Facing Up To Your Darkest Leadership Moment (And Coming Out On Top)
As a leader, you will likely face many dark moments. One will stand as the darkest, and it will take your supreme resolve to shift away from the fear of failure toward a place of knowing that change can successfully be achieved. The Supreme Ordeal is the fifth phase of the Heroic Journey of the Leader.* This is the time...
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Stepping toward your imagined future
In this third phase of your heroic journey, your game-changing vision has such a powerful pull on your mind, heart and spirit that you will muster the courage to begin your epic journey. As a leader, crossing the threshold means leaving behind the status quo and starting the process of creating the changes you know are needed.
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Resistance is natural … and futile!
In myths and legends, heroes fight resistance of some kind. Joseph Campbell reminds us that heroes often resist the Call because they are facing the greatest of all fears — fear of the unknown. Usually, at this point heroes encounter a mentor or sage who offers advice and encouragement to help them counter the resistance. As the leader, the work required to instigate transformational change can seem daunting.
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How You Will Grow on Your Heroic Leadership Journey
The Journey is the fourth phase of the Heroic Journey of the Leader.* As you can imagine, it encompasses the majority of your adventure in terms of time and effort. As the leader, the challenges you encounter on your Journey will be the best problems you have ever had. Each setback will be an opportunity to eliminate what is...
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Are you hearing the Call?
Here’s how to recognize it: Everything may seem okay on the surface but there is a strong desire in you to move beyond the status quo. You just know there are better ways to solve the problems and counter the challenges facing your business.
ReadWhen There's No Turning Back: A Time for Exploration and Discovery
The Crossing of the Threshold is the third phase of the Heroic Journey of the Leader.* It occurs when you take concrete, intractable steps away from the way things are and toward the way things can be. It is your first step to relinquishing the status quo and creating change. Once you cross the threshold from “where...
ReadBattling Resistance When You Know What You Need to Do
Most of the time, what leaders find the most daunting is putting themselves and their vision out there. Resistance in the form of self-doubt can be all-consuming and paralyzing, even after you know what you need to do and the rewards in store. Resistance to the Call Resistance to the Call is the second phase of...
ReadLiving Up to Your Heroic Leadership Potential
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you probably know all about the Heroic Journey of the leader. It begins when the Hero/Leader answers the Call to lead their team or organization on the path to positive transformational change and ends when they survive a Supreme Ordeal that teaches everyone involved how to operate on a new...
ReadBuilding Build-A-Bear: A Heroic Leadership Journey
Today I published my Lead Positive Profile with Maxine Clark, retail innovator and founder of Build-A-Bear on my Psychology Today blog. In the profile, Maxine details her Heroic Leadership Journey*—from answering The Call to step down as President of Payless ShoeSource to facing the Supreme Ordeal that was the Great Recession. Here are some of the most inspirational quotes...
ReadLead Positive Named One of 2014's "Best Leadership Books" by Inc.com
In case you missed it, I wanted to share this exciting news with you: Lead Positive was named one of the “Best Leadership Books” of 2014 by Inc.com! In an article titled, “10 Tips and Quotes From the Best Leadership Books of the Year,” by Inc.com Contributing Editor John Brandon, appears this salient tip from...
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