You. Are. Too. Loud.
Find out more about my leadership journey here.
Category: Unit 10
It is hard to believe that 10 weeks has gone by so fast. There are many learnings from this course that have impacted my practice, but there are two that stick out above the rest.
First, I have become more intentional about supporting the women in my workplace. The section on women in leadership highlighted for me the need to offer encouragement and support to the other women in my workplace in leadership roles, whether recognized by title or not. I have become intentional about listening, learning, and coaching women to be who they are called to be as leaders, no matter how different they are from me. I had not recognized the unconscious biases that I had in this area; now I am able to make the unconscious conscious, and serve my gender in a purposeful way.
Second, I have incorporated much of what I learned from watching the movie Invictus into my practice by changing how I lead myself. I need to forgive, and forgive quickly – I can only be a servant leader if I owe no man anything. I need to be vocal when I truly believe that what others’ are doing or deciding is wrong. I need to take my thoughts captive when they are destructive and self-defeating and think on what is true, just, pure. And I need to keep practicing these skills until I can lead by example.
“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation: we not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather have these because we have acted rightly; “these virtues are formed in man by doing his actions” (Aristotle); we are we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” (Durant, 1926, as cited in Unit 3 Notes)
References
Eastwood, C. (2009). Invictus [Motion picture]. USA: Warner Bros.
Unit 3 Notes. (n.d.) Retrieved from https://create.twu.ca/ldrs500/unit-3/unit-3-notes/
I have enjoyed these biweekly readings and have learned so much from being pushed to thoughtfully apply the concepts to the practice of my own leadership. I am so thankful that this fantastic idea was included in the course curriculum. (Thank you “Leadership Prof”!)
This week I was drawn to the excerpt from Robert Browning. There are so many aspects of this particular section that appealed to me at this stage in my life and highlights leadership lessons that I have learned over the years and need to continue to apply in my leadership contexts.
- I enjoyed reading poetry again. In my day to day activities I am not exposed to poetry. Or rather, in my day to day activities, I don’t intentionally choose to read poetry. It was a nice change and a bit of a challenge to my right brain. As leaders, we need to be well-rounded, and I sometimes forget to look outside of my four walls for inspiration and enjoyment.
- The poem was written in honour of another leader. In particular, a historical person whose writings had profoundly impacted Browning’s own worldview. More and more I find that I am drawn to both the teachings and the life stories of men and women who were not only leaders in their own time period, but continue to have positive influence centuries later. Browning had never met Rabbi ben Ezra, but knew his teachings well enough that he could choose to use creative license and write the poem as though the Rabbi was penning the words of wisdom himself. To honour this man and his wisdom in this way was creative and represents how impactful this historical figure was in Browning’s life. I also want to honour those who have gone before and paved the way for me, and the poem inspired me to act on this desire.
- It encourages us to value the difficult times in life. There has not been one difficult season in my life that I enjoyed at the time, but each and every one has taught me something and shaped me into who I am today. So much so that I am able to now “consider it all joy… when [I] encounter various trials…” (James 1:2, NASB). I am encouraged by the reminder that there is both temporal and eternal value in the trials of life. This is a leadership lesson that was hard to learn, but so valuable.
- It encourages us to look at the entire story that is our life. “Child,’ said the Voice, ‘I am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no one any story but his own.” (Lewis, 1954, p. 139) C. S. Lewis reminds us in his allegory that our life is a story that enfolds chapter by chapter, line by line. John Eldredge, a more contemporary writer reminds us of the same: “Life, you’ll notice, is a story…. When it comes to figuring out this life you’re living, you’d do well to know the rest of the story.” (Eldredge, 2004, pp. 3, 4.) When we view life as a complete story, we cannot afford to invest our time looking backwards, but look forward to the next chapter, and anticipate and plan for a happy ending. As Browning so wisely advises us: “Grow old along with me, The best is yet to be….” (as cited in Watson, 1951).
How about you? Have you ever considered your life as a story, like a novel that is written in chapters? I look forward to your thoughts.
References
Eldredge, J. (2004). Epic: The story God is telling. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Lewis, C. S. (1954). The horse and his boy. New York, NY: Penguin Books.
Watson, L.E. (1951) Light from many lamps. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.