Week 22.31 Listening to Your Voices

I was walking along the beach, my final weekend of July, observing thoughts forming in my mind. Sometimes they appear like clouds forming from the water in the air. Other times I connect the dots of ideas I am reading, watching, or hearing. This relationship got me thinking about other internal voices that I listen to, voices that are constructed in my mind, as opposed to received through my ears. I am thinking about three voices: my inner voice, my inspirational voice, and the voices of objects as a starting point. I hope you will add other ideas to the chat.

I have a good relationship with my inner voice, my compass, and my guide. I know some people have destructive inner voices; I am fortunate that mine is supportive and curious. My inner voice is generally calm and thoughtful, rarely assertive, and always confident. It serves as my guide and helps me avoid obstacles and bad tendencies. It provides me with some reflection on the consequences of my choices and helps me understand the perspectives others might have on what I am doing. My inner voice is focused on me and what I am doing? Am I in alignment with my values? Would I be making my ancestors proud? And will future generations look back on my actions with gratitude? Obviously, I do not always do what my inner voice tells me. I do try to listen and at least acknowledge what I hear.?

I also have an inspirational voice that is a wellspring of new ideas and connections. This voice tells me what the world could be like if I could just imagine more and let go of my perception of my limitations. Sometimes the voice speaks of ideas I could not imagine alone. Other times it provokes me to go further by asking me why or why not. My inspirational voice puts words to my imagination and help makes my more abstract thoughts more tangible. It gives me an inner conversation partner when I want to work things out in my mind and helps me make connections I might have overlooked. Every so often, it makes things up that are not there, and sometimes when I hear the descriptive words, I can understand a path to make them real. Whereas my inner voice sounds a lot like me, my inspirational voice usually sounds like "not me."

Since reading Richard Power's book, the Overstory, I have also listened to the voices of objects and things. It started by looking at how trees move in the wind and feeling connected to their animation, as though we are connected in the same ecosystem. Which we are. We don't simply breathe the same air. We exchange it for each other. I saw the connection between me and the water I was standing in, fish that swam around my feet or stopped in curiosity. Eventually, I began listening to the objects' voices sharing their ambitions and insights. It is hard to explain that the voices I hear from the objects don't sound like my voice as a ventriloquist but instead thought from the objects themselves. I am still exploring this one and don't quite understand it yet.

It is said that in the beginner's mind, the possibilities are endless, and in the expert's mind, they are few. My voices open me up to the potential for curiosity and engagement of humility and imagination. Listening to my voices and the voices of objects, I know there is so much that I don't know, that there are possibilities that I cannot imagine. In life and leadership, it is only too comfortable to believe that you know something or everything; yet, there is too much for one person to know, even about a simple thing. And many of us are fortunate to be supported and surrounded by those we love so that we can be open to many forms of new voices to imagine worlds that may not seem possible. And we know they are possible because we can imagine how 50 years ago today would not have seemed possible. Leadership relies on us not having all the answers and can make the imaginable possible to make sense of the world by listening to all of our voices.?I hope you will add your voice to this chat.

Navigating Peer Relationships While Climbing the Ladder (HBR) by Amii Barnard-Bahn

The fact is, the workplace is one of the few environments in which we are forced into relationships. We must work together amiably and effectively to achieve organizational goals. And if we’re ambitious or stay at an organization long enough, eventually, most peers become our bosses or our subordinates. So how can we effectively navigate these potentially messy — and critically important — relationships? In this article, you will find three strategies based on Amii's experience as an executive and now as a coach supporting executive clients.

Don’t Let Mentoring Burn You Out by Ruth Gotian, Christine Pfund, Chaveso Cook, and W. Brad Johnson

?Mentoring is undoubtedly a high-impact and high-stakes relationship. Mentors give their time, attention, and resources to develop others. Usually a volunteer activity, mentorship goes above and beyond a person’s formal job requirements. But when a mentor is well-intended but too depleted to deliver essential mentor functions as a consequence of burnout, the result is marginal mentoring: dysfunctional or disengaged mentoring that is no longer of value. If you continue to deplete your energy to mentor, no matter how good your intentions, you will eventually be unable to mentor or help anyone at all. Here are some ways to identify and overcome mentor burnout: Know the signs, routinely evaluate your burnout risk factors, and involve someone to help you identify when you’re showing symptoms. Conserve your mentoring efforts by finding ways to maximize your time while broadening your reach. Change your approach to make mentoring fun and energy generating. Finally, talk about burnout openly to model self-awareness and self-care

Gratitude Can Be Golden by Chester Elton

Adrian Gostick ?and Chester recently had a fascinating conversation with Leigh Marz and Justin Zorn authors of?Golden: The Power of Silence in a World of Noise , about the link they see between silence and gratitude.?They talked about how to get beyond the noise: in our ears, on our screens, and in our heads. That’s about making space in our jam-packed and busy lives for the type of silence that helps to?clear our heads?and to re-orient towards?our true purpose?and?our deepest intentions.?“When we're caught up in having to think of what to say, when we're caught up in what to put on Instagram, what to post on Twitter, we find ourselves in a situation where it's difficult to glimpse reality in a direct, unmediated way,” Justin said. “And that's the?essence?of gratitude. Being able to be present with what's beautiful in our lives, being present with what’s gracious in our lives.”?We need to open our eyes to see what good is happening around us. And if our lives have more space and more silence, then we can take stock of the world around us. We can appreciate those little moments, kindnesses, synchronicities, and all this life has to offer. From there we can deepen our appreciation—with gratitude.?If you find this interesting, you may want to subscribe to Chester's newsletter, The Gratitude Journal.

With love and gratitude, Scott