The Eve of the Dawn: Personal Leadership

As we sit on the eve of the dawn of what I hope is a year of enlightenment, I do what I always do:  reassess.  I am not big on resolutions only because we tend to make lofty ones that lack a specific plan with an accountability process and are thus doomed to less than resounding success.  So, as I reassess my year, I am grateful for all of my abundance and the diverse areas that it shows up!  I am grateful for new beginnings and the resources that I have access to so that I can truly make changes should I so desire!  I am grateful for all of the challenges that have given me pause and helped me gain even more clarity with the discernment process!  I am thrilled with all of the light-filled people who have entered and remained in my life in 2009 and will be side by side in 2010!  Of course, this small list is only the tip of the iceberg. 

My purpose in writing this blog was to challenge you to create a reassessment process for yourself.  What is working and what is not.  Drill down to the nuances!  For example, I was feeling frustrated that I had not achieved one of my financial goals only to discover that I had greatly over-achieved regarding another financial goal and I was really ok with that!  So, I encourage you to look at the big picture, and feel free to look at page one of this website for the personal and professional wheels if you want to get an idea of some categories of life that you can use to assess yourself and your progress.  Once you are clear about who you are and how you want to show up in 2010, please allow me to encourage you to devise a step by step plan with an accountability component (not just "due dates" but some mechanism to make sure you take the steps you say you will).  And may I also encourage you to be gentle enough with yourself to revise, revise, revise!!!!  That is exactly what happened with my financial goals and I couldn't be happier!

And, please feel free to post any ideas that you have here that may help others to become their biggest, best possible selves and to LEAD, not just live their lives this coming year!  It doesn't just take a village any longer, it takes the world to step up and lead ourselves!!!!

Happy New Year

Ubuntu!

Ann

Ann Dinan, Ph.D., M.S.S.A., C.P.C.C.

www.TheDeeperlLeadershipInstitute

ann@TheDeeperLeadershipInstitute.com

Personal Capacity Building

Our topic today is personal capacity building.   It seems to me that personal leadership is the umbrella for our personal capacity building.  Specifically, under the rubric of one's own leadership of self, one can examine whether muscles need to be strengthened in the areas of:

personal finance

relationship dynamics

life work balance

career issues

health/wellness

parenting

cultural adaptability

Many programs and organizations encourage folks to just jump into one of these areas and strengthen the chosen one.  At the Personal Leadership Institute, we advocate a holistic approach whereby we deconstruct who you are and what your life is like and then build it to your specifications with your existing strengths and passions.  Usually what emerges from this process are areas where individuals want to build more capacity and thus from that organic process we are able to do very targeted, SUSTAINABLE work!  I put the word sustainable in caps because we feel this is the missing element to personal growth work and leadership development work.  How often have you attended a great training, workshop or even more extensive learning situation and yet within days, months or years, you have not retained what seemed so important at the time.  We find that happens all too often.  Yet, if you build your personal capacity and you have a plan that is tailored to your guiding values and passions, then it is ingrained in you.  And, in fact, we advocate that you have a plan for constantly revising and revisiting your personal leadership plan. 

It's your life.  Are you going to just live it, or LEAD it?!!

Thoughts?

Ann

Ann Dinan, Ph.D., M.S.S.A., C.P.C.C.

The Deeper Leadership Institute

On the Eve of Thanksgiving in the US

As I chatted today with a friend for a long over-due chat I shared with her all the learnings/happenings around leadership (many of which are posted here) over the past few weeks.  What continues to rise to the top for me is that all the concepts we have been discussing are intertwined:

The overarching concept is to recognize the humanity in others so that one can recognize the humanity in oneself (Ubuntu) and from that place one can examine their own culture (including privilege) and the culture of others (culturally adaptive leadership) all under the lens of personal leadership.  And personal leadership may include both followship and leadership OR we may all be leading.  And that the problems arise when do not lead around a common stake.  This is what happens when there is a breakdown in a culture, whether it is a company's culture or a family's or a community's.

And, we can all be committed to doing the work of leadership; but first we must experience forgiveness and compassion in others - their humanity - and then we can begin the other work.  So, on this eve of Thanksgiving, it seems suitable that we should think about forgiveness and compassion in our own personal leadership work!

Peace,

Ann

Ann Dinan, Ph.D., M.S.S.A., C.P.C.C.

The Deeper Leadership Institute

The New Wave of Leadership

Hi all,

I was chatting today with a friend who is unemployed and she was mentioning how when she attends all these groups for folks who don't currently have jobs, that there is a sense that people don't just want any old job.  This time around, they want to make sure that they can embrace the job.  In fact, many are even considering career changes indicating that they never even wanted the career or job that they previoiusly held!  This is what we are referring to as the silver lining.  We couldn't be more pleased that folks are truly taking stock of who they are and what they want and then aligning their job searches accordingly!  We certainly hope that this type of thinking is truly the wave of the present and future when if comes to leading one's own life - ie personal leadershp.

We would love to hear stories from some of you who have had such an experience (what was your old job/career, what did you not like about it, what are you doing now, and what is it about the new situation that you love?).  Looking forward to your posts!

Ann

Ann Dinan

The Deeper Leadership Institute

Ubuntu Leadership

So, what the heck is Ubuntu???  I am sure I cannot do the definition justice here as it has been stated much  more eloquently by Archbishop Tutu and President Mandela; however we define it as the process of seeing the humanity in others in order to see the humanity in self.  We hope that by the time our clients finish one of our programs they have such a solid sense of self and purpose that they understand the place of compassion and forgiveness in leadership.  Thus, from this place, truly enlightened leadership can transpire.  And, one does not have to be a president of archbishop to attain this level of leadership.  Becoming self aware and then determining a value-guided leadership path are the start that is needed in order to arrive at your destination. 

Ann

Ann Dinan, Ph.D., M.S.S.A., C.P.C.C.

The Deeper Leadership Institute