Fear or Love… What’ll it Be?

 

When it comes down to it, there are really only 2 places you can come from in an organization (or in life). One is fear and the other is love.

You’ve likely seen what fear looks like in organizations… competitiveness, silos, lack of trust, hidden agendas, showboating, cutting people down, insensitivity, judgment, conformity, negativity.

You’ve probably also seen what love looks like in organizations (though people don’t refer to it as love)… the passion of doing work as its own reward, pursuit of excellence, collaboration, lifting people up, trust, teamwork, compassion, respect, individuality, service to others.

Leaders are like transformers. When I worked in the utility industry several years ago, I learned that transformers are devices that change the voltage of energy – either increasing it (stepping it up) or decreasing it (stepping it down).

Leaders who come from a place of fear tend to perpetuate and amplify fear. In my experience, it’s rarely their intention to do so. They are usually more unconscious than anything – and acting from a place of self-preservation. Their focus is on limitation, doubt, threats that are coming at them, and things that bring them down.

And as the saying goes, where the focus goes, the energy flows.

Leaders who come from a place of love focus on something entirely different. It’s not that they don’t feel fear. They just intentionally, deliberately shift their attention to align with what they most want to move toward (versus away from).

• Instead of fixating on what they fear, they focus on what they want – and how to create it.
• Rather than getting frustrated by what they lack, they determine what they can give.
• When they get bogged down by limitation and doubt, they lift their sights to the capability of and confidence in themselves and others.

Leaders exist at all levels of organizations, regardless of title or position. Some of the most extraordinary leaders have no title at all. But they are powerhouses of possibility. They lift others out of fear and give them something meaningful to work toward. They can be in the presence of negativity and still radiate optimism and confidence.

They can literally transform the energy in an organization.

When a leader helps another person shift from fear to love, miracles happen. People are infused with energy they didn’t know they had. They see openings where they previously only saw obstacles and find solutions to problems that seem insurmountable.

They create brightness that illuminates the darkness and helps others find their way through the thickest of mires. And when the pockets of light begin to multiply, an entire culture can shift. What was once deemed impossible becomes entirely achievable – and even probable.

So what’ll it be… fear, or love?

Make the decision today to be a transformer that creates more of what you most want to be a part of.

Want some support infusing more love into your leadership or organizational culture? Email me.