In praise of stakes - however they are cooked
Elly and I work together in our own small coaching and development business. We have no other source of income. We can’t easily afford for me to be on the leadership programme and money is tight. I want to create something as effective as possible that I can engage with with all my heart and passion and with as many swans as possible. That is where the most possibility and creation lies – think of what we might build together. AND I want to create something soon, something that is cash generating. AND I want my heart in it. THAT combination would have leadership and all the learning in it be part of my life, and not just be a few happy weeks in Spain.
Without a stake we could have the best boat in the world and all be rowing furiously, and still spend our time going around in circles, or rapidly and exhaustingly going nowhere. To be effective, we need a compass…swans migrating in different directions all look lovely, and there may be some very attractive clusters that develop. The real WOW impact comes from watching a larger number of birds flying together because it’s time to fly South or North. We need a compass...that's what the stake is…our orientation as leaders. And there are swans with different speeds and different characters and different skills – held in the same tribe, flying in the same direction.
Creating a stake is NOT about ego-satisfaction (though who says that’s bad all the time, anyway?). It is simply about being as effective as we can be in service of something else (including ourselves). Compare an organisation with people in it that share a sense of purpose and stake, with one that has every other characteristic but lacks a stake, and I know which will be more effective, create the impact it desires and which will be most compelling and last longer. Value is created from the heart (sound familiar?).
Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall. - Steven Covey.
Finding the right wall is what creating a stake is. It enables us to find passion, to lean in and get the best from each other in service of something else. Where is the possibility to lean in if we have no idea what we’re leaning in to? How would we know who to lean in to? Without a stake we can’t lean in sustainably or with as much scope for calling forth; in short we would not be as effective as we could be.
That would not be the combination I want.
Without a stake we could have the best boat in the world and all be rowing furiously, and still spend our time going around in circles, or rapidly and exhaustingly going nowhere. To be effective, we need a compass…swans migrating in different directions all look lovely, and there may be some very attractive clusters that develop. The real WOW impact comes from watching a larger number of birds flying together because it’s time to fly South or North. We need a compass...that's what the stake is…our orientation as leaders. And there are swans with different speeds and different characters and different skills – held in the same tribe, flying in the same direction.
Creating a stake is NOT about ego-satisfaction (though who says that’s bad all the time, anyway?). It is simply about being as effective as we can be in service of something else (including ourselves). Compare an organisation with people in it that share a sense of purpose and stake, with one that has every other characteristic but lacks a stake, and I know which will be more effective, create the impact it desires and which will be most compelling and last longer. Value is created from the heart (sound familiar?).
Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall. - Steven Covey.
Finding the right wall is what creating a stake is. It enables us to find passion, to lean in and get the best from each other in service of something else. Where is the possibility to lean in if we have no idea what we’re leaning in to? How would we know who to lean in to? Without a stake we can’t lean in sustainably or with as much scope for calling forth; in short we would not be as effective as we could be.
That would not be the combination I want.
posted by Ho, Baby, Ho! at
6:57 AM
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