?? “Aligned” by Hortense Le Gentil.

I should start this review by saying this is a very interesting book. I really liked how it helps us reflect on the concept of “alignment”, which Hortense defines as “the congruence of who we are and what we think, feel, and love on a deep and fundamental level with what we do, say, what we envision and where we’re going”.

The book is divided into three sections:

1?? Meet yourself: This first part is about connecting with ourselves, with our purpose, and who we aspire to be.

2?? Meet your potential: This part is about aligning to our environment, understanding failure as a gift, and the power of positive emotions.

3?? Be the leader you can be: The last part of the book is about our leadership skills. It makes us reflect on the importance of effective communication, embracing diversity, and learning to let go.

There are many great points throughout the book.? I love how each chapter ends on a self-reflection section filled with key questions to start thinking about all these topics, and get practical right away.

One of my favorite chapters is Chapter 9 “The Gift of failure”, which has to do with the lessons we learn from our mistakes. Hortense refers to them as gifts in our development/growth journey. ?? She practiced horseback riding when she was a child, and in the book, she tells us about 3 valuable lessons she learnt from failure, from practicing that sport:

? First, she reminds us how riders ????must fall at least a hundred times to be considered good at what they do. It’s about falling and getting back up, over and over again, and the more one falls, the less intimidating it becomes to ride again and potentially fail.

? Second, she says that failure is a very effective teacher, and there’s always a chance to keep on learning, especially when things don’t turn out well for us. The important thing is not to focus so much on the feeling of failure itself, but on the lessons we need to learn from that.

? And finally, Hortense points out that the horse ?? is never to blame when things don't go as expected, only the rider is. I loved this because excuses will never take us out of our comfort zone, they will not let us grow. She also makes a great point about the need to take risks, to innovate, no matter if we try and fail.

"It is in the failures we find interesting stories we can learn from."

I’d like to close this review with one of my favorite quotes from the book. This one’s about the need for alignment in our role as leaders:

“Aligned leadership comes not only from the congruence of who you are with what you feel, and what you think, but also with what you say and what you do in your relationship with others”.

???? A great book to start aligning your true self with your path, and the world around you.