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Each of the ‘masters’ on the panel offered something significant for leaders forging change in their organizations.
Look For Kindness - The Dalai Lama suggests that we have a tendency to take kindness for granted. He sees acts of kindness as much more widespread than we realize and encouraged us to look for it. Many change leaders I work with are deep in selfless pursuits to improve situations and support others through all the shifting. These behaviors are indeed an expression of kindness, and it is often the last thing we give our attention to when there is chaos in our midst.
Find Acceptance - Alice Walker reflected on the role of her mentors in the vast change in America’s south over the last 50 years, and some of the ways they managed to keep their sanity, and humanity, before the new way was normal. For those of us who are committed to growth, she said, “You must learn to have joy in the struggle; and that joy in the struggle comes in that moment of acceptance. It is the ‘what is’, and we work with that.” This is an elegant description of the ability to hold both the harsh and sometimes unjust realities of the current state, while moving purposefully toward a more desired reality, and the nourishing effect that progress has on us, when we let it.
Set Your Motivation - Richard Gere spoke of setting his motivation as a core component of his creative process and spiritual practice. “To make an honest commitment to work to the best of your abilities; to accept the failure, but to continue on, knowing ultimately you will achieve the goal.” This intentional focus on connecting what we do with what is most important to us so that we move and make decisions from that deeper, internally motivated place, is a universally potent strategy for change leaders.
Sometime the next week I checked in with Deborah, an admissions director of a large state university MBA program. Earlier this year, she became committed to creating a new track in environmental ethics. Reviewing or monitoring curriculum has never been part of her role, nor was it something, in which her boss, peers or direct reports expected her to invest time. Nonetheless, she recognized an unmet need and an opportunity to enhance the ethical capacity of the next generation of business leaders, and decided to make it her responsibility. This quest was not for the faint of heart. There were many obstacles. Externally she faced tenured faculty and progress-blocking bureaucracy; internally she faced a nagging voice that kept asking her ‘Who do you think you are making suggestions to such superior beings?’
Throughout the year, our ‘check-in’ conversations would usually start with how impossible things were and then eventually conclude with her dropping in to her internal motivation of making this world a better place for others. This would hush the internal and external noise that told her to stop trying to influence a broken system made of ‘bigger’ people. This month when we spoke, she reported that the new program would officially start in January. I was delighted for her and then suggested that her experience reflected the traits of these creative journey panelists. She protested at first, but eventually sunk in to her well-earned status as a selfless, purpose-driven, and relentless change leader extraordinaire.
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