Link: http://www.gaian.com

I've been flying general aviation airplanes much of my adult life. Although no longer active, I still maintain my flight instructor certificate as one of those treasured accomplishments that has tremendous meaning for me. You learn things flying that are hard lessons to duplicate in other places. One of these has to do with flying in the clouds, or solely by reference to your instruments.

You wind up in the clouds usually as a result of flying through weather systems, and sometimes they can be fairly peaceful, but at other times the clouds can be just downright ugly on the inside. You can't see, and the weather inside can be very turbulent. You don't know what you are getting into until you are there. There are ways of getting information from outside sources, but the real truth of the cloud becomes apparent when you are inside of it. One thing we teach instrument pilots is what to do when you have inadvertently entered one of those clouds that you really wish you weren't in.
For a pilot, this means to pay attention to just a few things. You slow to an airspeed that is safe for your airplane and loading. You keep your wings level as possible. You allow your altitude and heading to vary in service of maintaining the key attributes that will keep you safe and your airplane intact. Most of all, you keep going.

That is the technical part. There is another part that we talk about, and that is the reality that you are a human being sitting inside a very small piece of aluminum a mile or more above the ground with nothing in front of you but rain and clouds. In some cases you can't even see your wingtips. You might be alone, or you might have passengers whose lives depend upon you. That can be really scary. In order to do the steps above, you first have to go back to your training and to your confidence in yourself . You find the place of calm that allows you to trust yourself, and trust the process of flying that has gotten you through all of your other flying experiences so far.

That is probably the most important piece. Go to what you know, believe in yourself, stay calm, focus on a few key priorities, and fly yourself to the other side of the storm. Once you are in the clear, then you clean up your course and add in all of the other priorities. In the words of Winston Churchill, "when you're going through hell, keep going."

Cheers,
Jeff

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One of the key challenges we face today is the need for leaders who understand how to engage across cultural and political boundaries. One thing is very clear to anyone who has done this work. The bigger implications of global leadership lie in the cross-cultural nature of the work. We deal with people who have significantly different filters of the world. Due to the inherent nature of perception, the world that they see has many different aspects. Remember that we work with people who speak different languages (meaning there is a different representational system of the world), pray to different gods, and have different economic value systems. These are just some of the big ones. We also know that in most cross-cultural situations, it is usually not the big differences that can become problems, but the small ones that go somewhat unnoticed.

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Welcome to my blog!

This site is for ideas and tips for leaders who want to better understand how to create leadership that supports transformation among groups of people. My book on this subject, Inspirational Presence, covers the overall concepts and my approach to helping people develop the required skills.

There are some basic beliefs that I should put forward about leadership. First, anyone can do it. It does require a lot of consciousness and a clear intention that you really want to lead. There is a lot of responsibility associated with that role. When a person leads through their ego, they can be much more concerned about how they are seen and whether people listen to them or not. They can be in places of control where they really just want to control the situation. However, to lead means taking responsibility of where the system (group of people) are actually headed. That is quite different.

If this is something that interests you, read on. It is actually quite simple and I will do my best to present you with practical tips and techniques that will aid you along the way.

Link: http://gaian.com/view_newsletter.php?id=39

June is moving to a close, and as I write this, I am working through the last revisions and additions to Inspirational Presence. It is a great learning experience to sit down and express what is deeply important to me, and take the time to really focus on a key message.

At this point, it is getting increasingly about details and integration. I am rereading things for the 3rd or 4th times, each time looking for something different, like proper references or style issues, or flow issues. We go to the publisher on July 3rd, so it is coming to the end of the line. There will be more edits and rereads after that, but this is the last time for actually writing the book and telling the story.

This process takes me back to youth, and early lessons from running long distances. Many of them cross over well into this and other projects. Here are some that are on my mind for the next 2 weeks.

The lessons from running

Keep your hands and face, and shoulders relaxed. You waste energy tensing them that needs to go to your legs.
Keep your eyes on where you are going with your head straight. It keeps you going in as straight a line as possible, which is the shortest possible distance while it keeps body from swaying side to side which is another waste of energy.
Focus on your breathing. Your breath is your fuel, and also regulates your energy. Good control over breathing keeps your body energy in control and your thinking clear.
Applied to today

Stay relaxed about areas that are not the focus of today's activity. Let those areas take their turn later.
Keep focused on where I want to be. Avoid distractions and take a direct path to the finish line.
Breathe.
The article today is a continuation of this, and an early lesson I learned about growth and development.
So, take a few moments, take some notes, and change your life.

Cheers,
Jeff

Except where otherwise noted, this content is
licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Link: http://gaian.com/view_newsletter.php?id=38

Finding your Unique Contribution

There are two aspects of personal leadership required in order to maximize your contribution. The first of these is to be fully present in each of your endeavors. I used to hear an old adage to "Bloom where you are planted". I greatly admire and respect the ability of people to make the most of any situation they engage.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said it like this. "If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets as Rafael painted pictures, sweep streets as Michelangelo carved marble, sweep streets as Beethoven composed music, or as Shakespeare wrote poetry." I believe that about covers it.

This is the first part of being present and fully putting your love, light, and humanity into everything you do. It has to do with using yourself in all aspects of your life. Each of us finds us in places that may not be exactly what would would chose, but it is important to still use ourselves fully, even if we only happened to be there.

The second aspect of leadership involves the inward journey to begin finding what it is that we want to contribute. Here we discover what we want to do, where, when, and with whom we want to do it, and then actively step out and find a pathway to that destination. It takes the accident of birth and circumstance and transforms it with the power of intention.

So, take a few moments, take some notes, and change your life.

Cheers,
Jeff