Live Well, Lead Strong:  The Power of Truth and Love

Welcome to the Pure Michigan winter, my friends! I hope you’re staying safe, warm, and cozy on these snowy days!  I’m also wondering:  Might there ever be a time when you’re relaxing with a cup of coffee -or tea, or a glass of wine- during these days when you can pause and just do some quiet thinking about your leadership?  What picture of your values are you painting for your people as you lead right now?  If “who you are is how you lead”, who do you aspire to be this January?

Sometimes the answer to that leadership question is really quite simple.  You may remember that phrase “Occam’s Razor”:  it describes a belief that the simplest solution to a problem is often the best solution.  What if we apply that commitment to simplicity and clarity when we think about our leadership, and how we want to show up in our world?  Consider these brief but powerful belief statements:

• “Clear is kind”---Brene’ Brown

• “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”---

              Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

• “What you do has far greater impact than what you say.”---Stephen Covey
  

How about the simple guiding principles in the graphic below? 

What might being guided by truth and love mean in your role?  For some leaders, it means they’ve tapped into their courage to plan and hold one of those sticky conversations that have caused them anxiety—and they did it with empathy and care in order to keep a relationship intact. 

Sometimes leading with truth and love means you ask a person to “hold up a mirror to themselves” and self-reflect about the impact of their unkind behavior. Or maybe you’ve acted as an advocate for someone who’s underserved at school—their dignity may be demeaned, they may be graded unfairly, or they may have been treated with a lack of courtesy or compassion.  Whatever the need, if “truth and love” are your North Star of guidance, what are you called to do?  

Historian Heather Cox Richardson wrote this week, “ …I came to believe that heroism is neither being perfect, nor doing something spectacular. In fact, it’s just the opposite: it’s regular, flawed human beings choosing to put others before themselves, even at great cost, even if no one will ever know, even as they realize the walls might be closing in around them. People are wrong to say that we have no heroes left.  Just as they have always been, they are all around us, choosing to do the right thing, no matter what.”

MEMSPA friends, there are so, so many of you right now who are heroes:  You’re guided by simple truths and showing great love for your people.  You’re doing the right thing each day, and your small heroic acts are shaping our world for the better.  Wishing you continued strength—as well as a cozy room and time to take care of yourselves in these days!

May your courage shine,

 Debbie McFalone, Ph.D. 

To connect with Debbie regarding serving  your district’s leaders, subscribing to her Monday Messages on leadership, or ordering her book Meeting The Moment, please go to www.LiveWellLeadStrong.com.  Thank you!