Leadership and intelligence, redux

    Sometime ago, I shared my thoughts on Leadership and Intelligence as critical pillars for self development and the environment around us.  When I wrote the first thoughts, it was more of a view from something I recalled being shared with me a decade or so ago. It never left me and had such a profound impact on everything, I had to get out my thoughts.  Since then, I have had some great conversations about the deep meaning of how this has affected me and our world. Others have shared their personal journey and I can confidently say that I have never had the same conversation. These interactions  have all been insightful as everyone has a view and it has been shaped from their earliest days to our current time.  
    I decided to create this follow up because I believe leadership is one the most critical disciplines we need right now in the world.  Every news story, every image, and every time we see individuals across the world attempting to help us navigate through crises and challenges we should observe deeply what is happening.  
     I have had a personal aspiration to become a better leader for my entire life.  I equated early that leadership was connected to service and personal development.  I had many people (especially when I was younger) tell me that I wasn't a leader that fit into the world’s template.  They were right,(when I was younger, I took it as a personal affront) I didn’t fit into any prescribed model. Neither do you. You have shaped your personal leadership style through your experiences, that can’t be fit into a stereotype. You encounter leadership situations every day of your life, regardless of whether you have your name in any kind hierarchy box with a title with several words, you still lead.  Here are some elements for us all to consider:

Self Leadership
      Every day your example of self leadership inspires and creates an example for this world and the people around you. “What kind of leadership example do I convey” is a question I ask when it comes to my personal daily leadership.  When I don’t workout, how am I developing myself? When I don’t read (not talking about consuming, nuanced difference), how am I growing? You get the idea. Everything from spirituality, work, family, health, education, are some ways we need to lead within ourselves.  This will help us when the opportunity to lead presents itself, which it will daily in a myriad of ways.  

Servant Leadership
     There are amazing books throughout history that exemplifies what this means.  It can sometimes be hard for us to do this as we float into a “Fixed Mindset” (Carol Dweck’s book “Mindset” gives us insight) posture.   Ask yourself as you respond to a challenging moment “Is this a time to help or heal or am I internalizing this”. Both things could be happening, but our response is the key thing to consider.  “How can I help this person, situation” is one of the first questions we can ask ourselves and others.  

      This is not an attempt to give every scenario and be a primer on how to be a leader, it was my hope that we observe leadership more closely,  Every conservation at work, amongst our network, our church, our politics, our world should be viewed with an eye toward authenticity.  In these times, it is one of the things we can perceive with our heart.

Look for thoughts on intelligence soon.  It has morphed from what I intended in the original post.  

Thank you and stay safe. -WW

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