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There are masses of people trying to help, coach and fix others, when our opportunity is to start with ourselves. What is your question? Do you know?
Are you a leadership pioneer?
"There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self." – Aldous Huxley
In many current situations, we have dumbed ourselves down so much in our interactions with others that we expand energy walking in endless circles, instead of addressing the issues at hand.
In business today, organizations spend more than 50% of their time trying to fix problems they create themselves. It's insane. Did you really go to school, get an education, have a career development plan to spend your time in endless meetings to fix problems?
We are so scared of conflict or offending someone that too often, we forget how to have honest and beautiful conversations that unite us. That is our biggest missed opportunity today.
Imagine you are sitting in one of these meetings, and inside yourself, you are amazed that you are having yet another conversation about a problem that should have been resolved by now. You know it's someone's agenda to keep this discussion going but you don't even know what the point is anymore. Actually, everyone in the room knows it. You've been in so many side meetings about why you are still trying to solve this problem.
And yet, here you all are rehashing it again, and again, and again. Your mind drifts to more important issues and the real work you actually need to get done today. You know that in 90-minutes you will be out of this meeting and can get your work started. And you sigh to yourself wondering why this happens so often, and catch someone else's gaze across the table and know they are feeling the same. You smile at each other and shrug your shoulders. At least you are not alone in your silenced suffering.
The reality is every one will smile. Tensions may get high. But no one will address the undercurrent issues. Some people may even fall asleep during the meeting as a way to cope.
It's like that shampoo commercial that tells you to:
Wash. Rinse. Repeat. It can be a cycle we follow.
Related: Are You a 21st Century Leader?
To gain sanity , imagine, you can walk in the room knowing that everyone in that meeting shares a purpose and is focused on what the business needs. We all know that when we come together, we can create amazing things in the world. We look at a problem, and stop. We've had enough of tinkering. We remember why we got that degree and what our own bigger purpose in the world is. We understand that we must voice our opinion and find our voice. And if this is not the place that appreciates what we have to say, there are others. We have a mindset of a conscious 21st century leader who understands that with 7.4 billion people on this planet, we have choice and that we are the ones who can create with others rather than take up a hammer and start fixing what is cracking. We can step out of the circle and create.
Our world desperately needs the pioneers who would walk into the first meeting and ask, what is the question? The leaders who would not continue to reshuffle the deck chairs on a sinking ship. They would know that words are not enough, and that Vitamin Em - Empathy - will go along away in leading ourselves and others. We must first know ourselves before we try to help others and that is part of the challenge in today's world.
There are masses of people trying to help, coach and fix others, when our opportunity is to start with ourselves.
What is your question?