We are human and it takes something cracking us open to be present sometimes – or to really get something. It’s not about being present every moment. That is not realistic. It’s more about doing it more and recovering more quickly when we find ourselves not present, zoning out or hiding from what is really happening.

The greatest tragedy is that we often miss the beauty that is around us in all ways everyday. Usually this awakening happens through our connections or disconnections – relationships – with one another.

A friend of mine is running her own business and trying to juggle it this week while spending time with her father in his last days as he lay in the hospital gravely ill. She captures this awakening so brilliantly on her blog.

Thank you Liz for helping us all have a moment of pause.

What is your moment of pause today? I am looking out my window appreciating the brilliant blue of the sky and early green buds of spring. Heaven on earth. As I sit here at my computer, it helps me feel more connected to nature.

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

“You do what you have to do…” I heard it again this morning.

Says who? Who says you HAVE to do something? What DO you Have to do? Who decides?

I find that this is a pervasive paradigm that I hear multiple times a day from:

• An executive who is working globally taking calls at 5 am, 10 am, 1 pm, 6 pm and 11 pm AND managing meetings and emails inbetween.
• A working Mom who says she doesn’t have more quality time with her kids.
• A mid-career professional who “can’t get a job” in their field and takes something way below skill level to “get by.”

The language is limiting, not-strategic, and defeatist and energy-draining. It negates the notion of choice and control. I haven’t been living in a cave the last couple of years – I am aware of the economic downturn, the global political climate, the environmental crisis – should I go on?

The key question that a sage leader asks is – what do I REALLY NEED to do to achieve my goals? Where do I have choices? What are the choices? What kind of focus and discipline do I need to stick to my choices?

The sage leader stays in the space of proactivity versus reactitivity – especially in times of uncertainty and crisis. Often a shift really comes down to going back to basics: delegate, being willing to let go and not trying to do everything – and all at once. What is the one thing that will reset your view – What DO you WANT to do?

Why? What will it get you?

© Copyright 2010 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 Sage Leader understands the power of appreciating others. Yesterday was earth day and many are continuing to honor and celebrate this day with different activties this weekend. We are intricately connected to each other.

What we do effects those around us and the planet. Just for today, focus on what is right and good. Appreciation is one simple, underutilized, yet powerful tool that can save us from ourselves and further destruction of our planet. If we can’t live here, what good is a nice home or designer shoes? Benefits of gratitude are no longer fluff but becoming a scientific reality.

To inspire, check out Heartmath’s efforts to connect us. Connecting a Million Hearts

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

What are you doing today to create more heart in your world? What you do, how you be, how you show up – all create ripple effects. You effect those around you which effects those around them, and so on. What is the effect you are creating as it ripples miles and miles beyond you? These days, with technology, you can be viral around the world within minutes versus days or months a hundred years ago. Big impact. Bu what KIND of impact?

How are you a bridge, a conduit for information, people or resources?

Now is the time we all must join forces. We are seeing much more collaboration taking place – whether it is governments, or large or small companies. Everyone is looking for solutions in “hard times.” However you get there, it seems that the growing consensus is – we can only survive together. The only way out is through.

How do you keep connection – despite how hard it is? How do you maintain yourself, your family, community or organization in these tenuous times? Everyone wants freedom and choices. With freedom comes responsibility. Think about this word: response – ability. It means having an ability to respond.

The way that we create greater ability to respond and dialogue for complex solutions is to create safe containers for people to discuss and explore alternatives. I don’t care whether you are talking about national healthcare, nuclear disarmament or divorce, the principles and challenges are very similar.

What has happened to our ability to create these safe containers long enough for the deeper dialogues to surface? Please check your ripple at the door or none of us will get out of this global mess alive.

© Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC    All rights reserved.      www.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

I don’t think we can give enough weight to how our beliefs shape what we manifest in our day-day lives. The Sage Leader is one who understands the power of his or her mind and the power of the words he or she uses.

We become what we think about and what we talk about. The problem is, we are not always aware of what our mind is thinking below the surface. “The devil is in the details!” Below the surface is what we have absorbed or what has been conditioned into us. It is amazing how, a phrase or look someone gave us 10, 20, or 30 years ago can have such a profound effect on how we perceive ourselves and how we navigate through our lives and our work.

Maybe someone said you were brillliant – and you believed it – rightly or wrongly – in “absolute” terms. Maybe someone said you were not too bright – and you believed them.

The Sage Leader is one who excavates and mines her mind - she explores and looks at her underlying beliefs. Which beliefs serve you to be as great as you can be? Which ones serve you to help others be their best selves? Which ones don’t serve you?

How committed are you REALLY to maximizing your life and your contribution as a leader? How CONVICTED are you? Catch yourself – just for today – doing or saying something that is empowering and expansive.

Let the rest fall away.

© Copyright Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC    All Rights Reserved.

Have you ever had an instance where you were on track to accomplish something and suddenly a strong negative emotion surfaced – anger, frustration, irritation – that threw you for a loop and got you off track? Whoa… Where did that come from?

You’ve been hikacked.

Chances are it came from memory or an association with an emotionally-charged past event. We make our plans with our rational mind then our emotional brain (amygdala) shows up. Who’s really in charge?

Conscious leadership is about being in alignment – coherent – with all your capacities – body, mind, spirit. Don’t be fooled – your emotions are the fuel that enables all that you do. The conscious leader understands that the emotional brain is faster and can take over the rational mind. The only way to harness the true power of emotions is to work with them – engage the heart and discipline and quiet the mind. When these are in sync – you have balanced and clear communication, and right action.

Don’t allow your plans to be hijacked.

© Copyright 2010 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC         www.sagelead.com

I received yet another call today from a friend saying she was laid off yesterday. This is the third time in the last week I’ve gotten this call. The first call was a family member; the second call was from a colleague about an organization that had layoffs which included a lot of our mutual colleagues.

As I write this I am listening to radio news indicating that the stock market just went up after releasing a report that fewer layoffs occurred last month.

What’s really happening out there? What wave are you riding right now – the wave of optimism or fear and anxiety about the future? Or are you frozen, waiting for the next wave to hit? What is the wave – layoffs, restructuring, illness?

Get clear about your filters and screens. How are you viewing the events – world events or the specific events that make up the drama of your life story? One thing is certain, if you spend no time reflecting on these kind of questions, you will be at the whim of every news story or marketing scheme swaying your perspective, strategy and emotional life. Reflecting for insight to create “right” action is what creates sustainability.

Focused and disciplined reflection will help you stay grounded and ride the waves of the chaotic environment we find ourselves in – whether you are facing a layoff, closing doors of your business or venturing into untested markets. No one has a crystal ball – and even the “economic experts” don’t agree.

For bodily health, nothing replaces water – not tea, not juice, not milk. And your body craves and needs it to survive. You are more than 70% water. Most Adults are dehydrated.

For emotional and mental health – and business health – nothing replaces focused reflection – not jogging, not driving, not quick fixes. Reflection is the mechanism by which we gain perspective and integrate our learnings and process our life/business experiences. Reflection is the hydration we need to keep ourselves functioning and vibrant.

The Sage Leader stays hydrated through focused reflection that informs “right action.” Slow down to at least check your filters, just for today.

Copyright 2010 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC                                     www.sagelead.com

There are a number of significant differences with Tiger’s situation. He has taken time out to reassess his life through intensive therapy. He apologized and acknowledged that he thought he was entitled – he doesn’t get to play by different rules than everyone else. I have never heard such sentiments from a powerful public figure. He apologized to the children for whom he is a role model. He appears genuine.

The road to true transformation is messy and chaotic with no quick fixes. He acknowledged he is at just the very beginning of this process. The challenge of any great leader who is at the top of their field is to not to allow their ego to run their life. When their success comes with a lot of money and a lot of people riding on this money, the stakes and temptations are even higher.

My biggest hope for Tiger’s reform is in his approach – taking full accountability for his actions and trying to protect his family from further damage and exposure – and above all else where he rests his ultimate solution – to rebalance his spiritual life with his professional life. He is looking to reclaim his spiritual foundation and values – and recognizes he can’t do it alone. He needs the support and help of the very same people he has disappointed. This humility is the way of the sage leader.

Ultimately, I am with Elin – true atonement comes over time seeing a real change in behavior. Tiger has made the necessary first step – asking for forgiveness. This requires something on all our parts – understanding and giving him and his family privacy to journey through this difficult process.

For the judges in the audience, please remember the great adage: all saints were once sinners and all sinners can be saints.

© Copyright Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC                 www.sagelead.com