Happy Friday Everyone,
How is it September already? I can’t believe how fast this year has flown by, let alone the past 5 years. On the plus side, I’m very much enjoying being able to sit outside during lunch and not fry like an egg in the sun.
I’ve had a great week in many ways. As I mentioned the other day, I recently allowed myself to flex in some areas of work-life integration, and things have started to balance out.
I’m curious if there’s anything you’ve tried recently that’s brought you a renewed sense of stability, even if just for a moment?
I’ve also read some amazing pieces from authors, visionaries, executives, and founders this week.
I think there is something worth exploring in collective themes that we may not realize are shifting our internal selves to be more authentic and whole, but also making clearer how authenticity is relational to the time, space, energy, people, environments, organizations, and systems we find ourselves living in connection with.
This theme percolated in my mind throughout the week and became more cohesive through reflection and conversation on multiple platforms.
So, today will be a bit different of a Weekly Round-up, in the spirit of bringing other people's voices to the forefront, I’m going to attempt an extremely short literature review via quotes (remember, I’m trying to keep the body of my newsletters sub-1000 words until November (edit, I failed, this is over 1,500 words)).
I’d like to make it clear, that my literature review, collection of quotes, and interpretation through how I weave them together, is my own perspective and framing for following a path of authentic leadership, and doesn’t necessarily reflect that of the individual authors. They may not even be aware of each other (I know a few of them are).
I’m bringing them into conversation with each other based on the threads I see between the concepts they discuss to hopefully bring readers a perspective that might not have been prompted otherwise.
I’ll start with my noted theme for the week, followed by a sort of mood board collection of quotes from relevant Substack articles, after which I’ll lay out my thoughts, and links to their articles will in the Seed Catalog.
I encourage you to go read the full articles and examine your own understanding of the theme I noted, and see what you agree with, disagree with, or come up with on your own (and please let me know). I’d rather encourage understanding through exploration than tell you there is one right answer.
Noted Theme(s):
We hold ourselves back and allow more toxicity within ourselves and in relation to our organizations and systems, relative to the amount of uncertainty and discomfort we can tolerate in the liminal relational space of being authentic to ourselves while presenting our authentic self to the world, absent having positional authority and control.
Relevant Quotes:
But is it a moral failing that we are “implicitly conditioned” to be this way, as
puts so very eloquently yet plainly in his examination of Whiteness as a systemic trauma inflicting grief upon our ways of relating to one another absent hierarchy and culture? Christian’s article leads me to believe no, that is not the moral failing, but rather choosing to remain conditioned absent the opportunity to grow is.We don’t always have the space to process this in the workplace, as
notes in his viral article on the death of the corporate job, that we begin to process and heal when we move away from these practices into the safe retreat of home (if in fact that is safer than work).There’s a reason I put
‘s quote in between the boards. The in between the two states, personal and professional, work and home, label and belonging - that’s the liminal state that offers growth. Where we begin to question the “veils of illusion and fear” that tells us we must drop in order to envision something new.Even if we can discard our illusions,
reminds us that leaders must be able to trust not only in themselves but their people for vision to succeed. The internal work is the same as the external, and in the uncertainty is where that work is done.Despite the siloed hierarchies, by allowing ourselves to sit in our doubts, anxiety, and grief in fluid relation with our people, environments, and systems, as
informs us, we prevent stagnation by allowing new ways of leading to be uncovered that empower the collectively wounded rather than the individual seeking control.That internal perspective shift, as
might tell you, is the greatest gift you can give your people, your organization, and the world. It’s the greatest gift you can give yourself.We are only as toxic as we allow ourselves to be. Writing it off to anything external removes the one thing you have agency over.
Let’s heal and envision new ways of leading together.
Until Next Time,
Chris
Seed Catalog:
Contour Lines is my anecdotal newsletter segment that weaves whats going on in my life with my thoughts on leadership as well as personal and organizational development.
If something resonates, subscribe, leave a comment, or reach out to chat - I always love hearing people’s stories.
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Want to chat about personal growth or walking a path of authentic leadership but aren’t sure were to start? You are always welcome to book a free call to either get fresh perspective or see if we’d work well together in cultivating your capacity to lead.
