Managing things in life...and in our work has taken on many dimensions as women have assumed roles in a very turbulent marketplace and workplace. The landscape of leadership also continues to change. Leading takes place wherever --- it is as local as sitting at our computer in a cafe or on the beach or whatever we call "office" --- and global and collaborative as technology and distance can take us. Amidst all the churn and uncertainty, it continues to tug at us, doesn't it?
I came across a writing in Davide Whyte's classic, The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America, that speaks to the realities of management and leadership that we often overlook or miss all together. He writes:
"Part of our difficulty is that we send the same strategic part of ourselves that loves order out to embrace the disorder in the world and scare ourselves to death because the strategist, or manager, in us cannot deal with the terrifying revelations hidden in life's unpredictability. Life simmers for long periods and suddenly without warning comes to the boil. Markets collapse, good products don't sell, factories burn down, the wrong people are fired. The right people are suddenly promoted---to the wrong positions. Isn't this the truth? A manager manages, but only a human soul gifted with imagination has the resilient artistry to live and work with forces that call for deeper strategies than containment."
Have you stopped to appreciate your human soul that has been gifted with imagination enough to make you ever resilient to all that is around you?
Debbe
Debbe Kennedy
Author and founder, Global Dialogue Center
Home of Women in the Lead
My New Book! Putting Our Differences to Work (June 2008)
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership, and High Performance
Learn more: www.puttingourdifferencestowork.com
Join me for monthly online dialogues --- Next DATE Tuesday September 9
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