Sharing - A Thanksgiving Message

One of the most powerful exercises we can do each Thanksgiving is to make some kind of gratitude list. Most of you already to this! I've been reading some pretty powerful lists this morning.?

There is another Thanksgiving tradition that we sometimes overlook. Granted, there's a lot of mythology around our Thanksgiving rituals, but that's OK. It's been quite a while since Joseph Campbell demonstrated the Power of Myth!

According to legend, the first Thanksgiving gatherings were largely pot-luck affairs. People brought what they had to share. It might have been our first attempt at a super buffet. :)

Leadership is about a lot of things, but above all…

Leadership is sharing. A leader shares.

The rest of the conversation is about what we're willing to share––and how we're going to do it.?

Think about that for a few minutes. A leader's main role is to unite people in a common cause––to transform ME into WE. No leader acts alone, and no one person, leader or other, has the ability to accomplish alone what can be achieved through a unified group effort.?

Ultimately, we're talking about "power."

We can't avoid this term. We'd better make sure we're clear about our definition, and power is too often misunderstood or poorly defined. Power is, however, the currency of leadership. Let me explain…

Power: Your ability or capacity to act or perform effectively.

Power is your capacity to get things done. And there's only so much any one of us can do on our own. Your leadership power is determined by your ability to organize, inspire, empower, and guide a group of individuals in a common effort.?

Naturally, we all want to expand our power. We lead our people and our organizations to do more, achieve more, and generate more abundance for the people we serve.?

So––how do we become more powerful? How do we increase our power?

Sharing.

That's it. Ultimately, your success as a leader is measured by one thing and one thing only: The success of the people you serve.?

Empower them. When you help your people become more powerful––increase their capacity to perform, then your power expands. Exponentially.?

That's the power of the group and the power of the leader. It's like a choir. Yes, one voice can produce beautiful music. Unite many voices in a choir and get them singing in harmony, and you can fill a cathedral with song.?

We will focus on sharing in an upcoming livestream. Next year, sharing will be our November theme. In these sessions and in our in-person workshops, we spend some time on this exercise. Let's get the ball rolling by sharing what we're willing to share!

I'm going to start with some of the things leaders have shared in our workshops over the past few years. Some are obvious. Others are quite challenging!

• Power
• Authority
• Responsibility
• Credit (recognition)
• Encouragement
• Trust
• Respect
• Compassion (caring)
• Time
• Stress (Think about that for a while!)
• Knowledge
• Experience
• Wisdom

Now, it might feel as if we've covered most of what a leader should share. First, please add anything you think we've missed. Then, share your response to these two questions:

• Can you offer an example of how, specifically, you've shared any of these things?
• How can we embed a "Discipline," a practice of sharing one of these things in our leadership on a regular basis?

I'm looking forward to what you have to share!

And I'm looking forward to sharing your contributions with other leaders.?

Best Thoughts Always!

Jim

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