How do you find and maintain your ‘edge’ state?
It’s easy to despair at all the bad news and horrific pictures that come at us daily, which can, if we are not discerning, impact our sense of equilibrium.
But Roshi Joan Halifax, a renowned zen abbot and medical anthropologist, says this is a form of empathy that works against us.
There’s such a thing as pathological altruism. Her nourishing wisdom is reassuring as we face increased suffering in the world. She states:
“I think what we’re seeing actually is not compassion fatigue, but empathic distress, where there’s a resonance, and yet we can’t do anything about it.
When we are more stabilized, then we can face the world with more buoyancy, more capacity to address these very profound social and environmental issues.
So that’s why I call these things “edge states,” because they really call us to our edge”.
“We’re in an era of great breakdown, environmentally and socially and psychologically. And when systems break down, the ones who have the resilience to actually repair themselves, they move to a higher order of organization.
And I think that this is characterized by something the complexity theorists call ‘robustness,’ that we can anticipate both a time of great robustness, which we’re in, with tremendous potential to wake up and take responsibility. And, at the same time, we’re in a lot of difficulties and we need resilience to make our way through this change.”
It seems that we indeed are living in complex times, where the pace of change, of new technologies, including artificial intelligence are all asking each of us to shift perspectives, to be more robust.
I have personally encountered some of the above, and am endeavouring to maintain my equilibrium, manage my edge, along with embracing the uncertainty of the new possibilities and the unknown with curiosity and courage.
More importantly with detached compassion, in order to better serve my clients, and help them to ‘lead from their edge’.
Leaders who have this capacity are able to guide their organisations, their people and their broader stakeholders – including communities, supporting them to develop a greater resilience and deeper resourcefulness. Further, they are also adapting to unknown scenarios with greater robustness and ownership for whom and what they are responsible.
Leaders in all walks of life are being asked to embrace ever increasing complex environments where uncertainty changes everything, where not everything is positive, or even tasteful, and definitely a time where there is not one future.
This has been spiking my intrigue for some time now and as a mentor of mine, Barry Brailsford, said to me ten years ago, “to lead is walk at the edge” – I now understand what he meant.
The times we are in currently takes this further to ‘edge state’.
As a leader how do you find your ‘edge state’?
I’d love to help you answer this question this year.
Anna
Could 2018 be your year for standing a little taller?
In early March, I will be launching a new coaching program – Standing Tall which is the first part of The Tall Journey program.
“At its core, The Standing Tall coaching process is designed to find your edge –that which sets you apart. It is transformational. It doesn’t just change what we know, it changes the way we know, enabling new capabilities for managing complexity, stress, and change creatively and with deeper insight. “
Are you ready to find your edge?
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