A Little Bit of Madness is How We Progress Things
The value of embracing this edge
Yesterday I said to a client ‘there’s a little bit of madness in you’.
This man has a visionary ability that sees a world of true collaboration, where people gather in service to a common mission in ways that engage unity and an endless capacity for generosity and service to each other, not just to ourselves.
He told me that it’s our first year anniversary of the first day of coaching in a few days time and that was to be celebrated. I remember leaving him a voicemail during the Christmas holidays speaking to my knowing that the moves he was making, leaving his corporate law firm to form a consultancy with a much bigger vision, would be endlessly successful. I knew this because how could his so very genuine care for others, and thus the network he has nurtured, not from ego but sincerity, over decades, not bring a reality that mirrors that?
What made me say to him that ‘there’s a little bit of madness in you’?
It’s his sincerity.
His ability to lean into his humanity
and then lean back and surrender into faith.
His dogged agency in service to this mission.
And the way in which he gathers aligned forces,
demonstrating the way in which we can relate with each other,
from a place of genuine love and care for each other.
He ‘sees’ the sacred entity of each mission
and then he also ‘sees’ the sacred entity of each human that belongs to this mission.
And then he brings them together.
I haven’t met a human like this before.
Even when we met on our discovery call for the first time, we spoke for the first 10 minutes, and then he said, ‘I have to pause, something’s happening’. He then proceeded to tell me that when he saw my face on zoom, that he was taken aback because he had the same sense of recognition when he met his life partner. The connection was there, palpably felt, and the unfolding journey has been glorious.
When I got off my call with him yesterday, I thought about that statement that I’d said to no one before ‘there’s a little big of madness in you’. And then my mind went to examples of others who progressed humanity forward who also had a little bit or a lot of madness in them. Einstein, Malala Yousafzai, Beethoven, Steve Jobs, Greta Thunberg……
They challenged convention, thought outside of societal norms, or even went to extremes in pursuit of their visions. This hint of madness, often indistinguishable from their genius, helped them shape the future in ways that few others could have imagined.
So embrace the madness I say. Whether you’re leading a mission, or leading your own life, a little bit of madness gives us the permission slip to embrace what Dr Seuss says ‘Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.’
I write this article firstly to honour my client, and so that when he reads it, he just might embrace his madness a little bit more, and secondly, so that you do too.
A little bit of madness goes a long way.
The yearlong writing retreat, My Best Year Yet, begins this Friday 1 November, on-line. Why is it a year? Because as my client above demonstrate, as our first anniversary on 2 November arrives, what has unfolded could never have done so in a few months.
https://giselegambi.com.au/best-year-yet/
AUD$7,000 paid upfront. Register here
AUD$7,700 paid in 2 instalments of $3,850. Register here