The way our systems are, value and Leadership are hand and glove buddies. We know all the stories around value, values and leadership, the how to, the defenses of and the for why’s. Look at how we have things structured the way we do, and often to our detriment, to heighten the risk factors. To show ourselves why we relish in the glories of so called winning. In the face of all involved suffering, we claim what we have been calling success. We sweep under the rug our pain and suffering and the suffering and deep pains of our children, spouses, our bodies, the environment and all our relationships to people, places and things. We know these stories no matter how conveniently dumb and numb we pretend to be. Have we gotten to the point of believing our stories and making them gospel? We are deep into suffering and now wondering, blaming and pointing the finger as to whose fault and asking when did we become zombies and the famous, “now what?” syndrome playing out like a horror movie.
How can we talk about Leadership Value and Values when the premise from which we have built our so called outdated system is the same premise from which we are modeling our value system off of? Easy, the system isn’t outdated. It was not useful in the first place but we spent lifetimes of resources trying to make it appear to be useful. We started down the avenue of make believe you love me in appearance and got lost. It has been all about keeping up appearances and shadow posturing, not about what really works. Only about what seems to help the few only to end up suffering after all that work.
For us to be about value and values that are useful, beneficial, and helpful to all in practicality, we must have a profound shift in consciousness. Not a change. As we now know, change is impossible and trying to change is a terrible waste of time, resources and a gross distraction in the human experience. You cannot change the conflicted mind into anything else. You cannot change unkindness into kindness. Trying to change you, any person or situation is an attempt not to be with the what is of your experience. Let the pain consume you into helplessness. Surrender and ask for an inner intervention to fully experience what you are feeling. By doing so, a shift occurs and must and it turns to joy. Not ‘you’ trying to change it into joy. Joy happens.
A shift in consciousness is what is needed to be value made manifest in each moment by default. When this shift is given to you, you have zero interest in preaching about values. That falls away and you are now busy functioning in a valued conscious manner actualized for the benefit of all. No pretense or hidden agenda needed or desired.
For a Leader to be about what can be termed as Human Valued Consciousness rising in all decisions, s/he must be willing to shed the armor. Shed the defensive shield, shed the pretenses, and face suffering inside out, up close, and stepping into surrender and helplessness as a way of responding without fighting which is what the mind desperately wants. Ask for help to surrender everything you held true about value, self and a Leader who knows how to impress and produce value using what you have been holding as values up to now. Some might say, no pain on gain. That’s the conflicted mind talking smack. Follow that thought to your own misery. Ask for the gift and willingness to see that unlearning is the new learning. (More on this to come. Learning in the now is unlearning) A very wealthy person once told me after an event I was presenting at that, “my parents worked hard, very hard all their lives with much pain and died very poor. I now try to work with heart, intelligently with focus, kindness and treat the people around me the best I can. I am lousy at it, I feel, and want to get better without the fear of losing.” He asked for Deeksha and how best to use the Meditation I teach. His wife with tears in her eyes said, “there is a shift in the universe.” He almost passed out laughing. I, on the other hand, had no way of not making laughter have its way, much to their delight.