Welcome to November!
In October, we focused on Energizing Your Team; in November, we’re turning our attention to Wisdom, Reflection, and Leadership Philosophies. We’re slowing down just enough to look back, sit with what we’ve learned, and ponder the question that thoughtful leaders often wrestle with:
What do I believe about leadership?
This month, I am borrowing pages from my clients’ playbooks, quite literally. Over the years, leaders I work with have shared passages, quotes, books, and ideas that resonated with them. Some have been dog-eared, underlined, and scanned. Some have been texted to me at 7am on a Tuesday. Some have been replies to these VERY Thought Partner Fridays. All of them have stayed with me. (And I’ve saved them!)
So this month, I thought I would hand the mic to them. The resources and reflections you will see over the next three weeks are ones my clients have shared with me and offered as part of our conversations about what it means to lead well.
My goal is simple: to amplify voices beyond my own and to share the wisdom that is already circulating in rooms where leadership is happening.
We start today with a passage from a book one of my clients introduced me to years ago. Thanks, John K; I hope you’re reading this week!
It’s #17 from the Tao Te Ching. Read slowly.
When the Master governs, the people
are hardly aware that he exists.
Next best is a leader who is loved.
Next, one who is feared.
The worst is one who is despised.
If you don’t trust the people,
you make them untrustworthy.
The Master doesn’t talk, he acts.
When his work is done,
the people say, “Amazing:
we did it, all by ourselves!”
Tao Te Ching, translation by Stephen Mitchell
Whew! There’s a lot of wisdom and reflection packed into those few lines.
But that image – we did it, all by ourselves! – hits me every time.
A leader whose touch is so light, whose trust is so complete, that people walk away from the work feeling as though it was entirely their own is…
Leadership Mastery.
Consider this today:
– When you think about the leaders who had the greatest impact on you, did they make you feel capable or codependent?
– As you evolve, what type of leader are you becoming?
I would love to know how this landed with you. Reply and tell me. Now you know I really do read the stuff you tell me to read, and I save the stuff you send me 😉!
Hey John K., reply and let me know you read this!