LEADING with SOUL

Hello! For the past few weeks or so I've really gotten into this book called Leading With Soul by Bolman. As an active member in a church now and all of my life so far, I related to this book in more than one way. Keep in mind though, you don't need to be religious to appreciate this. I'm going to give you a little background here...
We begin our spiritual, soulful journey meeting Steven Camden. He is a tired, worn, manager and seems out of touch. He meets a woman, Maria, that helps him find his way back and shows him how to lead...with soul.

How often do you have "tunnel vision"?

"A journey of the soul is a quest through uncharted territory. You find your way by opening your eyes. And your heart." This phrase in the book impacted me. The book mentioned "tunnel vision". Think about this: how often do you have tunnel vision going into things, such as leading? You need to OPEN your eyes and see everyone and everything in front of you to lead. You also need to open your heart and be understanding with them as well.

Rebirth from Devastation

"Tradgedy is the author of hope. Crisis brings us face to face with our soul." This portion of the book shows how tradgedy often transforms you for the better. Sometimes you have to take a step back really and see how things are impacted. You can grow from tradgedies. This book spoke a lot about nature and tradgedy makes me think of a forest fire. The fire can easily burn down the forest but can also help in the renewal process.

Money can't buy you happiness (or, in the words of the Beatles, love)

"We swallow the bait, ignoring the growing evidence that people who focus their lives on money are demonstrably less happy than people who strive for other, deeper purposes." Isn't this true? Money does not buy happiness. It merely is an aspect that helps you get there. You have to really envision the bigger picture to understand this. If a leader can't see the bigger picture, how can they really see what the real important things are?

Another part that really struck me from the book discusses failure. As leaders, and human beings really, we're afraid to fail. When it happens, we tend to move forward from it and not look back. This is one method of seeing failure. Using your soul and spirit there is another way of seeing it. One must step back and try to find the lesson that the failure taught you. Too often do we miss these lessons and just go on. This is valuable experience lost. As said in the book "Honor the past. Celebrate the present. Look toward the future."



You learned from your failures...now keep moving forward!

One of the most interesting stories from this book was about a poor man who journeyed to Cairo. He has a dream once about an old man sitting on a bench with treasures and wealth behind him ready for it to be claimed. Years after the dream, the man found himself in Cairo looking at this old man. The man didn't have any treasure behind him but had the same dream an the poor man did years ago, just the night before. The moral of the story was that the treasure the man had been seeking couldn't be found in the physical sense, but in the mind. The mind created this dream from his heart: the core of his being.

"A dream is a wish your heart makes..."

I could write about this all day if I wanted too. I suggest this read!

Overall, here's how I felt about the book:
First of all my leadership style tries to put others before me in anyway. This book and I were a perfect match because it does talk about the importance of places others before yourself. In the quotations and stories above, I think those were some of the most important parts to me. You have to really open your eyes and be understanding. The book did change my leadership style too. Instead of being told "this is how you should lead", it say to feel how you should lead and become more careing. There is truly no "I" in team. You lead others. And these others are filled with a spirit and soul that drives them to be a part of what they are a part of. This same concept goes for yourself too. I also realized that it's ok to look back at mistakes and take a deep breath. You have to go with that feeling moving forward if you want to succeed. That was at least my interpretation of it. Thanks for reading :)