Callan…Coffee…Contemplation for the Week of March 2nd
Under Your Skin
In the past, I’ve stated–leadership is more caught than taught. I heard this phrase years ago concerning other forms of master craft, and I believe it is especially true about leadership. We only begin to learn leadership when we hear the call to lead, and we open to a life of leading only when we yearn to lead. We catch leadership when we, the student, are open and ready to receive the lesson. In this way, leadership, much like music and poetry, affects us under the surface. Leadership is a subcutaneous art; it has to get under your skin to move you, to resonate deeply, and to pull you forward along a life-long path of development. I believe leadership is mostly felt in the heart and soul, not in the head. Once the call to lead moves under the skin and becomes part of us then, and only then, does it begin to become real to us. Only when its affect becomes subcutaneous does who we are as a people begin to align with what we project as leaders. Leadership must get under your skin.
Once Upon a Time
I teach leadership mostly through stories because stories are the best way to learn deep truths. So, what is the teaching power of stories? First, stories have great capacity to both possess and liberate; they possess us because they are compelling and they liberate us because they uncover a long forgotten insight. Second, a good story engages all our “knowing levels”– psychological, physical, social, emotional, spiritual. Think of any great story you have heard many times before and ask yourself why, after hearing it over and over, you still listen to it to very end, even though you know the outcome. The story’s moral is what captivates us. Third, great stories put the listener in the unique learning posture of having to ask: Are the story’s morals and maxims true? More importantly, are they true to me? A great story reveals this penetrating truth: The story is really about us, and the story points to clues about our own lives. Once upon a time, understood correctly, is actually our time, today.
Things Not Seen
The longer I live the clearer I see the role of chance, luck, and invisible helping-hands in my life. In my past, as events happened, these elements were mostly unseen. I suppose they were not seen because early in life, with my gaze set sternly towards the horizon and my ego mostly in control, I tended to credit events to, well, myself. We all tend to think we make it on our own through sheer will and determination. And no doubt; willpower is vital. However, as we grow as leaders and become more discerning we begin to see the role of hidden gifts in our lives. When I look back at all the people impacting my life I see clearly the unseen givers who provided gifts of friendship, mentorship, camaraderie, and companionship. These hidden gifts, these things not seen, were fundamental to my growth, maturation, and texture as a man and as a leader. So I am constantly reminding myself of this truth: Things not seen fully today, or a stroke of blind luck tomorrow, may in the future be the very things that make all the difference.
Whose Business Is It?
In today’s workplace there’s a growing tendency to see leadership, and the actions of devoted leaders, as somehow prying into other people’s lives. I sometimes see people react negatively to genuine acts of mentorship by saying or implying, “stay out of my business.” To which I can only say this: There is no such thing as your own business when it comes to leading. Through whatever sad means, our society has become a fundamentally confused and highly offended lot. We confuse positive engagement with prying; we confuse purposeful stewardship with meddling; we confuse dedicated coaching with violating one’s rights. Have we really become this thin skinned and victimized? Would a devoted parent ever say their child’s life is not their business? Surely not a good parent. Likewise, a great leader should never say the lives of his people are not his business. For heroic leaders, there’s no such thing as your own business.
Are We There Yet?
My sister recently sent me an old photo of our family packed into a 1970’s era station wagon driving from Boston down to Cape Cod. As I looked at the photo I tried to imagine what was being said in that car, but more than likely, it was something like, “Are we there yet?” This reminiscence made me think of our journey as leaders. We start early, pack our bags and leave home, and travel to a distant destination. As we move along the road we experience many sights, sounds, and changing geography. We speed up and slow down, stop for fuel, change the tires maybe. And at each juncture of the journey we ask ourselves: Are we there yet? Though we’ve come a long way, somehow we don’t feel as if we’ve yet arrived. So we re-enter the journey and press on ahead. And the moral of this little story? In the pursuit of excellence, we become keenly aware that the miles we still have to travel are much greater than the miles we’ve already covered.
Check back next Monday for a round up of this week’s social media shares. Or check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or Pinterest to see our posts every day!
Tweet Share