You may be wearing a mask this weekend for Halloween. It’s the one time of year where we are out there and honest with the mask we are wearing.

Yet we all wear a mask everyday. We wear a mask every time we don’t speak our truth. We are hiding behind some other person or way of being because….

we want to be loved

we want to be accepted

we want to please

we want to be successful

we want…

you name it. The list goes on.

Whenever we are not true to ourselves – stepped into the full integrity of our own shoes – we are out of alignment. Walking around wearing a mask expends so much more of our energy than we need to. Think how freeing it would be if we could let down our mask and could be more of ourselves. What’s behind the mask? Fear.

We hold ourselves back because we are afraid:

Of someone else’s reaction

Of not being loved

Of failing

Of….

It’s as hard and simple as loving and accepting yourself without restraint. Try this on for size: “What you think about me is none of my business.” If you truly loved yourself would you care what I or anyone else thinks about what you do or say?

Therein lies the challenge: To embrace who you fully are without restraint.

So, Happy Halloween. Wear your mask and practice allowing your true self to shine through. It can give you the courage to take down the other mask more often after Halloween.

Copyright 2010 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC   All rights reserved.   www.sagelead.com

By this I mean recreation, not reinventing your career. I mean having real downtime so you can come back to your problems and challenges with renewed energy and different insight. AND ENJOY your life – AND the PROCESS of your life.

Yesterday was my birthday so I took the day off. I usually do on this day. If you can’t take it off on your birthday, then when can you? Afterall, if you can’t celebrate you, how can you expect anyone else to?

What did I do? In modern, American terms: NOTHING. NO-THING.

Nothing PRODUCTIVE.

I slept in, lounged around while my husband serenaded me on guitar. I picked up my bongo drum and joined in. I meditated, did yoga, wrote in my journal, and got my family (teenagers, sans electronics) to go for a hike in the woods with me. Sounds very hippish? It was a heavy dose of taking in and reflection. And then I topped it off with a high calorie, decadent dinner out – lava cake and all!

No, I am not recreating the movie Eat, Pray, Love. I’ve been doing this on my birthday all my life. The key is to periodically do this throughout the year. I work hard and am a driver by nature plunked down into a culture that reinforces these attirbutes. So, if I don’t manage myself – who will? The rewards are integration and renewal… and living from a full versus depleted cup.

Pick a day in the week where you are intentionally NOT productive and do all the things you love. Experiencing productivity withdrawal? Guilt? Then start small and pick at least an hour or 30 minutes. This nothing thing is actually productive. I dare ya. Try it.

Copyright 2010 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC   All rights reserved.   www.sagelead.com

“Failure is the tuition you pay for success.” ~Walter Brunell

It doesn’t matter that you fail at anything. What matters is that you don’t repeat the same failure by capturing your learnings. This will help ensure success next time. If all you have are successes, how can you really strengthen your perseverance and tenacity muscles needed for these challenging times?

And no one can succeed all the time, so there is no point in hiding it. Reflect, learn, forgive yourself and others, master and move on. This is how we grow. Each step carries with it it’s own unique challenges and rewards.

Copyright 2010 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC   All rights reserved.   www.sagelead.com

Mark Twain once said: “A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn no other way.”

We all have been there – many days, months or years later, we say, “that was the best learning experience I ever had.”… but while we are going through it, we are cursing the day this person or situation came into our lives.

Here’s to appreciating the gift of the painful lessons. I suggest not shying away from whatever it is that seems distasteful to you, especially when you know there are high rewards – if you can “suffer through it.”

Suffering is so overrated. Let’s skip that part – just for today. Carry the cat anyway.

Copyright 2010 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC   All rights reserved.   www.sagelead.com

~Oscar Wilde, Lady Windemere’s fan, 1896

We seem to only pay attention and really get the learnings when we make mistakes. Is it possible to garner great experience and start learning with grace and ease – without having to make mistakes?

And when you make mistakes do you take the time to reflect on what the learnings are?

“If experience was so important, we’d never have anyone walk on the moon.” (By Doug Rader)

Sometimes you just have to trust your intuition. We are living in times where old structures, identities – what we have known to be true - are falling away or dying – because they don’t work. You can’t lie to yourself anymore about who you are or what your purpose is. Companies can’t cut corners on integrity anymore.

The times are calling for new vision, courage and the bold audacity to reinvent yourself or your business.

It’s time to clean out and reboot.

…And lean into the wind of possibility.

Copyright 2010 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC   All rights reserved.   www.sagelead.com

The article in The Huffington Post today by Robert Lanza is interesting, not just because of his provocative message – scientist are now starting to work on experiments that explore the thought that perhaps we are more than purely physical – maybe even spiritual. (We know we have consciousness in a way that no other creature on earth does) – but also because of the  heartwarming story he tells about the day he just hopped the trolley and went to Harvard because he wanted to meet a Harvard doctor who could help him with his experiment. It sounds like a scene from a movie.

Dr. Lanza implies that this encounter was a seed for reinforcement of his lifelong quest to understand more about life through scientific inquiry.

When Stephen Kuffler, the “world-famous” neurobiologist engages Robert, the boy, he doesn’t “shush” him away but instead he listens to him and invites him inside the building where he does indeed introduce him to one of his colleagues. It’s a very human moment that we come to understand had a profound impact on Dr. Lanza. One wonders if this scene happened today, would the individual be too busy answering emails or trying to secure grants to give an aspiring next generation scientist’s brave inquiry and venture any attention – let alone invite a stranger into the building?

What can you do today to listen to, or inspire a tween or teen to pursue their questions or dreams? Just think, if Bill Gates or Steve Jobs didn’t pursue their curiosity and drive while coming of age, what would we all be typing on?

Copyright 2010 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC   All rights reserved.   www.sagelead.com

Today, I attended a very close friend’s father’s funeral. He was 91 and had an illustrious career as a physician in a specialty area at a prominent New York City Hospital. As with many occasions like this, I was moved by what his family and colleagues said. They spoke about his manner in making the contributions he made to his patients and medicine. He was described as “an old school physician” who had a personal touch, even once driving a patient in an acute state to the hospital in his own car while the patient threw up! His children spoke eloquently and emotionally about the kind of man their father was. I knew him and will miss him.

My friend’s husband said, “It just makes all the politics and office stuff seem so trivial.”

We all have defining moments like this when we are moved, touched by how fleeting life is and called to respond to something larger than ourselves and our view of the world. And then we go “back to reality.” Or, go back to sleep.

All strategic planning processes start wtih the end in mind. What’s your life strategy? What do you want your obituary to say? Morbid. Maybe. But if you don’t envision the totality of your life and what you want it to be about, you may swim real hard upstream, and miss the boat. Or be on the wrong boat.

So set your sail and do some envisioning of what you really WANT and feel CALLED to accomplish – at home with loved ones – and in the world - with how you make money and give back.

What do you want your reality to be? Question your assumptions and perceptions about what is possible. Have you ever had an erroneous belief?

© Copyright Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC    All rights reserved.   www.sagelead.com

I recently participated in a discussion on all the attributes one should consider when selecting a leader. My colleagues had a lot valuable insights and ideas. We created a hug, unwieldy list.

Through it all, I suggest ensuring one essential attribute - an effective leader in this day and age is someone who can quiet his/her mind, to listen internally to be a clear conduit for her own ideas and inspirations - and then ready to listen intently to her constituents before speaking. This shows up by her ability to cut through all the noise and chaos and carve and communicate a clear path that enlivens and focuses people.

Mindfulness is a rare but essential practice in today’s climate. What are you doing to cultivate your own attunement?

© Copyright 2010 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC    All rights reserved.     ww.sagelead.com

The question I pose to you today is – what is your calling? How are you uniquely positioned, given your life experience and background, personally and professionally to answer a question that the world is asking NOW? This translates to, how do you fill a need that the world has now – at this point in history?

The mediums of social networking and the internet are potentially very powerful and transforming communication highways and tools to bring people together in service of a collective good.

These times are about connection and integration… and about clearing the name of capitalism – making it okay to make money. It’s about conscious capitalism – it’s about HOW you make money and WHAT you do with the money you make. Are you contributing back to the collective good or is it all about you – as an individual or as a company? How do you BE the strong warrior with a compassionate heart?

© Copyright Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC     All rights reserved.   www.sagelead.com