Fearless Leadership
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photo credit: craig neal
"Fear is False Evidence Appearing Real"
The 'tap' of the ship's prow against the iceberg...If you got just a little ‘tap’ that gave you a little vision of hope, 6 months from now you can be miles away from where you started.
Last Friday, the Bay Area TLG community welcome Joe Bailey and Beverley Wilson as our Conversation Starters. I wrote to Joe and Beverley that our time last Friday was one of the most simply elegant mornings we’ve had. "Simple, in that your words were seemingly simple. Elegant, in that they went deep to the heart of the matter. Truth was spoken, and heard by our souls."
Joe began the morning with the story of his real and metaphorical journey to the TLG, of losing his inner GPS momentarily. "As we go through life as leaders, whether official or not, we have this inner GPS—an inner systems that guides us through life—and we also have this inner fear. When we don’t trust our inner GPS, our heart and true self, then we get caught in fear – in this image that floats through our mind, and we mistake it for reality.
We find ourselves at that fork in the road, where we van take the path of fear, or the path of wisdom or heart, or the true self. Fear is a friendly little guy—it’s there for a purpose. Fear lets us know when we’ve fallen back asleep and gotten hypnotized. It wakes us up, without damaging us. It’s like an alarm clock; a feeling of discomfort in the physiology of our bodies. My fear this morning was a signal, letting me know I had moved away form my true self, and gotten caught in the illusion of fear.
"There is nothing we need to to create it, it’s already there. All we can do is obliterate it with thought and fear. I hope you will leave this place today knowing to trust this still small voice, the universal intelligence inside of us."
Fear covers up love. It makes it appear that the world is a terrifying place, out of control. But when we remember and reconnect with who we are – spirit – it is the seat of our sanity and leadership. There is nothing we need to to create it, it’s already there. All we can do is obliterate it with thought and fear.
I hope you will leave this place today knowing to trust this still small voice, the universal intelligence inside of us."
Beverley Wilson, G.O.D., spoke next with a story:
"I was called to Michigan State to address a group of people who totally intimidated me… I felt completely overwhelmed, like I was shrinking inside myself. I lost touch with who I was on the inside. When we do that we make other people into giants, and ourselves into little grasshoppers. So I was called to the stage, and felt this voice inside me. Who am I? A child of God! I have to believe I’m called here today because there is a rare need – I only get special assignments. We were all guided here, and I know I am not here by accident, but by divine design. There’s an energy in the room, and it starts getting bigger, and it feels like it’s going to take over. What do you do?
The 'correct' answer is to let your heart expand, (like Betsy said). But when I first started doing this, I felt overwhelmed. Authenticity is VERY important to leadership. If you’re saying one thing with your mouth and something else with your body, most people will see right through it and know it right away.
What we fear the most is immortality. When I first saw that picture (a painting she brought), it absolutely floored me. It took my breath away and my spirit was turning flips backwards. I saw people just freely dancing in the fire, without the power to hurt. That’s fearless leadership! Can you see yourself in there dancing? I want that kind of fearlessness – once I lose my fear of losing this mortal body. Who we really are is so big… we’d walk inside those flames and start dancing in a New York minute."
More to come when we send the write-ups!
“A few words well-placed can really change the trajectory of somebody's career.”