The Highest Title

Have you ever found yourself in the center of navigating situations you did everything in your power to prepare NOT to have to deal with? Spent hours playing through scenarios in your mind and detailing the actions you can take to avoid being the main character in a situation gone asunder?

Perhaps you’ve reasoned:

• If I lead well, invest in my development, and champion others, I will be sought out for creative opportunities.
• If I’m thoughtful and organized, I won’t ever miss a meaningful engagement.
• If I’ve prepared to lead Project X for several years, it will be one of my greatest successes.?

Feel free to insert your own pre-meditated, unconscious logic of how life and work will present itself.?

Now, let’s step over into a new reality where none of your ideals are or seem to be sticking, and you’re being challenged to navigate what you think shouldn’t be happening because you’re knowledgeable, focused, and act with integrity.

I’m going to suggest to you something that you may not care for, and that’s okay. Sometimes we need time to adjust to new ideas and figure out what fits for us.

Here we go…

Perhaps as you read this, you’ve not been made aware; you’ve been appointed Chief Executive Officer. Yes, the CEO of every matter currently presenting itself. Let me explain…

On the most basic level, we can agree that you’ve had to make decisions in a climate you might not have experienced before, you’re managing the operations of your entire person and maybe others, and you’re reporting back to a board of directors in place to keep you accountable.?

As CEO, the circumstances you may face may not be things you’ve ever directly dealt with. Still, you’ve undoubtedly weathered experiences that suggest you can overcome and grow into the position.

There is NO amount of controlling behavior that can usurp the wiles of life and the people in it from showing up. That doesn’t mean you decide to live without checks and balances, but it does mean you can expect to have to adjust, reflect, and make a choice to grow through it.

You’re the CEO, and there’s no copping out. You are responsible and didn’t choose any of the uncomfortable things in front of you, and that’s OKAY.

You’ll have some days where you say, “ God, why me?”. Maybe even weeks! Not all the answers to what you’re facing will come immediately, but you must figure out how to hold your position and live well in the midst of it all.

So, how do you do that? How do you develop the mindset of ownership and responsibility?

Acceptance. Good, bad, or indifferent, you need to accept that some of what you’re experiencing is par for the course. Yes, there is room for how you feel, but it can’t be where you start and end every day. If you cannot reach acceptance, you will likely find yourself in an exhausting, knock-down, drag-out fight over things that don’t matter. As a result, your energy will be displaced, and the things that genuinely need your service will suffer.

Consider the work of God; For who can make straight what He has made crooked? Ecc 7:13

You are imperfect, and so is everyone else around you. You don’t have to tell every other person you encounter, but a posture of humility can do more for you and others than living with an internal critical nature.?

So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time, he will lift you up in honor. 1 Peter 5:6

You are not an island. You need a board of advisors who carry wisdom and insight for the places you have not been and the things you cannot see. Your counsel should be diverse; otherwise, you may experience oversight. Who are your trusted few that you can share the burden with? Maybe it’s time to add a coach or a counselor to the mix.?

“For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers.”Proverbs 11:14?

These suggestions are to help support you in the journey, not be the absolute answer. Your work is to get going on sitting with the title of CEO and embracing what the experience has to teach you about you. There will be plenty of other things for you to attend to while working out these areas.?I hope you will be encouraged and share this message with someone you know who may need it.