Saturday, February 27, 2010

Leadership Lessons for Living

This was taken from my Pilar Stella p-Gifts Newsletter. If you want to subscribe to get these regularly go to: www.pilarstella.com and sign up! Enjoy and happy month ahead! ;) p

A few months back, an investor that I met sent me an email that said that my focus and enthusiasm was inspiring and would carry me through the hard times. Today I saw this quote that reminded me of his note, and I felt a smile wash over me.

Enthusiasm is the great hill-climber. ~ Elbert Hubbard

The last few weeks have not been the easiest for me, but I dare say it has been one of the most tremendous periods of growth for me in my life. I realized that though it has been a rough period, I feel all the more capable and able to take on all that is today and in the coming days, weeks and months ahead. In fact, I have this feeling that when I look back on this period a few years from now, I will remember these weeks as a turning point in my life. I am starting to get that the hard times and tough decisions are there to test our faith and commitment to what we believe in and to show us what we are truly capable of if we stretch beyond our comforts. For me, these weeks are teaching me to be a better leader and to be a better me.

Do what is right, not what is easy. ~ Reverend Timothy E. Tyler

First and foremost, I am learning that doing the right thing is not always the easiest thing. I am learning that being a leader means seeking and really listening to, and hearing, others' counsel. Yet it also means taking that input in and discerning what resonates internally with my intuition and inner guidance and making decisions from that space. Leaders like Gandhi, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King didn't always make the popular decisions, but they listened to all and then went inward to find the answers.

For the first time in my life, I feel I am making hard decisions and taking responsibility for them - even the not-so-good decisions - and then learning from them. I used to seek input from others and then make a decision based on other's advice. When I made a mistake, I could consciously or subconsciously dismiss it as bad advice or blame others for the "mistakes," and clearly not learn the lesson. Now, I am making my own mistakes, taking ownership of them and learning from them, even if it is sometimes a painful process. Yet because I am making my own decisions, "gut" testing them with my own inner wisdom and going with what feels right to me, the decisions are getting easier and I am learning more.

Life's lessons don't need to be from the school of hard-knocks-only if we choose them to be. I am realizing that our lessons show up over and over again if we aren't getting them. So if they come to us like a big bat hitting us over our head with a hard-knock, it is probably because we have seen this lesson before but we haven't learned it, so it comes back to hit us over the head again and again until we get it. Not a fun process, believe me, I know. This can take the form of sickness, depression, loss of a job, a loved one or otherwise. When things like this start to happen around us, we may get down and frustrated, or we may look around at the signs and ask, "Ok, what is the lesson I need to learn?"

I am starting to recognize that the lessons in these past weeks have been harder than in the past, because they are lessons that I haven't gotten and learned from, so they are back to hit me over the head this time to learn from. At the same time, I believe I am finally really getting them, taking them on and stretching so that I do learn and grow to my full capability and potential. Hopefully, I can learn from them to make it easier in the future. This is part of growth, this is part of leadership. I was recently sent an article on Sir Richard Branson with some good insights and reminders about being a leader that I recommend you peruse (http://bit.ly/5Az3PC).

What lessons are you learning? How are you growing and stretching every day in your life, out of your comfort zone? Are you asking, listening and really hearing? Are you learning to go within, trust your inner guidance and make decisions from within? May this spring be a time of inner reflection for you, that you may find your inner guidance, trust more, and truly blossom and grow into your authentic self and the leader, and person, that you are.

Leaders grow, they are not made. ~ Peter Drucker

You can find me on Twitter @pilarstella and Facebook at www.facebook.com/pilarstella.

3 comments:

  1. Nice post, Pilar! Your enthusiasm is inspiring.

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  2. I love this inspirational reminder to do what is right.Although it may be hard, it is much harder to not do what is right.
    Love you blog-I signing up as a follower!

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  3. Thanks to both of you...it has been quite the journey! Keep going and doing great things yourselves! ;) p

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