Leadership Brief: Unleashing Your Leadership

Leadership Brief: Unleashing Your Leadership

Posted on 10. Jul, 2011 by in 2 Leadership Brief

The question isn’t what’s holding you back as a leader. Rather, the question is what will release you to be a great leader?

See, the line of thinking to explore what will release your leadership opens up an inquiry into what’s possible. There’s action in what’s possible.  What’s possible inspires and motivates.  And more profoundly, exploring answers to what will unleash you is contagious: as you inquire into what sets free your leadership, ideas surface leading to other ideas, leading to more ideas, and so on. 

The other question, what’s holding you back, digs a hole, pulling you in further by identifying what’s broken, where deficiencies exist.  Once inside that hole, it’s difficult to find inspiration, radical ideas, ways to connect with people, ways to connect.  In short, that which is magnetic, that which pulls you forward fades away.

To sum this up neatly, let’s look at a quote from Goethe: “Things which matter most should never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”

As you gear up for the week, what matters most in your leadership is how you inspire people to contribute their best work, to be their best. Period.

Have a phenomenal week. If you think about it, come back and let us know how it went.

Photo courtesy of  evalovinlucy

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2 Responses to “Leadership Brief: Unleashing Your Leadership”

  1. Terry Sexton

    08. Oct, 2011

    Whilst I appreciate how inspiring it can be to look at what is possible rather than what is holding you back, I’m not sure if I totally agree. From my experience what holds leaders back is often their emotional reaction to complexity and uncertainty. They often have the capacity to better lead in these complex and uncertain times, but are holding themselves back because of fear. The first step to transcend this constraint is become mindful of their reactions. Leaders are best able to lead others to achieve what is possible once they have learnt to lead themselves.

    Reply to this comment

    • Shawn Murphy

      08. Oct, 2011

      Hi Terry,
      Indeed complexity and uncertainty are some of the more difficult areas to develop appropriate leadership responses. Their very nature cause most of us to shutter. I agree leaders must understand and shift their reactions for such situations.
      One thing is certain, there are many ways to help leaders grow into their leadership capabilities. The one that helps the leader deepen his or her skills is the best one.

      Be well,
      Shawn

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