Go Deep to Go High 🌲
Conscious leadership lessons from Sequoias
When I was a kid, my family took a vacation to the Sequoia National Park in California. It was an unforgettable experience walking amongst the gorgeous giants. Like a New York City skyscraper, it was almost impossible to see how high they reached into the sky. Their trunks were so wide, you could drive a truck through the hollowed out middle of one.
Standing next to a sequoia, I felt incredibly small; my life so fleeting compared to these centuries-old behemoths. It is a humbling experience to be in the presence of entities that have borne witness to so much in their extended existence.
Sequoias offer a valuable lesson to conscious leaders: go deep to go high. In order for sequoias to grow so big and tall, they have to establish a deep root system that will sustain their width and height. It helps them survive through decades of wind, storms, rain, and all sorts of environmental hazards that could topple them over. Those roots sustain them through myriad challenges. The same goes for strong leaders: they develop strong roots so they can sustain their growth.
There’s a common saying in the coaching world, “You can only go as deep with a client as you have gone yourself.” Essentially, this means that if you want to engage in deep, transformative coaching, you have to have already experienced deep, transformative coaching yourself.
As a coach, you act as a guide; helping your clients navigate challenging terrain that is uncomfortable and scary. If you’ve traversed that terrain yourself, you won’t shy away from the scary parts because you’ve already personally faced them and seen the benefits of confronting your gremlins.
By putting down deep roots in your own personal growth—like sequoias—you can withstand challenges, and thereby help others when they face their own challenges.
The same is true for conscious leaders. While we may not have experienced every unique challenge our team members will face, we can draw empathy from our own experiences. Spiritual teacher Christina Lopes observes how courageous it is for leaders to face their internal shadows and begin healing. (I highly recommend watching her 4-minute video, where I got the idea for this newsletter!)
If you desire to grow tall as a conscious leader, and lead a dynamic, powerful team, it will require doing the work of putting down deep roots. It won’t be comfortable or easy, but you’ll grow taller than you ever imagined possible. The work you do sending down deep roots means you’ll be built to withstand life’s many challenges. And you’ll be able to support those around you as they also grow deep roots so they can grow tall.
In the business world, personal growth and development isn’t always correlated with business outcomes, but as Whole Foods CEO John Mackey observes, “If you want to grow the business, you have to grow the leader.” The growth of your team and business is directly correlated to how willing you are to invest in your own growth.
It’s time for us to make this important investment in ourselves and our team. Soon, the world will benefit from a vast forest of conscious leaders planted all over the world; inspiring and encouraging others to go deep so they can go high.
Work happy. Live happy. BE happy.
Meredith
The way we work and build teams is rapidly changing. Leaders often feel unprepared to navigate the transition. As a conscious leadership coach, consultant and communicator, Meredith helps leaders and their teams create new ways of working and relating so they can prepare for the future by consciously co-creating it.
Contact her to develop your conscious leadership and transform your organization into the workplace of the future.
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