Are you a red leaf?
Photo by Charles Postiaux
One of my favorite parts of Applied Optimism is the consulting work we do with individuals who are focused on creating and leading high-performing organizations and inspired communities. This work gives me a constant sense of humility about the way people can transform themselves from individuals who see a need, to leaders who have a following. While working with these leaders and their organizations helps make their ideas become reality, we learn as much from them as they learn from us.
An example of one of these individuals is my new friend, Amber Fogarty, the President and Chief Goodness Officer of Mobile Loaves & Fishes. MLF is the visionary nonprofit behind Austin’s innovative Community First! Village, a 51-acre master-planned development that provides affordable, permanent housing and a supportive community for the chronically homeless in Central Texas.
Recently, Amber and I met at a retreat in Stowe, Vermont hosted by our mutual friends at Stand Together that included a silent meditative hike in the woods. While we all took inspiration from that hike, Amber put her thoughts into a reflection on leadership that I thought was too good not to share, especially as the weather changes and leaves are all around us.
This also is the start of a new experiment for the Weekly Dose of Optimism – sharing insights and ideas from other optimistic leaders from our community. So if you have a reflection on optimism, leadership, personal growth, and inspiration, I would love to hear from you… and with your permission, share it (and your initiative) with over 1,500 other leaders, executives, and creators who read this email for a weekly dose of optimism. Let’s think of it as a way to connect with the stories that each of us has, inspire like-minded people who share our sense of possibility, and even make some new connections while discovering new opportunities. Email me with your ideas and content (and of course any other feedback) at seth@appliedoptimism.com. And feel free to join our WhatsApp group at http://bit.ly/AOWhatsApp so you can share thoughts and opportunities directly with the community!
In the meantime, here is the first guest optimist post, written by my friend Amber at Mobile Loaves & Fishes!
I Am the Red Leaf
A silent hike during a leadership retreat brought about powerful reflection. As I hiked through the woods in Vermont in late August, I saw a single red leaf that had fallen from a tree. The red leaf stood in stark contrast to all of the other fallen leaves because of its bold red color. Autumn had not yet arrived, and all of the other leaves were still green and most were still clinging desperately to the trees.
But there was that one leaf that had changed to a beautiful shade of red and fallen to the ground in the forest.
That leaf is the leader. That leaf is me. That leaf is you.
That single red leaf changed first. It was the early adopter, the risk-taker, the innovator, the visionary. That red leaf changed before all of the other leaves in the forest.
As leaders of organizations, we lead change. We change first in order to boldly lead our organizations into the future. We leave the comfort and safety of the tree in order to challenge our organizations to improve and grow. Those who follow us don’t always change willingly; they often want to cling to the tree and its certainty. We must understand that fear AND hold out a hand of invitation into an unknown future.
Change is uncertain, but it is where all of our learning and leadership growth happens.
Today I embrace being the red leaf. I embrace change and all of the Goodness it brings to my life. I have learned that change is inevitable, but growth is optional. I choose to embrace change and the learning that accompanies it.
Here’s to the red leaf in you and me; here’s to being leaders who, first and foremost, change ourselves and become who we were created to be.
Questions for Further Reflection:
In what way do you see yourself as as leader in your organization, your community, or your family (or perhaps all three)?
Based on Amber’s description, do you see yourself as a red leaf? Why or why not?
How has being a leader transformed you? Have you fully embraced that change?
In what ways do you still want to transform yourself? What are you actively doing to make that happen?