Every day it seems I meet someone or hear of someone who feels like their world has suddenly turned upside down. Amazing people losing their beloved partners to illness. The exciting new program launch that doesn’t pan out.
Being part of a community theater group for several months has been an opportunity to stretch out of my comfort zone. The “Dancing Queen” musical took months of rehearsal, learning our lines and choreography. The production saw 30 people, most of whom I didn’t know (with the exception of my daughter, who is in the show with me), go from being friendly strangers to being encouraging team members and inspirations to one another.
Leadership is about having impact. Building a business is about being able to move people. Building a meaningful and joy-filled life is about finding the courage within yourself to go for what you truly want.
One of the most potent and impactful experiences I find is live theater. There are a lot of leadership lessons that translate from the stage actor to the business leader or empowered architect of your life.
The year 2020 continues to unfold in challenging and disruptive ways. We’re really in a great collective turning point, and it’s not yet clear how this sci-fi movie we seem to be living in will turn out. One thing I’m noticing in my client work, and in my own work flow, is the battle we are having with being distracted.
There are a number of crucial issues that are forcing us to revisit and redesign how we work, such as the pandemic, the important dialogue about anti-racism, and climate change, to name just a few. All of us up a variety of learning curves, where we need to come up with new skills and strategies to figure out how to deal with challenges.
I’ve been having a lot of conversations with clients and friends alike and it’s clear that this marathon of managing change we are all running can be quite taxing. Part of the challenge is that we are in this liminal space “in between” how we used to live and work, and what the future will look like. That place of transition can feel quite uncomfortable as we don’t yet know how this “movie” we are living in will turn out.
I’ve been having some great conversations with clients and my network of professional colleagues these past several days about the challenges, and advantages, of working virtually. While I miss working with people in a room face-to-face too, I do believe we can bring a richness of connection and engagement to our virtual conversations too. The trick is you can’t just cut-and-paste your old meeting agenda and strategies onto our virtual meeting places…
When faced with conflicting advice, changing information and a whole heap of change all at the same time, it’s uncomfortable. And sometimes to get out of that discomfort quickly we may make premature decisions or conclusions rather than staying patient and riding it out.
Are you losing track of time? Do you wake up confused about whether it’s a weekday or a weekend? I’ve had several conversations in the past week or so and a lot of folks are finding it hard to keep a sense of time, after several weeks of this pandemic-restructured lifestyle we’ve been living.
Here in my hometown we’re entering really week 3 of this lock-down, physical distancing, isolate-yourself-at-home world. I’ve noticed that the initial adrenaline and quick action o getting my pantry stocked and making sure my kids were safe and sound has subsided. There’s a new vibe out there in the world.
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