Encourage the Heart

Final post on “Leadership Challenge” by Posner and Kouzes

The heart leads from today. While we need goals and aspirations that logic and planning and help facilitate. WE need to begin today; in this moment and that is where the heart functions best.  The heart is flexible, intuitive and ‘right for you’ when we encourage it to speak up and listen globally. Not geographically global but holistically global. Listen to the encouragement that is being spoken and that which is unspoken. What is the tone, syntax, context of the heart voice of your team members? Is the voice curious, assertive, timid, or joyful?

Listening to the other’s heart is difficult and hearing the vulnerability of a team member can be scary but leaders have two ears and one mouth and have trained themselves to use them in that proportion.

For me the biggest struggle is hearing my own heart. I listen and discern and get frightened so I rationalize  what the heart is saying through a logic/convention filter. When I join my heart on the emotional and intellectual journey in the moment I am given the gift of deep appreciation (regardless of the circumstances). Starting reality in this moment changes everything. Change the starting point today.

B