In spite of anything you’ve heard to the contrary, you ARE a “leader” in your “organization”. There’s just no denying it.
“But wait just a second,” you say. “I’m only an admin…or a mid-level manager…or a soccer mom. I’m no leader.”
This is an understandable reaction, to be sure – and yet completely inaccurate. Leadership is much more than the title you hold or the position you maintain in the company pecking order. Leadership, in fact, is how you interact with everyone, including yourself. Everyone — is a leader, either by choice or default. Leading is the way we help move people, including ourselves, into action. It’s the way we influence others. The question is not whether or not we are leaders, but how well we lead.
As for the “organization” piece, organizations are not limited solely to business. All of the groups, teams, and people around you are organizations, too. Organizations are the colleagues you work with and the family you go home to. Your organization includes all those who are grouped within your many circles of influence. Each of us is a part of many organizations.
So the question isn’t “Am I leader in my organization?” but rather “What kind of an organizational leader do I want to be?
“Everything Is Energy and That’s All There Is To It. Match the Frequency of the Reality You Want” — Albert Einstein
Catabolic and Anabolic Energy
More than a hundred years ago, Einstein addressed the scientific community with his revolutionary idea that everything we see, hear, taste, touch, and smell is not matter, but energy. In short, everything that “matters” is energy.
On an energetic and cellular level, catabolism usually refers to a breakdown of complex molecules, while anabolism is the opposite. When you hear about a person’s catabolic or anabolic energy, however, it’s a broader statement about the destructive and constructive forces alive within an entire person — not only one’s individual cells but also one’s anabolic and catabolic thoughts and beliefs.
Anabolic and Catabolic energy are predominant in organizations as well as in people. Who hasn’t worked in an organization characterized by catabolic energy, where employees consistently react to their circumstances with worry, fear, doubt, anger, and guilt? In case you haven’t noticed: thoughts are contagious. In a catabolic organization, when even a few people have negative feelings, those emotions can spread like a virus, “group think” sets in, and peoples’ thoughts become group “fact.” Once that occurs, the company can implode energetically in a swirl of gossip, negativity, conflict and contempt. What a mess!
The most successful organizations, by contrast, are those filled with powerful, positive, anabolic leaders, Anabolic leaders have the ability to motivate and inspire themselves and others to do extraordinary things; they have the ability to make energetic shifts in all levels of the organization. No matter how effective or ineffective you currently are in your role (at work and at home), you can transform yourself and others — as well as your organization — into a thriving, inspired, positive, productive, and successful entity.
Three Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Personal Energy?
1) When life throws up a challenge, do I judge it as “bad” (catabolic), or do I welcome it as an opportunity (anabolic)?
2) When I have a fight with a colleague or my significant other, do I take responsibility for my part in the conflict (anabolic), or do I reflexively cast the other person as the villain (catabolic)?
3) When faced with a problem, do I struggle mightily to come up with a solution (catabolic), or do I have easy access to my “higher coach”, where infinite creativity and innovation (anabolic) resides?
None of us are fixed entities. At any time, at any moment, we have the ability release the latent anabolic energy that lives there within us, right under the surface. We can ALL be anabolic leaders in our “organizations”. All it takes is a subtle shift in our perception – the willingness to say “I can!” and “I will!”
(With thanks to www.ipeccoaching.com)
[Editor’s note: If you’re interested in learning more about your own levels of catabolic and anabolic energy (both in your normal state and under stress), I highly recommend taking the The Energy Leadership Index (E.L.I.), administered by Dr. Clue and offered with a 1/2 discount for subscribers to this newsletter. This one-of-a-kind assessment enables “leaders” to hold up mirrors to their perceptions, attitudes, behaviors, and overall leadership capabilities. It takes about 20 minutes to fill out, followed by a 60-minute phone debrief.
For more information about the E.L.I (including pricing), drop me a line at 707-544-1014 or dave@drclue.com ]