How to 'Lead Like a Pilgrim'

What does it mean to 'lead like a pilgrim'?

Pilgrimage is a universal phenomenon that describes the journey of human life, the search for meaning, an inner journey. This journey is inward and outward, an opportunity to discover new meaning or encounter the world with fresh eyes. Pilgrimage, a special kind of travel, is a physical, geographical and a spiritual effort. It is the individual and collective search for the sacred, where spiritual experience and geography converge. The pilgrimage road, the path, the physical journey is the outward manifestation, and for me is laden with abundant lessons about life and about leadership.  

To embark on a pilgrimage is to travel to a sacred place with a sacred purpose. The 'sacred' is everywhere, and pilgrimage invites you to be present. As leaders, you are called to radical presence in your life, your work.

“There are no unsacred places; there are only sacred places and desecrated places.” Wendell Berry

Pilgrimage is a journey not of miles, but of meaning. As leaders, you are invited to make meaning, to hold a vision of what is possible.

Pilgrimage, and especially the Pilgrimage of El Camino de Santiago, Spain teaches you to move at a human pace and human speed, to move slowly through the world to fully experience what it means to be human and alive. As leaders, too often, we live at an unsustainable, breakneck pace fuels intensity, stress, and burnout. To be a pilgrim, is to cultivate human qualities of being, breathing, walking, seeing, feeling, appreciating, and more. To be a pilgrim is to support your own flourishing.

These words from a recent pilgrim on Walk in Beauty speak to me:

"My life changed in so many ways after the Camino. It's been easier to concentrate, to follow through, to strive for greater simplicity and clarity about how to use the time in life that now is available. There is a roundedness that came from our shared experience that's affected my family life and even my work. Life and love are more fulfilling."

So, what are you waiting for? Join us in 2019 for Walk in Beauty: Pilgrimage of El Camino de Santiago, Spain, October 6-19 for the Camino del Norte and October 23-31 for the Camino Finisterre.  www.leadsmartcaoching.com/events