Epic September

This last month has been one of journey, adventure and exploration and it doesn’t stop there. With the final Clore residential, Action Learning and a trip to Germany for good measure there has been much to do, see and learn this month.

Initially preoccupied with the fact it was the final formal opportunity to meet all of my amazing fellows at the same time we quickly settled into a series of sessions, speeches and reflection that got me back on track. The week looked at resilience and the art of conversation which has proved particularly poignant learning for me this month.  If like me, you are concerned about whether you have the in-built resilience for the tasks ahead then fear not. What I am discovering is that we all do- you just have to dig around to find it and there are a few things you can do until you do. It might be helpful to think of it as I do which was inspired by a fellows talk about being sorry. He pointed out the differences between saying sorry, being sorry, and doing sorry, and I think this could be the key to a few of our ‘issues’ in reconciling our emotions, actions and thoughts. You have to do all three, you need to believe, feel and act to be authentic and that’s the key to leadership. If you aren’t being authentic a vital key is missing, you know it and you can bet those around you do too.

Building resilience was broken down for us; one thing I have never worried about is the first- clarity of purpose, values and beliefs. These will drive you through challenges and help draw you from chaos to clarity in the darkest of hours.

Focus on what you can control; I have discussed this at length recently with a few @unltd award winners. It can be frustrating and damaging expending energy and time on things you can’t control. The only way you can make a difference is to focus on the things you can change. That doesn’t mean your goal isn’t to tackle the world’s problems but it does mean you need to take small steps… and get started.

The final lessons on resilience are to draw on previous success and know you have it in you, and if you’re been too hard on yourself ‘Act as if’… will get you there until you really feel it. We had a few debates on whether this meant you were being unauthentic but motivation is the key for me. There have been many times when I didn’t feel confident and just doing it anyway allows you to prove to yourself what you secretly knew was there the whole time.

The last thing I wanted to share with you was about Authority- acting with it, and without it! Working in a professional firm model @unltd we are encouraged to act without authority, I mean, we are all adults right?! Of course, this is easier said than done. Rabbi Shoshana from the Pears Foundation gave us a rousing talk about her career and authority. I will never forget the sentiment of her speech and thank her for this. I felt a paradigm with my own thoughts and feelings about leadership and accepting that sometimes in life we need to feel we are given ‘the authority’ and at other times we don’t, or we won’t get it even if we do want it. It can be a difficult place leading with or without authority, and guess what will get you through? If you have been listening you should know.

Since the residential I visited Freiburg in Germany on a study visit, the highlights of which I will share soon but I wanted to sign this off saying thanks again to @cloresocial for accepting me as a fellow and connecting me with 17 other fellows who are each very different but amazing and inspiring individuals. Thanks to Daniela, we got to share with each other at the end of the last residential our thoughts about what we had seen in each other and was touched by the sentiments shared with me.