Category: leadership

Time for boredom!

For leaders and most of us it can be challenging to find time for ourselves, separate from the outside world, to feed our inner world. I decided this year to take real time off over the holiday season. I realized that taking a break was, of course, necessary to attend to built-up stress and indulge in nurturing activities. It allowed me to push back on responsibility, play, walk, and (re)discover the joy of being lazy and the gift of boredom.

Have you noticed how we human beings thrive on novelty, and how quickly we get past novelty to find our new source of pleasure transforms into a tedious activity after a while. We get easily bored in search of new experiences. At core, life may just be about experiencing, and boredom the necessary “evil” to motivate us and drive ourselves to explore new experiments, new ideas, and summon creative energy. This may actually be THE pathway to self-awareness and inner work.

Among the key trends for today’s leadership, greater self-awareness has been identified as a must for leaders, and necessary for most of us in challenging times. Boredom may actually be your best friend! It all depends on how you CHOOSE to respond to it; whether you reach out for external drivers–possibly vices to fill the emptiness–or whether you reach within to generate your own way out. In fact, a bored mind may become the canvas against which innovation is born. It takes leadership to find your way out of boredom, but it also requires inspiration and creativity. May you all get inspired in 2019!

Taking the Lead of your Information Space

As the U.S. mid-term elections result came through all of my media outlets, I realized once more how much time and space in my life is devoted to following international news, and how little control I have in the choice of news I am getting. The longstanding practice of selecting various sources to ensure a balanced daily intake of information has been challenged by the sheer amount of information coming from an increasing number of outlets with websites and social media, in addition to printed press, television, and radio. The pervasive presence of the media is part of many people’s everyday life, and quite apart from the challenge of selecting one’s information, I am increasingly aware of the crowding experience in one’s brain and the triggering effect on our emotional state. Do you feel as I do, oversaturated to the point of seeking a break from an information overdose?

We are subjected to an insidious flow of negative and stressful news day in and day out, just as we are now discovering the addiction phenomenon with the dopamine connection of liking posts on social media and the negative impact of not getting any “likes” to our posts… As we consciously walk back from this over-stimulation to enjoy a few days of quiet and disconnect (assuming we still can), we may come to realize the miraculous impact of creating a void in our daily routines. Creating space around ourselves, emptiness, is an invitation to new things to appear in your clutter-free life.

You have a choice and an opportunity to lead the way in your own life. Research shows that news, especially images, have a direct effect on your emotions, moods, and stress levels–not to mention your relationships. Free of the constant external stimuli, you have a chance to refocus your attention inward and resort to your own imagination for stimulation, creating what you desire, rather than reacting to the soap opera unfolding around you. New ideas will present themselves to you more readily, and you may even get around to developing a more conscious relationship to the news and external entertainment, controlling the time and type of media exposure you decide to accept for yourself.

Greatness and your leadership skills

Have you noticed how you have a sense – if not a clear definition – of what greatness means in your eyes? I am willing to bet though that you tend to attribute this greatness to others rather than yourself. In fact, we often see greatness as what separates us from these great people. In reality, if you see greatness in others, it is usually that this special trait also lives in you. As we all know, “it takes one to know one!” Nonetheless, there may be a difference insofar as great people in your eyes actually manifest their greatness, standing out as they share their vision with the rest of us. They allow themselves to be their true selves in the presence of others like yourself. I would venture to say that the reason their greatness pulls you is that it lives in you. So acts of greatness reveal leadership skills as they inspire something in others.

So what does it take to let our greatness come out? Let me touch on three specific drivers of greatness, which also serve as leadership skills.

First, greatness takes a platform. People who display greatness rely upon others who are able to see them, to resonate and echo back the greatness they are witnessing. Without the echo factor to recognize, nurture and reflect this greatness, no great ideas, powerful movements and creative work would ever see the light of day. In sum, greatness never belongs to one person alone. It can only shine through the eyes of others. We never shine on our own and greatness belongs to many, as we never accomplish anything on our own in this world.

At the same time, greatness takes self-confidence–even self-love. When greatness manifests itself within, something stirs us inside. We feel a call or an urge to act. This call for action is perhaps inspired by others and likely to inspire others in turn like a chain reaction. We will only act if we feel confident enough, if we possess enough self-esteem generally to provide the courage to come out. If you ever hear of your greatness, as people mention your zone of genius, own it rather than shrink yourself into a tiny hole.

Third and last, greatness takes a bigger vision. As we own our greatness, let it be clear that it is not yours to own. Instead it is greatness reflected and echoed among many. It is ultimately the best humanity has to offer. It takes your courage; it relies on others echoing and nurturing, but it belongs elsewhere. To ensure maximum impact, it also needs a belief that greatness is part of who we are as a species. It is a way to honor others rather than the self, yet remain fully aware of our respective roles and greatness in serving others–service leadership rather than self-leadership is an inspiring way to lead.

Leadership: a time for everything

Much like in parenting, there are different phases in leadership. Let’s be clear: when you become a parent, you are parent forevermore. Well, once a leader always a leader! The job is far from static, though. As children grow, parenting roles change and you change with them. Where it really hits home is when a child graduates and leaves home. The independence of a child means an empty nest feeling for the parents. You may or may not have reached that stage–beware! Whether or not you feel good about your children’s achievements, the empty nest is a mixed feeling. You are losing a part of yourself! This may also be an exciting opportunity to rediscover who you are beside a mother-father figure, and relate to your child as a human being.

As I witnessed some of our leaders retire this summer, I noticed the feeling of disorientation facing their new freedom. I hear the feeling of losing a part of themselves, having somehow forgotten along the way that behind a leader lies an individual. This is a time to rediscover themselves. They often leave expressing pride in their teams and assuring them of their support, offering their coordinates and remaining open to hearing from those who wish to reach out. I want to say: Hurray! This is an exciting time to rediscover the true leader inside: the essence of one’s leadership.

Much like spouses with more leisure time on their hands in an empty nest, who may need to relearn how to be best friends and lovers, leaders may need to rediscover their relationship to themselves and what made them a leader in the first place, in order to move forward. And what might that be? It is a time and place of enquiry. It is about reconnecting with one’s purpose, creating a new platform, and tapping into one’s own source of energy for impact. It is often about giving back to the community we served and the family who supported us.

Do you want to know more about the essence of your own leadership? Look at my Creative Leadership Program on the left column and let’s connect at isabellefrancoisbe@gmail.com