I had the honor of participating in a webinar last night with veteran Executive Coach, Jeff Patnaude, and a group of his friends/clients. It was part of a series of topics discussing the attributes of transformational leaders and mentors.
I listened as each brilliant guest shared thoughts and life experiences varying from large corporate environments to military, politics and religion. Each was insightful, interesting and included visions I may have never considered myself.
I felt like a speck of dust amongst giants. I didn’t have any interesting stories, nor any exotic life experiences to share, my thoughts felt too simple. I felt like a Who from Who-ville, singing with simplicity because I know what is true for me.
After a brief overview of previous sessions on “Tell the Truth” and an interesting discussion on ” No Attachment to Outcome”, we discussed “Do Justice” and what it meant to each of us.
In my elementariness, it doesn’t make any difference whether we’re applying the definitions to our personal or business lives. My answers to those questions lie below…
We must tell the truth.
Telling the truth is true freedom. Gone are the shackles of remorse and guilt.
No attachment to outcome.
This doesn’t mean you’re not invested in the outcome, it means you realize things may change. Every day is a journey and we need to be flexible in our approach. The reality is, people and circumstances don’t always reveal the truth, so the right path for a company or a person may not be immediately clear. As new information becomes available, the outcome you chose may change. I’ve learned this lesson hard and fast in the past year.
Do Justice.
Justice is defined as the quality of being just or fair. In other words, doing the “right” thing, but do we know what that is in every situation? No, because we don’t always have all the information. When we don’t have an attachment to outcome we’re able to research and listen from a neutral place. If we’re living truthful lives, there are no shackles of pain and guilt to warp our views. Therefore we’re able to make decisions based on what’s best rather than having the truth bounce off our protective shields.
In order to be just we must be truthful and we must give up attachment to outcome, we need to do the right thing regardless of expected outcome.
In my tiny speck of a world the answers are easy, just do your best with the information you have, and if necessary adjust the path you’re on until it feels right.
Does anybody hear me?
Note: I’m taking down my website The Sticky Floor and moving the existing content over here. This was originally published on August 14, 2009.
