2012 #1 Leadership Behavior: Manage the White Space Better

…Or in some cases let there be white space.

Whether you are leading your business, life or family, I suggest exercising more of just one behavior that can make all the difference: manage the white space. This means:

• Giving yourself more breathing room
• Exercising the option to say no more
• Not jam-packing your day by scheduling every minute

If you’re like me – a recovering perfectionist – I sometimes schedule down time – I block an hour or two, a day or a week.

Allow downtime where you do things to foster:

• Insight
• Integration
• Reflection
• Creativity
• Renewal and Energy

If you can’t manage yourself and your own energy, then you can’t manage or lead your constituents: whether they are your board, employees, customers, spouse or children.

Since all relationships ultimately are connected to the relationship you have with yourself, and you are all you can control – it starts and ends with you.

The white space is the seed that ultimately leads to being more present. The ability to be more present will give you all the rest: answers and support you need to manage whatever comes up this year.

If 2011 was a year of challenge and transformation, 2012 promises to be a year of possibility – integrating and solving the seemingly impossible…magic!

© Copyright 2012 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.         www.sagelead.com

Re-Creating Yourself: Eat, Pray, Love is Not a Fad for Me

By this I mean recreation, not reinventing your career. I mean having real downtime so you can come back to your problems and challenges with renewed energy and different insight. AND ENJOY your life – AND the PROCESS of your life.
Yesterday was my birthday so I took the day off. I usually do on this day. If you can’t take it off on your birthday, then when can you? Afterall, if you can’t celebrate you, how can you expect anyone else to?

What did I do? In modern, American terms: NOTHING. NO-THING.

Nothing PRODUCTIVE.

I slept in, lounged around while my husband serenaded me on guitar. I picked up my bongo drum and joined in. I meditated, did yoga, wrote in my journal, and got my family (teenagers, sans electronics) to go for a hike in the woods with me. Sounds very hippish? It was a heavy dose of taking in and reflection. And then I topped it off with a high calorie, decadent dinner out – lava cake and all!

No, I am not recreating the movie Eat, Pray, Love. I’ve been doing this on my birthday all my life. The key is to periodically do this throughout the year. I work hard and am a driver by nature plunked down into a culture that reinforces these attirbutes. So, if I don’t manage myself – who will? The rewards are integration and renewal… and living from a full versus depleted cup.
Pick a day in the week where you are intentionally NOT productive and do all the things you love. Experiencing productivity withdrawal? Guilt? Then start small and pick at least an hour or 30 minutes. This nothing thing is actually productive. I dare ya. Try it.

Copyright 2010 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights reserved. www.sagelead.com

A Chance Meeting For An Aspiring Scientist Thought Leader

The article in The Huffington Post today by Robert Lanza is interesting, not just because of his provocative message – scientist are now starting to work on experiments that explore the thought that perhaps we are more than purely physical – maybe even spiritual. (We know we have consciousness in a way that no other creature on earth does) – but also because of the heartwarming story he tells about the day he just hopped the trolley and went to Harvard because he wanted to meet a Harvard doctor who could help him with his experiment. It sounds like a scene from a movie.

Dr. Lanza implies that this encounter was a seed for reinforcement of his lifelong quest to understand more about life through scientific inquiry.

When Stephen Kuffler, the “world-famous” neurobiologist engages Robert, the boy, he doesn’t “shush” him away but instead he listens to him and invites him inside the building where he does indeed introduce him to one of his colleagues. It’s a very human moment that we come to understand had a profound impact on Dr. Lanza. One wonders if this scene happened today, would the individual be too busy answering emails or trying to secure grants to give an aspiring next generation scientist’s brave inquiry and venture any attention – let alone invite a stranger into the building?

What can you do today to listen to, or inspire a tween or teen to pursue their questions or dreams? Just think, if Bill Gates or Steve Jobs didn’t pursue their curiosity and drive while coming of age, what would we all be typing on?

Copyright 2010 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights reserved. www.sagelead.com

Being Present is A Necessary Characteristic of The Sage Leader

We are human and it takes something cracking us open to be present sometimes – or to really get something. It’s not about being present every moment. That is not realistic. It’s more about doing it more and recovering more quickly when we find ourselves not present, zoning out or hiding from what is really happening.

The greatest tragedy is that we often miss the beauty that is around us in all ways everyday. Usually this awakening happens through our connections or disconnections – relationships – with one another.

A friend of mine is running her own business and trying to juggle it this week while spending time with her father in his last days as he lay in the hospital gravely ill. She captures this awakening so brilliantly on her blog.

Thank you Liz for helping us all have a moment of pause.

What is your moment of pause today? I am looking out my window appreciating the brilliant blue of the sky and early green buds of spring. Heaven on earth. As I sit here at my computer, it helps me feel more connected to nature.

© Copyright Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights reserved. www.sagelead.com

Tiger Woods, Authenticity and Real Leadership - Part 2

There are a number of significant differences with Tiger’s situation. He has taken time out to reassess his life through intensive therapy. He apologized and acknowledged that he thought he was entitled – he doesn’t get to play by different rules than everyone else. I have never heard such sentiments from a powerful public figure. He apologized to the children for whom he is a role model. He appears genuine.

The road to true transformation is messy and chaotic with no quick fixes. He acknowledged he is at just the very beginning of this process. The challenge of any great leader who is at the top of their field is to not to allow their ego to run their life. When their success comes with a lot of money and a lot of people riding on this money, the stakes and temptations are even higher.

My biggest hope for Tiger’s reform is in his approach – taking full accountability for his actions and trying to protect his family from further damage and exposure – and above all else where he rests his ultimate solution – to rebalance his spiritual life with his professional life. He is looking to reclaim his spiritual foundation and values – and recognizes he can’t do it alone. He needs the support and help of the very same people he has disappointed. This humility is the way of the sage leader.

Ultimately, I am with Elin – true atonement comes over time seeing a real change in behavior. Tiger has made the necessary first step – asking for forgiveness. This requires something on all our parts – understanding and giving him and his family privacy to journey through this difficult process.

For the judges in the audience, please remember the great adage: all saints were once sinners and all sinners can be saints.

© Copyright Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC

A Recipe To Rekindle Your Spirits For The Holidays

Courtesy of the Institute of HeartMath:

“Into your heart, pour generous quantities of love and care. Stir gently and sincerely. If the mixture is lumpy, add compassion and forgiveness and continue stirring ’til the lumps are dissolved. You may find bubbles of hope rising to the surface. Taste-testing at this point is encouraged. Although you will find the mixture already flavorful, you can enhance it by adding appreciation.
Appreciation for the qualities of your heart, for friends and family, or for this special time of year are all excellent flavor choices. Garnish with a sprig of joy and serve in large spoonfuls to everyone you meet this holiday season.”

A Different Kind of Leadership – or Life Purpose – Assessment

Being a professional in the field of leadership and organization assessments, I have seen everything – instruments that have been rigorously validated by Ivy League PHds to those that have been thrown together using color coding by amateurs. I am always on the lookout for something unique, meaningful, relevant and with some level of rigor and science behind it.

Last year while attending the National Association of Energy Psychology’s Conference in Alberquerque, NM, I met Roberta Coker, who was administering Hand Dynamics’ Life Purpose Fingerprint Assessement. I consider myself an open skeptic – always exploring new and different things with a critical eye. At first I thought, “Okay, this looks like some new age ‘who hoo’ thing.”

After she administered my handprint, explained it’s meaning, and I questioned her methods – I was sold on there being some validity to this assessment.

This system is based on empirical data, like modern psychology. It’s been around for 30 + years. It’s not predictive, like a fortune teller. But it can give you useful information outlining a blueprint of your inclinations, potential and nature – at a soul level. I know this word “soul” is not very “corporate,” but think of it as something core to who you are at a deep level.

It’s methods are based on those used by the FBI to identify unique characteristics. Your fingerprint patterns, unalterable and unchanging since 5 months prior to your birth, are coded in your DNA. With all the change happening in the world, isn’t it nice to know that at at least your fingerprints don’t change? For more information, check out Roberta’s website for not “just another tool” to help with cultivating self-awareness & understanding.

Her methods are based on the work of Richard Unger.

Copyright 2009 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC www.sagelead.com

Can we Have Real Commitment without Spirit?

I am breaking the last (?) taboo of “the corporate world” – to talk about energy, spirit – those intangibles that we all know exist – that really move us, give us meaning, and make a difference in how we are, how we feel, how we think and how we behave. Every leader and organization wants people’s passion and commitment. Who wouldn’t? But guess what? We are messy, complex, contradictory HUMAN beings and sometimes the road to desire – achieving what we want - is a rocky one. Can we have real commitment without people’s emotions, spirit, energy? Emotion is energy in motion. You don’t have this, you are stuck. This is the stuff we need to move, shape and create our world. Sometimes we have to walk through the mud – vent, disagree, etc. – before we get to the clarity and true agreement. This is sustainable growth – working with what is really going on, on all levels.
“Growth” is an interesting word. Growth can be hard work and painful – it doesn’t always feel good. But sometimes we need a kick in the butt to get out of our comfort zone. Boy was my “growth spurt” uncomfortable for me! It felt like a spurt on steroids. I had to be almost hit over the head to get a perspective on what I could and couldn’t control. But growth can also be fun, joyous and energizing. It’s all of life. To get the results you’re after with yourself, your team or your business, you can’t do this just in your head, you also need to be fully present - in your body and engage your emotions. …and to invite and give permission for others to do this.
When you show up for work on Monday morning, guess what? You bring all of you – head, heart and body. And at the end of the day, amidst bosses, colleagues, spouses, kids, friends - you are your starting and ending point. You can only change you.
But you, you can change!
So, hang on and come on an adventure with me! Let’s blow open the doors of our assumptions and mental models of who we are and how our life or our world should be – to get to what all of it is and can be!
Copyright 2009 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC