THE NECESSARY EVOLUTION OF OUR LEADERSHIP

Love has a challenging reputation in the landscape of leadership. Most of us can agree that it can make a difference. Yet while we have seen the impact, there is still an overriding misunderstanding in our business landscape that "Love is all well and good but it has nothing to do with success.? Let's let HR take care of that touchy feely stuff, and we’ll take care of business."?And… “Sure, love is fine for home and church, but we need to pull our big boy/girl pants on and make the numbers (quantity and $s) happen.?We don’t have time for Love.”

We are now experiencing the impact of our culture's ?rational yet disconnected approach to leadership and life and success and each other. The Great Resignation / Re-Examination / Re-Awakening is showing us that more and more people are finished with investing excessive effort into work that has no meaning, no connection, no humanity. Our dangerously polarized political landscape is also a testament to the limits of competition and fighting "against" instead of working together toward a Vision and purpose that connects us.

Yet LOVE??What’s Love got to do with it??I’d say everything.

This increasing desire expressed by people across the globe, to return to something more meaningful; to return to wholeness, connection, purpose,, curiosity, innocence (!) and yes Love... takes far more courage to express as leaders than we might imagine. In fact, it will demand nothing less than our own vulnerability, the willingness to admit "I don't know", to ask for help, and to relinquish our need to prove and lead over others,…instead of leading with each other.

Indeed the Great Invitation in the air right now is to rediscover the innate ecosystem that we are all a part of, and to reconvene as co-creators of the work and world that matters most.?The current/dying paradigm would say “Love has no idea how to get things done.?We’d all be living in la-la land with no food on the table if we made room for Love!”? And I would say… Love in action opens up more possibilities than separation, and multiplies our impact.

Of course in posting this I am putting my own vulnerability on the line, as I take a stand for Love.

Our world is in quite a dramatic stage of reckoning right now. And while we can acknowledge the gifts of the old paradigm, it seems clear it has come to the end/limit of its usefulness.

A new paradigm is ready to be birthed; one whose foundation is Love, Purpose, and Connection, all put into action. New discoveries, innovations, so many possibilities await us. And it will take us working together, in service to a Purpose that is so much bigger than any amygdala-driven agenda can fathom.

As 2022 (2025!) begins, and as we continue to walk together into this landscape of the Great Unknown, let us tap into the natural multiplication of our resources that happens as we turn our attention to co-creating together what matters most.

So as we enter this New Year full of as yet undiscovered possibilities, I leave you with a dangerous question or two…

• What is Love’s invitation to you, your team, your organization, your clients, patients, and your family?
• What will it require of you, to put the wisdom of Love in the drivers seat; to create and fuel what matters most to those you care about, to the greater community, to the world?

I leave you for now with Love and respect for all that you do to make the world a better place!

Peg

Peggy McAllister is?Principal, Founder and Chief Mischief Maker?for ESSENTIAL LEADERSHIP,?and supports leaders, coaches / consultants and organizations who create and offer products, services and?experiences that transform the ways we engage with our world.

Stay tuned for more information on our upcoming JUNE 2024?RETURN to WHOLENESS RETREAT in Sedona, AZ,?a four day experiential journey, described by one participant as "a life changing experience for those who are ready for this profound and sacred work." https://www.thereturntowholeness.com