Gratitude for an enriching 2022

As 2022 winds down to a close, I would like to publicly acknowledge my gratefulness for the gifts of the past year. While I have many to be thankful to, I thank Whole Foods Market , most of all, for the opportunity to experience profound growth over the course of the last year.

2022 was transformational for me, both professionally and personally, and I have much to be thankful for. Around the beginning of the year, I expressed a wish (here, on LinkedIn) for 2022 to be a year of failures (and hence learning and growth) for myself and that I may look back upon the year as one in which I made my biggest mistakes. While this didn’t quite come true, in that I didn’t commit any blunders, my wish manifested itself in a different way. I came up against my limits for the first time in my career. I realized that, in order to continue to grow and scale my responsibilities like I have in years past, I would have to make a step change in my ways of working and also in my environment. I failed not because I was unable to accomplish a certain goal or missed a particular milestone. I failed because I realized I would soon hit a wall in my ability to grow in my career in the way that I was accustomed to. And it was not an extrinsic declaration of failure. It was an internal admission that what got me here won’t get me there and that, while I have matured in many ways as a leader, I would have to find new engines of growth to continue progressing in my career.

This year also capped a two-year period of deep reflection during which I was liberal in calling out my mistakes of the past and compassionate with myself for having made them and vulnerable enough with myself for admitting my needs and wants from my professional endeavors. It was a year in which I acknowledged to myself that inclusion, psychological safety, agency over my future, and the opportunity to realize my true potential are of paramount importance to me. While these are all considered table stakes today for providing a good employee experience and achieving high employee engagement, and are things that I have worked to provide for my teams in the past, I have hitherto been oblivious to my own need for them. This has been an illuminating journey and the acknowledgement of my own needs to myself has been quite liberating.

I am grateful to Whole Foods Market for setting me on this path of self-discovery two years ago by sponsoring me for Stagen Leadership Academy ’s Foundational Leadership Course (FLC), which introduced me to ideas and tools that prompted deep inquiry and further exploration into the philosophy of conscious leadership. And for my first experience at WFM’s triennial gathering of global leadership, Tribal Gathering, this year, where we were encouraged to think about our higher purpose and of our reasons for being part of the WFM tribe. #mywhy is that I am becoming a better person!

I am grateful to John Mackey , for his vision for and leadership of Whole Foods Market and for his ideas about Conscious Capitalism and Conscious Leadership, explained so well in his tomes of the same names, and for creating a culture that allows team members to flourish in their unique ways.

I am grateful, also, to The Conscious Leadership Group for making the elements of conscious leadership more accessible to people by sharing a vast array of resources on several digital platforms and for “The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership”, a book I cannot recommend highly enough for those interested in learning more about this leadership philosophy.

I am grateful to my executive coach, Sabina Nawaz , for accompanying me on some of this journey and for her incredible patience and flexibility with me as I meandered my way through much of this reflection.

Last but not least, I am grateful to my two leaders – Tracy Briscoe and Sara Larson – both of whom have, in numerous ways, contributed to my journey and growth, and to Jason Buechel , for his leadership presence and counsel at pivotal moments during my journey.

None of us ever know what the future holds for us but I do know this – whatever may be in store for me, I will experience it with much more grace, poise, and humility than I would have were it not for this year.

#gratitude #teamwfm #mywhy #consciousleadership #growth #change #transformation #inclusion #DEI #psychologicalsafety #potential