My Secret Ingredient: Start With Clearing

As President of FirstRule Group I've learned a lot...and one of those learnings is that, like cooking, leadership is also better when you have a few secret ingredients that you can pull from; that dash of something that will make your recipe the one that people remember. One of my secret ingredients that I discovered recently is starting meetings (especially virtual ones) with a practice called "clearing."

Clearing can be anything - professional or personal - that is clouding our ability to be present. It could be the time I had to wait two hours in my car for a tree to be cleared from the road (pun intended!), or the assignment that I forgot to complete when I promised a colleague that I would. Being able to share and clear in the beginning of a meeting not only allows us to lean into our firm's values of integrity?and personal?connection, but it also serves as a reminder to bring ourselves fully into the task at hand.?

I'm sure we all picture something different when it comes to a visual about clearing. Many of my team members are nature lovers and spend a lot of time outside so I imagine they might think of an open spot in a forest. Others might think of decluttering their desk. My husband and I do a form of clearing almost every night, over dinner or a glass of wine, so I like to think of the moon emerging from the clouds as we debrief our day and move on with the evening.

No matter the image, the intention is the same — start your time together with clarity and a wide-open space.

?Love, Shelley