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Let's talk about living an integrated life. It's a concept Bill George brings
out in his book True North. I use this tool among others when I work with the
LeaderSync Group, my organization as we coach and help develop leaders,
leadership teams and groups.
One of the sections in there is this idea of bringing all the components of
your life together and holistic functioning way.
George says, "Don't get this confused with balance that's this is not a code word
for balance, balance I believe is a myth that a misnomer."
But it is about focus an integration of the key areas like
relationships,
work-life,
personal growth as a leader, leadership challenges, skill development
etc.
So
George focuses on that, we do as we work with and coach leaders.
He quotes John Donahoe who is the CEO of Ebay seceded May, Meg Whitman.
Donahoe says, "The struggle is constant as the trade-offs and choices don't get
any easier
as you get older.
George says living an integrated life
is a challenging thing to do
and allows you to live a life that when the highs are high you don't get
cocky
and when you hit the low moments
now you don't get depressed and go into despair because your integrating a
number of components together so you have more of a whole life as a leader.
I focus on three areas when I do my leadership development work;
story, soul
and strategy.
Story is mining things like you're defining moments as a leader, you're
driving values, some of the primary strenths that you have that got you where
you are. Let's mine those, let's find out where they came from, you know, how they
work,
how they contribute to your leadership growth so we work a bit in story.
Then we look at soul which is code for inner life.
It's not necessarily a religious word though, people of faith that I work
with
like to delve into that a little more. But it's the idea of, what is my
emotional health like? What's my relational capacity right now? What are
the core practices I can engage in
to help me create and a solid core inner life?
So the character formation takes place
in the present, in the now. Story of course about past.
Soul is sort of like where am I now internally and how am I addressing my world?
And then the third area of strategy is more like helping people create a
vision framework and look at what I call a focus map. Where do I put my energy
and resources as I go forward? What
are the potential resources I can mine? What can I do
to take next steps in person personal growth and development
and in my own leadership effectiveness.
So I look at story, soul and strategy as I ...
my organization LeaderSync
work with leaders and teams.
So you might want to reflect on that today. What about those three areas of
your life
do you need to invest more time and energy in to create this sense of integration
so you can meet the leadership challenges that you need to meet in your
world today?