LinkedIn Inspiration
Follow Jeffrey Knight on LinkedIn for Angels 14 Inspiration!
ON BELONGING
“True belonging doesn't require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are.” - Brené Brown
How many times have we changed who we are just to fit in? I can attest that I have done this many times throughout my life. Mixed results, but a majority of the time it didn’t result in me actually fitting in, it only made me feel more distant.
When we betray who we are, we hurt ourselves and others. If we fear how others perceive us because we like pineapple on our pizza 🍕 (for the record I do not under any circumstance support this 🤣), we deny ourselves joy.
Sometimes belonging means to stay on our path because that is where we belong. We feel it in our bones, we know it is right for us, it fills our cup ☕️
Stay the course, don’t change YOU, don’t dehumanize others because they don’t see the way things you do, and the #restwillfollow 💪🤘🏻
ON MEANING & PURPOSE
In “Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging”Sebastian Junger talks about shared public meaning.
Most of American society does not know the same losses and sacrifice therefore making it much harder for service members to reintegrate into society.
When we don’t have a shared meaning, or stop to understand what people have gone through, then intentionally work to bring people back to a sense of community - they lose connection.
Take this concept, and and we can apply it anywhere. As leaders, providing meaning and purpose for our teams, companies, or organization increases the sense of urgency in everyone and bonds grow stronger. Even when things suck!
Connect, integrate, share as one, and the #restwillfollow 💪🤟
ON MISTAKES
“People are increasingly interpreting the actions of others in the least generous way possible and assuming the worst of intentions.” - Dan Crenshaw - Fortitude
Honestly, how many of us do this? I will say that I have (and probably will again), but if I recognize what I am doing, I can change its trajectory. I have that power! Just read what Viktor Frankl says about choosing one’s own attitude.
Assuming ill intentions about anyone without gaining perspective is shortsighted. It does nothing except divide ➗ when unity ➕ should be the soup 🥣 of the day.
I am NOT saying that accountability gets thrown out of the window for actions, words, thoughts, etc (far from it), but one sensational media headline does not tell the whole story 📚.
Understand intent, ask why, be willing to have open dialogue, and the #restwillfollow 💪🤘🏻
ON CONTROL
Those that “cast stones” feel that they have control and are making a change 🤨
Those “stones” are just words with no action behind them. When we seek to bludgeon people with our words with no substance behind them, or tell them ‘how’ they should think, we are going against the very goal we are trying to accomplish - influence. We are really only trying to control.
Now one might say that we have to tell people what to think because it is right and just (often without empirical evidence) and they don’t know anything, but in doing that we….👇🏻
Devalue, demean, demonize, make them ‘less’ & fail to see their perspective. That’s not leadership - at least in my book 📕
Leadership collaborates, considers, empathizes, seeks to understand, knows that everyone is valuable & a human being with real emotion.
Listen👂, be curious, respect others & the #restwillfollow 💪🤘🏻