4 Strengths for a Better World
Barry Lewis Green
Educator, Speaker, Coach, Writer, Creator ... advancing Character Leadership and Education ... to move forward together, stronger ... engaging change.
Empathy. Endurance. Enthusiasm. Excellence.
In these days.
Yesterday, in Stand and Deliver, I shared that we would take a bit of a deeper dive on what I call the "E-string." These are more than simply challenging and interesting times. Some of us seemingly both desire and even expect a return to "normalcy". While cognitively acknowledging or articulating that we "know" we cannot go back, many are acting as if they cannot wait for that normalcy.
I get it. I don't buy it. But, I get it. We are experiencing loss and grief. There will be a return to normalcy, but it will be a new normal, and we truly are trying to each figure out what that will look like... in business, at work and school, throughout community. It will be more than tweaking too. What habits will we return to, which must be left behind, which new ones must be taken up? Enter Empathy, Endurance, Enthusiasm and Excellence.
Empathy
Seeking to understand our desires and that of others helps us to develop solutions and new habits. Listening to ourselves and others with Compassion allows us to better answer our needs with those new answers. Refraining from judging ourselves or others moves us away from shame and blame, and frees us to objectively solve and create. Considering our choices and their impacts provides for better solutions and buy-in. When we realize we all matter, we can create solutions that truly serve. Empathy grounds us to develop solutions and answers that truly respond, individually and collectively... locally, globally and glocally.
Endurance
Strength in adversity, finding lessons in hardship, refusing to be brought down, accepting the challenges that life and love demand, building relations that last and being confident in never giving up. Endurance is the grounding of our best resiliency. It tells us we are relentless in our search for answers.
Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm; that oft misunderstood strength. Genuine excitement for life is not fake. It is genuine. With Enthusiasm, we find a wholehearted approach, all in. We are inspired, and we inspire. We put and throw love and joy into what needs to be done. With Enthusiasm, it is not a chore. It is our work. We bring a smile and laugh and humor to it. We bring Optimism to it. If Empathy provides us Understanding to best craft solutions, and Endurance brings us Strength to shoulder the Responsibility, then Enthusiasm reminds us of the opportunity we have to make a difference in these times and going forward.
Excellence
With Excellence, it is not a destination. It is a drive, spirit and countenance. We bring it. We pack it. We unload it. We offer it. We bring our best to what we do and are. Lifelong. It ain't a destination. It is a journey. We Honor and fulfill our possibilities by answering the call... living studentry and, in so doing, walking towards mastery. Some years back, I thought WEALTH is When Excellence and Love Take Hold. I still hold to that. If Empathy strengthens our capacity to come up with solutions that truly answer the new needs, and Endurance strengthens us to keep going, and Enthusiasm strengthens our sense of true joy in doing so, then Excellence empowers us to never stop answering the call ... with our best.
That best does not imply that we each have to change the world; but we each can better it. I am reminded of these simple but powerful words of Bahá’u’lláh.
- “The betterment of the world can be accomplished through pure and goodly deeds, through commendable and seemly conduct.”
The betterment of the world. It can be accomplished through pure and goodly deeds, and through commendable and seemly conduct. Those deeds and that conduct, when grounded in the strengths of Empathy, Endurance, Enthusiasm and Excellence, can help us build the families, schools, workplaces, businesses, communities and world needed for the future. This is no blip. It is an opportunity and a call.
As an educator and entrepreneur, I suggest that we consider what the world needs going forward. We consider global health needs and global economic needs, and how we each (in our own corners) can build lives and communities that contribute to the prosperity of humankind, locally and globally. This is not a blip. There is no return to our former normal, nor should there be. It did not serve the world, nor the vast majority of the people in it. Business and economic models are being examined. They need to be. Social models too. There has been much work already to identify the needs of the world and there are many who are answering the call. The call just got louder.
Peace, passion and prosperity...
Barry Lewis Green, aka The Unity Guy with Epic Engage
Educate, lead, unite and inspire. Move forward together, stronger. My work is about bringing campuses, companies and communities together, moving forward stronger. I work with educators, entrepreneurs and emerging leaders to do just that. My work is about character leadership and education and its role in helping individuals and organizations build a better world at school, work, business and community. I deliver on it through speaking, coaching and development in character leadership and education. My expertise is character leadership and education. I advance unity in diversity by moving the needle on leadership and education that is high character and results forging. I speak, teach, coach, facilitate, lead, write, sing, dance, cartoon and create on that. In 1980, Professor Rolf Hattenauer changed my life. A highly respected expert in Human Resource Management, he expected much of us and he believed much in us. He was an educator and leader of high character. He was extraordinary. To this day and beyond, I try my darnedest to honor his spirit with my own work. That is another story. But I hope I did him service here.
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