Joelle K. Jay

Joelle Jay

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Don’t Throw the Oars out of the Lifeboat

Adapting to a new reality is hard work. It involves loss and risking incompetence and disorientation and discomfort. People need support to do that.

Those words come from one of the principals of Cambridge Leadership Associates, Marty Linsky, and he should know. He’s an expert in Adaptive Leadership.

During the economic crisis of 2009, Marty noticed that many leaders in failing companies were just trying to survive. Trying to bail themselves out, they frantically threw things overboard. They cut overhead. They fired employees. They cancelled travel. In some cases the things they threw out were the very things they needed to survive.

I’ve noticed the same trend among individual leaders and executives. Frantically trying to do (or keep) their jobs in a tough time, they neglected the support systems that could help them succeed.

Marty was talking with a senior administrator in a large foundation one day. The administrator reported, “The first thing that was cut was professional development for the senior people in the foundation.” In his view, it was “crazy.”

This is the time they really need coaching. Those folks need a structured opportunity to step back from what they’re doing and adjust their skills and adapt their orientation. They need the learning and the strategy. But when people are looking at where to save money, that kind of coaching feels like a frivolous expense.

Sometimes in our haste to manage change, we change the wrong things. We throw the oars out of the lifeboat. That doesn’t lighten the load, it makes you sink.

What do you need to be your best? What keeps you strong? What helps you think? What are the elements of your life that buoy you up?

No matter how busy you are, no matter how crazy life gets, hold onto those oars. That way even if it’s hard you can keep rowing in the direction you want to go.

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Make it Happen – Let it Happen: Experience the Possibilities

The 9th Practice of Personal Leadership, which we’ve been discussing this month in The Inner Edge Book Club, takes us on a path where our action-oriented business ideals almost seem to clash with a spirit of possibility.

But the ability to see possibility is how we often find the greatest opportunities in life.

When we’re going down the road to success in our culture, we often adopt the mindset of “Make it Happen.”  Our thinking in this mode (the “active” mode) is rational, strategic, goal-driven, and with it, we push forward at all times, relentlessly pursuing our goals. We’re focused and logical.

There’s another option – the mindset of “Let it Happen.” Our thinking in this mode (the “receptive” mode) is open to possibilities at all times. We’re not giving up our place at the front of the pack, but we’re allowing space there for possibilities to emerge. In this state, we’re accessing our intuitive natures — our optimism and insight.

Where these two modes converge is where the magic happens. It’s where new possibilities emerge. These may be business opportunities you’ve never considered or noticed. They may be solutions to problems you’ve been working through. They may be terrific insights.

We’re exploring the convergence of Making it Happen and Letting it Happen this month in The Inner Edge book club. And we’re learning strategies (“invitations” as I like to call them) to “let it happen” more easily and with better results. If you’d like to join us, please email me.

You can also learn more about how the book club works by clicking here for a description of The Inner Edge Community.

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Your Inner and Outer Edges – Your Möbius Strip

People are often curious about the large yellow image on the cover of The Inner Edge. Is it an 8? Is it the sign for infinity? Actually, it’s neither. That mysterious image is actually a geometrical shape, a Möbius Strip.

What’s unique about a Möbius strip is that as you trace your finger along its sides, you will find that where you may start on the outer edge, as you move your finger you will end up suddenly on the inner edge. Keep tracing and you’ll be on the outer edge again.

I chose a Möbius strip as the cover illustration for The Inner Edge: The 10 Practices of Personal Leadership, because it symbolizes for me the inner and outer aspects of your leadership. As I studied the Möbius strip, I was struck by the continuous movement, from inside to outside and back again to inside — what a perfect metaphor for the infinite value of our inner and outer harmony!

When you delve further into The Inner Edge, you’ll find that I focus almost all of my attention on the personal, internal aspect of leadership, and I do that intentionally because I know that that’s the core of any outer success you’ll find, either in your business or at home.

The Möbius strip reminds me that effectiveness as a leader is intimately related to personal thoughts and feelings.

As you work on your Inner Edge, developing clarity, focus and vision, you’ll find these personal strengths correlating with your team management, planning and business leadership. In fact, you’ll find that they are one steady stream.

This is leadership from the inside out. It’s creating a continuum from your inner world to your outer. When these two are humming on the same Möbius strip, you’re in alignment, and great things happen.

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Leadership is for Everyone: You Are a Leader

Leadership does not live solely in the corner office anymore, and it’s not just for business executives either. Everyone is a leader in some way. You are a leader.

When I began to speak about leadership, I met some people who truly believed that leadership was not relevant to their lives. They didn’t manage an office, didn’t lead a construction crew, and didn’t have children. How could leadership be applicable to them?

My intuitive answer then is the same as my well-studied answer now: leadership is relevant to each and every one of us. Think of all the ways you interact in life, whether some of those are in a business role or not. I’ll wager that you’ll find that you are a leader in some of your roles.

Here’s something from The Inner Edge that I’d like to share with you: Beyond business leaders, professionals, teachers, and other obvious leadership roles, you’ll find leadership in many aspects of life. Look for it in community activities, families, amongst friends, and in categories such as inspirational and thought leaders.

Look around you, and think of how you are spending your day. You’ve been a leader for others at some point today, and beyond that, you’ve been a leader of your own life all day.

No matter who you are or what you do, you get to take the lead in your life. No one else will do that for you. No one else can. You may or may not have a fancy suit, a nameplate on the door, and an assistant just outside. But every single one of us is leading a life, which may be the most exciting kind of leadership of all.
Excerpt from The Inner Edge: The 10 Practices of Personal Leadership by Joelle K Jay

Lead your life well: lead it from your Inner Edge.

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Join Me for an Inner Edge Teleseminar

Good news! I received a phone call recently from The Organized Executive – a publication that helps business leaders like you stay effective in the midst of a busy life. They have invited me to present a Teleseminar with them. What a terrific way to work with you on a personal level, while also reaching out across virtual space to connect with all interested leaders! It’s titled “Seven New Shortcuts to Add Minutes to Your Day and Hours to Your Week”.

If you’ve already read The Inner Edge, then you know that I encourage you to look for possibilities and to be open to them when they arrive. I see this Teleseminar as one of those serendipitous possibilities in life and business. It’s one more way I can share insights with you directly.

The “Add Minutes to Your Day” Teleseminar is on maximizing your time. You’ll recognize some of the concepts in this Teleseminar from the Sixth Practice of Personal Leadership in The Inner Edge. We’ll have a chance to discuss putting this practice to work for you; also, I’ll be showing you how time strategies free you to focus on creating success.

One of my primary desires in launching this blog, the Inner Edge Facebook page, and in providing Teleseminars is to use today’s tools to create a virtual space for all of us to connect. I hope to get to know you along the way, and I hope you’ll be checking in and getting to know me and your fellow Inner Edge participants.

Explore with me a deeper level of leadership, one that leads from your own, unique Inner Edge.

Pick up a copy of The Inner Edge here.
Learn more about the Organized Executive Teleseminar, “Add Minutes to Your Day and Hours to Your Week” here.

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Your Leadership Shapes Your Life

In The Inner Edge: The 10 Practices of Personal Leadership, I talk about something that I passionately believe: The way you lead shapes your life. By this I mean much more than simply creating life-to-work balance. I’m talking about leading from the inside out.

I explain this concept in The Inner Edge. We work together on it in our Inner Edge Community, and I’ll be blogging about it over the coming months right here, with you as my partner. I invite you to submit your thoughts, discoveries, experiences, successes and challenges as you familiarize yourself with the practices in The Inner Edge.  I encourage you to experiment with the practices described in the book, the workbook and other materials, and I hope you’ll share your ups and downs with us here on The Inner Edge blog.

Join us on our Facebook page, too, as we do our utmost to connect Inner Edge readers and participants. Also, I invite you to sign up for the free Inner Edge Newsletter. I want to make sure you have all the tools you need to help you find your Inner Edge.

Your leadership is a gift. Your world – whether it’s your personal sphere of influence, your business organization, or the world at large – will be bettered by you being your best. I’m here to support you in that effort. So, please join me, and we’ll work together for your greatest success.