Leadership Notes -- Thoughts on Leading People and Making a Difference in Organizations

Word count this issue: 236

Estimated reading time:  1:45

Greetings from AC 108 enroute to Toronto. It has been a great week with interesting work, and travel, and the adventure continues. I am enroute to Toronto where I’ll be working with a group of leaders in part talking about mentoring, and then next week in Calgary with a group of young leaders. I am, as always, excited to be in their company and to be learning with them.

This has got me thinking about an old rabbinic idea. A good rabbi would never say that she or he will teach you a text. She or he would say, “let us study this text together.”

This is an important guideline for all of us, seasoned and emerging leaders. Mentoring is about ‘studying the text together.’ Our experience of the world is changing and so the assumptions and ideas that worked 20 years ago need to be challenged. And while the media have changed, the fact is we have to work together and so the lessons learned over time and experience need to be honoured. It is the dialogue between the challenging and the honouring that is where the rich and profound learning for all of us reside.

May this week be filled with opportunities to both challenge our assumptions and honour our lessons learned.