DELIVER on Audacity
Barry Lewis Green
Educator, Speaker, Coach, Writer, Creator advancing the forces of Character, Purpose and Unity for genuine Leadership... with Educators, Entrepreneurs and Emerging Leaders building a better world.
In Deliver: Countenance and Gate, I offered up...
- "Countenance is our face and/or facial expression; our look, visage, expression and composure.
- Gate is our means of entrance or exit; our walk.
- I am going to more than suggest that this combination of countenance and gate determines how we engage the world or do not, wherever on the spectrum of extroversion/introversion we fall.
- How we manifest ourselves to the world matters.
- How we authentically assert our voice matters."
Ultimately, they require Integrity and Candor... and more.
Deliver is a monthly blog where we explore how we best deliver on meaning and message. Over this past week, I have been dealing with grief. I still am. And I am dealing, facing and engaging. And, it is tough. Very. Some or many well intendedly hope, wish and want us to move on as best we can. I get it. I understand. But, grief does that work that way, I suggest. Grieving requires us to engage.
That is countenance and gate as well.
You see, shortly after I wrote that post on grief that day, my #bestlittledogintheworld Panda had her last and worst bout and passed that evening at 9:43 pm. This past Wednesday. But 4 days ago. For most of that day, she was great and active. A blessing in retrospect.
Still, these bouts were getting more frequent and longer, involving complete weakness in legs and back, and getting to convulsions, with no pain but much discomfort. I was by and with her throughout and her passing was with comfort. But, now there is another grieving beyond the months of care. Panda was my 13-year companion, she and I, in our home. I saw her not as pet but as partner in this space. Truthfully, this loss will take time. And it will be hard. As I said to a dear friend last night, "Life ain't pretty, but it is beautiful."
So, how does this all relate to countenance and gate? Enter Audacity.
Audacity is the will to be... confident and vulnerable, real and daring. It is indeed Assertiveness, Sincerity, Integrity, Courage and Commitment rolled into one. It is bold. We accept who and where and when and how we are. And make no apologies.
Panda had it. When she was sick, she was unapologetically sick. When she was well, she was equally so. While gentle and kind, she hid nothing (except maybe a bone lol). She was unassuming and yet knew what she wanted when she wanted it and how she felt when she felt it. Her Confidence was in her being who she was, and is.
I need to ever increasingly learn that. Our countenance and gate are not about posing.
Indeed, an early mentor of mine said that the difference in pose and poise was the I.
We need be "in it", in order to truly "do it".
That said, again how does this relate to countenance and gate? The world does not need more canned speeches nor teleprompted messages nor over rehearsed and contrived content. It needs Audacity... to be real and to engage. Scripts will not inspire. Audacity will. It is raw and real and it sees vulnerability as strength. And, contrary to common conception... in many ways, Audacity is Humility engaged and personified.
My point is this. Real is Confidence. And it starts by owning it. Audaciously. This does not deny the path of Excellence.
But Excellence is born of practice and practice is what we do; real and raw. My body of work needs to continue to be built on this premise. My life too. My countenance and gate. Perfect as noun is myth. Perfect as verb is our best reality. And that requires us to move from pose to poise. It requires us to get real, in order to be ready. It requires us to ...
Grief, if truly engaged, gets us off script to discover our best character and capacity. And there is no "formula". Skills are best in known territory, character best in the uncharted. And character advances our ability to rise up. There is Wisdom in such.
Now, I am going to unapologetically grieve some more. A lot more.
I am going to unapologetically chart new territory, going there.
I am going to engage great friends with their loving, strong and compassionate presence.
I am going to take my own medicine in working the strategies of The Virtues Project.
I am going to companion myself through it... and with the help of those great and trusted friends.
I am going to learn from Panda's Audacity. And, I am going to face this grief of loss of partner, unlike any loss felt before. And, I am not going to feel the need to explain it.
My suggestion to you is this. Find and practice your Audacity.
Get off script and chart your course of meaning and message. Find your handful of friends who get you and got your back. The posing is done. It is time for poise. The world needs it.
... peace, passion and prosperity.
Barry Lewis Green, aka The Unity Guy with Epic Engage
Lead, inspire, educate, and unite. Move forward together, stronger. My work is about bringing campuses, companies and communities together, moving forward stronger. I work with educators, entrepreneurs and emerging leaders to do just that. My work is about character leadership and education and its role in helping individuals and organizations build a better world at school, work, business and community. I deliver on it through speaking, coaching and development in character leadership and education. My expertise is character leadership and education. I advance unity in diversity by moving the needle on leadership and education that is high character and results forging. I speak, teach, coach, facilitate, lead, write, sing, dance, cartoon and create on that. In 1980, Professor Rolf Hattenauer changed my life. A highly respected expert in Human Resource Management, he expected much of us and he believed much in us. He was an educator and leader of high character. He was extraordinary. To this day and beyond, I try my darnedest to honor his spirit with my own work. That is another story. But I hope I did him service here.
CHECK OUT from January...
ALSO, CHECK OUT
THE GLOBAL GOALS
AAAAAAAAND thoughts on character and leadership...
TUGtv
- Yes, we have launched TUGtv with the above in mind... in support of it all. To date, we have produced the following episodes with many more to come. Check out our All Team Show for December 2020.... oh and this great conversation with Linda Kavelin-Popov. And, we invite you to check the previous shows out. Here are our episodes up to and including November 2020.
