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Hi there 👋🏽. Ready to lead? "Acts of Leadership" helps people, (irrespective of title or tenure), expand their leadership range one experiment at a time. Each issue shares a [pro/e]vocative definition of leadership, an idea and an experiment.

The power of recall

Think of a time when you felt unfairly treated or disrespected.

Picture the scene. Feeling so frustrated you could scream.

Maybe it’s a manager, boss or colleague.

See the room and who was there. Replay some of the conversation. Notice how that feeling grows.

Take a few moments to revisit this memory before you continue reading.

Notice your body right now. Run a quick scan from the head down to your feet. What do you notice in your body?

The likelihood is that right now you feel mistreated or disrespected. Right now you feel frustrated or angry because you feel disrespected.

And unless I'm the one that frustrated you, you are NOT frustrated right now.

But your body doesn't know that.

Your body doesn't understand time.

You can harness this phenomenon and use it consciously to serve you.

A Definition…

"Leadership is... building useful inner resources, and structures to access the on demand."

An Idea…

Internal Resources & Powerful Structures

Kant's Tiger

External events do not determine our emotions. They’re influenced by what and how we think about those events.

If you see a tiger and feel fear, it’s down to what you think about it. Change the context, imagine the tiger in a cage, and you’ll think differently about it and consequently feel differently about it.

To say it differently, how we feel in any given moment is not a direct reflection of objective reality. It’s mediated and shaped by our own stuff — beliefs, values, interpretations. What we feel is shaped by our cognitive processes.

And, what if you got to choose what you think? By implication, you have agency in how you feel.

"We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are." (– Rich by Marillion)

Inner Resources

If the visualisation at the start worked for you, then you know I helped guide you into re-experiencing a time when you were frustrated.

In very little time your body had recreated all the feelings of frustrated. You weren’t really frustrated. But your body didn’t know that.

If you can name it you can be it.

"Don’t dream it. Be it." (– Richard O’Brien / Rocky Horror Picture Show)

With a little practice, you can use this to your advantage

Think of a specific situation where you want to feel or be more of a specific something.

✅ A big presentation to the board that you want to be more confident in?

✅ A challenging 1:1 conversation that you want to feel more resolved?

✅ A team meeting where you want to feel more ease or playfulness?

✅ An all-hands meeting where you want to feel more Rock Star?

✅ A workshop facilitation that you want to bring only curiosity?

Name It

If you can name the thing you want more of, it’s because you have experienced it in the past. You know what it feels like. Your body knows what it is to be that.

Now you know what you want more of. Next, you want to create it on demand and access it in the instant you need it.

This is a skill, therefore you can develop your capability.

This is an INNER RESOURCE you want to develop and have access to.

Practice embodiment.

Practice embodying that thing. Repeatedly.

How?

By visualising a strong moment when you felt it in the past. (Think Harry Potter practising his Patronus Charm in Snape’s study).

The more detail you can summon in the visualisation, the more colour, the more sensory, then the more strongly you will experience the thing.

This is the ‘volume’.

(And keep a square of chocolate or two to hand. It will help)

Structures for Access

Now you’ve learned to recreate and to embody the thing, you have created a RESOURCE.

Next you want to find a shortcut to it. This is a STRUCTURE. A structure is a connector, or a bridge, to the resource.

Anything can be a structure.

Music is an inherently powerful structure 🎵. Which song takes you straight into that embodied experience?

Images can be powerful. A particular photo may trigger that resource 🖼.

Perhaps there’s an object you associate with the resource. It might be that the front door key to your first house is an access route to the sense of freedom you need right now 🗝. Or a coffee mug with a printed slogan.

Experiment with different structures to find one that helps you most quickly connect to your chosen resource.

An Experiment…

  🤔 - Make a list and name 4 potentially useful inner resources you want to create. Any manner of words can be useful resource names. What matters is that the word is a meaningful label for an embodied experience you’ve had before.

  🤔 - Pick one name and practise embodying that thing through visualisation. Maybe enrol someone to guide you through the visualisation.

  🤔 - Identify and create a structure that you have readily available.

  🤔 - Practise using your structure to connect with and embody your resource.

  🤔 - Aim to run through this 3 times a day, every day, for the next week.

An invitation to explore…

🎥 TED: You aren’t at the mercy of your emotions — your brain creates them :  Lisa Feldman Barrett (18:28)

Leadership needn't be lonely!

Lead when ready!

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