Wholesome leadership
Creating positive change and impact with leadership can only happen in case of it being wholesome.
Definition of wholesome leadership to me is about mastery and skillful usage of four different personal levels of us showing up in our lives.
1) Spiritual intelligence
2) Emotional intelligence
3) Cognitive intelligence
4) Body intelligence
While describing how all of those contribute to wholeness is a topic for longer post, an article perhaps, then this time I simply want to emphasize the fact that leadership can only be as grounded and impactful as is the level of your weakest link.
Many of leaders have very uneven distribution between mentioned four personal attributes.
Being very educated, let’s say 10/10 does not mean a thing if for example you at your body level which is the manifestation of your spirit don’t show up on daily basis as a leader or you don’t practice empathy or do not understand the interconnectedness of us all.
Journey of a leader is one where the road does not get narrower, it gets wider. Covering all bases is unavoidable looking to score a home run or to advance the cause of your team.
Getting to more wholesome is the way how to spiral up.
Are you ready to descend on career ladder to grow as human?
Owner, shareholder, founder, coach, mentor, director, member of advisory board, head of board, strategist, leader, lecturer, teacher … These are all roles that I have been and still am identified by.
For most of us, such titles are connected to the destinations of their journeys. A sight ahead and arriving at any of those simultaneous roles is often thought to be the beginning of the rest of the life. Good life. That is part of what success is sold to be in our culture.
Every mountainclimber at the same time knows that reaching the peak and achieving your ultimate goal is really being half-way there.
Climbing the peak can feel like path of pressure to achieve your objective. If our inner World could be mirrored I would compare this part of the journey as water in the pool after someone has just jumped inside. Disturbed from it’s natural state but in fact important to be able to return to the state of peace knowing it can be distorted to other forms.
What happens after peak?
I think for many, truth is revealed about what is next. This is not the moment of arriving. This is a moment where you can start erasing your disillusion. You can start redecorating but not breaking down your built separation into connection. The beginning of letting go.
Understanding of what is our natural way of being can follow. Achieving man can often be unconscious about his clinging thought patterns and habbits. As our awareness grows we will be more present.
Being ready for descending will provide insights of what balance can be like and what ultimately is of value in our human experience.
Don’t let our society’s culture disillusion your heart. It knows everything before you learn and unlearn what success is pictured to be.
True achievement for mountain climber is arriving back at home where the journey began from.
I am someone who has learned to trust God and it’s miracles to guide me so I am still unaware if next thing for me is being the prime minister or a kindergarden teacher but I am quite convinced that I am on my descending path learning to enjoy less and less and can feel more and more fulfillment and eudaimonia as I see myself proceeding on that journey.
Negative sensations
As of late I have recognized my inability to accept and be patient about negative emotions or negative sensations. Most of my past has been keeping me informed about the need to always have the answers and always strive. Always to immediately find ways out of discomfort.
As of late I have found out that not escaping but accepting negative sensations is what leads to progress. Escaping leads to getting stuck.
In my previous leadership roles I have had success despite this notice. I think the big difference is that if you are not vulnerable and accepting of both, the shadow and the light then it is really hard to sustain long term connection and progress. In short to mid term it is possible but at one point you will reach a dead end.
Mastering surrender and trust to both sides and listening to whispers of negative sensations for sure leads to progress made as a leader. Leads to life better lived as a person. Leads to service.
Timing is everything
Tell me something more obvious right… But still.
One can get very different results with the same idea, with the same actions.
Make sure that… you validate the quality of your ideas substance, think through the execution and when everything seems to be on point… make sure to also weigh in on timing match to the surrounding conditions.
Characteristics of Transformative leadership
There are 8 main characteristics to describe human physique: Agility, Speed, Balance, Strength, Explosiveness, Flexibility, Coordination and Endurance.
From zero to ten one will perform at a certain level on all of them all the time. Those numbers will change accordingly to the work you put in and through specific training. Some of them have overlapping benefits, some will face opposing directions- when one progresses the other one regresses.
It is impossible to get 10/10 on all 8 categories. One must make prioritizing choices. Those decisions will decide what kind of a body and skillsets you have. What is your style.
It is not hard to pick one tool where you want to max out. It is hard to find the right balance between all 8. Challenge is to combine together the toolbox that supports set aims like longevity and being able to run from a saber-toothed tiger.
Similarly to our bodies and it’s described characteristics there are characteristics for transformative leadership. Kind of a leadership that can pick up something that is stuck in between, where motivation and joy have gone low and create something everlasting and beautiful for everyone involved and everyone who gain value through that product or service.
Can you name such characteristics under commentary?
Trapped energy
As you take on a big and infinite role you reserve part of yourself. A proportion of time out of your day. Borrow capacity from your limited amount of thoughts per day, limited amount of words per day.
As you progress through that endless journey you experience wins and losses. Bad thing about wins is that they are forgotten very cuickly. Worse thing about defeats is that something always sticks.
As you progress on an infinite task those sticky pieces of bad energy accumulate over time. Slowly it starts to wear you down. Gets harder and harder to keep that light shining in your eyes.
From time to time even just cause and good companion can’t make up for those built up stickybombs.
If that’s the case, you feel like you are more and more trapped, less and less free.
Best decision to make in that situation is to leave and believe that around the next corner is a step forward. Another lesson, another expression of love!
You know you have worked for exactly that!