So honoured and intrigued to be part of a leadership event this weekend at New Plymouth Community Church. I wasn’t quite sure how it was going to roll or what to expect, but came away buzzing from that first night and was very much looking forward to the next day. There were some definite points that really resonated with me and I would like to share them with you.

Leadership doesn’t have to be your thing, but you may reflect on how some of these relate to your life and how you are and how you want to be showing up…

1. The first speaker was Craig Groeschel and he said that leadership is not about controlling outcomes or how much you can control but empowering other leaders. Craig talked about a very embracing and democratic approach to leadership, where everyone’s views and qualities were brought in to the mix.

2. Craig talked about he had invented the word ‘puc’ and how leadership is about dealing with pain, uncertainty and chaos. He spoke about how we need to walk and navigate through pain rather than look for a way out. Craig talked about embracing uncertainty and how with uncertainty always comes opportunity. He also talked about that if we try and limit chaos and control everything, it stunts growth and is stifling.

3. “The difference between where you are and where you want to be is the painful decision you are unwilling to make.”

4. Dr Francesca Gino talked about rebels, and although rebel can have a negative connotation, Francesca’s message very much conveyed it as a positive attribute. The idea that if we are showing up authentically, if we have a bigger perspective and vision and are curious in what is happening around us; then there is far much chance for innovation and questioning.

5. Francesca spoke about how pirate ships were very democratic and got to vote in their own captain. At the end of her talk, she asked the question “am I the captain that my crew would choose as their leader today?” If you are not interested in leadership I ask you to ask yourself ‘is the version of me that is showing up currently the one that I really want to be choosing.’

6. Ibukun Awosika talked about showing up as our authentic self, a subject close to my heart and what I am regularly talking about as a Life Coach. She asked the question “what do you know about yourself that you are not expressing? What are you losing of yourself by trying to conform….?”

7. Ibukun also spoke of how that authentic part of ourselves is our core, and how no relationship, role, partner, friend, employer should ever take that from us, we should only be enhanced by our roles, not damaged or destroyed.

8. Michelle Poler asked whose checkboxes we were working towards. Society’s expectations can cause us to have various checkboxes that we feel we need to have ticked off and achieved, sometimes by a certain age; but are they really what lights you up, do they light you up at all? What do you need to give yourself permission to put on YOUR list? Does the whole list need rewriting….?

9. Jerry Lorenzo spoke of coming from that authentic place enables us to show up the same in different areas of our life; whether that be at work, as a father or son, with mates, with a partner. We don’t want to be living a life where we have to be showing up as different people in different places.

10. Shola Richards talked about the legacy of civility, and I loved his statement. In any given moment you have the opportunity to give life or drain it…. Which are you doing?