Stepping into leadership, on whatever scale, immediately asks a central question of each of us: What kind of person will I be? Can I be a person who brings out virtues of dignity, creativity, courage, compassion, persistence, humility, generosity and wisdom in myself and the people I am alongside? Can I catch on to the ways in which I contract into fear, or reactivity, or habit? Can I find others who will help me walk the path of attention, inquiry and practice that can support me in bringing myself to the world in a way that’s most fully expressive of my intentions?

This week's Turning Towards Life is a conversation about how we lead together in a way that draws upon our essential goodness. And it's an invitation to a new learning community we're launching. It's hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.

Here's a link to the details of the new Thirdspace Leading from Essential Self programme which we talk about in this episode and which is is coming up soon. 

You can find out more about other Thirdspace programmes we talk about this week on the Thirdspace website here:

Turning Towards Life is hosted by Thirdspace. Find us on FaceBook to watch live and join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Google and Spotify.

Here's our source for this week:

The Call of Leadership

We’re ‘called to leadership’ any time we find ourselves caring deeply about the world and people around us and want to respond with wisdom, resourcefulness, dignity and creativity – whether that’s in an organisational setting, in national-scale leadership, in a family, because we’ve taken up a role in a community that we care about, or whenever we want to bring a new idea, possibility, cause or work of art into the world.

Stepping into leadership, on whatever scale, immediately asks a central question of each of us: What kind of person will I be? Can I be a person who brings out virtues of dignity, creativity, courage, compassion, persistence, humility, generosity and wisdom in myself and the people I am alongside? Can I catch on to the ways in which I contract into fear, or reactivity, or habit? Can I find others who will help me walk the path of attention, inquiry and practice that can support me in bringing myself to the world in a way that’s most fully expressive of my intentions?

Another way of saying this – can I lead from my 'Essential Self’, the goodness and wisdom that’s at the heart of each of us? Can I attend to being ‘right sized’, inhabiting fully the life-giving possibilities that are mine to bring without shrinking away or trying to be bigger than I really am?

Justin Wise

Photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash