Saskatchewan Day One

I seem to have brought a warm front with me to Saskatchewan. Temperatures are soaring above zero here, with nothing but sunshine in the forecast. Nothing like a strong dose of Vitamin D to soothe a winter wallow.

Yesterday was my first visit with Mom in the hospital. Her strength is only overshadowed by her keen sense of humor. Save for her brief moments of subtle confusion and slight forgetfulness (thanks to some serious doses of methadone to control her pain), you would never know that she had been bedridden by what has become an untreatable struggle with cancer.

She was absolutely delighted with the fact that a close family friend of ours had sent along some edible blessings straight from the Dalia Lama himself - how many of us have ever received something directly from the Dalia Lama? I have never travelled with such a sacred gift in my suitcase! We spent a better part of the afternoon reflecting upon what these four tiny grains (which see is to place under her tongue) may be made of (dirt, seeds, dung, pepper?). I am sure that her room is now filled with positive Karma and insight! Although based upon her endless sense of generosity and care for others, I think she will has been building upon plenty of good Karma.

The peace of the valley covered by hoar frost at 7AM on my morning run was medicine to my soul. The best I can do here is to seize the beauty in every moment - to ensure that my focus stays in the now - not the then or the what next - just the now. She is right here with us - and that we will treasure.

Life

There is an Eastern proverb that I will paraphrase:

When we are young, we are willing to sacrifice so much of our health in pursuit of wealth.
As we become old and wise, we become willing to sacrifice all of our wealth for just one day of good health.

Two years ago, I was blessed to be able to participate as a donor in a stem cell transplant with my Mother, who was suffering from leukemia. Her strength and on-going sense of care and generosity for others following during process was nothing short of awe-inspiring. Her health has deteriorated rapidly over the last few months. This reality is understandably difficult to accept.

We spend so much of our time worrying about trivial events and our own happiness. The truth, which I believe my Mother has exemplified her entire life, is that happiness comes from devoting our lives to helping others. We need to focus as Rees would say (as in the Ecological Footprint, Rees) on a personal, "economy of enoughness." What a wonderful world it would be if we focussed on giving more of ourselves to others.

The Leadership Secret

I think that I will take the initiative to revise my working definition of leadership to:

Bringing out the best in oneself, by bringing out the best in others and inspiring positive change.

The secret to leadership is not simply about developing oneself, it is about developing others. Leadership is about empowering and enabling others. It is about seeing and uncovering the best in everyone. It is about taking the initiative to act with sincerity, honesty, kindness and compassion. Bring forth the best in others, and we will bring forth the best in ourselves in the process.

I just finished reading The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow. One of the last statements has really stuck with me, "It's [aka Leadership] is not about how to achieve your dreams. It's about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you." Simple and thoughtful advice from a phenomenal academic who has inspired millions.

"Let no one come to you without leaving better or happier." Mahatma Gandhi

What is Leadership?

When you include a word like "leadership" in the title of your blog, I think you should at least attempt to clarify what it actually means. I apologize for the academic referencing embedded within-it is the academic within me. It is my hope that my creative potential resurfaces over the course of my yearly blogging journey!

Although leadership has become a highly publicized and popularized concept, it remains difficult to define precisely. Leaders were once viewed as powerful people who possessed the knowledge, control and ability to succeed through structured goal attainment, which was predominently dictated by organizational outcomes. More recently, leadership has been described in terms of social influence rather than position (e.g Bass's (1995) Transformational Leadership Model). Transformation leaders facilitate positive change within themselves and others in order to provide the motivation necessary for constant improvement.

According to many predominent leadership models (Bass, 1995; Sashkin and Rodenbach; 1998; Kouzes and Posner, 2002; Alimo Metcalf and Alban Metcalfe, 2005) leaders:

• inspire and motivate others to exceed expectations.
• convey a collective vision that is based upon shared aspirations.
• encourage creative problem solving and innovation.
• embrace change and are prepared to take risks and make difficult decisions.
• empower and value others by respecting each individual’s needs, recognizing individual contributions and encouraging personal growth and development.
• build trust by acting with integrity, humility and consistency.
• communicate exceptionally by actively listening to others, consistently conveying new and important knowledge, and ensuring that they communicate clearly.

Leadership is viewed as a quality that can be shared by all, regardless of position, influence, personality-type or task orientation. Leadership is truly viewed as a quality that exists within everyone. In its simplest form then, leadership can be described as the desire to bring out the best in oneself and others, while inspiring positive change.


References:

Alimo-Metcalfe, B. and Alban-Metcalfe J. (2005) Leadership: Time for a new direction? Leadership 1:51-71.

Bass, B.M. (1995) Theory of transformational leadership redux. Leadership Quarterly 6: 463-478.

Kouzes, J.M. and Posner, B.Z. (2002) The Leadership Challenge, 3rd Edition. Jossey-Bass, CA. 458p.

Sashkin, M. and Rosenbach, W.E. (1998) A new vision of leadership. In Rosenbach and R.L. Taylor (Eds.) Contemporary Issues in Leadership 4th Edition (pp. 61-83) W.E. Westview Press, USA.

My First Blog Entry

So here it is, a new year, and a new goal, to start blogging. I chose the topics life, leadership and sewing, because all have become inherently intertwined in my life. Sources of inspiration, motivation, and the reality that really we are typically our only source of limitation. We think the world is somehow against us, but in reality, it is the world within our mind that creates all of the drama. We create our own reality. Simple.

Sewing for me is proof that you can truly accomplish anything you set your mind to, even if you do it in small steps (like starting with cloth napkins). Yes, I completed a PhD, but the tangible outcomes of sewing projects seem so much rewarding than those associated with research projects. Oh, that brings me to my second new year's goal, to secure a tenure track position. This blog will serve as proof of my journey towards this goal over the course of the year.