Early in my career as a director in the public service (around a dozen years ago), I hired a keen young intern named Gabriela Klimes. She was what you would call a dream intern.
She was eager to learn, full of ideas and energy, and willing to try almost anything. It was a great deal of fun having her on the team, because she energized all of us with her enthusiasm. She was instrumental in getting some pretty significant projects off the ground that year, including getting some commemorative signs on downtown streets (that she had designed and asked the city to hang), and organizing a regional youth writing contest that got national attention. (Incidentally, she stuck around after her internship year because I couldn’t bear to let her go.)
Gabby is now a director in the public service herself, and, much like the stage I was at when I hired her, she is also a mom to two small girls.
Yesterday I got a note from Gabby, offering a blurb for my testimonials page. I got totally choked up when I read it.
“I interned for Heather straight out of University. To some, intern may mean coffee runs and photocopying. But that was certainly not the case working for Heather. She entrusted me with real projects and put faith and trust into my ability to accomplish those projects. I cannot express how empowering that was to a young person in her first real professional environment. When I think back on working with Heather, it’s not boss or manager that come to mind, but leader and mentor and friend. Heather’s gentle encouragement of me to spread my wings literally began charting my career in a direction I never planned or imagined. Today, I am a relatively new manager of people and I recently hired my first intern. I have literally aspired to be the same type of leader for this young person that Heather was for me. And that is perhaps the biggest compliment to Heather’s leadership.”
The fact that someone as talented and smart as Gabby is would model her leadership after me is the highest praise I could imagine. Years ago I remember reading something that said that we should always lead as though we assume (and hope) those we lead will some day out-shine us. That’s how I always felt about Gabby – totally honoured that I could be part of her journey to greatness, and quite certain she would out-shine me some day.
The truth is, I learned as much from Gabby as she learned from me. By responding so well to my leadership and my trust in her, she helped me see that I really could be a leader even when I didn’t yet know it myself. When she joined the team, I knew intuitively that I could trust her with big projects and she never let me down. In that experience, I learned that collaboration, trust, and intuition are some of the most valuable skills you can employ in leadership.
I also learned that the wisdom and vision in the room should never lie with the leader alone. If I hadn’t trusted Gabby with her amazing ideas and energy, we wouldn’t have accomplished nearly as much as we did. If I had insisted that my vision was the right one, she wouldn’t have produced half as much as she was capable of.
Whenever I teach classes or workshops, I tell my students some version of this: “Chances are you’ll be taking notes at some point in this class, and you’ll mostly be writing down the words that come out of my mouth – as though I have some exclusive claim on the wisdom in this room. Let me tell you up front – that is not the truth. I may have more experience in this area than you (and that’s why I’m getting paid to teach you), but I do not have all of the wisdom. The wisdom is shared by everyone in the room and I want you to take notes on every wise thing you hear in this classroom, whether it comes from a classmate’s mouth, your own, or mine.”
Whether you are the leader or the person being lead (or both, as most of us are), always remember that no one person could possibly hold all of the wisdom in the room. We ALL learn from each other and our collective wisdom is always greater than any of us could hold alone. Don’t even be fooled by people who publish books or have popular blogs – they don’t hold all of the wisdom either.
You learn from me and I will learn from you. You share your wisdom and I will share mine. Together we will shine brighter than we could alone.
Thank you Gabby for teaching me that so many years ago, and reminding me of it with your note yesterday.
Note: It is partly thanks to my experience with Gabby, and the many others who came after her, that I now serve as a Leadership Mentor. I would like to help you emerge into the leader you were called to be.
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Check out this short video if you want to know more about why I’ll be walking 100 km. And then visit Kidney Raffle and make your donation. (Please?!)
After quitting my job last year, I was asked to teach a course in writing for public relations. Although I’d worked in senior communications/public relations roles for many years (and even won an award as Manitoba Communicator of the Year), I was a little reluctant to take on the class.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to teach (I really did). It was just that I’d grown tired of doing most of my communicating on other organizations’ behalf and I felt a burning desire to write and speak about my own stories and passions instead. I was done with writing press releases and wasn’t sure I wanted to teach others to write them either.
And yet, I knew that it would be good experience learning to teach at the university level, and it was steady income, and so I took the job.
Fortunately, the curriculum was flexible and the administration was supportive of my ideas, so I made a few commitments to myself before I started.
– I would teach people to be good writers FIRST and then good PR writers second.
– I would teach people to write from their own voices rather than simply trying to replicate the voices around them.
– I would teach people to be PR professionals with integrity and values and would NEVER teach them to be spin-doctors.
– I would encourage students to follow their hearts into work that they felt passionate about.
– I would teach from the heart and encourage students to be open to the world and to each other.
That meant that we started every day with journal exercises that were all about exploring their own voices instead of writing for PR, we created vision boards during the first class of the new year, we invited speakers with integrity and passion to speak to the class (including Pam Slim, who encouraged them to imagine their careers outside the box of traditional employment), we used a Tibetan singing bowl to ring us into and out of class, and we shared some pretty personal stories and fears with each other.
It wasn’t always easy bucking the trend. I don’t know how many times I heard “you teach SO differently from anyone else in this program!” I was an edge-walker, never quite sure I was living up to the expectations of the administration when they created the classes I taught. But I kept on, believing what I was doing was the right thing and what the students needed.
I often said to my students “if I only teach you the mechanics of writing a press release and don’t teach you to write with passion, personality, and integrity, then I believe I am doing you a disservice.”
This week, I received my reward. One of the students (who is a bright and talented communicator) submitted the following letter to the administration and sent me a copy.
“Heather has added great value to the Public Relations and Marketing Management Diploma Program by not only educating her students about Public Relations fundamentals, but by encouraging us and giving us the tools to be great communicators. Her rapport building abilities allowed us to go beyond communicating – she gave us the ability to communicate effectively and to connect.
“Heather’s superior verbal and written communication skills were definite assets that helped to build our knowledge about Public Relations; however, I believe that her strength was in imparting integrity and honesty to her students.“
You know what? It pays to buck the trend!
Live with your whole heart, teach with your whole heart, and break a few rules if you need to! The world needs change, the education system needs change, and you can be a part of making that change happen!
It’s about the many benefits of walking. Check it out and then go for a walk!
If you’re visiting from that post, welcome! If you’re looking for the Kidney Raffle, click the image to find your way there.
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photo taken by my talented sister, at thousandwordsphotography.ca
A few posts ago, I mentioned the winding path that one must take up the side of the mountain when the ascent is too steep for the ordinary wanderer.
That metaphor has been ringing so true for me recently, especially in this self-employment journey. Each time I think I’m on the right path, I hit a curve and find myself going in a different direction entirely, never really sure that the path will get me to the top.
When I left my job and started this journey, I was quite convinced that Sophia Leadership was the right path and that feminine wisdom and leadership were the passions that would drive my business. There were so many signposts pointing me along the path – whether it was a horse named Sophia, a fortuitous statue with the word “Sophia” engraved in it, or the amazing experience I had in a circle of women gathered by the lake for our Listening Well retreat.
But then the year ended and a new one began and I found myself feeling restless, knowing something was trying to be born. As it turned out, it was a memoir stretching the walls of my figurative womb, trying to push itself into the light of day. Without totally abandoning Sophia Leadership, I stepped away from some of the passion that drove it to give space for the book to emerge. The book is about my stillborn son and the way that he has been my spiritual guide in my life as I learned and relearned many lessons of surrender.
When the book was in the birth canal, and my primary focus was the labour pains of bringing it to life, I just didn’t feel much like writing about feminine wisdom or leadership and I no longer knew whether Sophia Leadership was the space I belonged. “All I want to do is write,” I thought. “And I don’t want to be restricted by these boxes. Not everything is about Sophia or about leadership.”
So I began to contemplate switching my blog to my heatherplett.com site and making it a more general space about personal growth and transformation and stillborn babies and surrender and LIFE.
But then I hit another switchback on the path. The first draft of the book got done and I started sharing it with a few trusted readers. And as I shared it, I started to realize that it really IS about feminine wisdom AND about leadership, and I really hadn’t switched paths after all.
A few other signs showed up as well. I facilitated an in-person leadership workshop and sat in a circle of people hungry for a new paradigm for leadership, eager to make a difference in the world, and uncertain they have the right to call themselves leaders. They were leaders in search of a guide to point them to the right path.
And then I facilitated an online leadership learning circle for How to Live with your Paint Clothes on, and the same thing happened. An incredible circle of women bravely voiced their calling to leadership of some kind and admitted they were unsure of how to do it and how to work outside the old paradigms of leadership we’re all surrounded with. More leaders in search of a guide.
And then I had an amazing conversation with Bridget Pilloud, and she pushed me kind of hard when I said I was thinking of giving up Sophia Leadership and told me that there is a huge need among women in leadership (including herself in a previous career) for someone to help them see their paths clear to a place where feminine wisdom is honoured and accepted.
Last but not least, Sophia spoke to me in a bookstore. It was one of those restless days when I couldn’t find a book to settle the angst that had taken up residence in my heart. I was wrestling with my wandering tendencies, and the winding path and wondering WHY OH WHY I couldn’t just settle into an ordinary easy path like other people. There were relationship things going on as well that reminded me of my tendency to be an outsider, always on the edge of the circle when others are smack dab in the middle having all the “easy” fun.
Flipping through an art magazine, I heard Sophia whisper “you are called to the edge.” Bam. Just like that. A proclamation that answered so much of my angst and unsettled feelings. “You are CALLED to the edge. This is not an accident.” I’m not SUPPOSED to be in the centre of the circle having easy fun. I’m not SUPPOSED to be one of the people who get called to seemingly easy and straight paths. I’m meant to be out here on the edge.
I am an edge-walker. I am most myself when I am at the edge of the circle where I can serve as witness both to the things going on inside the circle and those happening outside. I am a leader whose vision of what’s ahead on the path helps direct the people at the centre who have less clarity. I help people feel safe because they have a sentry at the edge. I serve as scribe, witness, and facilitator for the people in the centre because I am less attached to the gravity and ideas that pull everyone to the centre. I watch for dangers and I help people avoid them. I follow new ideas and new paths because I know the people in the circle need them.
The particular edge I am called to live on is the edge called Sophia Leadership. I feel more and more certain of that. Bringing feminine wisdom into leadership is edgy, difficult, and not always popular work, but the people in the centre NEED this work. Everywhere I look I see more and more leaders in search of a guide/mentor.
When I walked out of the bookstore, I felt simultaneously like a great burden (of unknowing, doubt, uneasiness) had been lifted off my shoulders, while a whole new burden of responsibility and calling had been added. But the burden was not mine to carry alone – Sophia God was there carrying it for me.
The clarity has carried me through to today. The top of the mountain is becoming a little more visible as I round this latest switchback. I’m not sure how “edge-walker” would play on a business card, but I know what it means to me, and that’s what matters.
In the spirit of being an edge-walker and guide, I am offering new services and clarifying some old ones. Thanks to the roadsigns, there’s more clarity to them than anything I had on this website before. Perhaps one of them will resonate with you. If you need guidance, or if you feel a similar call to the edge, I would love to work with you and serve as your guide.
You can find the buttons for these services on the right-hand side of this blog. Or click on the one that appeals to you below.
(By the way, I am totally in love with the photo my sister took at the top of this page. On my face you can see that perfect mix of seriousness with a hint of a smile, angst with a hint of devil-may-care, and strength with a hint of softness that makes me who I am, standing out here on the edge.)
