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

I am not excusing Tiger Woods from his digressions in any way.

However, given all the many public figures whom have fallen from grace due to transgressions – sexual, money or otherwise – his apology appears to be one of the most authentic and heartfelt.

He did not express a dismissive “I’m sorry,” nor is he indicating this is all past him. Instead he paints a very realistic picture that he has just begun a journey of healing that requires intensive treatment and will take time. As with any healing process, he is starting with trying to make amends – in his own words – he has a lot “to atone for.”

Many disgraced public leaders make apologies after much pressure from the media and their constituents. For those skeptics who say he’s doing this because there is a lot of money riding on his comeback, I say, pay attention to HOW he made his apology – the tone and tenor – and you will see a sincerity that I have not witnessed with other fallen leaders.

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

As a leader, leadership is about you and not about you. It’s about you, in so far as you can inspire and support others.

It’s about you to the degree to which you engender a sense of credibility with others.

It’s about you to the extent to which you have clearly articulated a vision and have communicated it to others.

It’s about you to the extent to which you have a following.

After this, it’s about other people. What do you do that helps others be all they can be? How do you achieve your goals together?

At the end of the day, leadership must be about listening and serving others – otherwise it isn’t leadership but an ego trip. Paradoxically, you must think about yourself in so far as you understand the impact you have on others and then turn the focus back on them. You can only be a leader if someone is following you.

You can only be a truly great, sage leader if you have a following where together, you are accomplishing something of importance to further the collective good.

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

Happy 2010 and happy new decade! You have probably set your goals and plans for the year. Now is the time to strike the balance between keeping your vision clear and … Read more in our  January Newsletter

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

A great leader is in command of navigating the nooks and crannies and ups and downs of life.  A friend recently emailed me this “handbook” for life. There are a ton of emails and blogs out there with similar stuff but I liked how this is categorized, practical and simple. It starts with health, which is the foundation for your life. When you master your personality, you can get out of your own way so you can contribute to society. This is how to have a happy life. Enjoy.

HANDBOOK 2010

    Health:
    1. Drink plenty of water.
    2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
    3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
    4. Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
    5. Pray.
    6. Play more games.
    7. Read more books than you did in 2009.
    8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
    9. Sleep for 7 hours.
    10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

    Personality:
    11. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
    12. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
    13.. Don’t over do. Keep your limits.
    14. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
    15. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.
    16. Dream more while you are awake
    17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
    18. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with His/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
    19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.
    20. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
    21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
    22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
    23. Smile and laugh more.
    24. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

    Society:
    25. Call your family often.
    26. Each day give something good to others.
    27. Forgive everyone for everything.
    28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
    29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
    30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
    31. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

    Life:
    32. Do the right thing!
    33. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
    34. GOD heals everything.
    35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
    36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
    37. The best is yet to come.
    38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
    39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

    Last but not the least:
    40. Please Forward this to everyone you care about, I just did.

Author Uknown

It’s not yet a week from New Year’s and you are back at work. The first day back it is fun to catch up with everyone and hear about their holidays. You have a grace period to reorient back to reality.

The second day in, the slipslider invades. This is what I call what happens when you start to come off the high of your new year’s resolution. Day two it’s time to get serious. Whether it is an official resolution or just an intention, I invite you to focus on how you want this year to be different than last year. What do you want to create or get rid of?

If you really want to create a new and different experience this year then you need to velcro the energy and inspiration you had at new year’s to your brain so you don’t allow the potential for negative thoughts to invade and derail you. The sage leader understands that post-holiday and mid-winter blues can easily invade the best laid plans.

I am in Connecticut, USA, and we are under about a foot of snow…so it can be a cozy and hibernating or depressing – sun depletion time, depending upon what you allow in. I find the cold invigorating and the quiet of the snow inspirational. If you are experiencing the post-holiday letdown, make sure to invite in a blanket of comfort and something that will allow you to stick to your vision of the new you in the new year. You want it to be untouchable like teflon amidst changes – in your moods, in your team, in the economy.

Tenacity is the wisdom of success.

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

Today is the time to work with nature’s energy of the new moon and plan for what you want more of in the new year. I am not talking about a resolution. Those don’t usually work past January 15th.

Take mental and emotional inventory of what you want more of next year. What served you, worked well. What didn’t you have this year that you want to have in your life? Focus on the possibilities - what you want to grow in your work and life. What you focus on expands and grows, and when you align it to the natural energies at play today, it makes it easier and more expansive.

Today is the day to plant the seeds on fertile ground. Befriend your imagination and plan for what if… What have you got to lose but the safety of what you currently know?

Copyright 2009 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC     www.sagelead.com

Yesterday marked the Winster Solstice, the shortest day of the year. In ancient times, people would pray that the sun would come back. They didn’t know for sure if it would as they didn’t have access to as much science and information as we do today. So, in the dark of winter their faith was tested. They didn’t know if they had what it took – food, shelter, or emotional hardiness – to survive the winter.

I don’t know of anyone who isn’t going through major changes in their job, relationship, health or life. Depending upon your perspective, you may see these as opportunities or challenges. Much of the time this comes down to faith – that things will get better, somehow, someway, tomorrow. So much of it is managing yourself and others in the white space – during the transitionary time – which often is about managing your own fears and anxieties about the unknown. Many of us are experiencing growing pains but we can get through this together.

In reflecting on the past year, I saw many people’s faith – either in themselves, their company, world leaders, their neighbor or the world – tested. In college, I had an art professor who said, “Within the darks there are some lights and within the lights there are some darks.” Thank you Sister Dineen!

I invite you to take this time of winter that tests our patience and hope to reflect on what you find in your circumstances that is positive. I didn’t say necessarily what is easy or what feels good. What is for the greater good – for yourself, your family, your company or for the world? Hang your hat on this. Just for today.

Copyright 2009 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC        www.sagelead.com

Joseph Campbell, a great prophet of mysticism and the human condition, once said: “We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.”

Instead of fighting the tide and wondering when things will return to normal, focus on what lies in front of you and accept this is what IS, not what SHOULD be or what you would LIKE it to be.

What IS presents you with your Plan B – what God gave you while you were busy making other plans. Acceptance is the first step toward freeing up your creativity and kicking it in gear with better options.

So… now that you are no longer wasting your energy on swimming upstream….

So, now what?