Flourishing in Life

While clearing the clutter in my office, I came across a piece of paper with the word flourish written across it. Underneath were the words “to grow intellectually, socially and emotionally and to translate this growth into action, habit, and purpose.” It stopped me dead in my tracks. I’m a great believer in lessons appearing when you need them and these words were a great reminder about how much I want leaders, including myself, to flourish. There’s a feeling of expansiveness with just saying the word. Where do you want to flourish in your leadership?

When we created The LAITHOS Way ™, we explored three paths to leadership brilliance that mirrored this definition of flourish. With intention, we all have the opportunity to grow intellectually, socially and emotionally in any aspect of our lives. Given that, where do you want your leadership to flourish? When was the last time you:

• Learned something new?
• Tried something different?
• Connected with someone outside your circle?
• Listened with empathy?
• Shared a story from the heart?

Growth requires doing something different — if you keep on doing the same thing, nothing changes. To grow requires us to step into the unknown and to flourish has us savor all of our experiences – good, bad and in-between. Immerse yourself in the journey. As Anthony Bourdain noted, “The journey is part of the experience — an expression of the seriousness of one’s intent. One doesn’t take the A train to Mecca” You can flourish if you choose to.

This Week’s Challenge: Choose where you want to grow intellectually, socially and/or emotionally. What is the endstate you desire? Decide on an action to take as your first step towards it.