Are you in the midst of change and trying to balance the need to take ownership of that change with the need to walk by faith?
Years ago I was struggling to find that balance and wrote this:
I feel like I have been on a path of stepping stones.
Most days this path is surrounded by intense fog that is so thick you can’t see anything – not even the next stone.
One evening several summers ago, my husband and I (who don’t have children of our own) were at a playground with my six and seven-year-old niece and nephew. They took me to the highest part of a fort and told me that I was the princess, they were my guards, and that my husband was “the bad guy.” I was instructed to stay in the tower and they would protect me! In the moments that followed, my husband and I were transported back to a world we have nearly forgotten.
As I found myself savoring each second of that evening, I also found myself wondering why we don’t visit that world more often.
The entire experience made me think about the Disney Movie, Monsters, Inc., a movie about Monsters that power their world by capturing the energy in a child’s scream. Through a series of events they discover that a child’s laugh produces much more energy than a scream. …Ultimately transforming their entire world. Do you see the connection to the workplace?
I was a new middle manager on my first trip across the country to the Corporate Office and was seated in the Executive Boardroom for a meeting. As we were preparing to take a short break, the CEO leaned across the table and asked me,
“Chery, have you shared your vision with your team?”
I gulped and my mind raced… Oh no! I’m supposed to have one of those? (My mind quickly visualized the formal vision statements that are printed and hung on the wall for all to see.) As I exited the boardroom, I wandered down the hallway wondering what a vision was and how to get one FAST!
Two weeks ago we started a series about the best way to develop leaders based on a powerful quote with an uncommon perspective. This quote and series has filled some people with instant fear, some with instant empathy, and others with a clearer perspective, a deeper resolve and a stronger drive.
This series is written for individuals and is designed to offer a vision, inspiration and hope to anyone that is outside of their comfort zone, feeling in over their head and struggling. If you fit that description, read on! (If you know someone that fits that description please share this with them!)
In the first week, former FBI Agent LaRae Quy and the author of “Secrets of a Strong Mind“ shared a personal story about how that quote resonated with her with this story: The single best way to develop leaders… Throw them in.
Dr. Hoda Maalouf a civil war survivor, a professor and department head at Notre Dame University in Lebanon and the mother of twins shared her story in this post: Seriously? You develop leaders by throwing them in?
This week Alli Polin, a first-time expat who is beginning the second year of a journey that has taken her from Corporate America in DC to reinventing her life and her profession in the outback in Australia, shares her story:
Have you ever felt like this? 
How about like this? 
