“Create more positive moments in your life, thereby helping you hardwire your brain for good, and feel a greater ability to be at peace with yourself and the world, whatever life may present in the future.”
— Robyn Stratton- Berkessel, TED Speaker 2014, The Positivity Strategist , Author: Appreciative Inquiry for Collaborative Solutions: 21 Strength-Based Workshops
“An entrepreneur is a French name for someone who ‘has great ideas’.”
— Alexis Ohanian, Founder of Reddit, Author: Without Their Permission-How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed
This week saw the world of social media trying to harness the power of thought leadership and real time leadership for social good, by collectively and abundantly using the hashtag #GivingTuesday. I wrote about the importance of having a “Giving Tuesday” in both my new Tumblr and new LinkedIn posts. In them, I asked four questions and stated that giving appears to be the new frontier, propelling us to new heights re: personal self actualization as human beings, and professional leaders within our industries and communities.
In our recent podcast for The Positivity Strategist, I spoke with excellent, eloquent, and moving interviewer Robyn, (whom I quoted above and have the privilege of having met in person!) about the changing role and humane impact of leadership within the digital and entrepreneurial spaces; especially for women. It’s something I wrote about in my book, The NICE Reboot, and have touched on in all my previous writings for my misc. blogposts such as this one in The Huffington Post.
It’s time to join forces and collaborate on how to help women add value to the global conversation and global change movement re: leadership best practices!
I believe that embracing fear leads to embracing change. I believe that to get inspired to make a real difference, one must first get uncomfortable. One must then subsequently be able to discern patterns and connect “the dots” in order to:
• Alter one’s mindset and Theory of Mind by being more receptive to the ideas of others
• Alter one’s actions and reactions to the environment and those in it
As I said in our podcast:
I believe that there are patterns to be found all around us, and that nothing is random. When we take time to live in the moment and concentrate on the journey instead of the outcome, we can then
1. Look at patterns and connect the dots in new ways
2. Experience multi-sensory self education to develop skill sets that were previously not asked of us
It’s SO important to discern patterns and apply them to our lives so that we can stay ahead of the learning curve personally and professionally.
Reading is NOT a luxury but a necessity! We live in wonderful but complicated times where it’s all about connecting the dots personally and professionally.
I have gained clarity of purpose and comprehension of the “dots” through diversified experiences and interactions with diverse groups of people. I traveled a lot and learned that diversified experiences will drive one’s trajectory in life and help one understand the “politics of the playground.”
Today’s entrepreneurial politics include cultivating talent management and social entrepreneurship, and understanding what drives good reputations and good business in the Digital Age. It also includes honing one’s leadership skills in the digital workplace, which means tapping into social media’s ubiquitous virtual mentorship and momentum. It’s also something I discussed with Robyn in our podcast:
There are hours and hours of virtual mentorship to be found online by the way people post, the words they use, and the rich thought leadership their blogs provide. So it’s easier than ever to find mentorship, but you have to have the questions prepared, and understand what you want to know more about.
Social media is creating a culture of transparency where virtual mentorship is flourishing like never before. We can honestly thank the Millenials for this, and I think many of them get a bad “rap.” They have been changing the rules of the game re: how we:
• Learn
• Communicate with people
• View transparency as a good thing
• View and value collaboration
• View mentorship and reverse-mentorship as gateways to leadership
Like any new frontier that is shaped over time, we CAN shape our words to shape our minds. Robyn exemplifies this in the beautifully meaningful way she approaches life. Good leaders exemplify this in their daily actions as well.
The truth is, we are ALL leaders in the making; something I’ve learned in my own entrepreneurial journey.
Robyn asked me to provide insights into the challenges which women, women entrepreneurs, and digital citizens as a whole, face in the iEra. I will continue to share them in my next post in this current series. I’d like to end with this takeaway I gave:
At the end of the day, what I learned about living life is this….Due to social media and the spirit of transparency, from child to grandparent, we are all leaders in the making, and remembering that changes everything!
That changes behavior, mindset, outlook, the way we do things. Because if you walk around meeting people, interacting with people, and thinking what teachable moments am I contributing right now, to this conversation, this moment in time, this interaction, then it will shape your thoughts and actions in unexpected and beautiful ways.
This knowledge is hard earned and hard learned but I appreciate life more deeply now. Life is more interesting. Life is richer. Life is more meaningful. I am more at peace with the journey, the journey of connecting all the dots, which is what really counts!
Note: Behold the power of social media and global social good! A special thanks to Entrepreneur Visionar Alan Ristić for commenting and sharing our podcast on Twitter this week! Below is a screenshot of his tweets to me 🙂
To be continued…..
Best,
Penina
The NICE Reboot Book Blog on Entrepreneurship in the iEra 