Know Thyself - Written By Derek Olsen

A premise to any leadership development effort is that you cannot change who you fundamentally are, therefore much of our development works to expand awareness about ourselves. Even if you could change yourself into some "superior" being, it would most likely be at the cost of the naturally creative, resourceful and whole person you already are.

According to Greek lore, inscribed on the ancient Temple of Apollo, was the phrase "Know Thyself ", Warren Bennis states that this "is still the most difficult task any of us faces.  But until you truly know yourself, your strengths and weaknesses, know what you want to do and why you want to do it, you cannot succeed in any but the most superficial sense of the word.  When you know what you consist of and what you want to make of it, then you can invent yourself.".

Your strengths and weaknesses may not be what you think they are. We all have blind spots, parts of ourselves that we don't see clearly. Learning about your blind spots requires a relatively objective perspective about yourself, which often requires being willing to receive feedback. To be given honest feedback requires transparency, vulnerability and humility on your part, so if your weaknesses are in those areas, you may want support.

In the workplace (and at school and home for some of us) attention can be focused on fixing what seems to be broken, or on what's perceived as being wrong with us. Call it an "opportunity for development" or "area of growth potential" or whatever else you want to call it, there's nothing wrong with having a weakness, and it may always be your weakness, so accept it. In fact, your greatest strengths may be a result of your greatest weaknesses. Conversely, your greatest strengths may also create your greatest weaknesses. Keep your eye on your weaknesses and let your team know about them as a way of demonstrating accountability, self awareness and transparency.

In the book Strengths Finder 2.0, Tom Rath says strength is "the result of your natural talent multiplied by the effort you invest developing it". Your talents, or core strengths, have been obvious to the people around you for your whole life. When you were hired, it was your strengths that lifted you above the other interviewees who had resumes equal or better than yours.  They are what people love and appreciate mos about you, they are what you know you were in some way born to contribute.  Our gifts are given to us to be shared by all, so dig deeply and share freely.

Callings-By Carol Zizzo

I spent my rainy Saturday morning watching two old movies: Frida and Billy Elliot. One is a biographical drama of famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, the other a fictional drama of the 11-year-old son of a British coal miner who wants to practice ballet instead of boxing. 

Both Frida and Billy had to face seemingly overwhelming obstacles to follow their calling. Frida experienced a lifetime of physical pain and disability caused by a childhood bus accident, lived a controversial lifestyle, and spent 25 years in a tumultuous marriage. Billy was marginalized by his community and was initially forbidden to dance by his father, who wanted him to box.  

Neither the artist nor the dancer stopped. They were not discouraged by lack of public acceptance or resources, or concerned with whether they could carve a living out of their gift. They answered the call, the drive, to work at what they loved. 

Author Gregg Levoy, in his book Callings, describes a calling this way:

“…[it is an] organism, a living entity, with an animus all its own. It exerts a centrifugal force on our lives, continually pushing out from within. It drives us toward authenticity and aliveness, against the tyranny of fear and inertia and occasionally reason, and it is metered by the knocking in our hearts that signals the hour. If we are at all faithful to our calls, to the driving force of soul in our lives, it will lead us to a point of decision. Here we must decide whether to say yes or no, now or later, ready or not. And it will keep coming back until we give it an answer.”

Biographical or fiction, I am inspired by people who persevere in the face of no support and follow the call to contribute their gifts. I am inspired by leaders who say yes to their passion, whether immediately or eventually.

Transparency

In our work we speak to the importance of transparency.  We say "if you don't tell people what is going on with you, they will make it up".  In times of great change, transparency serves in creating trust, clarity, and certainty among your team, with your clients and customers.  It is in this spirit we post this blog. 


A piece of writing by Dede about her experience at the ISA conference March 2011, six months after the death of her daughter.

"Here I am at the Camelback resort in Scottsdale, AZ, attending the ISA annual conference.  Last year, I learned so much from my colleagues and peers I was bursting with enthusiasm and ideas for growing our company.

This year is different.  It has not yet been six months since my daughter's death.  I came back to my room in tears after attending the morning session.  Nothing in particular had unhinged me. Or was it Bev tenderly touching my hair and telling me how sorry she is? Was it the look of shock and compassion in Jeff's eyes as I shared with him what had happened?  Was it Sean's courage in joining me at an otherwise empty lunch table, perhaps knowing the conversation would be hard?

Perhaps it is too soon. or perhaps it is not.  There is no instruction book that goes with grieving the loss of a child.  What would it say? "Stay close to home for the first six months?" Or, "Do not attempt to mingle in a "meet and greet" crowd of 50 or greater for the first year?" No.  This is a wilderness that each of us navigates one footfall at a time. Finding here the soil is steady, here it falls away like sand.  Patience is called for.  A willingness to slow down, then slow down even more.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes calls this being, "Instinct injured." The old reliability and ways of knowing myself are gone for now.  I do not know what comes next in this terrain. I bow to my own courage in coming."

I, along with many others, honor her courage, her perseverance and her ongoing commitment to the delivery of transformational leadership development.  In the wake of grief she has continued to step fully into being a leader of our company, launched The Carly Henley Project,  walked unknown terrain, and has repeatedly chosen to believe that indeed "Love Wins".