calmly competitive road cyclist, japanese-style gardener, reluctant weight lifter, film nut, sloppy improv cook, insatiable consumer of nonfiction books, horrid joke teller, fortuitous friend, blessed husband and the argument victim of my two glorious children, Evan and Maggie.
So thank you for visiting MudLotusHealth. It’s not really about me; it’s about you and giving you access to great wellness resources. I’m here to help you discover your best self.
