February 5, 2009
Being a Authentic Leader
Through the last fifty years of leadership study, leadership scholars have modeled the most effective leadership strategies of the great leaders of our time, attempting to create a leadership strategy that can be utilized by all.
Although modeling others greatness can add to our knowledge, it is not us. It is not our life experience, our hearts, and our spirits that can be remolded into another’s life lessons. Can we learn information? Yes. But if that is all we are bringing to the table of our teams and organizations then the people with whom we are choosing to have the greatest effect upon will sense the inauthentic foundation to our leadership abilities and we will exhibit an imitation of leadership rather than leadership qualities grounded in experience that people will desire to follow.
To distill the wisdom from our life experiences with humanity and heart is the true core quality of sustainable leadership. Once you have master the ability to take your wisdoms and mold them into relationship strategies, communication and negotiation models with a deep desire to honor all, then you are beginning to birth forth and mature your authentic leader within.
There are three laws to awakening your Authentic Leader within.
Law #1 = Your relationship with yourself.
This law is essential to mastering the other two laws and is foundational to a balanced life between work, family and your life purpose.
Have you cleared the skeletons out of your closet? Have you transformed your limiting beliefs and fears from your past? Are you more reactive than proactive? Are the filters that you perceive life through clear of the distortions of your past or are they so muddled with your past unresolved issues that much of what you experience internally is a repeating pattern of responses that do not reflect who you really are.
The first law is = Master your mental and emotional self and bring your word, thought and actions into alignment with your highest values so you live from congruence and consistency.
Law #2 = Your relationship with others.
This is were the rubber hits the road in all factors of leadership. You must have masterful relationship skills, communication skills and conflict resolution skills. If we do not have our internal emotional worlds matured, we can never become the leaders we are called upon to be, either in our families or organizations.
Have you mastered the models of effective communication? How often do you insist upon an authentic conversation with those around you who are hiding their agendas?
Do you know what to do when people are creating their secret emotional contracts with you and holding and projecting their agendas on you without your knowledge?
How do now handle all the unspoken demands upon you? How do you now deal with the hallucinations of others that are placed on you daily because of your position, both in your organization and your families?
All leaders require the best tools to navigate their way through the landscape of relationships. This is the #2 focus of all effective leaders.
Law #3 = Your relationship to the Sacred
Have you forgotten who you are and what brings peace to your heart? This is the law of re-grounding yourself in the experience of what all your efforts are for anyway?
Who are you? What have you really come here to do? What is your purpose and mission in life?
At the end of the day we all will face that point in time when we will stop and wonder did we really do what our souls came here to do or did we waste our life accumulating wealth and power but our hearts are filled with fear and there is a deep knowing somehow we missed the mark?
This is the law that is very personal to each person but it is to ground ourselves in our personal relationship to whatever we consider sacred for ourselves and develop a relationship of connecting to It, and being part of a larger purpose that is greater than our desires.
Integrating these laws into your everyday life is essential for effective living. Every leader has abilities they have developed through the course of their life experience that has gotten them to where they are today. These 3 Laws are the ways to take you to the next level of life balance and fulfillment.
Love & Light
Gary De Rodriguez
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