I was leading a small team in a culturally diverse city in the U.S. when two of my employees asked why all the titled leaders on our leadership team were white.

I was raised in a part of the country that was not culturally diverse, today – nearly a decade after their question 89% of the population in my home state is white and 95% of the county that surrounded the town I grew up in was white.  As a result, it was a question I didn’t see coming and one I did not have a good answer for.

[Tweet “If you seek to lead well… You will consider uncomfortable questions.”]

My reactions:

Honored that they trusted me enough to ask.

Pondered the team I was responsible for:

• A few whites
• A few blacks
• A few Hispanics
• Asian
• Mixed
• Both male, female
• With a span of ages on the team that represented 5 different generations.

Reflected on how new team members were hired:

• I had never considered skin color or nationality. Ever.
• No quota’s to fill.
• No strategy to match the culture of my team with my customers.

I consistently looked for people with the skillset for the job, and people that would work well with the team. (And if the skillset was a match but they were obviously not a fit for the team, they were not hired.) And oddly enough the team was a pretty accurate reflection of the percentages of nationalities in our city.

So when I looked at the leadership team and considered their question, I wondered:

1. About the quality and variety of the applicants that were being received for those positions. (No doubt there were plenty of qualified people of other nationalities in our city.)
2. Was it how those positions were advertised?
3. What it where the business was located?
4. Was there an intentional prejudice present that I’d never noticed?
5. Was it the preference of any previous candidates not to be the first person from another nationality on the leadership team?
6. Were there other contributing factors I was missing?

Please don’t misunderstand. I am NOT advocating quotas. As they encourage organizations to hire warm bodies instead of the best talent or the best fit for the team. They also foster laziness and a lack of accountability by those that fit into the required group.

But I do believe that if we are willing to consider uncomfortable questions, there is often an opportunity for leaders to grow and improve.

A few weeks ago, I returned from South Africa and where learned more about the Apartheid System that smothered, separated and limited their people and the potential of their country for more than 50 years.

This is one tiny example from Nelson Mandela’s book that gives a glimpse of how much confusion, pressure, and division Apartheid caused, “Africans were desperate for legal help in government buildings:  It was a crime to walk through a Whites Only door, a crime to ride a Whites Only bus, a crime to use a Whites Only drinking fountain, a crime to walk on a Whites Only beach, a crime to be on the streets past eleven, a crime not to have a passbook, and a crime to have the wrong signature in that book, a crime to be unemployed and a crime to be employed in the wrong place, a crime to live in certain places and a crime to have no place to live.”

 When you dive into history like that, it is natural to look for evidence of change.

As we walked streets in Cape Town and Johannesburg it was clear that the oppression that had killed hopes, dreams, collaboration and synergy for years is gone. People now have the freedom of movement, without passbooks, without limits on where they can live, visit, sit, eat, or who they can be friends with or date.

It has only been 20 years since massive change came to South Africa and change takes time. At the same time teams and cultures will only continue to evolve if everyone is willing to keep asking and answering uncomfortable questions.

Throughout our stay in Cape Town, Johannesburg, on our Safari –we saw more white people in leadership positions, and more black people in entry-level service positions.

And the nagging question in my head and my heart was the one I’d been asked so many years ago… Why were so many of the leadership teams we saw… White? Why were all but one of the guides on our safari white, and all of the trackers black?

…And yes I asked the question, more than once.

My job is to turn over rocks and look at the squiggly things, even if what you see can scare the h_ll out of you.

-Former Pitney Bowes Executive, Fred Purdue

[Tweet “If you seek to lead well… You will ask uncomfortable questions.”]

PLEASE SHARE:

• Have you ever asked an uncomfortable question?
• Have you ever considered an uncomfortable question?
• Has an uncomfortable question ever changed your behavior?

I published an article a month ago, about how our international move altered the path I thought I was on to my big dream. In that post I shared how much I trust in this altered path, even though it doesn’t make complete sense yet.

About the time I published that article I heard this quote, [Tweet ““Your perspective will become your prison or your passport.”~ Steven Furtick”]

Two weeks ago my husband and I took a vacation to Africa. On the plane I read Nelson Mandela’s book The Long Walk to Freedom, deeply considering how a wide variety of good and bad experiences changed his perspective, caused him to seek truth, ponder deeply, and shaped the man he would become. At several places in his story I thought of different struggles that others have faced that have taken them to their knees and challenged their perspectives and then changed their futures. In the midst of those reflections I wrote these words…

Would you say yes, if you knew:

• That great risk would lead to a greater reward?
• That a job loss would lead to a new career in a new industry?
• That a heartbreaking betrayal would make you softer and stronger and wiser?
• That learning to forgive would help you experience uncommon peace? 
• That years of unwanted change and confusion would lead to growth? 
• That an uncommon sacrifice would create the change you’ve dreamed of?
• That an ending would create a better beginning?

In the days that followed, those words would come to have an even greater meaning.  …To help you understand why, I have to take you back in time…

When I was 10, my Mom read chapters from the book, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe to our family as we drove across the U.S. for a family vacation.Within a few chapters, I was completely hooked on the story, and grabbed the book from her and read ahead, and then devoured the rest of the series The Chronicles of Narnia.

In the series Aslan is a Lion King that is wise, beautiful, kind, sometimes playful and sometimes incredibly firm. My favorite parts of the books are the interactions between a little girl named Lucy and Aslan.  Moments that were often playful and would end with her hands buried in his mane, followed by him sharing simple but powerful truths with her.

As a visual learner, those books painted clear pictures of great leadership and strong relationships. And planted in my heart, a forever love of lions and a deep desire to one day bury my own hands in the mane of a lion.

Back in the present in Africa… We went on our first game drive at 4:30 PM. An hour and a half later, we had not seen many animals. I knew that we had another hour to go, and five more game drives scheduled, but I was already praying, “Please let us see a lion before we leave here.”

A few minutes later, we drove around a corner where another jeep had discovered the most beautiful male lion lying under a tree. As our jeep approached we could see him through the trees and he roared several times. Have you ever hear a lion roar? It is an incredibly powerful, awe-inspiring sound.

Apparently roaring takes lots of energy, so The King decided to rest; we got the most amazing pictures and my heart overflowed.

Several days later in a different location we went on a lion encounter and were quickly told that we could walk with two female lions and pet their thighs, but nothing more. (Not exactly what I’d been dreaming of, but I was still thrilled.)

Towards the end of our walk, the two females went to another group and for some mysterious reason two more lions joined us, one male and one female. (Yes – I was bubbling over with excitement!)

And then our guide asked if anyone wanted to sit with the male lion and put their hands in his mane. And a dream of many years came true!

When my finger massaged their way into his mane, I looked at my husband, trying to process the emotions I was feeling and attempted to choke back some unexpected tears, “I can’t believe this is really happening.” He reassured me that it was, and then the tears flowed.

From the first night on our safari to the day that my hands were buried in the mane of that beautiful lion and in every hour I’ve spent reflecting on our journey… I’ve been reminded that walking by faith continually provides perspectives that really are a passport to an uncommon life.

The moment we said yes to life outside of our comfort zone I’ve had to choose my perspective.

• About the desert we would live in.
• About the people that I’d never met but were frequently stereo-typed in the news.
• About the cloak of invisibility I would have to wear.
• About the things we can’t do.
• About the dream that I still have…

No my lion is not my biggest dream. He is still a symbol of what my dream means to me and a reminder of all that I’ve gained from and unlikely, “Yes.”

Think of any challenge you are currently facing… What if a new perspective is your passport to a better future?

Would you say yes, to…

• Seasons of extreme pain?
• Unwanted change?
• Life outside of your comfort zone?
• Or an altered path?

If you knew that something bigger than you could imagine was in store for you?

After we returned home, I wrote this post and shared pictures with friends on Facebook.  However, before I published the post, someone I do not know contacted me in a private message over Facebook, stating that she was a friend of a friend and she wanted me to know that the Lion Encounter I just described was a horrible progam.  I read her message on the fly and when I went back to read it for detail it was gone.  I was also contacted on Twitter, but when I responded and asked questions, I received no reply.

Although I am still feeling incredibily blessed by our experience I took the time to review what we witnessed and to do some more research.

• These lions were not drugged.
• A beautiful relationship between the staff and the lions was clearly evident.
• The staff oozed passion as they shared the vision for the program.

We trust the tour company we used, and were delighted to notice that some of the other optional excursions we were given on our trip were to places that were recommended by animal rights websites.

And as I’ve done a bit more research I discovered this article about the program from another tourist that was also seeking truth.

1.  Create an EXPERIENCE:  

•  I brought some tiny matchbox cars to a meeting and asked everyone to take a car and personalize it.
• Then I gave them a bunch of foot-long crepe paper streamers and asked them to use a streamer to list one thing that was causing them to lose focus.  (And they could use as many streamers as they needed to.)
• There were so many that the streamers quickly covered the cars and we talked about how hard it is to drive forward when you feel so covered up that can’t see the people you are working with, let alone where you are going.
• Then I brought out a rocket.  (The kind you buy in a toystore that you can actually launch.)  The rocket was “beautifully decorated” with each of our objectives, and we talked about how looking up and focusing on where we were going could help us prioritize the demands and distractions, decrease our confusion and stress and increase our focus and results.  

And yes – when we achieved all of our objectives we drove to a field and shot off that rocket!

2.  Find OPPORTUNITIES in your routine:

 3.  FULLY ABSORB the places you visit:  

• The Palace of Versailles – 5 Ways to Fire-Proof Your Character
• The Anne Frank House – Leaders STAND for something ~ When do YOU STAND? 
• Italy – Sieze The Day:  When it’s easy and when it’s hard
• Egypt provided two!  A New Perspective at the Pyramids & Let this be your resolution:  I SEE People

Ahhhh…  EVERY sense was relaxed and inspired!

• The temps were cooler – sometimes jackets were actually required!    (Not the 110 degree heat we left behind.)
• The skies were bluer!  (Literally as most days our skies are hazy with sand.)
• We saw puffy clouds DAILY!  (A rare sight in the sandbox.  I had no idea how much joy I would find in the sighting of puffy clouds before I left my native land.)
• And we saw so much green that I could feel my soul resting and restoring.  (Yes – I literally got tears in my eyes as I whispered prayers of thankfulness!)

• We were inspired by their courage to journey far beyond their comfort zone.
• And reminded that doing anything for the first time causes discomfort but when you hang in there it fuels growth, builds confidence and may actually make you crave another adventure.

• On an uncommonly rough day at sea that made it difficult to stand or walk to a restroom and challenged even the toughest stomaches.
• The entire ride I thought about our ancestors that traveled a much greater distance as they crossed the Atlantic Ocean on an old ship without modern technology or conveniences and wondered how much more challenging that would have been.

A few days later we learned a bit more about the potato famine that devastated Ireland for 6 years.  

• As more than one million people lost their lives.
• And another million left their homeland to survive.
• We heard stories and songs about that time in history and imagined what it must have been like to leave everything you knew and loved behind – knowing you may never see or hear from the people you left – ever again.
• We saw the type of ships they traveled on. (Called coffin ships – How does that inspire hope?)
• And again I thought of our tiny taste of turbulant sea travel and how challenging it would have been to travel such a great distance.  

• And a story unfolded about JFK visiting his extended family in Ireland when he was the President of the U.S. – A story about his connection to the people and the land his ancestors came from, and their connection to one of their own experiencing the vision of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – to the full!
• For the rest of our time in Ireland, we frequently noticed American flags flying next to Irish flags.  (Ah the power of vision and connection!)

Today we’re back in the sandbox

• Thankful for the shared adventure and the visual reminders about how much life and growth comes after we spend time outside of our comfort zones  – and it doesn’t matter if we leave those zones by choice or by heartache.
• Feeling very connected to the lessons about struggle, courage, risk, vision and life that have come from our ancestors.
• And feeling recharged and refocused.

Want more?

1. Check out this article:  Looking Back:  7 Times You Should & 7 Times You Should Not
2. Purchase our NEW Book Energize Your Leadership:  Get your Amazon Kindle Version Here or Have a book sent to you from Amazon here.

She chose the book because it was short – not because of the content. It was a book about an all black baseball team  in the 1940’s in America. (A land and a time she can’t relate to.)  …So as she read the book I had a lot of explaining to do.

And that opened the door to talk about how racism and perceptions impact individuals and our world.

When she left, I thought more about the lives that are impacted:

1. Being so invisible that people look right through you as if you aren’t there.
2. Having people make assumptions about your knowledge and ability to contribute based on your job function.
3. Having the same qualifications as someone else but legally being offered significantly lower wages because of your skin color or surname.
4. Not being allowed to sit in certain public places because of your job function.

These are all situations I’ve considered partially because of where we are from and partially because of where we live now. …Situations that I’ve rarely been on the receiving end of.

However, on a recent vacation I gained a greater understanding:

We were traveling in a country filled with many poor people that have struggled harder than usual over the past few years. As we approached and departed from every tourist site merchants, just like in every other country in the world, surrounded us.

The difference here was that these merchants were desperate and more aggressive than usual. They wouldn’t just walk beside you as you exited an attraction, they would surround you, walk in front of you, shove their items at you and all speak at once.

Our guide told us not to engage with them in any way. At first we all struggled to do that, after all they were human beings. However, we quickly realized that acknowledging them instantly increased the volume of people we were surrounded with and the intensity of their efforts.

We felt dehumanized ~ like we were simply walking dollar signs, not people.

We felt harassed and the more often it happened the more defensive and angry I felt.

And then I felt guilty…

• Guilty for having what these people needed.
• Guilty for not knowing how to engage with them in a way that respected their humanity.
• Guilty for being defensive and angry.

And then sad, realizing that someone needed to break the cycle of dehumanizing the other, and not knowing how to do so in this situation.

Towards the end of the vacation, each one of those encounters caused enough of an adrenalin surge that it took some time to recover.

As I struggled to recover from one of those interactions, I found a new perspective and reasons to be thankful for the experiences.

• Thankful to have a tiny taste of what these merchants must feel like as people walk by them daily and don’t SEE them as individuals.
• Thankful that we don’t have to fight so hard to survive.
• Thankful for the reminder that we have so much that we take it for granted.

And although I still wish we had figured out how to engage with them in a meaningful way, the experience has encouraged me to be more intentional about engaging with people where I live that are usually unseen.

Here’s the thing. You don’t have to live in the 1940’s or vacation in the Middle East to practice seeing and valuing others.

As titled leaders – Do you judge your employee’s ability to contribute by their current job function or by their knowledge and their potential? (I can tell you endless stories about people without titles that had the answers companies were looking for.)

As parents – Are you teaching your children to value others by their job function, their skin color, their looks, or simply because they are human beings? (Your child could become a wise and compassionate leader that creates opportunities for thousands one day…)

As neighbors – Who lives near you that is not really SEEN? (When we choose to open our eyes, to learn their names, to intentionally greet them, to give of ourselves we change their world and our own.)

 Want more about how this topic relates to your organization?

• Check out this article about real organizations making choices to see or hear from their employees and their customers and how that impacts them.
• Check out this series:  Human Resources or Human Remains

In spite of wonders like the Pyramids, the Temples, and the Nile ~ Egypt has experienced significant declines in tourism because of the continued reports about the conflicts in their country…

• Our first day of the vacation we visited places that were surrounded by armored vehicles, armed guard stations, and lots of men with rifles.
• On our second day, an armed guard accompanied us as we drove and walked. (It was quite an adventure to have a guard follow 5 of us through the city!)
• On the fourth day we met an fully armed group at 3:30 in the morning and caravanned to our destination.

Although we experienced no threats, it was hard to miss that safety was not something to take for granted! 

Later that day we began to see things from another perspective…

• FIRST – One of the friends we were traveling with commented about all of the travel alerts he was receiving about the safety of traveling in the U.S. ~ because of racial tensions and riots.
• THEN – A young man that served us drinks, asked if the U.S. was safe, because of all that he’d been watching in the news.

In that moment we had an almost “out of body experience” as we mentally floated outside of our bubble and viewed our comfort zone through the eyes of others.

• They were viewing our beloved country through the filters of the media and from the perspective of personal safety.  (Just as we’d been viewing the beloved country and comfort zone of others.)
• And they were reacting with as much caution about what was unfamiliar to them, as we were perceiving in a land that was unfamiliar to us.

What a powerful moment as we recognized the blinders we wear in our own comfort zones.

When we returned from our trip I posted several beautiful pictures on Facebook.

• In an effort to keep it real, I also shared one photo that highlighted the poverty, rubble and trash we witnessed in Cairo.
• Within 24 hours a friend from the U.S. added this comment to that photo, “Come to certain sections of Houston and see the same thing.”

…Another reminder of how easy it is to SEE opportunities when we are viewing something for the first time, and to have dimmed eyesight in the places we are familiar with.  

[Tweet “Comfort Zones: Dim Sight, Narrow Perspective, and Endanger Growth”]

• As a leader… How do you keep your blinders off when you walk through your organization and meet with your employees and your customers?
• As family member… What do you do to examine your opportunities before pointing to the opportunities of others?
• As a neighbor… Do you recognize the individual human lives and the needs in your city?

Learning’s from previous vacations here:  

• ITALY – Reminders to Sieze the Day (When it’s easy and when it’s hard.)
• THE NETHERLANDS – Taking a Stand (For others ~ In spite of the risk to yourself.)
• FRANCE – Fireproofing Your Character (You will be a better leader!)

I crave places that look like this:

Our current environment sometimes feels like this:

I crave environments that make me feel like this:

…A month ago we returned from an extended vacation, part of which was spent in Italy. (A place that had been on my bucket list for a very long time.)  We spent time in the hills, the valleys, in the mountains, on islands, in castles, and in a gondola drinking in life and beauty.

Previous vacations at Versailles and in Amsterdam have taught me to expect valuable lessons to emerge in the midst of our rest and adventure.  So towards the end of our time in Italy I paused to reflect:

*First I savored everything we were seeing:  Green and blue landscapes and skies filled with puffy white clouds… 

*Then I remembered the regrets of a dying friend:  As he told his wife that he wished they’d taken more vacations together.

*Then I pondered how temporary everything is as I thought of:

• Lives and cities that were destroyed with the eruption and fallout from the famous volcano Vesuvius
• Endless examples of cities that were built on of ruins of older cities – many of which are lonely ruins today or have yet another layer of life happening above them

EMPHASIZING the words spoken throughout Italy, “Carpe diem.” ~ Seize the Day!

After our time in Italy, we spent a few weeks with our families seizing days!!!  We hugged, we visited, we ate, we sat by campfires, we played games, we watched movies, we swam, we looked at stars, and we soaked in more green and blue landscapes. …And I drove a car for the first time in 16 months! (Something I can’t do where we live.) I opened the sunroof and the windows and let the wind whip through my hair!   Ahhh – pure joy!!!

And when the time came to go back to our expat lives, I struggled with feelings of exchanging endless freedom for a box.  (I know my grandmother felt that way when she was moved from her home to an apartment, to assisted living  and ultimately to a nursing home. And I know that at some point all humans will struggle with physical, mental, or emotional limitations that may be real or imagined.)

[Tweet “Boxes make it much more challenging to seize the day!”]

A few times my struggle was so intense I had to go off by myself and just walk and pray and focus on the things I am thankful for right now:  A wonderful husband, a loving family, amazing friendships, lots of adventure, tons of personal growth, a deeper understanding of our world, and the ability to visit places that I’ve only seen in movies, pictures, and on maps.

 A few days later, we boarded our plane to head back to our expat life.  As we flew across the ocean, I watched Dead Poets Society just so I could watch the scene where Robin Williams reminds the boys in his class to, “Seize the Day.”  …And I willed myself to do the same.

When we landed we learned that Robin Williams had taken his own life.  There was no way to miss the power of this lesson now. Even as his life was ending, I was watching him in living color, reminding others to seize this day, and live it to the full.

 Today…   Is the first day, of the rest of YOUR LIFE.

• You can seize the day by being thankful for the blessings in your life.
• You can seize the day by doing something outside of your comfort zone.
• You can seize the day by doing something to grow yourself.
• You can seize the day by doing something for someone else.
• You can seize the day by asking for help.
• You can seize the day by not looking back.
• You can seize the day by learning something new.
• You can seize the day by taking a stand.
• You can seize the day by listening more intently.
• You can seize it by forgiving someone.
• You can seize the day by trying again.

[Tweet “Do what you can, with what you have, right where you are.”]

How will you seize today?

We were barely in the store when the call to prayer sounded.  (Which means that for the next 30 minutes we are free to wander around the store, but we can’t receive any assistance from the staff or checkout.)

After gathering all that we needed we joined a group of families in a semi-circle around a produce weighing station, which was already surrounded and now three layers deep.

As a western woman, I still struggle to understand the rules of engagement in these settings.  (Whatever you do -don’t look the men in the eye and don’t smile at them.  And although the women may make brief eye contact and are gracious, they don’t always speak the same language.)

So as I looked for a place to focus, a little girl with enormous brown eyes and tiny pigtails spotted my husband and I.  (She reminded me of Boo from Disney’s Monster’s Inc. movie.)

• We smiled.
• She walked closer, stopped dead in her tracks and gazed up at us.
• We smiled and waved.
• She stood still, unblinking, mesmerized.
• We continued to smile and wave and she continued to stand and stare.
• Until we spoke to her in a language that was not her own.
• Then she ran behind her mother and peeked around her at us.

After a few more minutes her father picked her up and held her hand out to my husband and then to me, and introduced her to us.  …And then introduced himself.

To my left was a young woman that had been watching all of this and smiling.

When the prayer time ended and the line started to move, the man with the young woman took the produce out of their cart and moved forward to put their things on the counter.

Then she realized that a big bag of potatoes was still in their cart and tried to get his attention, “Baba.”  (Father.)  “Baba.” “Baba…”

With the crowd, and the position of her cart he couldn’t hear her, and she couldn’t touch him.

So I motioned my willingness to hand him the sack she agreed and we did the handoff.

Once she had his attention she said again, “Baba” and reached for my produce and handed it off to him as well.

My heart was instantly overwhelmed, my eyes misted and Goosebumps appeared.

In minutes we had two beautiful connections with complete strangers.

And I left the store with a warmer heart and two special memories.

Today as my mind merged my pre-vacation to-do list with those experiences…

I remembered all of the times that airports and airplanes have provided similar opportunities:

• The woman in her sixties that went back to pursue her dream that inspired this blog post.
• The executive I met on a flight that was new in his role and doing all of the right things to earn the trust of his new team.
• The little boy that engaged my husband on his first trip to the land we now live in and inspired this blog post.
• The woman in tears that I met on a flight from Tulsa that had to leave her small son and husband to take a job in another state to support them.  With plans to live in a camper trailer until her husband could sell their house and join her.
• The woman I met on a plane that had just lost her husband and was flying across the country to her daughter’s home, that missed her flight when we landed in our city.  She was so overwhelmed.  And I had time to help her figure out where to go, walk her to her gate and sit with her until the plane took off.

Beautiful memories filled with lessons, reasons for me to be thankful, and reminders of the importance of human connection…

Leadership is all about connection.   And engaging with strangers is a beautiful way to energize your soul and sharpen those skills.

Please share:  Where do you engage with strangers?  How have you grown?

[Tweet “Vacation starts soon… ….I wonder who we’ll meet this time?”]

A few years ago my husband and I vacationed in Paris.   We went for adventure, for love, for history…  It was my first trip “across the pond” and although I was anticipating romance, joy, and the wonder of the old buildings, old streets and art.

I was NOT anticipating a leadership lesson…

Everyone recommended touring the Gardens at The Palace of Versailles. However, before we went, I did no research so I was completely unprepared for what I saw.

The gardens:

• Are on 800 hectares, which is the equivalent of 1,976 acres of land in the United States.
• Have over 200,000 trees and over 210,000 flowers.
• Maze-like hedges are lined with marble statues.
• Each path leads to one of 50 gorgeous water fountains.
• In the middle of the gardens lies a cross-shaped Grand Canal for boating and fishing.
• And situated on these spectacular grounds are the Palace, the Grand Trianon and Marie-Antoinette’s Estate.

At first I walked the grounds in complete awe of the beauty there. It was so easy to imagine the Kings and Queens of old, hosting majestic balls, summer events, and hunting parties and I began to wonder what it was like to live there.

• Then my thoughts turned to the people outside of the palace grounds that were starving, as royalty and their court lived so divinely.

The differences were so extreme, and seemed so visually obvious that my first reaction was to judge the royal family, that thought-process was quickly followed by a deeper desire to understand:

• Did all of the ancient royals lack character?
• Did any of them recognize their Achilles Heel?
• Was it possible to be born in an environment that encouraged egos to grow in magnitude through the constant acquisition of more possessions, and more power and yet have the vision to contribute to a greater good?  (…And if so, how hard would it be to change the paradigm and lead by serving?)

As I began to imagine that some of the royal family could learn that there was more to life, and be committed to making a difference I was reminded of the size of their role.  It was so visually staggering that it was obvious that they would need several wise advisers that were brave enough to hold the king or queen accountable to that vision. Those thoughts then led me to focus on the advisers themselves, knowing that no matter how wise they were, they too would face would face temptations of pride, power, and possessions.

• If those advisers were accountable to the vision of the greater good, and to leading with integrity, if they listened, served and advised based on those things, everyone would be more successful.
• If however, those advisers were in it for themselves and withheld or skewed information to achieve their own desires the king or queen would make uninformed decisions that did not address the real issues impacting their people, their country.  (Which would ultimately expose their second Achilles Heel and negatively impact their results and their reputation.)

After returning home I spent a lot of time pondering and decided that Versailles gave me a visual of a basic truth in leadership:

“ We are all human and all have Achilles Heels.

As I pondered that truth, I received a message over Twitter from someone confessing that he has often overlooked poor character because of someone’s great skills.  I don’t know the circumstances of that specific story. However, I do know that:

• Over-looking someone’s character because of their skills has brought down entire organizations and caused grief and pain for thousands.
• When those closest to a leader encourage the leader to limit their contact with employees and customers, the leader is being cut off for a reason.
• Where there is smoke, there is usually fire.

If we desire to lead well we must be proactive about pursuing and preserving that character in ourselves and in those closest to us.

I believe Abraham Lincoln actively practiced a solution for this issue.  In the book, Lincoln on Leadership by Donald T Phillips, Phillips emphasizes that with the exception of times Lincoln was very sick and when his son died, he was out of his office a minimum of 5 days a month and sometimes more than 10 days a month engaging with people, asking questions, and learning…  During that time, Lincoln spent time with congress, military leaders & troops, touring battlefields, inspecting weapons and shipyards, and visiting with the sick and the wounded.  When he had to make a decision he was better prepared to make it based in facts and with an understanding of the entire picture.  Years later Tom Peters and Robert Waterman named this principle MBWA – Managing By Walking Around.

The foundation of great leadership and organizational growth are the same. 

“ To build something that lasts, each one of us must have a proactive plan in place to seek out and preserve truth.

1. A list of values to stand on and never compromise.
2. The open invitation to employees, peers, and customers to hold you accountable
3. The commitment to hire people with the same values as the organization.
4. The discipline to hold staff at every level accountable to keeping those values.
5. To Manage By Walking Around – Being present and engaged with employees and customers. 

Which path are you on?

• The one that fuels pride, and strokes your ego or theirs?
• Or the one that serves a greater good?

PLEASE SHARE:   Where have you experienced an unexpected but profound leadership lesson?  

Want more?

• This article will take you to another vacation leadership lesson:  Leaders Stand for Something ~ When do you STAND?
• This article gives additional options for protecting your leadership from pride, power and possessions.

Last week my husband and I vacationed in Amsterdam.  During our visit there we had the opportunity to visit the Anne Frank House.  I’ve seen the movie, read books about this horrible time in history and visited Holocaust Museums, but I’d never actually read her diary.

‘En route to Amsterdam I opened her diary and read details that I’ve missed before…

• “Jews must wear a yellow star.
• Jews must hand in their bicycles.
• Jews are banned from trains and are forbidden to drive.
• Jews are only allowed to do their shopping between three and five o’clock and then only in shops which bear the placard “Jewish shop.”
• Jews must be indoors by eight o’clock
• and cannot even sit in their own gardens after that hour.
• Jews are forbidden to visit theaters, cinemas, and other places of entertainment.
• Jews may not take part in public sports. 
• Swimming baths, tennis courts, hockey fields and other sports grounds are all prohibited to them.
• Jews may not visit Christians.
• Jews must go to Jewish schools, and many more restrictions of a similar kind.”

As I tried to imagine Anne’s life at age 13, I immediately thought of my 13-year-old niece and my 13-year-old neighbor.  And I felt my throat tighten, my eyes mist and my mind quickly trying to seal off those thoughts.

As we toured the place her family hid we climbed up steep stairs into rooms with blacked out windows.  Immediately my gut kicked, my heart raced and my brain emphatically objected to the idea of living inside dark rooms with 7 other people for 24 hours, let alone two full years!  (…No wonder she spent time in the attic frequently just to get a glimpse of sunlight!)

That day after our tour we sat and listened to the same church bells she had listened to during her two years in hiding, and during the rest of our time in Amsterdam we walked and biked the same streets she had walked and biked on before all the restrictions came.

During the remainder of our visit I found myself frequently wondering about the lives of all of the people that lived in Amsterdam during that time.

• I thought about stories I’ve read of children that were taken from parents and raised to be Nazi’s.
• I thought about all of the lives that were lost.
• And I wondered about all of the people that risked their lives, the lives of their loved ones, and everything they had for others.

In my pondering I thought of issues that require us to get involved:

Below are two questions from Max Lucado that I’ve shared before:

1. Had you been in Germany in World War II, would you have taken a stand against Hitler?
2. Had you lived in the South during the civil rights conflict, would you have taken a stand against racism?

 And considered information that doesn’t seem possible in our modern world:

Did you know that TODAY we live in a world with more slaves than in any other time in human history?  

• With an estimated 27 million in bondage across the globe.
• And the average age of a trafficking victim is 12 years old… 

According to the A21 Campaign there are things that “seemingly ordinary people” can do.  

• Please check out their list of 21 Ways YOU can get involved.

[Tweet “”The purpose of freedom is to create it for others.” Nelson Mandela”]

My mentor’s business plan included something he called A STAND, when I read it the first time I asked about it.

• He said he included it because you need to know what you stand for before you are faced with the situation.
• Leaders that don’t STAND for something, will fall for anything.

[Tweet ” If we say we are passionate about leadership and about character we must take a stand!”]

Do you have A STAND?  Is is written down?  Have you ever acted on it?  

Special thanks to Doug Sprague sharing his STAND.

Photo credits to:  iStock and Suzie Kummins