The Right Stuff ~ Leadership and Wisdom in a Human World
By: Cynthia Cavendish-Carey
It was Sunday evening and my son and I were sitting on our front porch discussing the upcoming week’s activities. When it was my turn, I told him that I’d been asked to sit on a panel at a women’s conference to discuss balance in women’s lives. His reaction was humorous. He said, “you! balance! I don’t get it.” In addition to giving me a great opening line sure to get a laugh (which it did), this also got me to thinking.
Do we have to be highly accomplished experts in order to provide sound leadership and wisdom?
The answer is no. In fact, perhaps the best leaders are those who struggle with the very issues we all experience. The key to this brand of leadership is a willingness to share the struggle even as wisdom is being learned. Leadership Pittsburgh would call this “modeling the way.”
Women connect through sharing their vulnerabilities with one another. We identify with our sisters who are willing to reveal the same weaknesses, insecurities and fears that we have. The things that worry us the most typically concern our families, our careers and our communities. Too often, we feel alone and isolated. But through sharing our experiences with one another, we discover that this is a myth. We are not alone and our experiences are more universal and timeless than we believe.
As I sat on that panel the other day talking about my philosophy of balance, my sister panelists and I also shared our lack of expertise. Not one of us has mastered balance in our lives – regardless of color-coded charts that help maintain schedules, yoga that centers over-active brains, or internal conversations that help weigh the appropriate level of worry that is warranted for a given situation. The reassuring phenomenon was that every head in the audience was nodding throughout the session. Clearly and despite our individual frailties, the fact that the three of us were willing to put ourselves out there and lead resonated with these women who were dealing with the same things every day.
I loved Bernadette Smith’s article “Debunking Leadership Myths.” There are many and perhaps we might add one more to her list … we don’t need to be expert in order to lead. I learned something valuable at that women’s conference and it reinforced the very real connections that can be made through sharing.
No one is born with a manual on leadership, balance or life for that matter. We are all of us human – boogers and all. The collective wisdom that occurs through connecting with one another makes the journey more meaningful, if not easier because we realize that we are part of a community of sisters. For some, this may not feel like a safe thing to do, so it’s important to choose wisely as to where, when and with whom we are revealing ourselves. When we find those safe places, though, the inner and external results are magical.
Cynthia Cavendish-Carey is a business and marketing consultant. She is working on her first novel, “Kachina and the Butterfly Maiden,” which is a young girl’s journey to find her own divine feminine.