Committed to walk the talk…we are experimenting with how to share our voices in a way that is authentic, generous, doesn’t add to the noise and reaches the hearts and minds of leaders beyond our geographic boundaries. In this new iteration of our blog, we are aiming to take you in a journey of exploring and engaging with different dimensions of a leadership theme shared in bite size pieces over a couple of weeks.
On that note, welcome to 2024! As we start the year, we hold curiosity about what will unfold, what we will co-create and what impact we will realise this year, we also feel a sense of overwhelm as we face into the increasing complexity of life and try to make progress on the collective challenges before us.
As leaders leaning into the calling to be of service to each other, our communities and our planet, and holding the complexity and the beauty, the present and the future, the light and the dark, how do we ground and sustain ourselves for the journey ahead? We invite you to join us over the next 4 weeks as we explore our first leadership theme on Grounding.
Grounding by Living into our Questions
In her recent TED talk, Krista Tippet, author, journalist and the host of one of our favourite podcasts “On Being”- invites us to explore the power of Living into our Questions.
As human beings we are often drawn towards certainty, pulled by the need to “know”, to have answers, to take action, to do something to feel valuable and in control and to have a tangible impact.
However, in our current context of unprecedented complexity, ambiguity, vast opportunity, and uncertainty, the answers can’t always be available to us and a rush to certainty would deny the scale of the challenges before us. So the opportunity here is to fall in love with the questions themselves and live our way into the answers. As Krista explains, “it is a deep, deep truth in science as in life, that at any given moment we are being shaped as much by the questions we’re carrying as by the answers we have in us to give”.
As Leaders, the practice of living into questions, inviting them as grounding companions on our unfolding journey also enables us to hold the ‘not-knowing’, or the ‘not-yet knowing’ that is ever present when we are leaning into complex, adaptive challenges. Asking and dwelling with patience on our questions each and everyday, allows new possibilities, iterative experimentation, the next possible step and eventually the answers, to emerge through us. As Krista shares, “the invitation here is to engage the adventure of a new reverence for the questions that are alive in you and in the world around you”.
As you are entering 2024, what are the questions you could invite in as grounding companions?
Some of the questions we are holding are:
· What is the leadership required of me right now that I can access?
· What do I need to let go of?
· How can I cultivate joy for myself and others?
· How do I ‘refill my cup’?
Next week we will continue the conversation about ‘Grounding' by exploring the gifts of embracing our emotions. Stay tuned.
Additional Resource Three Skills for Staying Calm, Sane, and Open in a Chaotic World | Krista Tippett Interviewed by Dan Harris, Host ‘Ten Percent Happier Podcast’
Photo by Ana Municio on Unsplash
