I love Spring! Flowers are blooming, birds are singing, a brisk walk calls all of us to come out and play. I love new beginnings – and we have them year round. Fall is about luscious golds, reds and cooler temperatures. The first of every year is about a brand new unblemished calendar that awaits our design.
But the Spring, to me, is especially invigorating. Spring is so hopeful – what was dead, blank and barren is now budding with new life in the form of buds, birds and butterflies. I married in the Spring, we had our son in the Spring, I have often started new jobs or projects in the Spring. Maybe it’s hormonal – but whatever the reason I love Spring and feel especially alive and like it’s time to step up and out in new and bolder ways!
Just as nature comes, goes, dies and returns to new life – so do we as people, as leaders, as parents, as friends and colleagues. That’s the beauty of life — it is always renewing itself. The molecules and organs in our bodies are constantly replacing and renewing themselves.
Consider a butterfly – a small, round, gooey caterpillar through the process of metamorphosis and chrysalis changes form after spending time in the cocoon and emerges as exactly what it is meant to be – a magnificent beautiful butterfly.
The view from the ground as a caterpillar is quite different from the darkness in the safe but dark sanctuary in the cocoon. The view changes again as a butterfly emerges that can fly from flower to flower and beyond. That butterfly is being what it is meant to be. It is meant to provide beauty and touch the hearts of those who take the time to behold its beauty.
Reflecting on the following three questions can help you achieve transformational brilliance in your life:
- What if we, as leaders at work and in our own lives, chose to become who and what we are meant to be?
- What if we trusted the process of renewal and the impending transformation is exactly the perfect method and outcome to become the best and highest version of ourselves?
- What if we trusted our own leadership to unfold with the same grace, dignity and expectation as the butterfly that emerges and provides awe and wonder by her majesty and beauty?
We, too, in our relationships at home and work are always in process, changing, renewing, being born again, taking a new and different shape. In my work, I have the distinct privilege of seeing people transform their lives from old, familiar patterns to daring to try new approaches, change old paradigms or beliefs that no longer serve them. It is so exciting to see CEO’s and leaders become students of life and choose to learn new ways of leading and being.
Brilliance isn’t a course you take and you ‘get it’, nor is it a one-time event that you say “ah-ha” that’s the truth I’ve been looking for that forever changes my life. Brilliance and inner radiance happens by trusting the process, showing up, asking questions, daring to share your fears as well as celebrate your successes. Brilliance happens when you’re moving in the direction of being your best and most authentic life.
I can’t think of a better time to be brilliant than Spring – can you?
Tags: executive brilliance, jennifer whitaker, leadership development, transformational leadership
