We are in a new era of leadership. Many of us thought we were in a new era in the last few years (I guess we were), and oh... wow... little did we know. What is required NOW as we navigate the present moment and lead into the future, is similar in some ways (after all, we're talking about human beings, human dynamics, connection, and leadership), and also will require more -- and in new ways.
Digging into work yesterday I received a text from a client updating me on their status and letting me know that she, her team, and their healthcare organization (a hospital right on the frontlines in a highly affected area) were doing okay. I read the text and burst into tears. Gratitude and relief.
My mom called me last night to check in. She's sheltering in home away from her kids and grand babies. My sister had brought her dinner and a conversation with grand babies "through her window." Homesickness, heartache, amusement, delight.
This information was shared in our bi-weekly contagious leadership conversation broadcast (which is subscription-based). Given what we’re all going through right now, we wanted to provide this information on a bigger scale. Stay well. Stay present. Wash your hands. Breathe.
I had what I call a “growth experience” with my daughter recently. (Some would call this an argument.) I’m learning the ever-changing dance of parenting a highly intelligent teenage girl (who I love more than air) who is also learning her own ever-changing dance of becoming as she learns how to navigate a mom who asks a lot (a lot!) of questions. Despite the fact that I write books and help people show up and collaborate better for a living, it never pains me more than when one of my kids and I are in our own “missed collaboration.” In the end of course it all worked out -- after some back and forth, mutual disagreement, and love and respect as the solid truth throughout, we had an agreement to create a new plan moving forward that we could both be “good” with. Yay.
I've recently been invited to contribute to a new LinkedIn feature called #YouAsked. Here is the question I was given today. My thinking around it follows.
“I struggle with deadlines, timelines, and timeliness (thanks, ADHD), which is an important part of my job. Does struggling with that mean I can’t ever do my job well?
How do I work to improve that while also showing that I am worth more than my biggest weakness?” — Melissa B., program manager at a Vancouver, Wash.-based nonprofit
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