Lately, I've noticed that three common myths about presence often disempower and exhaust leaders:
There are other myths to address, but for now, I'd like to focus on these three and invite you into a way forward...
True leadership requires more than just expertise and qualifications; it demands the ability to inspire and positively influence those around you.
Technical skills, management frameworks, and impressive credentials are no longer enough to guarantee success as a leader. While these elements are undoubtedly important, they can only take you so far.
Why Should You Really Focus on Energy, Intentions, and Presence?
The true differentiator between a successful leader and a potentially damaging one lies in the energy, presence, and intentions they bring to their role. This is the core foundation of the IEP Method®, which emphasizes that sustainable success stems from a leader’s ability to manage not just their tasks, but their energetic impact on their team and organization.
Why is positive energy important? How do we create it? How does it impact our culture? For years we've worked with leaders and organizations on building healthier more positively contagious cultures and authentic positive energy leadership. Often when I speak about how to do this, people will ask for the "checklist" -- the checklist for building a healthy culture or leading better. ("Yes, yes, yes... I know positive energy is important, yes yes yes... give me the checklist.") We can give you a checklist, trust me, we have many -- however, it will ultimately only be as good as the honest inner work you do to truly create positive energy within yourself first. Creating healthy leadership and a healthy culture is an inside-job...
Last month, Harvard Business Review published an article, "The Best Leaders Have a Contagious Positive Energy". (Four of my favorite words in one title: leaders, contagious, positive, and energy!) The article speaks to some of the what and why of positive energy leadership. In the video below, I offer you a bit more about the (sustainable) authentic how as well as some things to watch out for as you build your leadership and culture. Enjoy!
I'm considering starting up a podcast or some kind of weekly "live" on Instagram or LinkedIn (possibly both for the different platforms, email or DM me if you have a preference). We're currently exploring what feels congruent and most useful for people and, in the meantime, I'm playing with the content and pathways that work best for the two groups. My intention, of course, is to make it as simple, useful, and easy as possible for all. So we've been experimenting...
One thing for sure -- regardless of the platform you're on -- is the challenge, dance, and journey of self-leadership, self-care, self-partnership, culture creation, relationship navigation, and the things that make us all human together.
One of those human things? The feeling of being "stuck."
We had the final Contagious Culture Book Club meeting today. I love these sessions as the people who show up -- show up, the questions they ask make me think in new ways, the situations shared are real, and the dialogue is rich. Of course, as with so many of my client calls, a GOLD nugget question or "aha" gets brought up RIGHT at the END of the session. Today was one of those days.
.png "Active_choices_horiz_wh (1)")