Rising from the greatest of southern lands

I spent most of January in Antarctica with 90 incredibly smart, capable, loving and joyful women as part of the faculty for Homeward Bound Projects. And since then I’ve struggled a little to come back to life as I knew it before the expedition. As often happens with travel (and I’ve seen it over and over in #theleapstories), you transform.

The wilderness of Antarctica and it’s sparse, intense majesty…

The power of connection and collaboration in safe spaces…

The creativity, energy and GLORY of women united…

The willingness to share and combine wisdom…

The openness to learn and grow and evolve…

The dancing, the generous hugs, the normality of tears…

The dropping of armour, opening of hearts and genuine care for each other…

The best and hardest parts of being human, all acknowledged and explored…

The urgency of change and courage needed to ensure the sustainability of our home…

The resolve to have global, inter-generational positive impact…

…You can’t be soaked in all of that for three weeks and not be moved.

I’m resolved more than ever to build brave and morally courageous leaders and cultures because we need the fierce ones, the agitators, the resistors, the allies, the accomplices, the rebels, the change-makers and game-changers.

We need the ones who will speak truth to power, who will defy, push back, break through and create new paths. Who will do it through collaboration, diverse smarts, committed listening and inclusivity of perspectives. Who are stubbornly optimistic, generous of heart, radically compassionate, DEEPLY self-aware, who are willing to fall because they know how to rise, and who lead with an unwavering conviction of doing what is right for the world.

We can’t change the world, without changing how we work, lead, live and love. And we can’t do that without changing ourselves and digging into what it is to show up fully in our lives.

Now is the time to raise our sights, our voices and our hands and say 'I'm in.'