Is it time to give up defining ourselves?

This blog has been sitting in draft for a few weeks but lately, I’ve been talking quite a bit to people about self – you know my brand, defining myself, my self esteem and so on.

My Dad (I am sure my biggest and possibly only blogging fan and did I just say my!) sent me some scans of a book by Eckhart Tolle (A New Earth) with a segment about ego:

“You are most powerful, most effective when you are completely yourself. But don’t try to be yourself. That’s another role…’How can I be myself?’ is in fact the wrong question. It implies you have to do something to be yourself…..[so] give up defining yourself – to yourself or others. You won’t die. You will come to life. And don’t be concerned with how others define you. When they define you, they are limiting themselves, so it’s their problem.

As my Dad could, I see the relationship with our authenticity. Is it time to give up defining ourselves (for ourselves and others?).

Are we not what we are?  Or in practical speak, what we are will come through.  Which leads me to my next thought for the next blog – are you faking it?  See you soon.


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Who do you admire?

I was asked on Friday “which leader to you admire the most?”.

Responses to this question generally can often include Churchill, Christ, Mother Theresa, the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandella and more recently, Barak Obama. What is it about these people what we can admire, and what can we take from them for our own leadership journey?

Sometimes, and I admit to enjoying these moments, we hear stories of a very personal nature where someone describes a tireless worker, sometimes in a low-paid or voluntary position who led others to achieve great things, but never really got noticed. It’s always my hope that the Queens honours find these people for some recognition.

I confess to being a bit of a leader-resister. Continue reading “Who do you admire?”