Fascinating Leadership: The Art of Cultivating Awe-Inspiring Leaders

It’s A Summer Wrap-Up! My leadership adventures this summer took me to Minneapolis, MN; Denver/Boulder, CO; Atlanta, GA, and Lafayette, CA. The leadership adventure started with a visit from one of my best friends in life as she wanted to site see the Forestiere Underground Gardens in Fresno, CA. Followed by a lovely winding drive up into the cool mountain regions to be awestruck by the majestic Sequoia National Forest.

The latter two adventures are designated as part of the leadership journey because of the impact of their history on the central valley region and because of the leaders who many decades ago saw a vision of what could be and went for it! Whether guided by faith or the direction of the military, these leaders accomplished creating bricks by hand, laying miles of road foot by foot, creating ways to preserve and persevere the parts of our world that we wonder at today. Without the use of the internet, no cell phones, no text messages, small to no resources, agile with their timelines, and diverse sources of support from family, friends, troops, community workers and their own non-fatigable energies. Demonstrating leadership autonomy, decisiveness, collaboration, and responding to the nuances and extremes of the central valley weather were evident in each cool tunnel filled with flora and fruit, and each road laid carefully for the best view of the mountains, valleys, and the museum-like presentation of the redwoods, sequoias, and naturally fallen, laid to rest giants.

When we think of leadership today we do not think about doing it without the use of the internet, cell phone-always on world, and having access to just about everything to complete our leadership goals, helping us to move on quickly to the next set of opportunities and challenges. These leaders’ plans took years to craft, develop, and implement for short intentional goals based on 10 to 12 yards of road or how many bricks can be made with one bucket of rain, and designing new tools out of used tools with no manufacturer or online instructions. Their capacity for learning and acting on what they learned at each step is what to me is fascinating and awe-inspiring leadership.

This time around, I am not going to give you tips on leadership. I am going to give you ideas on what to look for in great leadership based on the following four questions:

1. In the last week of work what fascinated me about a demonstrated leadership action I observed?
2. In the leadership duties I have accomplished this week, am I fascinated by what I did and/or what I will be doing?
3. Did I have any positive or negative A-HA moments in my leadership work or another leader’s work, and what did I learn from the A-HA?
4. What do I know from the last few weeks of leadership work that let me know I inspired others and/or I was awe-inspired by another’s actions or events?

It is in the asking of good, deeper, thought-provoking questions that assist a leader in viewing what’s happening around them, what they are doing, and what others are doing that creates reflection clarity. Many diverse, convoluted, and complex things happen throughout our days and not all are learning experiences, however, if we look at these experiences with the four questions in mind you have the opportunity to see things in a differing viewpoint or realization/A-HA moment.

One more example, I’ll select Question #3 of the summit on leadership in the future, in which I had the opportunity to be in sessions with every generation of emerging and experienced leaders and leadership scholars from across the country. From Gen Z to Traditionalist, every generation was represented, demonstrating the stereotypes known for each generation:

• Baby Boomers looking over their bifocals to read their cell phones or see the power point presentation in thoughtful contemplation;
• Traditionalists appearing all honorific and esteemed with all the burdens of their years of wisdom;
• Millennials walking the tightrope of being wedged between Baby Boomers and Gen Zs while appearing extremely tech savvy;
• Gen Zs tied to their cell phones using all 500+ apps to post quick snippets of information and text messaging through voice activation while walking at the same time – extreme multi-taskers!

I describe all this to give you a great view of the diversity in age, life and work experiences, education, and attributes that make-up the smaller sessions and the general sessions at this conference to set the stage for this A-HA experience. A Traditionalist panel member who is very knowledgeable and is a long-time esteemed leader provided their presentation in a tone reflective of admonishment and condescension when stating facts. I was sitting at a table full of Gen Zs who had been listening intently to the presentation, until there were one to many descending tones from this leader. At that A-HA moment, the change in temperament for the Gen Zs was palpable. They shut down and tuned out the rest of the presentation and turned to their cell phones, raised knowing eyebrows at each other, and looked annoyed. The link of communication was broken for them, and the A-HA moment for me was about communication/tone of voice/translation of information/knowing your audience – all the things as good leaders we know to do when presenting in a mixed, diverse audience, if you want your audience to listen and stay engaged.

The commonality for both examples is listening, observing, and being cognizant of how the energy in a room can change depending upon those in the leading positions. From setting the tone of intention to build a massive road for future generations to creating an engaging environment for inquisitive inquiry of all knowledgeable generations is the fascination of leadership and is the awe-inspiring leadership that most great leaders want to achieve in their work and in their everyday actions.

Fascinating Leadership and Awe-Inspiring Leadership is best when:

• You learn to ask yourself the hard questions about the daily, weekly, monthly leadership tasks and actions you complete and what you see others complete.
• Evaluating your actions daily can assist you in determining if you should change course or stay the course.
• Being willing to listen with less judgement can actually help you HEAR what is being said.
• Being extremely observant of your leadership intentions and words and that of your leadership teams, so you can confirm that your actions are contributions to the world of leadership study and work.

I learn so much valuable information and come away with so many insights into leader values and the constructs of leader work from my leadership adventures. I hope by sharing my thoughts and insights on these adventures that you crave more information, get curious about your own leadership journey, and ask yourself the questions that will help you adjust exceptionally well to your leadership environment.

I will end my summer leadership adventure post using my Baby Boomer generation TV icon by mentioning the original Spok from Star Trek, who frequently said in quiet repose “Fascinating” to reflect on his observations of the idiosyncrasies of his fellow human space travelers. Fascinating leadership and the work of leadership at its truest form is always Awe-Inspiring.

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