Tag: contribution

Celebrate your talents

In leadership coaching, I am often enquiring from people whether they can identify their zone of genius. I usually come across a clear barrier whereby individuals are reluctant to consider that they may be harboring a “zone of genius” within them. This tends to sound “too much” for most. They laugh at the very words. Indeed, it seems difficult to most of us to recognize that we are great in many ways. However, the question is: where are you making your best contribution in life? The challenge is that when we are unaware and not making use of our gifts, we are feeling unfulfilled and we disconnect from our very purpose in life.

We all are born with special talents, which allow us to make a contribution to our family, friends, surroundings, even to our country and world. It is nonetheless common that these talents are not immediately obvious to us. They are buried and we are not necessarily amenable to exploring them. We may even feel that they are not worthy of note, or worse, we wish we did not have them! We tend to be more drawn to the talents of others, which may actually be a mirror image of our own (still buried). Bottom line, we usually overlook our gifts, be it to make people feel welcome, to delight the whole neighborhood by our gardening, or pioneer new ideas at work and elsewhere. Often we hear it in conversations as people point out to these gifts, but we are dismissive.

You need to discover and acknowledge your special gift, as it is your best way to express yourself in this life and to find meaning in your existence. If you feel challenged naming your gift, ask around you what people think your most overlooked talent is. This may change your life…and, in turn, help others discover their zones of genius. Tell a friend how his or her ability to listen is a true gift, or a colleague how his or her ideas always illuminate your horizon, or your child how he or she has a way of making you feel special. When we can all focus on our special talents, and realize our value and contribution, this will make a better world.

Presence and Leadership

“Who you are speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you are saying.” Maya Angelou

For a few years already, I have offered posts in this blog about the unique contribution individuals can make to the world and the power we all have to impact our context and the international environment more broadly. I have devoted much attention to leadership skills and self-awareness to lead from a place of integrity. I have spent much time reflecting on our unique perspectives as individuals, based on our experiences, our desires and specific strength, on how we think, feel, and act. I also ventured into the power of vulnerability, investigating how our struggles, failures, weaknesses can become our strength and how our vulnerability can be the seat of our own power. I want to write today about our unique presence.

We have all faced situations where we are called upon to help another through difficult times. We are usually more at ease with concrete actions, be it running errands or meeting specific requests, but how to just “be there” for someone is far less obvious and usually more challenging. It is a matter of holding space for someone to express feelings or simply being silent, offering a safe place. We thus become a container for someone else to pour out the overflow or simply share what is too heavy. This is when presence becomes powerful. Our presence alone may liberate others.

Your presence requires steadiness, centeredness, stability, and benevolence for another to lean in, feeling free, safe, and supported. There is no real need to talk or do anything, just be responsive without taking the lead, but still leading by allowing the other to find balance and dictate the flow of conversation. Being aware and open, you can gently steer another to find a stable place and recover his/her own balance. This type of leadership requires humility and awareness. It rests on the ability to be non-judgmental and step out of the way, realizing that this is not about us, simply allowing for the process to unfold. This is a real gift from your part; one that has not yet surfaced and found its place in international settings.