“Over-seriousness is a warning sign for mediocrity and bureaucratic thinking. People who are seriously committed to mastery and high performance are secure enough to lighten up.”
Michael J. Gelb

Leadership Needs Lightness

If you find yourself caught in intense swirls of thinking and not moving forward, take a deep breath, mentally step back and reassess. Your ability to look at situations as light and easy to work through creates a more invigorating work environment which in turn is more rewarding for your teams and results in better outcomes.

Leadership requires bold, creative, insightful and fresh thinking.

Here are some techniques/questions for lightening up:

• Is this a lifesaving moment?
• What could be a fun way to solve the problem?
• Ask others for their creative ideas and methods to approach a situation.
• Define an alternative, imaginative vision that would be cool to achieve.
• What could be a fun stretch goal in this moment?
• What could you do differently to make the situation lighter and more inspiring for others?

When you allow yourself to to dig deep within, you are aware how empowering and freeing it is for yourself and others when you lighten up. It creates a better conversation and results for all involved. Unless you are doing brain surgery or saving the world, lighten up and open up to better ideas and outcomes for all.

Play in the field of possibilities!