The Leader's Journey: Phase 1
September 2008

The Leader's Journey

Phase 1: Your Heart

Great business leaders go through four phases of development over several decades to complete their journey in the best way possible.  You will easily relate to these phases because all of your leadership pain comes when you miss a lesson along your journey.  The pain is your indicator that says it's time to stop and fill up with another leadership lesson.  

The four phases are simple to understand:

1.      Trusting the wisdom in your own heart

2.      Developing your core collaborative team

3.      Developing organizational alignment and effectiveness

4.      Using business success to impact society

LionHeart has taken on the mission of helping you accelerate your journey.  We know that your contributions to making the world a better place are our real products.  When you make a difference, it energizes our persistence in supporting others to take up their journey to meaningful success.  We will focus on the first of these four phases in this article and continue with the remaining phases over the next three months.

Every leader has a heart.  We each have an ego as well.  Herein is the essence of your first journey.  Is your heart or your ego functioning as your decision making mechanism? 

But you may protest that there's nothing wrong with your ego driving your leadership decisions.  Indeed, much has been accomplished by leaders with strong egos.  In fact, many people would say the ego is the most critical aspect of what it takes to be a successful leader.  We disagree. The paradox in our society is that you need a strong enough ego to get into the game, but eventually your ego will hold you back and cause pain.  Your first journey involves trading in your ego for the wisdom in your heart.

What do we mean?  There are two fundamental voices operating in your head all of the time.  The voice of your ego is the internal commentary of what you like or don't like, what should or shouldn't be happening, and why things are the way they are.  It's the voice of regret, worry, and judgment.  It's your view of reality based on the perspective of your life experiences.  Certainly your ego does not always have an unhealthy perspective, but it is always limited - to what you know and by what you fear.  What we know and what we fear is like noisy internal static that prevents us from expressing our natural creativity, inspiration, and inner wisdom. The noise of our ego interferes with our access to the deep reservoir of universal truth that all great leaders throughout history have operated from. 

In addition, the ego eventually leads to pain because it is insatiable.  Even your healthy ego can never get enough money or enough awards or enough business success to totally eliminate the unhealthy voices of the ego: self doubt, inadequacy, fear of not having enough, and the need to be right at all costs. 

So how do we trade in our egos for the wisdom in our hearts?  We spend time in reflection on the things in life that really matter.  For example:

1.      Who am I?  Specifically, who am I if I am not my profession, not my job, not my portfolio, not my accomplishments, not my limitations?

2.      What are my values?  Specifically, what are my values that bring forth excellence and life affirming goodness to everyone, not just a special group I identify with?

3.      What do I stand for?  Specifically, what am I willing to stand for that risks my security, people's opinion of me, and the temporal trappings of society that are impermanent?

4.      What do I want to be remembered for?  Specifically, what qualities and character traits do I want people to associate with the way I've lived my life when it's all said and done?

5.      What is my service legacy or life purpose?  Specifically, what are my God given talents and how will I use them in service to humanity as completely as I am capable of?

6.      What is my company's real mission?  Specifically, how do our products and services truly address humanity's real needs without depleting life opportunities for others now and into future generations?

These are not easy questions to answer, but leaders who neglect them allow their egos to be the default decision making mechanism.  It'll work for awhile and you will get a lot done, but will you get done the things that really matter?   And sooner or later, you'll hit your limit and discover the pain of short changing who you really are. 

So your heart is your most valuable leadership asset.  It's the compass you use to find the high road to business success.  It deserves attention, discovery, and development.  And this investment will provide you with freedom, confidence, and fulfillment.  We recommend you spend time in reflection.  To support you, we have built our work around a practice and coaching model that provides exponential growth to those who choose this journey.  If you've noticed, the world is competitive, challenging, and seemingly unfair and unforgiving at times.  You'll need a strong heart to stand up to it.  Working with us on your heart is like going to the gym to get your body in shape. Let us be of service to the best within you.

If you know someone who would benefit from reading this article, please pass it on.