Leading Like a Monk: Living on the Edge of the World

The Edge of the World

A lot of the leaders I know like to feel they are out in front, on the cutting edge of the world. They have this picture in their heads of themselves with a long line of people behind them. As a leader, they want to take people beyond the everyday into something extraordinary.

Leaders like to feel they are stepping off the regular path toward something exciting and new.

They want to believe they are leading the rest of us out on the edge of the world.

There is something exciting and dramatic about being at the edge of the world. It feels like we have left so many others behind and are blazing a new, innovative trail.

Leaders want their leadership to make a difference, to take us further and higher. When we believe in the value and significance of leadership, it can make all the difference.

The edge of the world can be a good place to be. We put the past behind us and step into the future. The edge of the world is where we leave behind whatever holds us back.

One challenge of leading at the edge of the world can be losing touch with everyday life. Our leadership not only needs to be innovative, it needs to be practical.

We cannot allow ourselves to get too far ahead of the people we lead. They need to be able to see us and we need to be able to see them.

Leadership is about everyday life on the edge of the world. We combine vision and accomplishment, changing things and making things happen.

Monastic Life on the Edge of the World

Many of the monasteries I have visited are in remote places. They may not be at the edge of the world, but you can often see it from there.

It is true there are monastic communities, and monks, in more populated urban areas.  Often, though, the communities I visit are in the desert or the mountains.

We tend to identify monastic communities with heading into the wilderness, away from other people. Monks work hard to set aside distractions and temptations while they focus on their priorities.

Monastic life recognizes our lives are full of challenges for us to overcome. It is structured to help monks come to understand and deal with these challenges.

Like other leaders, the monks I know sometimes feel they are on the edge of the world.

It can be helpful, in some ways, to be out away from other people. We set aside what distracts us so we can concentrate. There are times when we just need to listen to ourselves think.

Like leaders, living on the edge of the world does not really separate monks from distractions. Whatever disturbs us is not in the world around us, but in our own minds.

We need to pay attention as we walk on our journey. A false step can cause us to trip and fall, to be lost.

Monastic life, even in remote places, follows a rhythm and structure which helps us face life. Like monks, leaders see themselves reflected in the people and world around them.

The distractions they face are reflections of themselves.

The challenge for us, monks and leaders and the rest of us, is to remember where we are.

Where is the Edge of the World?

We enjoy feeling we are at the edge of the world, where no one else has been before. The feeling of being explorers and pioneers exhilarates us. Standing at the edge of the world we prepare ourselves to jump off into the universe.

We appreciate the idea we are making progress, going further than we have in the past.

The fact is we are always at the edge of the world. Each day, each moment we look out into the void striving to go further.

Wherever we are is the edge of the world.

We stand at the boundary of our experience, the frontier of the past and the future. Leaders and monks both help us decide whether to head back, into the past, or forward. Again and again and again, we chose to explore the future.

We are leaders standing on the shoulders of giants, monks in a monastery at a precipice.

Our anxieties and insecurities may keep us hugging the group under our feet. We recognize, though, our difficult decision is not really a choice at all.

Balancing on the edge of the world, poised on the verge, we know why we are here. There is no turning back, there is no returning to the past.

The edge of the world is where our future begins.

What Are We Doing at the Edge of the World?

We are here at the edge of the world, at the top of the mountain.

When we are tired or discouraged we get stuck in the idea we have a choice to make. The complexities and significance of making a decision may overwhelm us.

What will we decide to do? Which choice will we make?

The fact is we have already decided, already chosen.

We embarked on our spiritual leadership journey before we knew we were at the edge of the world. Our steps have taken us, one at a time, from there to here. Each step gave us its own gifts, taught us its own lessons.

We have traveled from where we began to here without really moving. Our journey is a trip of awakening, of realization.

We are, and have always been, here at the edge of the world.

It is not necessary for us to choose our next step. We stand, leaders and monks looking over the rest of the world. We do not need to take another step.

Here we spread our wings and soar away.

How are you living on the edge of the world today?

Where have you chosen to go from here? What is your next step?

[Image by alaskapine]

Greg Richardson is a spiritual life mentor and leadership coach in Southern California. He is a recovering attorney and university professor, and a lay Oblate with New Camaldoli Hermitage near Big Sur, California. Greg’s website is StrategicMonk.com, and his email address is StrategicMonk@gmail.com.