Knowledge, Love and Action Flow Downstream

As I sat on the banks of the Wissahickon Creek in a serene Fairmount Park a few weeks ago, taking part in an environment and yoga mindfulness program, I intently began watching the movement of the water. I begin to draw an analogy between the direction of water, flowing downstream, to our lives and how knowledge, love and action flow downstream—from generation to generation, and also how the power and impact of knowledge, love and action can be transmitted daily into our workforce, our leadership teams and communities for good and to perpetuate change. I constantly think about how we can make a difference as HR leaders and I think it starts here with these 3 words.

Knowledge- How do we capitalize on our strengths of teaching and developing others, being a connector of people. and sharing knowledge for the betterment of organizations and our people? In its most basic form, knowledge sharing is about exchanging information between people, teams or organizations. It can be explicit or implicit—grounded in documents and SOPs or developed from experiences. Opening our mind starts with making knowledge-sharing part of our organizational culture, creating space and time to make the perpetuation of knowledge sharing happen—across the organization, up and down.? Don’t take for granted the time we need to take to truly listen—to perspectives, stories, data, narratives, expertise, creativity and innovative ideas—and to translate this into meaningful action and sharing. We will be more agile, collaborative and adaptable people and have these as differentiators in our organizations as a result.

Love – Love and kindness has the power to transform relationships. Gestures of thoughtfulness impress and remind us of our shared humanity and the power of genuine human connection. Our daily interactions and dynamics of relating to one another are based on embracing others, no matter how different, and enabling others to co-exist and engage with us. Love, goodness and inclusion promote our social process as humans and are intrinsic to our humanness. We have a shared obligation to spread love and kindness to pave the way for others to pay it forward and model how others should behave. At the end of the day, it feels good to be able to sit back and respond to the question, “Who gives a damn?” with “I do.” Continue to open the door to the endless possibilities of spreading love and kindness through the proximity of our human connection and interactions.

Action – John F. Kennedy once said, “There are risks and costs to action, but they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.” ?As the water moved and hit rocks embedded in the creek, I saw how it redirected and easily moved around the rocks to continue to flow. We encounter what seem like immovable rock-like hurdles and distractions in our lives, but the water— like our own momentum and humanity—needs to continue to move and propel us forward. ?We, in leadership, have the responsibility to help reduce and eliminate some of the challenges, hurdles and noise that get in the way of productivity, efficiency, growth, relationships and build the bridge to action and solutions.

I have spent my professional life solving problems, taking business issues and deriving people-focused solutions and I have an unique perspective on human behavior and organizational dynamics. I have coached and helped provide direction to 1000s of people in numerous institutions, profit and non-profit. Embracing and living out these three simple, yet complex themes of knowledge, love and action, are making me a better leader, a better enabler of relationships and gives me hope that the next generation, my own two children, and the next generation of talent at my company, reap the benefits . I have borne witness to the best and worst of knowledge sharing, love and action, turning mindset into lifelong behavior and it is my aspiration to continue to provide positive inspiration on this path to cascade the best of it downstream.

?