There are people whose leadership can feel peremptory and rushed, as if it were a mile wide and an inch deep. They have so many diverse responsibilities, and are trying to do so many different things well. They may feel there is not enough time for them to lead as deeply or well as they would like. There are three steps each of us can take toward deeper, more satisfying leadership. Develop your relationship to yourself. Leadership is not something... Read more
There are people who believe in following the rules. They are convinced each rule is there for a reason. They are certain following rules will keep us safe. They may not know who made the rules, or how they became rules, but they are there to be followed. Following the rules is the right way to play the game. When we do not follow the rules, who knows what could happen? There are people who have rules about spiritual life. Spiritual life may require... Read more
For longer than I can remember, I have wanted to change the world. Reading biographies and history as a boy convinced me that we write our own stories. We live in a society filled with examples of individuals who created significant change in the world. One person with strong belief and effective action could change nearly everything. With enthusiasm I studied law and public policy, then set out to make changes in the world around me. We create our society,... Read more
I know people who think becoming a leader is a result, a goal. People set out on a campaign to achieve leadership. If they accomplish their objectives each month, they will become a leader by the end of the year. They may view becoming a leader as similar to making the playoffs. If they win enough during the regular season, they can play for larger awards. They may approach becoming a leader the same way they would earn a degree or... Read more
Every moment, every thought, every memory is full of life. Each one could change everything. We fill our days with ways to avoid noticing. We worry, we regret, we become afraid, we get angry. It is as if we do not want to pay attention to the power of each experience. We spend our time skimming along the surface, intimidated by the life that fills everything. We may not want to be overwhelmed by spiritual life. We hold onto feelings of control and... Read more
We seem to live in a world more and more subject to suffering. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed. Responding to suffering has become part of our regular experience each day, each week. People suffer, whether our friends, our families, or someone we have never met on the other side of the world. Our hearts and our minds are filled with images of distress and devastation. Each new tragedy pushes those that went before it into the background. Some suffering is outside our immediate control. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes,... Read more
We want to build something with our lives. Some of us would rather build bridges than walls. Others believe good fences make good neighbors. While we have different definitions and perspectives, we each want to spend our lives building something that matters. We hope we will build a difference into the world and leave it better than we found it. Some people build things that last for thousands of years, and take hundreds of years to build. They begin without knowing... Read more
Listening is an essential quality of spiritual life. There have been times when I thought talking demonstrated how smart, how wise, how spiritual, I was. I filled the air with the sound of words. The pauses in my flow of words were opportunities to think of what to say next. I was focused on framing my next question or insight, not listening to what someone else was saying. Spiritual life changed me when I began to appreciate the value of listening. It began... Read more
There may not be a “perfect job” for me. My experience includes lots of different kinds of work, in various jobs, for diverse organizations. I have done work, and worked for companies, I did not love. One person told me one of those experiences was “the perfect job, in hell,” and that was close to true. There has been work I had to do, and now I do work I get to do. I love my work. A few years ago I... Read more
I was taught that leadership is about using what we know. We work hard to learn as much as we can. When we have the answers, we lead by putting them to work. The more I tried to know, the more it seemed there was still to learn. There was always a sense that there were more things to learn, more answers to know. It felt like it was going to take a long time to become a leader. There... Read more
Strategic Monk
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