Tag: leaders

In the absence of human leadership

In the midst of our pandemic, I have found myself at a loss to understand the world and find my way. Dumfounded by the type of policies, regulations that have come from various national and international leaders, I disconnected and reflected upon the best way to refocus. At local level, and within communities there have been some interesting efforts to develop some humble, compassionate, and creative approaches. It is nature, however, that responded best to my needs for guidance.

We share the planet with the animal kingdom and we can turn our attention to animal activities around us to get inspired. Finding ourselves staring at a bird soaring high into the sky, we may consider looking at our situation from a greater distance.  A squirrel stashing its latest prize may remind us of our hidden places for forgotten treasure. When we feel clueless facing our challenges, we can learn to turn to an animal messenger, trusting that the planet has some answers for us, opening to a different way to look at and solve our problems, humbling ourselves and letting go of timing. The Universe has its own rhythm and timing. The solution will come at the perfect time – not our time!

In this time of pandemic, you may wish to reflect on ants and bees around, reminding you that there is no survival as individuals. They survive as members of the group, through their respective, highly specialized roles within their communities, never wishing to be something other than what they are. They are a useful symbol of self-knowledge and humility, like individual cells in your body. It may inspire you to fully own your specific skills, knowing how they can benefit all of humanity. No one can tell you what to do but if you listen from within you will find how to best serve. The world needs your individual talents to be put at the service of a community, honoring the wisdom of ants and bees. 

Time for boredom!

For leaders and most of us it can be challenging to find time for ourselves, separate from the outside world, to feed our inner world. I decided this year to take real time off over the holiday season. I realized that taking a break was, of course, necessary to attend to built-up stress and indulge in nurturing activities. It allowed me to push back on responsibility, play, walk, and (re)discover the joy of being lazy and the gift of boredom.

Have you noticed how we human beings thrive on novelty, and how quickly we get past novelty to find our new source of pleasure transforms into a tedious activity after a while. We get easily bored in search of new experiences. At core, life may just be about experiencing, and boredom the necessary “evil” to motivate us and drive ourselves to explore new experiments, new ideas, and summon creative energy. This may actually be THE pathway to self-awareness and inner work.

Among the key trends for today’s leadership, greater self-awareness has been identified as a must for leaders, and necessary for most of us in challenging times. Boredom may actually be your best friend! It all depends on how you CHOOSE to respond to it; whether you reach out for external drivers–possibly vices to fill the emptiness–or whether you reach within to generate your own way out. In fact, a bored mind may become the canvas against which innovation is born. It takes leadership to find your way out of boredom, but it also requires inspiration and creativity. May you all get inspired in 2019!

Leading from emotions

Today I want to talk about something controversial. When I developed my Creative Leadership Program, I had an interesting conversation with my coach about leading from a place of vulnerability. Indeed, among leaders and leadership coaches, the idea of leading through emotions is highly controversial. After all, ever since the century of Enlightenment, the mind is meant to be in the lead, not emotions. I have experienced a very different approach, which might serve the leaders of tomorrow.

Why did emotions get such a negative reputation? I wondered about this for a while and came to the conclusion that emotions, especially negative ones like anger, sadness, or frustration, can prompt us to lose control of our emotional state, hence this negative judgment. Indeed, powerful emotions can lead us to explode with little control over the consequences. Yet, have you ever observed the surge of energy that comes with anger or frustration, or the depth that surges with sadness? I would suggest tapping into this magma of energy to lead the way and saddle at the helm of our lives.

How, you might ask? Indeed, harnessing the power of our emotions at the height of their expression can prove difficult. This is where leadership skills are needed. We have that innate ability to feel the power of our emotions and transform that energy into healthy ways of expressing it. I have noticed how anger and sadness–possibly the two poles of the same energy–can be transformed into a source of inspiration towards bringing about the change we want to see in the world. It is no accident that having accumulated significant anger and sadness over decades, I came to develop a program on “Be the Change You Want to See” as a way to make a contribution to the world.

Similarly, you may be able to transform feelings of frustration and stress towards thinking outside of the box. Creative thinking and writing are often the result of frustrations about the way things are, and a way to discover solutions to what originally left us stymied. Perhaps the most challenging emotion to transform might be fear. The need to feel the fear and stay with it allows us to re-examine our circumstances rather than flee and find a different angle, likely to give us unexpected insight into our life.

Where might this transformative process lead us? I would venture to say that this type of leadership is based on the power to redirect the flood of emotions we all experience in life daily towards productive, artistic, or laborious pursuits. I might add that channeling our emotions into constructive action can also prevent us from re-creating and re-living the situation, event, or expectation that originally prompted us to feel negative. Essentially, this is the type of leadership that transforms the negative and spins it into positive by harnessing the energy of negative emotions. Could it be a way out of emotional pain? Indeed, pain is no longer fed by our intellectual and emotional energy once the energy is re-used and transformed. It quickly ebbs away. This type of leadership is neither conceptual nor intellectual. It is rooted in the practice of honestly acknowledging and honoring our feelings, leading from a place of vulnerability.