Callan…Coffee…Contemplation for the Week of March 31st
Falling and Rising
I often use boxing metaphors in teaching leadership, not the least of which is the image of a fighter having been knocked to the mat, confronted with the decision to either stay down or get back up. The tendency in this image is to focus only on the getting up, which is admittedly very important if one wishes to become a champion. However, what we often forget is the fall; there are lessons learned in falling down. Therefore, In this metaphor there are two equally important elements: The fall and the rise. One teaches us about descent, the other, ascent. Leaders need to perform both with courage and dignity. When we fall, we often do so because we are unprepared. Experience is like that; it provides the lesson before we are ready. However, in the fall are often found our most important lessons. The descent is necessary to teach us how to endure the pain of the fall to open ourselves to conversion and to cultivate resilience. If we endure the pain of the fall and let it transform us, we then can rise anew as a better fighter. Both the descent and ascent are necessary to heroic leadership.
Crossing Thresholds & Rites of Passage
In the past, traditional societies knew youth would not willingly leave the nest of adolescence without being positively guided to leave their comfort zones and enter the new world of responsible adulthood. The principle way societies accomplished these threshold crossings was via rites of passage–usually involving a physical removal of the person from the old group and setting the individual on a kind of quest that would physically and emotionally signal this message: “You are leaving your old world and crossing over into a new one.” Today, we have largely forgotten the need for threshold crossings and the vital role rites of passage play in guiding young people to become mature, responsible, and accountable. In my life, Marine Boot Camp was such a rite of passage…a healthy and vibrant ritual that positively converted me and others from self-centered people into transformed leaders attuned to greater patterns of excellence and responsibility. So we must ask this question: What rites of passage can we incorporate today, in our groups, to help emerging leaders cross necessary thresholds and grow as individuals?
Right Action
Another core element of our Heroic Leadership philosophy is right action. I usually align aspiration with right action, as I think the former is the necessary first step—we must first aspire to noble purposes. But too often in leadership, people don’t follow through with the necessary next step—right action. Aspiring to great deeds without right action is folly, and ultimately, creates a hollow promise. Right action requires judgment and courage; judgment to see right from wrong, and the courage to act, even when that action is not popular or in the majority opinion. Right action is therefore a leadership habit—a personal conviction to move from thought into intentional action to affect a necessary end state. The operative word here is intentional—a conscious and deliberate action. See something that is true? Uphold it. See something wrong? Correct it. See someone who needs help? Assist them. See a mission needing to be done? Lead it. Right action is the muscle activating our purpose, vision, and convictions.
Commitment to Something Greater than Self
The fourth and final element of Heroic Leadership is commitment to something greater than self. This is the most important element because it calls on us to be utterly selfless and willing to sacrifice self gain for the greater and enduring good. This element reminds me of this fundamental truth in my life and in my leadership experiences: All great satisfaction, reward, and joy comes from group achievement, not individual achievement. For example, imagine climbing a high mountain and doing it alone. You train for weeks, make numerous attempts, and then, after many arduous trials, you finally reach the summit. You feel great, right? Now, consider the exact same challenge only this time you are doing it with many people. Imagine reaching the summit as a group and sense how significantly different is that feeling of satisfaction, bonding, and camaraderie. Our souls are called to deep meaning. And it is leaders committed to greater goals—purposes greater than oneself– that pulls us out of our heads and into our hearts and draws us out of our private worlds and into the more heroic ambition of group achievement.
Self-Mastery – Part I
The most important component to becoming a Heroic Leader is self mastery—the constant cultivation of character, wisdom, self regulation, vitality, and effectiveness. Self mastery is the essential grounding allowing us to develop inner authority. With inner authority, we can then, and only then, truly resonate with others and exert outer influence. To remind myself of the need for self mastery, I created a model I call The Archer’s Stance. This image of a master archer, upright, centered on the target, with bow and arrow drawn and at the ready, reminds me of this truth in leadership: Great leaders, like this expert marksman, must first attend to centering themselves in order to put the arrows of affect center mass on the target. Are the quality of the bow and arrow important? Sure. But nothing will more truly dictate the quality and consistency of marksmanship than the self-mastery of the shooter. The same is true in leadership; nothing will make us more effective leaders of others, than the ability to effectively lead ourselves.
Check back next Monday for a round up of this week’s social media shares. Or check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or Pinterest to see our posts every day!
Tweet Share