July 27, 2010 by Jeff Brunson
A story is not an intermission in the flow of a busy life. A story is evidence of a meaningful plot polished by the acts; the right script. Through story, leaders assist us in seeing the future in our present commitments and actions. The interlude of story is concentrated present-moment power. The interlude is intended to respond and fill a need in the present; keeping us encouraged in the unfolding story.
The balance of experience teaches you about selfless stillness where you hear a narrative right for your voice. In the same manner, experience – the balance of the busy and the blank – is a great collective encourager when enhanced by the love of a storyteller. In the story, we allow experience to teach, exhort, and encourage while leading us away from the repetition of costly mistakes. In the momentum of story, the leader opens the portal of the present where together we enter our collective future.
A well-told story benefits both teller and hearer. It is tempting to be caught-up in the thrill of telling and set oneself up to miss the bounty of the telling obligation. As a teller, there is much for which to account and respond. The loving teller assumes the role of treasurer for the bounty of meaning available in how a story is told and how the presentation opens the possibilities for meaning.
Your joy of telling comes from the love you have for those who hear; from those who have joined in the telling. Engagement – freeing individual imagination – fulfills the need of the hearer. The need of the teller is fulfilled in the act of telling as he or she benefits from this loving act.
As a loving storyteller, you collect meaning in a manner respectful of the individual. This meaning is subsequently released when shared. From the specific story, you connect us in the unity of the general. As a loving leader, you offer latitude for assemblage; creating the symphonizing of a collective.
In the 21st Century, you cannot even pretend to have all the answers; nor should you. However, you must create the space where those answers can be collectively discovered; putting the collective what before the collective how. Collective voice is about what to tell. The loving leader does not allow us to sell our collective self out to what others might think. In any given strategic action, we demonstrate what we think about us. Focused together on collective impact, we do not wait to act on what we know we ought to do.
Create the space for collective practice (present-moment unfolding of the story) and the subsequent blending of individual stories. The demand for 21st Century impact will only be met through the aware, focused, and loving leader.
For more like this and the developing series around the 7 skills, see: 21st Century Leadership Skills
Posted in 7 Skills for 21st Century Leadership - Discussed | Tagged Storytelling, Experience, Larger Story, Respect, Present, Love, Story, Commitment, Impact | Leave a Comment »
July 19, 2010 by Jeff Brunson
The influence of understanding flows through one’s intent and purpose. Confident and empowered in our own voice, we create the space where individual stories recognize collective harmony through individual resonance. Before an individual story can flow toward the collective pool, the individual must find the foundational confidence to tell in the space that has been provided. You are the example as the preparation of this space began with your confidence as a storytelling leader.
We invest in another when we see ourselves as uniquely privileged and available to join in his or her story.” -Dan B. Allender in To be Told
Through consciously executed commitment, you leverage self-understanding to better understand another. Love is applied in connection. Deanna had been telling me stories of great success for where she is in her development journey. She learns new and valuable things about herself, immediately finds the space in which to apply her learning, and then tells me the story. About this exciting journey she said, “It’s like learning a new language.” Deanna is finding her voice and using it to tell her own story while respectfully joining in the story of others as she applies this new language.
Deanna holds connection as a core value. She defines this value as follows: “In order to do my best, I must feel part of something larger – I want to know those I am connected with care; care about the work, the people, and the customers.” Deanna is applying love in work she loves. It is important to note that the love for her work was not pre-existing in every story. Some stories were made particularly interesting because of Deanna’s effort in finding her purpose in certain work circumstances. She had to dig deep for her part in the larger screen play; “In order to do my best, I must feel part of something larger.” Deanna is committed to her values – to her story.
A leader is loving when leading with confidence while leading others to their own confidence in their own story. Deanna’s authentic voice is her brand of love. Committed to her value of connection, Deanna is freely offering trust, unconditionally. This brand of love is earning her respect, and the corresponding trust, as she skillfully challenges others to learn new ways to solve old problems. Feeling Deanna’s authenticity, others are inviting her into their story. In a concentrated, conscious effort, Deanna is investing in others; one individual at a time.
Without trust, there is no impact. Trust is love expressed. Like Deanna, you have learned to manage processes and lead people. You advance your voice, and that of another, when you listen and respond. Experiential wisdom, carefully handled by the loving storyteller, builds explicit trust. Experience is the teacher preparing us fo the relevant practice needed to unfold a collective story.
The power of story unfolds in your love. Love others, build trust, and forward the impact intended in your purpose.
For more like this and the developing series around the 7 skills, see: 21st Century Leadership Skills
Posted in 7 Skills for 21st Century Leadership - Discussed | Tagged Commitment, Experience, Impact, Larger Story, Love, New Confidence, Story, Storytelling, Trust, Voice | Leave a Comment »
July 13, 2010 by Jeff Brunson
Purpose provides direction. Your first order of purpose is to be yourself consistently as you embrace and leverage who you are and make choices in light of the authentic self. The voice of a larger purpose resonates in your core where your deepest values reside. From the discipline of these purpose-giving values, your voice has anchored you in the present with a new confidence that is as unique to you as your fingerprint. By activating your purpose and voice, you have balanced that what of the nurturing spirit with the how of the serving spirit.
In the clarity of your Desire & Intent, you stand sure in the present and extend your reach to those you lead, influence, and serve. You have your footing in a self-understanding that no longer produces judgment of self or others. Your memory is full of moments just like the one in which you stand. Our most memorable times are written on the hard drive of our core because we were intently present with the event; these can be good and not-so-good events. Upon discovering voice we are shocked into the present as if thrown into the near freezing flow of the river of consciousness. At this level of awareness, voice clears the flow of individual character.
I will never forget the torrent of the moment when I was thumped out of the small water craft into the raging drop at the turn in the river. While I remembered all the key applications for being in fast water – feet out front, etc. – I soon tired and was pulled under over and over to the point of exhaustion. The submersion became a forced conversation; a dialogue where I had to make a choice. I decided that was not my time and I was given both right and power in the decision. I was very present.
Peace and torrent are natural conditions intended to work together for balance in our story; in the highs and lows; in the hills and valleys; in the busy and blank times. To stand firm in the present and extend your reach is to embrace your impact in a manner consistently conscious of this balance. You are confident in not only the torrent but also in the time of peace (the lows, the valley, and the blank). You know that being still is an act of intention – to just stop is a selfless act and practice. It is only in the stillness that you hear the narrative right for your voice.
The voice of your teller is when focus and courage meet in the present. You are the qualified teller of the balance; experiential acts coming together to form the story of your journey. Balance is an outcome of embracing the narrative of meaning keyed for your voice. The narrative of meaning assists in the living expression of your story. You tell for the joy of telling; a joy found in the connection of hearer and meaning.
We tell our story because of the innate need to be engaged with others in the narrative journey. We find our connection in the larger story in large part because we have connected with our own story. Our story is important to each individual who can find connection in the narrative. When told where it belongs, our story has impact; and we are impacted personally from the story each time we tell it.
Love is the measure of identity because in love is the timeless and untrammeled, the presence of things, the hours illuminated and celebrated like the steeple bell across the fields, filling the hollows and the hot afternoon to the brim.” -David Whyte in Crossing the Unknown Sea
For more like this and the developing series around the 7 skills, see: 21st Century Leadership Skills
Posted in 7 Skills for 21st Century Leadership - Discussed | Tagged Desire, Impact, Intent, Love, Story, Storytelling, Values, Voice | 2 Comments »
July 7, 2010 by Jeff Brunson
Back in our years of working together, I came to know Mark well. I became accustomed to Mark’s intense presence – a way of being in a task that I learned to appreciate as part of who he is at the core. If one had asked me to briefly describe Mark’s management style, I might have used the word “impulsive” in my analysis.
Many years passed between the time we worked together in operations and the time Mark enlisted me as his coach. I was not surprised, and greatly pleased, when he shared one particular outcome he desired from the coaching relationship; reduce the impulses. While intensely present in those earlier years, Mark was not always attentive to what was being heard in the moment. It is a conscious observation, being open to what is occurring in the moment, that leads to understanding.
Entering into an experience conscious of our own purpose increases our ability to respect the potential of another. Understanding releases the tension in subsequent action. Freed from any debilitating self-judgment, we more easily facilitate the flood of information of any given moment into a flow that moves the distracted many into a focused whole. Facilitating the importance of what, you align all behind the right approach to how; releasing the tension in subsequent action. As a facilitator, you possess an understanding of self that gives you control over your own behavior to best influence the behavior of others – moving us toward our desired collective story.
As much as anyone I have known, Mark is committed to the collective story. As he learns more about himself as a leader and facilitator, he will continue to leverage personal commitment to create the collective commitment. He understands that collective commitment is prerequisite to collective focus.
Clarity empowers the individual to focus on the most productive personal strengths to honor the collective commitment. Intent fires commitment; and focus makes the commitment real to the individual and in the collective.
Focused on purpose – both yours and that of the whole – you facilitate clarity and freedom. People need freedom to see purpose as the door to individual and collective focus. Purpose frees us to confidently focus, without apology, on what is most important.
Leading and facilitating in a purposeful, focused manner is not about consensus. Based on the control factors of time, ownership, and involvement, consensus is simply one of many choices in the decision-making process. Leading and facilitating through purpose and focus is about creating alignment. Consensus is about agreement inside a controlled, narrow situation. Alignment is about unity around a dynamic path toward the collective story.
Alignment quickens the intent of the many into a collective whole. Alignment purifies the water in which our collective vision flows. You facilitate this alignment and then you lead us through the natural dip and distractions. As a leader, you keep us individually and collectively focused on our desire in both the final vision and in the intensity of the moment.
For more like this and the developing series around the 7 skills, see: 21st Century Leadership Skills
Posted in 7 Skills for 21st Century Leadership - Discussed | Tagged Clarity, Experience, Flow, Focus, Intent, Judgment, Presence, Purpose, Story, Understanding | Leave a Comment »
June 29, 2010 by Jeff Brunson
Collective facilitation is about leading others in unadulterated conversation – true dialogue. Collective facilitation is acting on the principle of practice which states: For maximum effectiveness of intent, put your what before your how. As the facilitator leads others through the honor of this principle, he creates a productive flow in how we talk to each other. With the skills of a practiced facilitator, he helps make easy the process of interaction that does not ignore the difficult chapters necessary in the discovery of complete meaning in the collective story.
The skilled facilitator is a present, open-minded listener. A listener at this level of skill is in control in the flow of the collective voice – not at all a self-centered control, but an exhibition of commitment layered on a displayed control over his own behavior. This facilitator has recognized judgment as a distraction to authentic individual and collective purpose.
The level of facilitation described here is neutral; not invested with a personal stake that controls one’s behavior. As with Kajule in the previous section, the facilitator who has achieved the power of neutrality is acting confidently from a base of self-respect as she demonstrates a cohesive respect for all. She has respect for the larger experience that is unfolding.
Understanding is a choice to be present. To facilitate confidence, one must facilitate with confidence. This is done by the facilitator who is free of opinion. Opinions may be part of one’s experience, but they do not represent one’s authentic self. Opinions are mere droplets from the weak cloud of judgment. If allowed to continue, these droplets water our landscape just enough for the green; leaving us with shallow, unhealthy roots of understanding.
The collective facilitator is committed to strength. Committed to collective strength, the facilitator brings individual strength into conscious observation. Voice gives strength. The skilled facilitator creates the space for individual voice to flow and merge into collective voice.
Intentional neutrality opens the mind to understanding and allows us to take all things together. Open to understanding, we have made the choice to be present with what is unfolding. Committed to not judge, we give wings to individual voice and participate in the organic union of the one into many.
This is the facilitator. This is leadership.
For more like this and the developing series around the 7 skills, see: 21st Century Leadership Skills
Posted in 21st Century Skills, Collective Facilitation | Tagged 21st Century Leadership Skills, Authenticity, Collective, False confidence, Flow, Focus, Story, Understanding, Voice | 4 Comments »
June 23, 2010 by Jeff Brunson
You have become more aware of who you really are. In the clear pool of this awareness you have committed your attention to a narrow focus empowered by your purpose/brand. You have discovered the simple model for effectiveness in the 21st Century.
A lack of focus disparages personal impact as one remains busy with the unimportant. A lack of focus is also disrespectful of others as the leadership others expect fails to materialize.
Creating a relaxed focus can help me see the things I need to be doing as a leader. -Coaching Client
Preparation is an intentional practice for a focused 21st Century leader. As a focused leader, you make and take in the time needed to work on what is important to you, things that in the busy mind of the world around you may not be considered urgent. Urgency around the unimportant is boldly silenced as you lead others to understand simple as a strategy.
Kajule was telling me about the large project with which she was involved and how the update meetings – with forty people – were brutally frustrating and ineffective. Asking her to consider how she may not be the only frustrated participant, we discussed a simple strategy for her to exercise in the next meeting. As the meeting participants assembled, Kajule - who was not the regular meeting organizer – asked if she might pose a question to the group. With permission granted, she asked, “At the end of our hour today, what is it that we will have accomplished?” There was an immediate flurry of input which Kajule facilitated into an objective of joint possession. At the end of the meeting, Kajule was compelled into a position by the door as people filed by and thanked her for the best meeting they had collectively experienced.
Respectfully facilitating an objective ensures each meeting is a preparation for success. A prepared meeting is intentional practice and gets work done. A prepared meeting organizes a collective, relaxed focus. Kajule’s confident facilitation was built on a strong self-respect. This yielded a powerful and effective respect of impact for others.
Acting with an open, present mind lays the pavement for respect-filled interactions. Individual and collective impact is a complex outcome of the simplicity of focus. Your Desire & Intent has emboldened you to lead from clarity through a level of self-understanding that resists the limitations of a busy, out-of-focus world.
For more like this and the developing series around the 7 skills, see: 21st Century Leadership Skills
Posted in 7 Skills for 21st Century Leadership - Discussed, Collective Facilitation, Confidence | Tagged 21st Century Leadership Skills, Busyness, Focus, Practice, Present, Understanding | 4 Comments »
June 18, 2010 by Jeff Brunson
“Death is not impressed by what we have done, unless what we have done leaves a legacy of life; death’s tide washes over everything we have taken so long to write in the sand. What is remembered in all our work is what is still alive in the hearts and minds of others.” -David Whyte in Crossing the Unknown Sea
Memory tells me it was late August when we completed the organizational culture assessments. My development team were in the final stages of designing the planned follow-up activities. We were briefed on the technical aspects of the instruments and I began to study the reports in light of the newly learned language. The reports were thorough and data credible. The culture professionals were proven statisticians and, by their own declaration, not consultants who would advise on what to do with the results. Yet something bothered me.
At the end of my study, I had determined the missing in all our efforts; the data did a fine job telling us about current and desired culture, but said nothing about why. To me, the why was in what we collectively valued. In response I hired two consultants I trusted to join us in facilitating sessions where we could create dialogue and listen for these values. The sessions were scheduled for late September.
Between the time we scheduled the sessions and the time we were to facilitate them, something terrible happened; September 11, 2001. The sessions were held as planned and, as you might imagine, the outcome was skewed by the events of that day just two weeks prior.
People from varying levels of management gathered in these dialogue sessions. Attendance exceeded our expectations. People needed to be together. I had instructed the facilitating consultants on the range of questions I wanted answered and in how I required them to be asked. One specific instruction was to not use the term “values” as they sought answers to the questions. Based on the predetermined topical questions, the facilitators asked the people to tell about a time when … . The respective storytelling was no less than powerful as one by one each person told about how we had come together to get communications back up and running for employees and customers in New York City.
Without limitation of any sort, people gave from individual and collective strengths. This does not mean that individuals did not feel weakness during this tragic time. Indeed we each did. Even in a time of great weakness, people pulled together in strength. In those rooms where we provided stillness, people came together once again to share the bounty of collective strength through impassioned story.
As I think back on these sessions, I am grateful for the things I learned. Awakened to the power of dialogue, I continue on the difficult journey to glean all that can be gathered from this power. Listening is a developed strength and can open doors like nothing else. The right questions are a gift. Don’t worry about the answers; just focus on the questions that will free the information needed to form the story.
Story creates connection that teaches. In all times, lean on your strengths to determine what to give and how to give it. Leverage a developed strength of listening to open others to the blessing of the moment as you engage them in the common story.
Model focus and direction as you manifest the empowerment of ‘no’ as you guide personal narratives into collective reality and weed out the distractions to the creation of the common, desired story.
As your purpose/brand narrows you into focus, you open bright portals not before seen by the busy and distracted following.
For more like this and the developing series around the 7 skills, see: 21st Century Leadership Skills
Posted in 7 Skills for 21st Century Leadership - Discussed, Confidence, Giving | Tagged 21st Century Leadership Skills, Focus, Story, Storytelling, Strengths, Values | 1 Comment »
June 15, 2010 by Jeff Brunson
“As you value the lives of others, yours achieves value.”
-Bernard Malamud, quoted in Breakthrough Business Development
We care for self to care in the world. Directing our energy is a gift to self and others. Giving this energy is most effective to the recipient when done by a spirit freed from limiting expectation. Free from any limitations, my colleague Anne-Marie (from the skill of Networking) gave me a powerful gift of encouragement.
Be present with the person in whose presence you are blessed to be. This presence assures that giving is authentic. Giving authentically means you impart time and energy in light of the impact you desire and intend.
There is no more present act than listening to another human being. Each act of giving – as in listening – is a unique representation of your personal purpose/brand. One by one, each act of giving unfolds the path to where we long to be; and in the process makes us a guide for others. One cannot focus on everything and be effective. Your individual compass is constructed with important components; your values, your strengths, and your purpose/brand is the needle on the face.
Listening is a commitment; a commitment that opens to providential movement as information is shared between individuals. Be grateful for your journey of self-discovery as a leader; a leader who authentically cares. You are someone who confidently gives to others because you know how to freely give to self.
Trust in being at the right place in the right moment. We can only be led to a common story through a focused present. As a 21st Century leader, you focus your leadership in the present to ensure that we put our individual attention to the right priorities, thus building fulfillment in our present work and assuring the rewards of the future.
Honor the story of another as you lead others to a common story. A confident leader does not lead us away from something. A confident leader points us toward something; a better future.
For more like this and the developing series around the 7 skills, see: 21st Century Leadership Skills
Posted in 7 Skills for 21st Century Leadership - Discussed, Confidence, Giving | Tagged 21st Century Leadership Skills, Commitment, Judgment, Presence, Story, Storytelling | 1 Comment »
June 10, 2010 by Jeff Brunson
You are your best you only in the present. I have become more conscious of the need to spend more energy in the role of observer. Learning more about this role, and practicing there, will assure I give more fully to self. To just watch – observe without judgment – I have the opportunity to take in what is occurring around me, observe my reactions, understand these reactions, and learn more about my true core.
This realization has shown me I have strayed from practicing what I preach. I have not been giving myself the gift of time to be certain that I possess what I desire to give to others. In denying myself this time, I have withheld the gift of peace. Through this dark portal of denial, I have wandered into past regret while in the same breath covering my head to protect myself from fear of the future.
Practicing presence is practicing calmness. There is confidence in calmness. Your confidence is a gift to those you lead, influence, and serve. Do your due diligence with awareness – an understanding through observation – so that you do not become a silencer of the subtle voice which draws one into a blessed moment.
Allow listening to advance your voice. Learn how, and when, to listen to yourself. My individual coaching clients rarely listen to self in the critical moments. I suppose that is where I come in; to listen and then let the individual hear the weight of their words. We were talking about the concern of trust in Mark’s organization of 800 people. There were four of us in this dialogue and I was asked to summarize. I began with what I believed was the theme for the project; followed by my crediting Mark for the words in the theme. His response was, “I said that?”
Surprised by our own voice, we are jolted into the present where our voice finds its tenor and confidence. To give in the present is in accordance with the impact you desire and intend. My friend and colleague Melanie offers a beautiful suggestion for being present; “Slow down to the pace of the verb you’re in.” If you are writing, write. If you are driving, drive. If you are talking with Karen, be there with Karen. Come into the present, hear your voice, and give.
Relaxing into who you really are opens the flow of your gifts to others. When authenticity flows free of judgment, you are confident. We often set an expectation because we do not want to be surprised. In this sense we limit others and ourselves as we plan to be surprised by nothing.
True giving is free of limiting expectation. True giving – to self and others – is free of debilitating guilt. As confident leaders – those who give to self to assure our giving to others – we leave each situation better than we found it.
For more like this and the developing series around the 7 skills, see: 21st Century Leadership Skills
Posted in 21st Century Skills, 7 Skills for 21st Century Leadership - Discussed, Confidence, Giving | Tagged 21st Century Leadership Skills, Practice, Presence, Present | Leave a Comment »
June 5, 2010 by Jeff Brunson
The composition of this section was begun before an evening meal with colleagues. Our collegial gathering began eight years prior with a small number of freelance spirits in need of each others company.
Like career connections, creating connections in the collegial arena must be done intentionally and confidently. This gathering to which I belong was founded with no distracting structure and one singular purpose; collegial support.
Anne-Marie is an elegant spirit who became a vital part of this support group. At that recent evening gathering, I shared my present activities in marketing my book and in attempting to move business forward in a challenging time. The next day I made a post about slow business, high stress, and the resulting visit to a mountain trail to relieve some of the stress. Anne-Marie read this post.
Combining the brief post with what she heard at the dinner gathering, she sent me the following:
… over the years I have gone through several down periods, due to the economy, cut backs, etc. Every time business was slow I would think “this is it, I am out of business, I must have done something wrong, did I make a mistake somewhere,” and I would worry so much. When business picked up, I would be reassured that this slowdown was not my fault and I would be so angry with myself and thinking “why didn’t I take advantage of that time to do the things I don’t have time to do when I am busy? “
In a way it is good to have down times, it gives a chance to regroup, rethink, revitalize, reinforce, renew…. Down times are part of the plan to improve one’s business.
On Monday you told me that you are thinking of ways to contact your clients, and that you are contacting them to remind them that you are there, you are also marketing your book, so you are doing everything right.
A collegial connection is someone you have asked into your network because of who you are. This connection has been invited because of mutual need. You must be conscious of what you need as you build your collegial network. This is not selfish; not if you approach this part of your network from a dedication to growth and development – progression that makes you better for those you lead, influence, and serve. This is not about perfection; it is about simply getting better.
Collegial connections form in the light of mutual contribution. Anne-Marie was invited to be a part of our collegial gathering by one of the founders. Through mutual contribution, we have formed a collegial bond. To me, Anne-Marie is representative of the blessings that flow from a confidence and trust in the spirit of attraction.
For more like this and the developing series around the 7 skills, see: 21st Century Leadership Skills
Posted in 21st Century Skills, 7 Skills for 21st Century Leadership - Discussed, Networking | Tagged 21st Century Leadership Skills, Abundance, Attraction, Gratitude, New Confidence | 2 Comments »
Older Posts »
