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Feature Article: Break Through to Greatness
"Take any step toward our destiny through creative action..The universe
turns towards us, realizing we are here, alive, and about to make our mark."
David Whyte
This month's edition highlights the choice we all have to break through to greatness - that upgrade
from good to excellent, the conscious choice to leave the path of mediocrity and discover our "best self." It is about
honoring life and devoting ourselves to what is worthy. One of my heroes, business philosopher Peter Koestenbaum, says
that greatness is the decision to live, to say yes to the life force, to choose to be constructive. "To honor life by
achieving something noble with it is an every day task. It is the background for all of life."
Many people come to leadership and life coaching because they feel
unfulfilled by their work, and are often dissatisfied with the way they are
living their lives. There is an inner longing to contribute in a way that
brings greater fulfillment, but they have little sense of what their unique
contribution or voice might be. In other words, they want to live a great
life-at home, at work and in the community. My job is to help them
believe in themselves and their intrinsic worth-to discover their voice
and to find ways to express it meaningfully. Everyone chooses one of
two roads in life-the well-traveled road to mediocrity or the road to
greatness and meaning. Here is a story of one woman's breakthrough moment.
My phone rang and I heard a familiar voice say, "I'm Sheba and today I
was simply awesome. We're doing the best work we've ever done
together, my team and I." Sheba is not my client's real name, of
course. It's my client's name for her Hero in Victory. Part panther and
part lion, Sheba is showing up much more often since Louise named
her early in our leadership coaching process. She has embodied The 8th Habit as defined by Stephen Covey in his latest book. Louise has found her voice and she is inspiring others to find theirs. It has been
inspirational to witness her remarkable journey. She has learned to link
heart and mind and spirit to create a leadership presence that is "awesome!"
How has she managed to do this? Louise is a union
organizer-dedicated and passionate about her work. She discovered her purpose when she went to work for the union years ago and
believes she is making a significant contribution to the greater good.
Louise is authentic to her core, and one can sense this immediately.
She strives for personal and professional mastery which means she is
always in learning mode, open to input from others, willing to try new
approaches to leading. Her team is inspired by her leadership.
Empowered by her coaching, they are finding their individual voices.
Recognizing that the demands of the high-pressure, fast-paced work
environment in which she operates are taking a toll on her health, she is
working to take better care of herself and to encourage her team to do
the same. She simply never quits trying to do the greatest job she possibly can in all areas of her life.
Greatness, not simply effectiveness, is the call in this new era of human
history, according to Covey and many others. The complexities and
challenges we face today are of an entirely new order of magnitude than
just a few short years ago. Koestenbaum describes the need for
greatness this way: "On the organizational level, commitment to
greatness is necessary for business success. On the personal level,
commitment to greatness is required for personal health and longevity."
He encourages us to give meaning to our lives through the quality of our
work. I like to think that great leadership is the opportunity each of us
has to do the inner work required to grow personally, combined with the
outer work of developing healthy relationships, nurturing our children,
contributing our best at work, and supporting the community and society at large.
Using this definition, leadership is not just the job of people in powerful
positions, it is the responsibility of every individual as we seek ways to
create sustainable environments and societies. "The new reality of the
21st century requires a new mind-set and a new skill-set, a whole new
habit. The crucial challenge is to find our voice and inspire others to do the same." (Covey)
"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being." Goethe
Leadership Lessons: Finding Your Voice and Inspiring
Others to Find Theirs
Finding Your Voice
The world has changed profoundly since Covey's The Seven Habits of
Highly Effective People was published in 1989. This new reality
requires a new era of greatness, building on and reaching beyond effectiveness. The 8th Habit, finding your voice and inspiring others to
find theirs, represents the path to the promise of the future. It is the voice
of the human spirit-full of hope and intelligence, resilient, boundless in
its potential to serve the common good. Take a look at the interlocking circles of Covey's model and you will see that voice lies at the nexus of talent, passion, need and conscience. Voice is our unique individual
significance that has been revealed to us as we face and find we are equal to our greatest challenges.
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We can all choose to live a great life and that starts with finding our voice. Here is one of the ways you can
begin to discover your own. Apply these four capacities-talent, need, passion and conscience-to any role
in your life and you can find your voice in that role. Ask yourself these four questions. If you can answer all
four questions in the affirmative and, make a habit of developing a plan of action and getting to work on it,
then you will begin to find your true voice in life.
1. What need do I sense in my family, my community, in the organization I work for? Need includes what the
world needs enough to pay you for.
2. Do I possess a true talent that, if disciplined and applied, can meet the need? Your talent refers to your
natural gifts and strengths.
3. Does the opportunity to meet the need tap into my passion? What are the things that naturally energize,
excite and motivate you?
4. Does my conscience inspire me to take action and become involved? Conscience is that voice within that
assures you of what is right and that prompts you to actually do it.
"Leadership is communicating to people their intrinsic worth and potential so clearly
that they come to see it in themselves." Stephen Covey
Inspiring Others to Find Their Voice
Leadership is communicating to people their intrinsic worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves.
What an extraordinarily powerful way to think about leadership! When we practice leadership
in this way, as a parent, grandparent, coach, teacher, manager, CEO, whatever our roles may be, we can
inspire others to find their voice. The word, inspire, comes from the Latin inspirare which means to breathe
life into another. This is the essence of enduring leadership-to communicate the worth and potential of
others so clearly and consistently that they come to see it in themselves. Can you imagine how different this
world could be if this spirit permeated our culture and society?
You can discover how to greatly increase your own influence by working and struggling to solve your
personal challenges and problems. In other words, great leadership comes from the inside out. To
become a voice of influence, you must do the work required to find your own voice and then take the initiative
to expand your influence at every opportunity. The mind-set and skill-set of the 8th habit produces the kind
of leadership that constantly sees people's potential. It means listening to people, involving and continually
affirming them by our words and our actions.
TIPS, TOOLS AND PRACTICES: The Bigger Game
Each of us has the power to decide to live a great life. What is required is an irrevocable decision to direct
your leadership intelligence (i.e. your mind) towards its genius potential; to make up your mind and know in
your heart that success is mostly a function of personal decision, resoluteness, and full-engagement.
Robert Kennedy challenged us to greatness when he spoke passionately of the individual acts of courage
that could change the world. "Each time a person stands up for an idea, or acts to improve the lot of others,
or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million
different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls
of oppression and resistance."
Recently, I discovered a compelling model called The Bigger Game
, created by Laura Whitworth and Rick
Tamlyn. The challenge of The Bigger Game is this-"Do you dare to live a life that feeds your soul instead of
a life that feeds your goal? Do you dare to be your very best and create the best in the world around you, in
your personal and business life?" The Bigger Game requires you to evolve. It cannot be played with existing
personal competencies because a game that can be played with existing competencies is the same game, not a
bigger game. To learn more take a look at their website www.thebiggergame.com.
Here are the rules of The Bigger Game.
Rules of the Bigger Game
- You must be outside of your Comfort Zones to be playing a Bigger Game.
- A Bigger Game will feed your Hunger with something that satisfies it.
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A Bigger Game is not about fulfilling a personal need or desire - it's about having an impact in your World.
- If you already know how to do it, you are not playing a Bigger Game.
- The most important aspect of your Bigger Game is to make it public.
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A Bigger Game requires you to take action that asks much of yourself and others.
- A Bigger Game cannot be played alone.
- A Bigger Game must be able to go on without you and it must not consume you.
In Her Own Words: Finding Sheba - My Hero in Victory
I was asked by my coach to think of a time when I was on top of my game, when I felt like I could conquer the
world, a time when I was at my peak in job performance. I was to reflect on times that I knew that I could do
everything that was expected of me and give my coach these instances at our next session. Once I
accomplished this task, I was asked to develop a name for this persona. At first, I was unable to think of a
name to encapsulate this persona. However, after some thought I selected a name and created a
visualization of what this persona should look like: SHEBA. Half Lion and half Black Panther,SHEBA is
sleek, powerful, and can soar. When I am required to do things out of my comfort zone, like speak in front of
a group of 300 people, I put on my SHEBA and that gives me the confidence and strength that I need to
accomplish my task. If I am required to do something that I feel is difficult, I pause and ask myself how
SHEBA would approach the assignment. This is just the motivation I need to get on top of my game. When I
first started this exercise I was skeptical and thought the assignment would be a waste of my time. However,
when I look at who I was a couple months ago I see a change: I am not the same person I used to be. I am
stronger, I am more confident, and sometimes I even feel like I could conquer the world.
© 2006 Bette George & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Associates, Inc. From Conversations on Leadership and Life
, an e-newsletter by Bette George, website: www.bettegeorge.com email: bette@bettegeorge.com."
Conversations on Leadership and Life is a bi-monthly e-newsletter written by Bette George of Bette George
& Associates. In each issue, Bette offers best practice tips and resources, innovative ideas and inspiration
to help you begin to create the change you want to see in yourself, your workplace, your community.
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