I’m back…revamped & Inspired
Took a two-year hiatus…wasn’t feeling too inspired and for good reason. Much has happened, the pandemic being one of the major life occurrences that altered not just my life but everyone’s. The work from home thing was great for me. There wasn’t much of an adjustment there, if anything it was a lesson in pivoting and a testament to the fact that you don’t need to be in an office to get work done. But in between the pandemic and where I am today there was a lot of loss and seismic shifts that completely changed my everyday life as I knew it. The loss was real, there was death everywhere, on the news, in my circle and in my family. Never gets easier…nothing can prepare you for that kind of news, ever.
The loss wasn’t just all physical in nature, there were changes in my interpersonal and my professional life. Both caused me to evaluate the importance of aligning with people who are living an authentic life with shared core values. I wouldn’t go back and change the course of events. Yet, once you experience the effects of being misaligned for years, you see how valuable it is to not just be passionate about what you are doing and who you are doing it with, but that you are also honest about who you are and that you share the same morals and ethics. When you know better you do better. And as I have grown and learned to know better, the goal has been just that….do and be better.
So, there was a shift in professions after 18 ½ years that led me down a path of introspection about what makes a good leader. I don’t have all the answers there but have been reading quite a bit about the subject. In a book I recently finished Resonant Leadership by, Richard Boyatzis & Annie McKee, they write:
“Great leaders are awake, aware, and attuned to themselves, to others, and to the world around them. They commit to their beliefs, stand strong in their values, and live full passionate lives. Great leaders are emotionally intelligent and they are mindful: they seek to live in full consciousness of self, others, nature and society. Great leaders face the uncertainty of today’s world with hope: they inspire through clarity of vision, optimism, and a profound belief in their-and their people’s – ability to turn dreams into reality. Great leaders face sacrifice, difficulties, and challenges as well as opportunities, with empathy and compassion for the people they lead and those they serve.”
Pretty powerful, and I’d even argue that some of these qualities are just as important in our friendships and interpersonal relationships. See because the type of person you are in many ways determines the type of leader you are as well as the type of friend/partner you are.
All this matters because in those final moments of our lives what you are left with are the relationships you fostered, which directly stem from the type of person you are. The type of leader you are, the type of friend you are, and the type of partner you are…
This is all reflects where I am in life both personally and professionally. This is what I spend my time thinking about, it is the reason I revamped my site, and it is the reason why I get up every morning. So although the changes and the two year hiatus were a shock to my world it served a purpose…That I will continue to explore here.
