Last spring, the people who work with me asked for more.
“Yes”, they said, “we know about the Firms’ business planning”. And, “Thanks for the goal-planning and financial forecasting”, they said. But they wanted more. They asked me to share what drives me, what moves me and what was personally shaping my words, actions and perspectives.
The prospect of being open to the degree that they sought gave me pause. After all, I have always been a very private person. But, I had a strong sense that opening the museum inside my head for tours was also potentially a chance to lead and encourage them to also reach new levels of openness and, therefore, effectiveness.
It was at the same time that my gifted, beautifully kind daughter also asked to walk through my inner rooms and corridors. There was no chance that I would deny her.
So, I opened the doors and windows. The breeze and light rushed in. My curators walked around and told me what they valued and what was, maybe, not worthy of the collection. My daughter inspected each and every item and continues to visit frequently.
The vulnerability of openness will inspire greater confidence and a sense of safety in your professional team. It will encourage them to practice openness, themselves. Confidence and safety are essential for health, and, by the way, they increase mission-building and productivity.
Giving the people you love a lifetime pass to visit, tour and interact with you about what they find, empowers them in every category and spawns expansive, transcendent sharing.
If the people who rely upon you, and those who sincerely care about you and look to you for leadership, ask you for more of you, open the doors and let them in. It is a wonderful gift to them and to yourself.
