World Wise Leadership blog

Dear Proponents of Continuous Self-Improvement:

(participants of meetings at ICF, AfT Leadership Coaching School and Executive Leadership Studies at the Wrocław School of Banking)

Due to the many questions I have received regarding how to become a true leader or a good coach, I decided to write about the most important thing concerning our attitude towards self-development and towards others. It relates to the eternal question: To be, to have, or to act?

Obviously, all three spheres are crucial elements of life, work, and development; however, one of them – to be – is all-important in a world dominated by to have and to act.

You tend to ask us the following questions: How many hours do I need in order to become a coach? What should I do in order to become a leader? What kind of knowledge do I need? What are the recipes for success? You very rarely ask: Who should I be in order to be a leader/coach? It is with great pleasure that I state that recipes for success do not exist – otherwise life would be too easy and dull.

You cannot be a good leader or a coach through certifications, the number of course hours you take, the number of methods you know, or the number of professional achievements you have. All these are just external signs that show  you are working  to better yourself. Your actions at a specific moment are the only thing that testifies to the quality of your work and to the level of your job satisfaction.

This is why our method focuses on providing you with inspiration and support that will allow you to be. Michelle Kempton, our coaching supervisor, teaches 8 competences of being a leader, which all concern this very sphere of to be, (such as being positive, flexible and present). If, at a specific moment in time, you are present and positive – despite the surrounding apathy – then this is the very moment when you are a leader. If you can feel empathy and look at an issue in a systematic way (instead of using a selective judgment) at the same time – then you are being a coach.

I admit this is the most difficult part of a coach’s-leader’s practice. This is why there is such a heavy emphasis on being (on your attitudes and habits). This is why there is no shortcut or a recipe that can bring you immediate success. A change of habits and attitudes is a change of character, and this requires engagement, dedication and time.  Several business gurus have confirmed this, including Stephen Covey in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Marshall Goldsmith stresses that this very change of attitude – from acting, which is typical of the role of lower  management, to being a leader – guarantees a sudden leap up on the career ladder. He writes about “simple” habits such as being genuinely positive, thanking people, appreciating and apologising to them. Are basic social competencies really back in good graces with companies? Yes, because emotional intelligence is slowly superseding the dictates of fear. Yes, because people have broader life prospects, higher expectations towards the employers, and because of this, a wider range of available choices.

The choice of whether or not to become a leader is up to you.

I invite you to make a leap:) into your Leader-Self, because I would like the world to change for the better, and this is only going to happen when each of us makes a leap out of own fear and begins to believe that we can achieve success by striving to be as good a person as possible.

Jacek S.

Leadership Coaching School

Adventure for Thought

Dear Leaders and Coaches all over the world

“Each of us carries our own Hiroshima in our heart.

We could keep complaining about it or we could

convert negative energy into a positive change.”

Thank you very much for the kind words that many of you shared with me in reply to my last email. I owe you a continuation of my Japanese story. It was a wonderful and unforgettable trip to a distant land. Let me start with the good news:  our workshop “Leadership as an Emotional Journey. Hiroshima in my Heart” was by far the best received at the conference, all of our books have been sold and we are cordially invited again. We are truly happy to have given a useful and important contribution.

What did we do? What did we talk about? What did we discover?

Suffering and hardship are part of each person’s life experience. Each of us will have to face moments of hopelessness, frustration and anger – because things happen – often with no fault of ours. Yet very few people are aware that there is a treasure hidden in each painful experience and that it can bring us inspiration and energy needed to improve life – our own and others. Pain can give us a sound foundation on which to can build our leadership. This is what we have discovered and what we have decided to focus on in our next book, because we all need to be comforted in distress.

Hiroshima epitomizes the most terrible suffering ever. We visit the city, this heart of agony, on our first day in Japan. We go to a museum that abounds in striking images depicting the tragedy – burnt bodies, melted iron constructions, long-lasting effects of radiation exposure. We learn some disturbing facts – what makes some people condemn other people, condemn whole cities without fully realizing the meaning of their decisions.

To our astonishment – the victims do not seek revenge, they do not pass judgment on the perpetrators, they do not hate. Their whole energy is channeled into a cry for peace, into correspondence, conferences, actions that would prevent a similar tragedy from happening ever again. We talk to people, whose relatives were directly exposed to the bomb. We see thousands of people paying tribute to the victims, and who are deeply engaged in peace efforts. We discover that even this pain could be forged into leadership.

In our workshop we help people transform emotional pain into a purpose and leadership. This subject hits the bull’s eye because a lot of people seem to be ready for this kind of work – especially in Japan after the last earthquake. Their openness and willingness to change allows us to unveil the pain and the healing which deeply touches all 60 participants.

What is this change all about? What is the essence of our method?

Simply put, whenever there is something bothering you, whenever you feel distress, it is an emotional sign that you should do something about it. The more distress you suffer from, the more important it is to deal with it. The first step you must take is to see and to accept reality – instead of denying it (concealing it from you) or remaining emotionally fixed on it (e.g. by continuous grumbling). You could say Hiroshima is of no concern to you, you could say it has never happened and you could keep cursing the enemies till the end of your life.

Each of us carries our own Hiroshima in our heart. We could keep complaining about our miserable lives, our bosses or wives. Or we could use our courage, as we all have it, and we could confront our Hiroshima, converting negative energy into a positive change, as befits a true leader. Our workshop provides an opportunity to examine our suffering, to discover its meaning, and to find energy that makes this positive change possible.

We paid tribute to the pain and suffering that our participants endured, and this is how we managed to capture their hearts. We are impressed by the way Japanese honor each other – forming a solid basis for social transformation. Honoring yourself and others is the crux of the process that we offer, it is also the foundation of being a leader. It works amazingly.  I am filled with joy whenever I see people, families and organizations change this positive way. There is more of us every day.

Imagine our organizations as places where each person is honored for being a unique individual, and not just for their hard business results. Do we need an atomic bomb or an earthquake to finally change our ways? How much time do we have left to really start honoring our and other people’s lives? To not be enslaved by external forces and people who do not respect our needs and values?

The motto of the All-Leaders conference was: “Everyone can be a leader if this is what they want and this is what the world in chaos and crisis needs”. Our hosts have paid a beautiful tribute to emotionally intelligent leadership. Now, it is our turn – before it is too late. It is time to listen to our inner selves and truly accept responsibility for our future.

With honor,

Jacek

Dear all,

I am writing to you on my way to Japan, where I am going to run a workshop at a large leadership conference. I am very pleased with this opportunity and happy the organizers decided to cover all expenses. Our workshop was sold out over a month ago – there are going to be 60 participants, most of them Japanese.

I will have the pleasure of co-running the session with Ann Betz, a master coach from Minneapolis, and a person with whom I have written a very special book – Coaching the Spirit, poetry of transformation.

There are 25 copies of this book in my suitcase. The workshop focuses on leadership as an emotional journey by looking at Hiroshimas in our own hearts, it aims to help people find a way to transform their emotional pain and suffering into purpose, leadership and helping others.

It all seems like a dream, a fantasy. I do what I most care about, and what my heart considers most important – and there is a big audience. How is this possible? I believe I have found the answer and I am going share it with you now J.

I think the answer is to be and act in alignment with your heart – Leadership from the Heart. Coaching, presence and listening to your inner self can help you find the innermost part of yourself, your hidden identity – the voice of your heart. It is possible to let go of everything that distracts us and focus on the most important. Then, we need to learn how to lead others from the heart.

The results are amazing, as it helps people really connect to themselves and others. Being authentic, open, speaking from the heart is especially important if you work as a manager, an instructor, a coach, a teacher, a doctor, a salesman – in all these jobs, where the success depends on human emotions.

But how? It can’t be that simple – you say.

You have to approach it solidly and consistently. First, you must find a path to your own heart, that has become overgrown with imposed on us beliefs – from childhood, work or school. Emotionally intelligent coaching is helpful in this case, as well as meditation, and – in many instances – therapy.

Second, you must find a path to other people’s hearts – the people you work or live with, and the ones that you lead. It is not easy; we need to work diligently; we need to recover every time we fail, and try again. Training in emotional and social intelligence – non-violent leadership/communication – would be helpful in these situations.

I wish you plenty of courage and perseverance on your development path, so your final success in relationships comes with lightness of a great leader who you truly are.

Jacek

Leadership as an Emotional Journey – Hiroshima in my Heart

EXPLORE: emotional perspectives of your own leadership journey to find the strength to overcome even the most difficult challenges and use it for inspiration and leadership.

EXPERIENCE: practical tools that will help you as a leader to influence and transform others.

UNDERSTAND: How to transform negative, limiting emotions into effective impact on people and organizations.

Presenters

Ann Betz – coach, expert in neuroscience and leadership She works in both the corporate and non-profit sectors, helping organizations and individuals move to greater levels of effectiveness and health. She is a certified professional co-active coach and is on the faculty of the Coaches Training Institute. Ann has extensive experience as executive coach with Fortune 500 companies, and is an expert in the neuroscience of coaching and leadership. Mother and a poet, she has lived and worked internationally for many years, and currently resides in Minneapolis, USA.

Jacek– leadership coach/trainer Jacek has 25+ years experience in the field of people and organizational development for both non-profits and corporations. Expert in management development, team coaching and emotionally intelligent leadership. Also, he works as an executive and expat coach as well as an MBA professor. Author of many articles and models in the fields of leadership and personal growth. A founder of World Wise Leadership foundation, he is a Polish and Canadian citizen and avid mountain climber.

More about workshop you may find on Leadership Global Conference 2011 page: http://www.allleaders2011.com