Category: Life on Purpose (page 1 of 6)

As Long as You Lead, Keep Learning How to Lead

March 28, 2016 / / 8 Comments

Leadership is the gift you unpack every day.

It’s the same but it’s never the same.

Always something new to learn.

Something new to try.

It will surprise you.

Frustrate you.

Move you.

Just when you think you’ve got it sorted out.

It suddenly slips through your fingers.

The answer you had in mind,

Doesn’t work this time.

So you adapt.

You learn.

That’s the nature of life.

“As long as you live, keep learning how to live.” - Seneca

Leadership is not a formula.

Leadership is organic.

What worked for someone else,

Might not work for you.

Or where you are.

So open your mind.

And open your eyes.

Listen.

Take it all in.

Try to find the path,

That’s right for you.

And right for them.

  • Keep learning how to lead yourself.
    The first and most important part of the journey is growing in self-awareness and building the internal compass and character that will guide you through the experiences you will face. This too is a process that never ends as long as you remain open, flexible and willing to change with each new discovery.
  • Keep learning how to lead others.
    People will stretch you to your limits. They will challenge you, teach you and inspire you. There are endless opportunities to expand your impact and your influence. Because you can’t see yourself clearly, nor fully understand what others feel or need, it is important to pay attention and try to see things from their point of view.
  • Keep learning how to lead the way.
    Take the risk to open up about what you see as possible and beneficial then engage others in sharing their opinions and ideas. With each new attempt at building support and engaging others in a plan to achieve meaningful goals, you will grow in your ability to influence and facilitate change.
  • Keep learning how to lead from your heart.
    Sometimes, what seems like the obvious choice may not be the best choice. You will experience situations where you heart and mind may feel like they are in conflict. Going with your intuition can seem like a risk, and there is no guarantee things will work out, but in the end, you will only learn to trust yourself if you practice following you heart.
  • Keep learning how to lead from your values.
    With every new leadership role, your values will be tested. Count on it. How you respond to each situation, and the choices you make, will impact your credibility, trust, and self-esteem. Sometimes your values may put you at odds with people in authority or with the culture of an organization. This can be among the toughest learning experiences you will face.
  • Keep learning how to lead from your dreams.
    Don’t lose touch with the image of who you want to be and the things you want to accomplish and experience. Take the time to consider how you can weave your life goals into your leadership practice. Share your dreams with those you serve and invite them to share their dreams with you. Learn how helping others reach their dreams will help you reach your own.

As long as you lead, keep learning how to lead.

Leading in Impermanence

March 15, 2016 / / 2 Comments

distance

“It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words, “And this too, shall pass away.” How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!” - Abraham Lincoln

Let me start with a small confession…

I sometimes wonder, in the midst of a meeting where people are tearing their hair out and tearing at each other, whether anyone remembers that none of this will matter someday. That these are moments they will never get back.

Before you call me shortsighted or perhaps too judgmental, I mean this topic to be positive and affirming. I don’t want to imply that we should not be passionate about things that are important to us or the organization. I just wonder if sometimes we lose our perspective and that leads us to raise the stakes to a level that doesn’t really apply in the bigger scheme of things.

I’m also not suggesting we spend every day thinking about our impending departure from this life or the inevitable passing away of much of our work.

I am suggesting that we reflect, when it matters, on what it means to know that nothing we are doing or experiencing in the present is permanent.

From this perspective, we recognize that “this too shall pass away” and bring a more mindful approach to our response. We can open ourselves to a deeper truth rather than surrender to the fear, pride or anger of the moment.

We can be aware of and appreciate the experience for what it is without being caught up in thinking there is something we have to escape, control, win or possess. We are no longer as deeply attached to the outcome.

This problem will be followed by the next problem.

This project by the next project.

This place by a different place.

This chapter by a new chapter.

We tend to wear ourselves down and create unnecessary suffering by treating many temporary situations as though they have permanent implications. In letting go of this approach we can help those around us engage in a level of creativity and communication that will be more productive and more helpful to the situation. More in touch with reality.

We bring a sense of lightness to situations that have been made unnecessarily heavy or dark.

Maybe we can even stop taking ourselves so seriously.

(Lincoln was a wonderful example of this approach to leadership).

Many great philosophers, spiritual teachers, and poets encourage us to meditate on this truth, noting that our lives will be deeper, more meaningful and more balanced.

Including that very substantial part of our lives, we call work.

“It is not that we have so little time but that we lose so much. … The life we receive is not short but we make it so; we are not ill provided but use what we have wastefully.”
― Seneca

The Simple Threads of Our Heart

March 8, 2016 / / 2 Comments

black_and_white_baby-normal

She wasn’t mine.

She doesn’t know me.

But when I looked into her eyes,

I saw my reflection.

A reflection I did not recognize.

Trusting.

Honest.

Pure.

Simple.

Complete.

Connected by a smile.

Tiny hand wrapped around my finger.

She doesn’t see my imperfections.

Fears.

Failures.

Anxieties.

Loneliness.

Loss.

She reminds me,

Of the child inside.

Who didn’t know,

What I know.

Didn’t worry,

Or doubt,

Or control.

In her eyes, there was no judgment.

No measure of my title,

My worth,

My soul.

No agenda to meet.

No appearances to keep.

No wondering what she’s thinking.

A beautiful reminder,

Of who I am,

Inside.

What it means to be connected,

By the simple threads of our heart.

And the ways I can lose myself,

In the midst of trying to get somewhere else.

 

Our lives and our work pass by in a blur of activity.

In the midst of our daily struggles, challenges, pressures - moments like this can mean so much.

Savor these reminders.

These gentle epiphanies.

Let them encourage you in your journey and inspire you to remember the things that matter most.

 

 

Older posts

Pages

Subscribe

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 275 other subscribers

© 2016 Soul To Work

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑

%d bloggers like this: