It is easy to see leadership as something urgent and immediate. Decisions needs to be made. Performance needs to be evaluated. Goals needs to be set. Action needs to be taken. Something must be done right away; it takes a leader to get it done. We forget that leadership is not completed when we take action. Leadership is not only immediate. I have read, heard, and watched stories of leadership for longer than I can remember. The examples of leaders... Read more
There are people who feel responsible to be beyond perfect. They believe that everything, and everyone, depends on them. They need to be strong, they need to be wise, they need to be right, no matter what they face. Without them, nothing would work the way it is supposed to work. They are essential to whatever they do. The future of organizations, families, other people rests on them being beyond perfect. They have no margin for error, no room to... Read more
There are people who feel responsible to be beyond perfect. They believe that everything, and everyone, depends on them. They need to be strong, they need to be wise, they need to be right, no matter what they face. Without them, nothing would work the way it is supposed to work. They are essential to whatever they do. The future of organizations, families, other people rests on them being beyond perfect. They have no margin for error, no room to... Read more
We begin our lives in ways that are beyond our control. We are born into families, into communities, into circumstances we do not choose. We spend our lives working to make something of ourselves, to uncover what we have the potential to become. Life is a process we do not finish; we run out of time. I was brought up to believe in results, solutions, answers. You worked as hard and as well as you could to earn the rewards of... Read more
For some people, leadership is getting other people to do things for you. For others, leaders are people who accomplish goals. Some people see leaders as people out in front, leading the charge. Some people see leaders as conductors, orchestrating the performance of the people around them. For some, the essential quality for a leader is being clear, articulating a vision and the steps to carry it forward. Others see that leaders need to be analytical, sorting out the complicated motivations... Read more
I believe in the power of listening. We live in a time when listening has gone out of fashion. We give our lives their own soundtracks so we do not need to listen to the life around us. We wrap our minds in memories, regrets, and fantasies about the future. We distract ourselves from the pain of feeling hopeless and afraid. We act as if listening will only make us feel worse. We remove ourselves. We have stopped listening. I can... Read more
We trust we can work things out. We appreciate wise advice and suggestions. No one can force us to accept a truth we have not worked out for ourselves. There is something about the experience of doing our own work that develops our convictions. We may be primarily analytical, or intuitive, or emotional; we trust our own process. We approach questions in our own unique way, and are not confident about an answer until we have. We believe in our ability to work... Read more
Some people think that leadership is primarily about avoiding responsibility. They perceive leaders as wanting to be seen when things are going well, but hard to find when things do not go according to plan. They see people in leadership positions who are only willing to come out of their offices to take credit for other people’s work. The leaders who inspire me walk around. They know themselves well enough to share who they really are with the people around them. Leaders require balance to... Read more
You and I are walking together. We may be headed in different directions, toward different destinations. Your way may seem gentle, with plenty of opportunities to stop and rest, while I am struggling through obstacles. I may feel the sun on my face and a warm breeze while you are headed into darkness. One of us may be traveling familiar ground, while the other feels hopelessly lost. Still, we are walking together. We each have our own journey, face our own... Read more
We are driven to work by insecurity and desire. We are told to be nervous about becoming irrelevant. We are urged to keep our skills and experience up to date. We are advised that we could lose our livelihood, and our retirement, at any moment. We are anxious that technology, or foreign competition, or other unforeseen circumstances, could put us out of work. We are told that we need to be willing to work hard to earn what we want to have.... Read more
Strategic Monk
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