The Untapped Abundance of Your Leadership
Removing the masks of inauthenticity
I remember back in 2012 sitting in an office of a marketing company we’d hired seeing the consultant look directly at me saying the words ‘No one will ever accept you with the language you use and the way you communicate’.
I never felt so belittled.
Here I was, a coach in service to the themes of personal responsibility, authenticity and intuition yet I was being told that who I am as I am would never be accepted.
The marketing company proceeded to create a marketing piece using language designed by them.
I pitched to corporates using their language and strategy and not one piece of business came from it.
What resulted instead was a colossal amount of internal turmoil, zero peace and mountains of anxiety. Yet I continued to show up shiny faced pitching away…..until my spirit and body could no longer hold that facade.
As much as I suffered over that period, it wasn’t wrong. It was essential. Because through that experience I learnt a contrasting truth that authenticity is profitable. And that became one of the founding premises of my work that has given many, many people I’ve coached the freedom to be who they are untethered by societal, corporate, cultural and generational beliefs, expectations and ways of doing.
In the context of leadership masks are not only worn on a daily basis, but often the mask is invisible to the wearer.
Masks are worn to protect and shield, to hide and withhold, to power over and control, to manipulate and deceive, to contort and pretend, for pride and for shame.
Without awareness, masks are a mistaken identity claiming residency in the person’s being. The wearer of the mask believes this is who they are. They are controlling. They are powerless. They are shameful. They are not good enough. They are distrusting. They are scared. They don’t belong. They don’t have the capacity. They don’t matter.
Because focus creates reality, whatever the story of the mask will be the person’s experience.
When I sat in that marketer’s office in 2012, my sense of powerlessness allowed the consultant to devalue who I am. I sense he wore a mask of pride more than likely based on a belief of not being good enough.
Masks talking to masks akin to the Carnival of Venice.
In the context of leadership masks talking to masks can only surmount to conflict, tension, politics, lack of trust, poor decision making, winners and losers, self-sacrifice and ultimately poor health and wellbeing and negative ripples back into the family home.
The result of masks talking to masks is the antithesis of what a leader’s role is. A leader cannot drive change, cannot innovate, cannot engage and be of service to stakeholders when they are wearing a mask talking to others wearing their own masks.
What should be first on a leader’s job description is to be self-aware and to take 100% self-responsibility for 1) who they are showing up as and 2) what reality they are creating as a consequence. Are they wearing a mask or are they being authentic?
This is what a leader should be accountable for, first and foremost. The world would be a very difference place if this were the case.
Albert Einstein said ‘We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.’
Buckminster Fuller said ‘You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.’
Whilst the mask is on, the investment is on self-preservation.
Innovation from a place of purity of intention, integrity and generosity has no place.
New thinking only has permission to arrive when the mask comes off.
This year’s theme is Untapped Abundance - the untapped abundance of who we are. This morning as I pondered the untapped abundance of my own leadership, I was compelled to write this article.
The inspiration to leave my Human Resources career and transition into coaching was because I was moved to bring to the corporate world exactly what I’m writing about here. I knew that if people invested in their own personal growth and took 100% personal responsibility for their lives rather than playing the blame and judgment game, that the atmosphere at work would be one that is geared for fulfilment on all levels.
That was 20 years ago.
Twenty years ago the corporate world was not ready for this. Only the few trailblazers took up this mission. But it’s different now.
We are a more aware world. There is a higher degree of personal choice available rather than obligation, self-sacrifice and one direct line to supposed success. And there’s a whole lot more un-wellness in the form of anxiety and depression, suicide, cancer and other debilitating illnesses.
We can do better. In fact we must do better.
But it’s a matter of choice. And that choice is nobody’s business but for its owner.
On 6 & 7 February I’ll be facilitating ‘Sacred Business’ - a live event at The Q Station in Manly. What is the ‘sacred business’ you have to do in 2024? What does your spirit and heart desire for you? Where is your intuition pulling you towards? How are you being moved to move? What does grace want for you? fWhat impact are you truly here to make? What vows are you to make to yourself, to your team, business, community and family? And where does your peace ultimately lie?
Most people goal set at the beginning of the year. This is not about goal setting. This is far more expansive, far more transformational, far more self-loving, far more authentic, far more generous and far more game-changing. In summary, ‘Sacred Business’ is life-changing.
If you’re called to learn more, just let me know.
Happy New Year.
Love from my happy place in Noosa, Queensland,
Gisele