Personal Responsibility, Honesty and Transcendent Leadership

I have been doing a lot of soul searching lately and have come up with one of my, what I believe to be, a fundamental soul lesson this time round....

How much personal responsibility is to much? In other words, how much "stuff" do you own and take on, and how much "stuff" is the other persons? I struggle with this in my relationships every day, both personal and work. To break free from "victim consciousness" you need to truly look within yourself to see how you are creating the situation. In other words, instead of saying, well, that's your problem, I ask myself, well, why am I creating this, and what is the belief that's creating it? You have to become truly honest with yourself. Harry Palmer, author of Living Deliberately, talks about "treating others dishonestly invariably results in a lowering of respect for them. Friends we have discarded, we have first deceived. The same applies to the respect we have for ourselves and our lost selves. Dishonesty is at the root of asserted self-importance."
He goes on to state "being honest is really a question of courage - courage enough to face what we fear." So what do I fear? Maybe being vulnerable, because if I am, my belief is that "they" will hurt me - victim consciousness. The truth is, nothing can hurt me unless I allow it. The trap is that I have to assume ownership for not only my own fear and dishonesty, but the worlds as well. "We are all dishonest as long as we do not compassionately work to correct the collective dishonesty of the world... becoming more honest with ourselves means introducing more honesty into the collective consciousness of the world".

I believe that this will shift  and increase integrity, compassion and appreciation as well. This is the work of Transcendent Leaders and Transcendent Leadership.
Thanks for reading,
Lisa

The Space Between - Video Blog

Hello,
I have added a video blog about some thought about this years TEDxWomen theme, "The Space Between". Let me know what you think!

The Evolution of Leadership and TED

Hi Everyone,
I recently applied to speak at TEDxABQ which is the Albuquerque TEDx. The theme this year is "Engage your Passion". I thought I would share with you my application submission as I think it really captures what Transcendent Leadership is all about, and, in my opinion, what TED is all about:

What's your "Idea worth Spreading?"

The Evolution of Leadership

We are at a tipping point. We are all evolving in consciousness, as individuals, and consequently as societies. Ken Wilber stated that for the first time in history we know this and not only are watching it happen, we are consciously co-creating the new consciousness. As a result, we are creating new and innovative processes, systems, education, organizations and leadership to facilitate the conscious evolvement of the planet (TED is one of the greatest example of this).  What is the leadership process to facilitate this? I call it Transcendent Leadership and define it as: a relationship dynamic among collaborative groups of people who co-create the future together, raise one another to higher levels of consciousness in the essence of spiritual humanism with the understanding of the interconnectedness of all things. I developed a meta-model that overlays the conscious evolution of our planet with leadership theories. I believe that the transcendent leadership process can provide the opportunity in which individual and therefore society will realize its evolution and its transcendence to transform our planet. The process of transcendent leadership will be an intrinsic part of the tipping point. Quoting from a Work Economic Forum article “central to a shared culture is an emphasis on transcendent leadership - the idea that standing above all other values is the ideal of a joint commitment to bettering the plant.”
Let’s “engage our passion” using the transcendent leadership process to undertake great and difficult tasks and co-create the future together.


Tell us why you'd make a great TED speaker:

I love TED. I’ve been watching TED since about 2003, but really having fun with it for about 5 years now.  I think its one of the greatest platforms for “ordinary” people to share extraordinary ideas. Also, I absolutely love to speak publicly... I know, weird right? some people would rather die... not me, I have a blast. In that moment, you are truly in the moment, and alive and interconnected with everything. That’s when the magic happens, when some part of our being recognizes that there is truth in what the speaker is saying, some spark ignites in our inner being, and quite voice says... listen... this is truth,... this is spirit.  This is when people are moved from inspiration to engagement and to action - this is TED.





Wish me luck!
Lisa

The Transcendent Gardener

I am involved in a series of wonderful workshops to awaken consciousness in ourselves, each other and consequently the planet. One analogy that is brought up time and again is one that has been used by many spiritual masters, that of the garden. You reap what you sow, or if you plant "negative thoughts" you'll get "weeds", thought-form plants that you really don't want there, that aren't beneficial or nurturing and they are sucking up all your water or life energy! But by consciously planting positive thoughts/plants, nurturing and attending them, you'll reap a wonderful crop that is fruitful and beneficial.

What struck me though is as we tend to our own garden, we are also creating a beautiful path along our travels. People will be attracted to our path and want to be on the same or similar path full of beauty and grace.  As we travel along this path of transcendence, the interconnectedness of the global garden will benefit from our mutual co-operative sowing and the global garden will start to reap a harvest of peace, compassion, love and appreciation. This is the path of the Transcendent Gardener.

From one seed of compassion for self....

A Picture Transcends Words

I'm sure at one time in your life, you have looked at a picture, whether it was a photograph, a painting, an album (CD) cover or a cover of a book and were transcended to another place or maybe even consciousness. I believe that's what all art does on some level.

Many people have asked me about the picture on the cover of my book. I asked a very talented graphic designer to create an artist representation of some of the concepts or themes in the book. He came up with the first image which I believe is a very powerful image in and of itself that's why I included it here. But it didn't capture the essence of the book.

He then created this image...

I don't want to spoil with a bunch of my verbiage, please just take a moment to feel this image.

Thank you Ed, may you rest in peace.

I would love any feedback!
Lisa

Leadership by any other name...

Seems like consciousness and leadership are getting a lot of press lately, specifically evolving consciousness and leadership. Some call it Integral Leadership, Authentic Leadership, Conscious Leadership, and many other "new" names for leadership! It's a wonderful indication that more and more beings are evolving toward transcendence. Lovely! Let's tip this existence into love, caring, compassion, appreciation and co-create peace for all.

Higher Purpose and Mission

Brian Solis, in his blog "Leadership in an Era of Digital Darwinism" was asked the following question and below are his responses.

You talk adamantly about vision, higher purpose and mission, where’s the ROI in that? Is that what CEOs really want?
- What’s the ROI of vision or innovation? Often ROI stands for Return on Ignorance, which as you can imagine is usually low
- If you ask an exec what they truly want, the answer will vary across the board-profits, sales, efficiencies, happy employees
- I spent a lot of time w/@zappos Tony Hsieh. He once told me businesses excel if they focus on higher purpose vs bottom line
- I researched it & companies focused on purpose, mission, experience tended to over index in satisfaction, profitability, etc
- Leaders don’t chase trends, they seek results.
http://www.briansolis.com/2011/12/leadership-in-an-era-of-digital-darwinism/

Why do you suppose that if companies focused on purpose, mission and experience they out performed those that did not? As we evolve in consciousness, we are moving toward transcendence, away from materialistic needs to more communitarian/egalitarian "needs". Our search for meaning becomes paramount.  To be part of something greater than just the bottom line is crucial for employees to be productive and satisfied. More and more if companies do not embrace at least the "triple bottom line" - people, planet and profits - they will not succeed.