Category: Leadership

We recently returned from our annual retreat–this time it was in Isla Mujeres, Mexico, one of the most beautiful places in the world and a place that’s been incredibly meaningful and healing for me.

The connection and vulnerability we all shared has me processing a lot, and I’m sure that’s true for everyone who attended. 

Something that’s been coming up for me lately, and was reinforced in Mexico, is around the stories we all carry about leadership.

The first–and perhaps most fundamental story–is that we must be “in charge” of people to be a leader. We have this idea that if we don’t supervise people or take on some other traditional leadership role, we’re not really leaders.

In Dare to Lead, Brenè Brown says “I define a leader as anyone who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes.” 

During our retreat, I identified leadership in every single participant and staff member. The ways we all lead are different–thankfully! No one needs the generic version of us.  Some of us are quiet leaders–when we speak, people know it means something and they listen. Some of us bring the energy to the room and lead by example. Some of us like to be front and center, and others like to support from the background.

What’s important is showing up as our truest, most authentic selves and leading from the heart. When we embrace who we are and get out of the comparison game, everything we do becomes more effective.

I’ve been a stay-at-home mom, worked traditional 8-5 jobs, and owned my own businesses. And I’ve always been a leader.

When we deny our innate ability and responsibility to be leaders in our own lives, we miss out on amazing opportunities for personal growth and connection with others. 

To deny that you’re a leader is often a desire to hide your true self and to avoid the (weighty) responsibility of being a good human in the world. That’s understandable–wouldn’t it be easier to believe that we don’t really affect others all that much? That if we hide in the background and keep ourselves small, we’ll stay safe?

Here’s the thing–you’re leading others all the time, whether you realize it or not. You don’t get a pass on leadership, because you’re a human in the world with connections and responsibilities. 

My challenge to you is to do leadership in a conscious way. Bring awareness to how you show up in the world. You’ll be amazed at the opportunities that come your way when you lead with intention! 

♥️, 

Jen

Here’s a subject that’s come up a lot for me and Jen lately in our deep-dive inner world conversations  business meetings. What does it mean to be a seeker?

For those of you who listen to Glennon Doyle’s podcast, she talks about being a seeker–and that the nature of a seeker is to always be seeking, but not really finding.  In fact, there’s danger in a seeker “finding” something, because the attachment to that spiritual paradigm, or personality type, or whatever it is can become too extreme and then block the seeker’s own inner knowing.

If you’ve ever wondered how people become enmeshed in high-control groups (“cults”), it starts with being a seeker. (I confess that “cults” are my current hyper-fixation/obsession)

Every wonderful quality has a shadow side. Seekers are curious, open, see beauty and wonder in the world, and teach those of us who are NOT seekers about the magic of being a human being in this wild world.

The shadow side can look a couple of different ways. Seekers can seem fickle, not grounded in reality, and flaky. 

Seekers can also be more susceptible to a phenomenon I like to call, in all caps, THE WAY. They can so desperately want to make sense of the world within and around them that they can give too much of their inner knowing and authority away to some force outside of them, and then it becomes not “a way” but THE WAY.

Finders look for what is already there. They often say things like “the research says…” or ask questions like “what’s the evidence for that?” They’re more logical, more reality-based. They find INFORMATION, check the source, and that’s that. They are our truth-sayers, our grounding rods, the steady hands that guide us. 

And the shadow side? Certainty and rigidity…which then blocks curiosity, personal growth and magical mystery.

Isn’t that interesting? The shadow side for seekers AND finders can involve certainty, knowing THE WAY.

Most of us are going to lean one way or the other on the Seeker/Finder spectrum. But here’s the really cool thing–we can consciously grow that more underdeveloped part! We can practice tapping into the part that is less accessible, and over time it becomes MORE accessible and available to us.

And bringing this back around to your business (I do eventually get there 😉)…

Your business needs the seeker AND the finder. The balance is essential for the gifts that each of these types bring to the table. 

We need the grounding and the dreaming, the security and the risk, the logic and the magic. Maybe you’re lucky enough to have a business partner or a team that brings all of these qualities into your business (this is probably the most amazing thing we discovered during our NLW planning retreat).

Or maybe you’re a solopreneur, and you can do more work within yourself to access both your inner seeker and your finder.

Either way, recognizing the value in both of these types and bringing their best qualities into your business could be the missing piece when it comes to growing your business.

Which type do YOU lean towards?

♥️, 
Amy (85% Finder, 15% Seeker)
Next Level Wealth Coaching