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"Your thinking becomes your script. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."
Goethe

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Leadership Notes -- Thoughts on Leading People and Making a Difference in Organizations

Word count this issue: 277

Estimated reading time:  1:45 minutes

 

 

Greetings from Winnipeg. I’ve just spent a couple of days working with a credit union board, about 2.25 hours west of here. I enjoyed a lovely drive to the airport here, listening to the Robert Kegan (et al) book, An Everyone Culture. It is a great book, inviting us all to consider that 21st Century organizations will be about the thriving and growth of human beings. Very powerful thinking, and I look forward to learning more.

 

What struck me on this sunny afternoon too were the Fall colours. Nothing like the colours we’ll see from the air this weekend as we fly over New England, but still lovely. We are close on to Canadian Thanksgiving. The farmers are harvesting, the trees are turning bright reds and oranges, and this part of the world begins to prepare for winter.

 

These two elements; the growth and development of human beings and the turning of the seasons collide in my mind to remind me of the importance of quiet and reflection. in the words of the ancient thinker, “to everything, there is a season.” There is a time to plant, there is a time to harvest, there is a time to grow, there is a time to rest. 

 

 

As leaders, assuming Kegan et al are correct, we need to ensure that we are creating time not simply to grow, but to rest, to reflect on our growth and to be quiet. To mirror the seasonal shifts of seed, growth, harvest and quiet in our own leadership practice.