Leadership Consciousness And Time

Consciousness is a defining trait of humanity. Leadership consciousness lives in the cutting edge of it and has a crucial task: Contribute to the evolution of human consciousness by making frequent excursions into the unchartered waters of the future; to go where no man has gone before – in small and bigger ways. This is your task as a leader.

When you wear the mental and spiritual cloak of leadership, you step into a twilight zone, the space in between what already is and what can be; the past and the future; conformity and radical breakthrough thinking; the habits of a status quo and an enlightened vision of new possibilities.

Time is possibly our greatest asset in this life. Time has mysterious qualities, such as being totally malleable: Pick up a moment in time and think how many different things can be done with it. It can be made to appear elastic – fast or slow. Time does not mind, it is completely neutral: We can decide if the next moment in our life will be touched by greatness or will be a waste of time.

As a leader, your leadership time is the most precious asset for the future of the establishment, team or project that you lead. And of course it’s not just your time, but the collective time of the leadership forum. Unless you consciously, deliberately and skillfully create the time space for the future, guiding intelligence cannot appear, so it stays where it is, locked away in the future.

When you wear a leadership’s outfit, you need to think about your leader’s time not as your time, but as the future’s time, with you being its explorer, discoverer, message bringer, confirmer, fixer, pioneer, adventurer… Being whatever it needs you to be to create new channels for it, first in your mind and then around you, by inspiring others about the promise of exciting new opportunities.

When you think about people with your leadership mind, when you deal with them, always seek to engage with the future in them. This means insisting on seeing and accommodating their best: Their qualities and uniqueness as trying individuals. Think about their strength and know their weaknesses – never ever the other way around. The impact of how you think – thinking generates real vibes – is much greater than you may realize.

The future does not appear in one lump. It appears in a multitude of ways, through what people are and what they do. In inspiring and encouraging people to give their best, you facilitate the appearance of a little more future, bit by bit.

Often, the way forward is quite obvious and yet, completely hidden from the minds of those who are trapped in the stale-mate state of conformity and fear of change. As a leader that loves and embraces the function and purpose of change, your task is to be a spiritual alarm clock and inspire courage in others, to daringly march with you into those unchartered waters, to discover together the magnificent simplicity of new ways, new ideas and new possibilities.

How do you use your leadership time? How much of it is claimed by the not-future? How much of it is taken by needs that may seem to be important in the ‘small time worlds’ but meaningless in the ‘big time worlds’? What is the balance?

Which summons another natural follow-on question: Where are your focus and energy being directed? Can you say with confidence and clarity? , Is it on ideas and initiatives that will make a difference or on issues that keep fading away with the day?

The human manufactured future of mankind, such as human-caused climate change; the destruction of the environment; the breakdown in standards and decency; the escalation of conflicts and violence indeed looks grim. There is, however, a very different future, not of our making, that is now quickening the evolution of human consciousness, causing an exponential surge in the creative powers of humanity. It is incredible beyond conception in its potential and is now appearing in the form of the release of new illuminating intelligence into forward looking, enquiring minds.

Leadership Mindset Snippets

Every day, ask yourself: “What is the best way to invest my leadership time today?” “Who and what shall I turn my focus and energy to?” Leadership definition of focus: ‘Summoning and blending together the perceptions, feelings, awareness and resources that are necessary for the fulfillment of an objective while excluding what does not belong to the process’.
People fear change and especially the unknown aspects of it. Witnessing you thriving in change and making your time available for it to exercise itself in and through your life gives them the courage to step forward and do the same.
When you lead a team of 12 individuals, there are 12 possible outplays for the future, each in her or his unique way and natural genius. Your role as a leader is to create a state of affairs where the sum of the whole is greater than that of the individual parts by engendering an atmosphere of trust that promotes collaboration, initiative and innovation.
Saying the same as above, in a slightly different way: Leadership is a unifying presence that ushers people to a self-location that seeks to recognize the enormous value and benefits in developing interpersonal respect and working together, regardless of differences in belief systems and cultural background. This is one of the most crucial roles of a leader. You are able to accomplish this task because you succeeded in creating in yourself an inner ecology that is absent of conflict, from which radiates an intact aura that promotes trust, respect and collaboration by magnifying and enhancing the best of all.
The design of life is such that humanity is constantly presented with the challenges to overcome the seemingly impossible. It is as though there is an unwritten deal between mankind and the future: Do your best, believe that it can be done, let it be done, persist, insist and use your natural genius in return for new discoveries and enlightenment. As a leader, you cherish ‘impossible’ because it provides you with the opportunity to fulfill one more little part of this magnificent deal.
Every day, seek for a victory and give yourself V-Points. Look for many tiny victories to accumulate towards a critical mass that facilitates transformation and change. As a leader, you have mastered the art of being able to cause a lot with subtle actions.

Finally and possibly most importantly: Always invest in what works, let go of what does not work. Bit by bit, step by step, small actions followed with small actions. As a leader you are a master locator and champion of what works and a skilled progress chaser of it. Whether the outplay of this is a bold PR for someone, an idea or wise ways and means, you are not personal about it, because when you lead, your time, focus and energy belong not to you, but to the future of what you believe in.

With best wishes,

David Gommé
28 February 2010
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