Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2018 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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Purpose Shared: Leadership is Convening

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"Convening leaders create and manage the social space within which citizens get deeply engaged."

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Peter Block became a foundational mentor when we founded Heartland/CPL 22 years ago. His writing and thought leadership was invaluable.

'The Answer to How is Yes' and 'Community: The Structure of Belonging' were both primary texts for the early Art of Convening Training's. The essay below states the case for purpose shared as convening, and convening as a foundational characteristic of an on-purpose leader.

Leadership is Convening

Excerpt from Community: The Structure of Belonging, by Peter Block, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, May 2008

In communal transformation, leadership is about intention, convening, valuing relatedness, and presenting choices. It is not a personality characteristic or a matter of style, and therefore it requires nothing more than what all of us already have. 

This means we can stop looking for leadership as though it were scarce or lost, or it had to be trained into us by experts. If our traditional form of leadership has been studied for so long, written about with such admiration, defined by so many, worshiped by so few, and the cause of so much disappointment, maybe doing more of all that is not productive. The search for great leadership is a prime example of how we too often take something that does not work and try harder at it. I have written elsewhere about reconstructing leader as social architect.

The Art of Convening

The shift is to believe that the task of leadership is to provide context and produce engagement, to tend to our social fabric. It is to see the leader as one whose function is to engage groups of people in a way that creates accountability and commitment. In this way of thinking we hold leadership to three tasks: 

• Create a context that nurtures an alternative future, one based on gifts, generosity, accountability, and commitment.

• Initiate and convene conversations that shift people’s experience, which occurs through the way people are brought together and the nature of the questions used to engage them.

• Listen and pay attention. 

Convening leaders create and manage the social space within which citizens get deeply engaged. Through this engagement, citizens discover that it is in their power to resolve something or at least move the action forward. 

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Engagement, and the accountability that grows out of it, occurs when we ask people to be in charge of their own experience and act on the well-being of the whole. Leaders do this by naming a new context and convening people into new conversations through questions that demand personal investment. This is what triggers the choice to be accountable for those things over which we can have power, even though we may have no control.

In addition to convening and naming the question, we add listening to the critical role of leadership. Listening may be the single most powerful action the leader can take. Leaders will always be under pressure to speak, but if building social fabric is important, and sustained transformation is the goal, then listening becomes the greater service. 

This kind of leadership––convening, naming the question, and listening––is restorative and produces energy rather than consumes it. It is leadership that creates accountability as it confronts people with their freedom. In this way, engagement-centered leaders bring kitchen table and street corner democracy into being.

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Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2018 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2018 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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Purpose Shared: "Making Happy" -Cindy Kent

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"So start tomorrow, right now. Welcome to the first few seconds of your bright, beautiful future."

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Cindy Kent was the lead Conversation Starter at our 20th Anniversary Conference in 2016. As a thought and purposeful leader, her values are central to all she does and how she does it. 

Making Happy

In nearly five decades of life, and too-many-experiences-to-count later, I have come to realize how misguided the notion of finding happiness is. You don’t really find happy, in truth, we make happy. Finding Happy is an ill-conceived notion, that inherently implies that happiness is some illusive by-product of luck or fortune or even, some edenic destination—a wistful, ideologue of a reward at the end of one’s diligent pursuit. Instead, I believe, we make happy—one decision, one choice, at a time.

The very idea that we make happy can be hard for some people to accept. Why? Because if we accept that we make our own happy, then it places the responsibility of our happiness squarely on our own shoulders. As such, it puts an end once and for all to the infamous “blame game” and the convenient opportunity to blame someone, anyone, for our failing to achieve the love, success and happiness that we desire. It would mean that the years we’ve spent blaming friends, parents, spouses, partners and employers for failing to make us happy were in fact, a bad use of our good and precious time. It does not mean that these individuals are abdicated from any wrong-doing, but it does suggest that we maintain absolute control over the effect that we allow their actions to have on our emotional and mental well-being. Fundamentally, happiness is much more about our reactions than it is about the actions themselves—reactions, which are completely within our own control. At some point we must make the choice to let go of the pain and hurt inflicted by others and choose to forgive them, let it go and MOVE ON. In fact today, or better yet right NOW, you can choose to let this very moment be the last bit of hurt that you ascribe to any event of your past. As you take deep cleansing breaths, you are releasing the bitterness of yesterday and taking in all the joy and hope that tomorrow brings. If you choose to wait, to have one final pity party or to savor the familiarity of pain’s bitterness one last time, then tomorrow will never come. So start tomorrow, right now. Welcome to the first few seconds of your bright, beautiful future.

So what is happiness? Happiness is the deepest level of contentment that you can possibly imagine, a sense of fullness that envelopes every fiber of your being. It is soul joy—a knowing that you are where you’re supposed to be, doing what you’re supposed to be doing at this very moment in time. It is not a feeling, for feelings are fleeting, but instead it is a sense of wholeness and being completely at peace in the moment. Happiness is inextricably tied to purpose. Walking in purpose and living life on purpose, by its very nature is a higher order of livelihood. Unfortunately, the sad reality is that many people go through their entire lives having never experienced the depth of peace that comes from a life truly lived. 

After years of “ordinary-ness,” the human spirit that is purposed for greatness will eventually take one of two paths. It will either grow dull and bitter, having convinced itself that ‘this is as good as it gets’ or two, the intensity of frustration will fuel the yearning to find ‘something more.’ It is at this point that one becomes increasingly aware that what you’re doing now, or even what you’ve spent the last twenty or thirty years doing is not fulfilling. This can be a frightening and overwhelming experience fraught with questions and self-doubt. What will I do instead? I don’t have the training or education to do what I really want to do. Will I be able to meet my financial obligations? I have a thriving career; people will think I’m crazy to leave this great job. Be assured that these feelings and questions are normal—and necessary—milestones as one endeavors to make happy.  

Cindy (Smith) Kent

Innovative Healthcare Executive. Focused Operational Growth Leader. Visionary Change Champion. Public Speaker.

President & General Manager, 3M Infection Prevention Division

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/making-happy-cindy-kent/

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Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2018 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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Purpose Shared: "Becoming a Wise Leader" -Richard Leider

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"It took all of his people wisdom to take a stand to serve the common good of all others."

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We're honored to publish this original essay by Richard Leider, the "father" of the Purpose Movement as our inaugural posting for our Purpose Shared Series. Who better than Richard to share his reflections on what is needed and wanted from our leaders in these days of destabilization?

Becoming a Wise Leader

“When there is no enemy within, the enemy outside can do no harm.” ‐ African proverb

The ultimate test of wise leadership is this:

Can you regard your leadership, no matter how dire the challenge, as one of serving the common good of others? Do you have a purpose larger than yourself for leading?

Most of us have a keen awareness of wisdom when it is present in our leaders (and in ourselves). And, we have an uneasy feeling of distrust and disengagement with it is absent.

To become a wise leader, one must be “people wise.”

Have you recently heard an inner voice whispering to you things like: “I don’t think I can do it?” “I’m not enough.” “What if I fail?”

That is the enemy within you speaking to you. It is the voice that speaks to you when you need to step outside your comfort zone. It’s the voice of fear. We all hear it occasionally. It’s part of being human.

The answer is not to kill it or suffocate it – but, to dive head first into it! Identify the voice with choice, curiosity, and courage.

Why? Because what you resist will persist.

Nelson Mandela’s actions reflected the truth about becoming a wise leader ‐ “to lead wisely, one must be people wise.” When Mandela became President of South Africa on May 10, 1994, he faced countless challenges outside his comfort zone. And, he faced his inner voice of fear. Upon his release from prison, he was greeted with banners reading, “Mandela Go Home, to Prison” and “Hang Mandela.”

It took all of his people wisdom to take a stand to serve the common good of all others. To become the leader that South Africa needed, he chose to embrace the national rugby team, the Springboks. Popular with Afrikaners, to most blacks the Springboks represented the apartheid system that they despised. Nevertheless, Mandela chose South Africa to host rugby’s World Cup the following year with the slogan, “One Team, One Country.”

As the Springboks began to win in the fierce World Cup competition, the mood in the country shifted. When the players (all but one of them white) showed up in public, they were greeted not just by Afrikaners, but by blacks as well.

The Springboks made it to the finals. They were to play the New Zealand All Blacks, considered as one of the finest rugby teams in history.

Five minutes before the game played before sixty‐five thousand chanting and singing fans, Mandela walked in to the stadium wearing a Springbok’s jersey, the very symbol of apartheid that so many hated.

With millions more watching on TV or listening on the radio, the crowd of mostly Afrikaners went wild with a deafening chant of “Nel‐son,” “Nel‐son!” The country was united for the moment – “One Team, One Country”. It was a moment that many people realized that this country could work.

Mandel showed that he could forgive and become the wise leader they wanted.

The Springbok’s won the thrilling championship game in overtime.

Mandela’s stand embodied what it means to be “people‐wise.” After decades of apartheid and afte twenty‐seven years in prison, it would have been natural for him to focus on the wants of his black constituents at the expense of the broader interests of the country.

But, Mandela had become a leader with a people‐wise view. His actions toward the Springboks served as a powerful symbol of what the new South Africa might be like. They reflected his wise awareness of how others very different from himself would react to changes accelerating around them.

Nelson Mandela has two critical things to teach us about becoming wise leaders.

First, “becoming” means clearly understanding the difference between being smart and being wise.

They’re not the same. Wisdom demands insight and effectiveness with people. A leader can be very smart without being smart about people. Becoming a wise leader requires having a feel for people – their hopes, fears, passions, and purposes.

Second, becoming a wise leader means understanding “Why things are the way they are.” Aristotle claimed that wisdom comes from our understanding of “why” things are the way they are. To him, a smart person knows a lot about “what” and “how” but a wise person understands “why.”

It was Mandela’s understanding of the “why” of all South Africans that testifies to his greatness as a “people‐wise” leader. He had no enemy within. 1

What makes a Leader wise?

We like to believe that our leaders are smart people. But, as Nelson Mandela showed us, being smart is not enough in the long run. So, how does one go from being a smart leader to becoming a wise leader? Start by seeing the world differently – from the inside out. A wise leader is constantly becoming more self‐aware. Without self‐awareness, it’s very hard to move out of smartness. The “dean of leadership gurus”, the late Warren Bennis wrote: “The leader never lies to himself, especially about himself, knows his flaws as well as his assets, and deals with them directly.” Even though Bennis mentored CEOs, taught countless soon‐to‐be leaders while teaching at Harvard, MIT, and USC, and advised U.S. Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, he never pretended he knew everything. He wrote, “To an extent, leadership is like beauty:

It’s hard to define, but you know it when you see it.” Do you see it in yourself? Do others see it in you? 

Self‐awareness is the “soul” of wise leadership. Without a soul, a leader is nothing more than a smart suit.

The Big Idea: Becoming Self‐Aware

Self‐awareness is the “soul” of wise leadership. Without a soul, a leader is nothing more than a smart suit. For more information read “Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation” by John Carlin, and watch the film Invictus starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon.

Richard Leider, founder of Inventure – The Purpose Company, is one of America’s preeminent executive‐life coaches.

He is ranked by Forbes as one of the “Top 5” most respected executive coaches, and by the Conference Board as a “legend in coaching.” Richard has written ten books, including three best sellers, which have sold over one million copies and have been translated into 20 languages.

Repacking Your Bags and The Power of Purpose are considered classics in the personal development field. Richard’s PBS Special – The Power of Purpose – was viewed by millions of people across the U.S. 

©2018 Inventure ‐ The Purpose Company richardleider.com

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Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2018 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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Exciting new "Purpose Shared" series from Center for Purposeful Leadership

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"Subscribe now to get your 2x/week spark of purpose."

In the weeks to come your twice-weekly “Purpose Shared” will feature a beautiful inspirational photo and saying one day and an original article from one of our Purpose Fellows. Welcome to #1!

Could 2018 be the year that we start to see companies who embrace a more purpose-led strategy in an era of technological disruption start to win the war for the best talent?* Great question, but certainly not the only reason to consider why purpose plays a central role in culture strategy and alignment. Why focus on purpose? Purpose brings goodness into our everyday lives and more. 

As we evolved from Heartland to Center for Purposeful Leadership, we have been blessed with the presence, heart, and wisdom of hundreds of Conversation Starters plus thousands of attendees as clients and at our events. What did they have in common? A sense of purpose shared with those around them. 

Recently we realigned with Richard Leider, the "father" of the Purpose Movement that is exploding around us. It's a perfect fit. CPL has been known as the Convening Company. Marrying convening and purpose has become the sweet spot that defines us. We realized that at the heart of the matter is purpose. Convening activates purpose. 

• Purpose shared is core to great leadership.
• Purpose is our true north, our reason for being. 
• Purpose is fundamental to health, healing, and happiness. 
• Purpose is always about something larger than yourself.
• Purpose expressed is an activator and crucial for an alignment strategy.
• Purposeful leaders are constantly growing and “becoming” self-aware, self-led, and self-less.

We look forward to sharing reflections from the purposeful leaders that inspire us.

Next week we will feature Richard's newest writing on "Becoming a Wise Leader." Stay tuned!

Subscribe now to get your 2x/week spark of purpose

*A recent article in MARGINALIA: FUTURE OF WORK MAGAZINE, focused on "Future of Work Predictions for 2018". While a lot of the predictions focused on AI and technology, there were many comments about the role of purpose and this question: Could 2018 be the year that we start to see companies who embrace a more purpose-led strategy in an era of technological disruption start to win the war for the best talent? 

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Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2018 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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Great Meetings - The Recipe: Part 2

PHoto Credit: Daniel Scotton

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Any convened meeting, gathering or even a conversation has at its core practical ingredients or “principles” that are essential to the creation of a safe and generative engagement leading to powerful outcomes that engage everyone.

As the convener, you have the unique role of creating the recipe then to lead or facilitate people through the engagement AND to introduce the essential ingredients that will inform and assist in achieving the desired outcomes.

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Any great meeting like a recipe only uses the best ingredients:

Starting with positive intent, the convener approaches each engagement as an opportunity to create possibilities. Suspending certainty allows for what we don't know to come alive.  We then listen for the wisdom in each voice and understand that slowing down the conversation will allow the spaces for creativity and innovation to occur. By hearing all the voices and perspectives we invite diversity and inclusion into the conversation. Then by looking for new ways of thinking and being, we are open to surprises and to new possibilities.

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Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2018 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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Great Meetings - The Recipe: Part 1

Photo Credit: Craig Neal

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The Convening Method is much like baking a cake. Purpose is the flour, convening is the yeast. Convening activates purpose. The ingredients, all added at the right time, consciously tended in a step-by-step manner, can be successful time after time.

The recipe for convening transformational meetings follows a path:

1. Start with a clear purpose and success factors. A two-sentence statement will do.
2. Your agenda comes next. It will embody your purpose along with what you are to do together to reach your success factors or intent.
3. Your invitation simply outlines what you are to do together that integrates purpose and intent.
4. Giving thought and consideration to the space in which you meet is often neglected. Think what would stimulate and enliven the attendees beyond all the necessary materials.
5. In creating safe spaces for authentic engagements remember the cultural norms and what agreements you wish to have to allow people to settle in and feel safe.
6. Once in the meeting, how many times and how many ways can all the voices be heard to allow the opportunity for full participation?
7. Essential conversation is the result of the preparation you have put into the first 5 steps of the recipe. Here we are aware of mood and level of connection each has for engaging in the agenda. Has the space been created for mutual trust and respect?
8. Calling for a commitment to action brings clarity to what has been agreed to. A commitment to action invites responsibility, accountability, and commitment to an individual and collective way forward.

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In Part 1 we gave you the recipe or the method. In Part 2, next week, the yummy ingredients!

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Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2018 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2018 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2018 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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A Case Study in Collaboration: Whole Person Leadership for Women

by Patricia Neal

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"What is most exciting is that even though there are clear outcomes and objectives for the program and each session, we also know that this is a dynamic and emergent process"

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As Oprah said beautifully at the Golden Globes recently: "A new day is on the horizon [for women]." Now is the perfect time to explore and bolster whole person leadership for women.

A year ago, Rachel Harris had the idea to renew an offering for women leaders from 2008 as a way to explore what Whole Person and On-Purpose Leadership means in the world of life and work for women leaders today.

What it means to be a woman at work has evolved significantly since 2008 to include an understanding that to be a great leader, integrating who you are with what you do is crucial. Additionally, the definition of "leader" has expanded beyond a title to include situational leadership that calls on not only functional capacity, but capacity for authentic engagement and collaboration. Perfect opportunity!

Your WPL Faculty

What began a year ago as an endeavor of 2 expanded in scope and capacity with the addition of Center for Purposeful Leadership team members as content contributors, and so much more...

With the addition of this dynamic team, what has transpired is a collaboration of spirit and expertise. I presented the initial concept and inspiration as a basic framing. Since then, each team member has assumed a role of stewardship and primary contributor to design from not only their area of content expertise, but from many-decades-real-time experience with the challenges and opportunities for women in the workplace, as well as their own personal and professional development.

This evolution to stewardship didn't just happen by accident. We utilize the principles and practices of convening to create a consistent structure, path and map to build trust and mutual respect, parallel to getting work done.

We follow the thoughtful 9 steps of the Convening Wheel as the structure of each meeting and conversation. At the center: the heart of the matter.

What is at the heart of the matter is always a crucial place to begin. So, what IS at the heart of the matter? First and foremost, we are colleagues that did not know one another before being introduced by CPL becoming trusted colleagues and even friends. What is crucial is a relationship-first orientation.

Next, in a collaboration structure that is developing quickly to meet the timeline of the work to deliver, there are some crucial constructs still being worked out:

• How are all voices heard?  
• How do decisions get made that honor each voice and expertise?
• What are our individual and collective values?
• What does excellence look like for each of us and for the whole team?
• What do we agree are the "non-negotiables" for trusted participation and delivery of content?

We are "building the ship" as we design program and presentation together. We set sail next week on January 22 for the first of five Zoom video sessions and complete in May for a 2-day in-person Summit.

What is most exciting is that even though there are clear outcomes and objectives for the program and each session, we also know that this is a dynamic and emergent process: the learnings that emerge from each of the sessions and [very accomplished] participants will guide and propel us towards that final two days that will be more about co-discovery than about teaching and learning.

I can't wait to see what happens and who we will be by June 1!

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Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2018 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2018 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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3 Most Common Convening Questions (when the meeting goes off the rails)

PHoto Credit: Daniel Scotton

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The consistent themes for why people enroll in the Art of Convening trainings:

• their meetings, retreats and even conversations are totally not working,
• or
• they realize things could be a whole lot better, better efficiency, better buy-in, aligned outcomes.

1. The #1 common question is “How do I handle the person who dominates the meeting?” or “the non-stop talker” or “the bully.”

2. A 2nd common question is: “How can I make a difference if I’m not leading the meeting?”

3. The 3rd most common question: “How do I get people engaged to participate in the meeting and get aligned? When we walk out the door, the real meeting begins in the hallway.”

Click here to read how Bob successfully addressed some of these questions in his organization:  http://conta.cc/2EqHA4R

We will offer our learnings in future posts.

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